Anthony McIntyre's Blog, page 1195

Stanley Un-Caged and Still Un-Daunted

Stanley Cohen speaking to the Shadow, last year after his release from prison. The Shadow is NY’s only underground newspaper. 
For subscription info contact shadowpress@rocketmail.com & visit here. Our thanks to Chris Flash


[For more than 30 years, movement attorney Stanley L. Cohen has represented and defended people fighting for their rights and for their communities. This has included political activists, The SHADOW, squatters and homeless on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, as well as the Warrior Society in the Mohawk Nation, Anonymous and Occupy Wall Street, extending to Hamas [the Islamic Resistance Movement], Usama Bin Laden’s son-in-law and others accused of terrorism.

As reported in detail in SHADOWs #56 + 57, after failing for more than a decade to stop him from performing his craft, including investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Treasury Department, Department of Homeland Security, National Security Agency (NSA), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and federal prosecutors in Virginia, Illinois, the Northern and Southern Districts of New York and Department of Justice (Main), in 2012, the federal government filed indictments against Stanley over his alleged failure to keep “proper” income tax records.

At various times, the government attempted to prosecute Stanley for alleged “Material Support of Terrorism”, “Failure to File OFAC (Office of Financial Assets Control) Forms”, “Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana”, “Money Laundering”, “Structured Transactions” and “Impeding the IRS;”

On April 14, 2014, Stanley reluctantly agreed to plead guilty to “impeding” the IRS. On January 6, 2015, Stanley turned himself in to begin an 18 month jail sentence. After serving 11 months, Stanley was released to a “halfway” house for two months, with six weeks of home confinement. By April 21, Stanley’s sentence is finished.

The following interview with Stanley was conducted by Shadow editors Chris Flash and A. Kronstadt in lower Manhattan on December 24, 2015.]

Shadow: Can you remind our readers of what resulted in your having to serve time in jail?

Stanley: The investigation of me ran more than a decade and started out as a terrorism investigation, when I refused to provide various information about political clients and supporters to obtain treasury department licenses to represent them. Members of the Palestinian community were constantly asked about me and my relationship to Hamas. After about 3 or 4 years, it went to the DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency] regarding a pot ring that went nowhere, and, after that failed, it went to the IRS [Internal Revenue Service].

Contrary to what the “haters” would have you believe, I was not charged or convicted of income tax evasion. My conviction for “impeding the IRS” is an extremely rare prosecution that is essentially used by the government when all else fails in tax investigations. In sum, it says I fucked with the IRS, but they can’t figure out how. In almost all tax prosecutions, as part of a sentence, the court imposes a dollar amount to reflect the projected loss in tax revenues by the government. In my case, no such sentence was imposed.

Shadow: What sorts of things did you observe in prison? Did they strengthen your political convictions?

Stanley: Absolutely. The futility really hits home when you’re there. 60% of everyone in a federal prison in the United States is either in a low facility or in a camp, which means that 60% of everyone in Federal prison has neither been convicted of a violent felony offense nor poses a risk to the community—yet they’re held at $31,000 per year per inmate, as opposed to being on community-based supervision, whether on probation, supervised release, halfway house, or home confinement, for something like $3,000 per year. Most of these prisons exist in rural America, propping up the economy of rural America. It’s like the Dust Bowl of the 21st century.

Dostoyevsky wrote House of the Dead about his stay in a Siberian gulag for a political offense in the 1880s. Prison America today is very much the gulag in the 1880s in Siberia. I think every federal judge, defense attorney and prosecutor should go to a prison camp for a week or two under an alias just to see what the fuck it’s about. Until you’re there, no matter how well-intentioned and progressive you are, it’s still just an abstraction.

Shadow: Where were you sent?

Stanley: Canaan, in Pennsylvania, just across the border from Sullivan County, in New York. It’s a service camp for the maximum security prison at Waymart, one of the most dangerous facilities in the federal system with 1500 inmates, of whom more than a thousand are doing at least 20 years and the other 500 are doing life without parole.

We were the work camp assigned to it. We cleaned the bathrooms and floors for 13 cents an hour so that they don’t have to pay the guards to do it. There were a small group of white collar guys, who were in on account of hedge funds, pyramid schemes. They were mostly white guys. There weren’t any African American inmates involved in white collar crime because that door is not open to them. In the work camp, 70% were in for drugs. 65% were people of color.

Shadow: Any interesting experiences?

Stanley: One of the problems in prison is that there is a lot of posturing by everyone. Some of them minimize what they do and some of them embellish it. Lots of stories that you hear aren’t true. The white collar guys are notorious liars. They’re hustlers, scammers and thieves, though some of them are good guys who took a fall for somebody else.

I had clients in that prison. I walked in and a guy from Arthur Avenue brought me a sweat suit and said “about fucking time, I been waiting 20 years to see you here.”

I helped two or three guys prepare pro se sentence reduction motions as the Federal statutes changed for drug offenses. One guy got 36 months off his sentence; another guy got 26 months off his sentence. I helped another guy get $14,000 back on a case that he should not have been hit with.

Shadow: So you were a “jailhouse lawyer”?

Stanley: There’s a group of typical white guys in there who are fake lawyers. There was this corporate pension fund guy from Connecticut who had never tried a case or argued an appeal in his life but held himself out to be an expert. He had two or three idiots who worked for him—a pilot in jail because of a pot case and a right-wing tax liberation guy, a real idiot, and they walked around talking shit and acting like they were experts, but they didn’t know anything.

I saw them mangle cases and give bad advice. I heard inmates desperate to keep their families together tell their loved ones on the phone “my lawyers tell me I’m going to be out in 10 days, sell the house,” all on the basis of these idiot fake lawyers.

They were typically upper class 55-year old white guys. They claimed that they didn’t get paid, but over the years, people put money in their commissary and sent money to their families. When they want to get papers in or out, they have to smuggle them through families. There’s also no [attorney-client] privilege, and inmates tell these fake lawyers all kinds of things that they shouldn’t tell anybody. The fake lawyers can get subpoenaed and become witnesses.

There was one inmate who wanted to reopen his case because a witness had recanted, which is a weak argument in court and doesn’t usually get the case reopened. He consulted these fake lawyers, who made an application for the appointment of a court-appointed lawyer, in which they told the judge the name of the witness who had recanted. The judge was forced to share that information with the prosecution, the witness who recanted was arrested, and the inmate’s case was gone.

What I did for people was to sit down and pick their brains and discuss strategy quietly without touching on privileged material.

Shadow: What did you do to keep your mind sharp?

Stanley: My support team on the outside started a blog along with me, called Caged but Undaunted. I did a lot of writing around contemporary issues and actually wrote some poetry. I was helping to continue some litigation outside that I’d begun in the African Union. I wrote a long manuscript about prisons. I was involved with a play being written about me by a playwright from London who flew to Canaan to interview me. I worked as a prison librarian, taught classes, wrote a lot of e-mails and read 100 books.

Shadow: You said that you taught classes?

Stanley: Typically, a class is mandatory for inmates to take, and you get credit for it that accelerates your release. Usually, they are held in the daytime, when they get you out of meaningless work. They could be about anything, gardening, resumés. Those classes would get six to ten people in them. My classes were voluntary, you never got credit for them,

My classes typically had between 20 and 25 guys, a quarter of the camp. I taught classes on political events, current events, the law, government. The first week was on South Africa and the history of the revolution. The second week and third week were about Israel and Palestine. The fourth and fifth week were on the Middle East. The sixth week was international law, the law of war. The seventh week was civil rights legislation and history. Typically, the classes are one hour–my guys used to ask for me to teach two-hour classes.

Shadow: Did you have any guards listening in on your classes?

Stanley: Only once. I was called in by the head of the education department, a cop who was upset because there was a complaint that I was teaching “un-American” things. And I said, “yeah, so tell me what’s ‘un-American’”, and he said, “you know,” and I said, “no, I don’t know.” He said, “well, there are a lot of inmates and guards here who were in the military and who are patriots. He said, “well, I have to run this up the ladder because it could be a problem.”

I got accused of violating the prison rules by one idiot cop because of things I posted in the library for people to read. One was a political prisoner advocacy newsletter that comes out once a month, one was an article from New York Magazine on the use of psylocybin for the treatment of terminally ill and suicidal people, one was a magazine article on whether players should be paid for collegiate athletics and one was an interview with Mumia [abu-Jamal]. I had the stuff on the desk and this idiot came in grabbed it and said “what is this stuff? Contraband.” He was saying that, even though all of it had been cleared by the prison authorities when it came in. When I passed it on to other people it became contraband. Then they shook down my locker looking for other stuff. The cop asked, “this guy Mumia, didn’t he kill a cop”? And I said “don’t know, I wasn’t there.” There were two or three books written by Mumia in the prison library.

Shadow: As far as your ability to practice law, you said [in The Shadow) what you might be able to practice law in spite of the conviction.

Stanley: A committee will look at the body of my work over the course of my 30 plus year career, including my extensive pro bono and human rights work, along with the nature of the charges

I can’t practice law while I’m in a halfway house or under home confinement or supervised release. As much as for any reason, I can’t practice law because there’s no privilege. The issue of my license doesn’t mean anything until I’m all done.

Shadow: Did they revoke your license?

Stanley: No, I was not disbarred, and not even suspended. My status was last marked “pending”. It will be resolved one way or another when I can make it happen.
Shadow: When is it all over?

Stanley: April 21. That is when I’m done with the Bureau of Prisons. Then there’s something called “supervised release” that can run for up to a year, but we’re going to make application for me to be discharged early, around July, so I can move to get my license back. I also have some job opportunities that I want to pursue overseas and in order to do that I need to leave the country. I may do some guest teaching at CUNY while I’m here. I ‘ve been offered teaching positions in both Lebanon and Qatar. There’s a new human rights foundation that has reached out to me about a possible executive director position.

Shadow: What do you really want to do?

Stanley: I’m going to move to the Middle East. I’m going to spend some of my days on teaching, but most of my time on human rights work, in particular, full time around the Palestinian issue. The problem is that I can’t get into Palestine. There are two ways into Palestine, through Israel and through Egypt, and I’m banned from both places.

Shadow: Why were you banned from Egypt?

Stanley: Because I’ve been one of the most outspoken human rights activists who has challenged the military and [Egyptian president Abdel Fatah] al-Sisi with regard to the most recent coup. I’ve been an enemy of the Egyptian government for years–I’ve sued Egypt. In fact, I’ve been warned that if I entered Egypt, I could be the first reported suicide by drowning in the Sinai desert.

Shadow: What are your immediate plans?

Stanley: I plan on becoming an expatriate. I’ve got a huge red white and blue bulls-eye on my back. Now that I’ve got a felony under my belt and I’ve been in prison, I’m incredibly more vulnerable to the machine. So my view is “fuck you, machine, I’m out of here.” I can fight the machine from abroad. That’s my plan. The institutional disease that is America has spread so far and in such an evil way that I have no interest in fighting the fight here.

For 20 plus years, I have lived and worked in the US while traveling abroad 3 or 4 times a year as needed on cases, conferences, and speeches. I will now reverse that, living abroad and returning to the US as needed.

Although I do not expect to continue defending traditional criminal defense cases when if and when my license is reinstated I will continue representing persons on select international “terrorism” cases in the US, commuting from abroad to do so. I also plan on continuing to handle human rights matters against governments such as Israel and Egypt in intentional courts as I’ve done for several decades.

Shadow: Is there an ultimate desire, or are you just going to keep doing what you’re doing until you drop?

Stanley: I’m going to keep fighting the state, whether national local or international. I’d love to play an active role in the establishment of a one-state resolution in Palestine and Israel. If I have played a meaningful role in that, my life will have been worth it.
Shadow: What do you think of the present crop of presidential candidates?

Stanley: I think it’s a total freak show. There’s no difference between a malignant brain tumor and pancreatic cancer. They’ll both kill you.

Shadow: What can we do about the climate of war mongering?

Stanley: In my blog “Caged but Undaunted” I took the position “Declare Victory and Come Home”, based on the Vietnam model. The president should hold a press conference saying that we won, we’ve accomplished everything that we wanted to do, and we’re withdrawing–that we’ve no longer subsidizing surrogate states or conducting active military operations, and that things are going to unfold the way that they are going to unfold. We did that in Vietnam and Vietnam is now a close ally and trading partner.

I have always been a firm believer that we have to stay in the streets, figuratively and literally. I think it’s important to shut the machine down. I think it’s essential to strip our so-called elected officials of the power to wage war and commit war crimes in our name. The way to do that is to go out in the streets and shut this shit down. That covers a variety of ways. Some people are great writers, some people are great organizers, some people are great fighters. There are hackers and Anonymous types who are out there doing what they do. I just think that we’ve reached a crossroads where we are obligated to shut this shit down, and we can do it.

Shadow: Do you have any final thoughts?

Stanley: I’m no different today having gone through 11 months of prison than when I walked in. I’ve done nothing wrong, I have no regrets, it hasn’t changed my politics, my vision, or my thoughts. Was I happy to be in prison? No. It caused tremendous stress and strain to my family, it disrupted political work in a critical period. You follow me since 1969 and it’s been a steady path. I’ve stayed in the street, I’ve been involved in the antiwar movement and the civil rights movement and I did legal work for alleged members of the Weather Underground and the BLA. I was also a Legal Aid Attorney in the South Bronx. If I had it to do over again I wouldn’t have changed anything.

I did 11 months in prison, but when you think of people like Mandela doing 27 years, wow. In the 17th year, de Klerk brought him out and told him that if he renounced violence, he would let him out then. Mandela walked back in his cell. It wasn’t until 10 years later that he got out.

“Shit Happens”–that would be a good title for the book.

[For the latest news on Stanley, see . Also see Stanley’s blog Caged but Undaunted.
You may also join him on Twitter - @StanleyCohenLaw 

Court Of Appeal: Gender Segregation Is Sex Discrimination

A piece from last month put together by Maryam Namazie which, while dated, provides the background to an important legal battle being fought against gender segregation.


Join protest at Court of Appeal hearing on 11 and 12 July 2017 at 9.30am at Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2A 2LL.Pack out the public gallery in the court so that the judiciary is under no illusion as to what is at stake.Publicise our campaign widely.Press Release  
6 July 2017

On 11 and 12 July 2017, Southall Black Sisters (SBS) and Inspire will be intervening in an important case on gender segregation to press the Court of Appeal to rule that the practice of gender segregation in a voluntary aided Muslim co-ed school amounts to sex discrimination under the equality law.  This is a potentially historical and precedent setting case, the outcome of which will have a far reaching impact on the human rights of minority women and girls.

Background to the case

School X segregates its pupils based on their gender. From the age of 9 to 16, boys and girls of Muslim background are segregated for everything – during lessons and all breaks, activities and school trips.

The school was inspected by Ofsted which raised concerns about gender segregation and other leadership failings involving the absence of effective safeguarding procedures, and an unchallenged culture of gender stereotyping and homophobia. Offensive books promoting rape, violence and against women and misogyny were discovered in the school library. Some girls also complained anonymously that gender segregation did not prepare them for social interaction and integration into the wider society. As a result of what it found during the inspection, Ofsted judged the school to be inadequate and placed it in special measures.

The school took legal action against Ofsted accusing it of bias amongst other things, and claimed that gender segregation did not have a detrimental impact on girls. Following a High Court hearing, in November 2016, the presiding judge, Mr Justice Jay, found no evidence of bias against the school but agreed with the school that gender segregation did not amount to sex discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. He went onto say that no evidence had been presented to show that gender segregation disadvantaged the girls in the school.

Ofsted is seeking to overturn this part of the judgment but the Department of Education and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, along with SBS and Inspire are intervening in support of Ofsted.

Why we are intervening

SBS and Inspire are intervening in this case because we believe that the right to equality for women and girls of Muslim background in this instance is being seriously undermined. We are alarmed by the growing acceptance of such a practice in our universities and schools; a move that we have also previously contested. In a context where all the evidence shows that minority women are subject to growing abuse, isolation, inequality and powerlessness, the practice of gender segregation cannot be viewed as a benign development because it is informed by the Muslim fundamentalist view that women are inferior and the cause of disorder and sexual chaos in society. If unchecked, the practice will give religious fundamentalist and ultra-conservative forces in our communities more and more power to define women’s lives. It will also signal the view that regulatory bodies like Ofsted have no business in investigating issues of gender inequality in faith based schools. We say that gender segregation amounts to direct sex discrimination and violates the fundamental rights and freedoms of women and girls under international human rights law on equality and non-discrimination.

Pragna Patel of SBS said : 

Fundamentalist and conservative religious norms like gender segregation are becoming normalised in minority communities at an alarming rate. Separate can never be equal in a context of rising misogyny, violence against women and patriarchal control. Regressive religious forces want to implement their fundamentalist vision of education. They want to use religion to extinguish the human rights of minority women and girls to equality and self determination. We will not allow this to happen. We will not allow them to undo the strides that we have made for greater equality and freedom. Our struggle against gender segregation mirrors the struggle against racial segregation: it is morally, politically and legally wrong and the Court of Appeal and the rest of society must recognise this.

Sara Khan of Inspire said:

I am deeply concerned about the rise and accommodation of gender segregation in our schools and universities. This is due in large part to the rise of fundamentalist patriarchal movements over the last few decades which seeks to reinforce regressive gender stereotypes and restrict women’s rights in an attempt to deny women full and equal participation in public life. I have seen first hand the damaging impact of gender segregation on women and girls. As a British Muslim woman, I call on our country and our judiciary to stand on the side of equality and women’s rights, at a time when illiberals and fundamentalists seek to do away with them.

Maryam Namazie from One Law for All added:

Islamists have become adept at using rights language to impose rights restrictions. Islamist projects like the niqab or Sharia courts are deceptively promoted as “rights” and “choices” when in fact their aim is to control and restrict women and girls. Girls in Islamic schools are segregated not in order to enable them to flourish but because they are seen to be the source of fitnah and male arousal from puberty onwards. Which is why they must be veiled, segregated, and prevented from many activities that are essential to child development. The court would do well to remember that when it comes to children in particular, there is a duty of care to ensure that the girl child has access to a level playing field and is able to flourish – sometimes despite the wishes of parents and fundamentalists.

We will be available on 11 and 12 July to give interviews and make comments.

End
For Further Information Contact:
Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters, pragna@soublacksisters.co.uk 02085719595.
Sara Khan, Director of Inspire, Sara.Khan@wewillinspire.com
Maryam Namazie of One Law for All, maryamnamazie@googlemail.com 077 1916 6731.
Notes to the editors:
For more background information see Gender Segregation is Gender Apartheid.See the High Court judgment  and X School V Ofsted. Southall Black Sisters is also part of the One Law for All campaign which also includes the Kurdish Culture Project, Centre for Secular Space and others working to challenge the rise of religious fundamentalism and extremism and it specific impact on  the rights of black and minority women in the UK. We are currently running a campaign against the accommodation of Sharia laws in the law or as part of alternative dispute resolution systems in relation to family matters. See Over 300 Abused Women Issue Statement Against Parallel Legal Systems: Who Will Listen To Our Voices? Information about previous contestations against gender segregation in universities can be found Campaign against Gender Apartheid in UK Universities  and "Shariafication by stealth'" in the UK   and The Sunday Times report on women being barred from asking questions at Queen Mary Uni Isoc.

Sinn Fein & The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

In his latest Fearless Flying Column, unionist writer Dr John Coulter maintains that if the republican movement cannot dump abstentionism towards Westminster, Sinn Fein must rethink its role towards the CPA.Join the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) as an all-island accommodation for Brexit and possible foundation for Irexit.

With a General Election looming in the Republic, Sinn Fein needs to sell itself as a mature democratic movement and not the puppet of the IRA’s Army Council otherwise the Southern electorate will never put the party as a minority government partner in the next Dail.

Sinn Fein loves to indulge itself in rewriting Irish history, but it must waken up to the reality that Fine Gael Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is determined to form the next Dail government without any need for a coalition partner – especially if that partner is Sinn Fein.

Sinn Fein must also face the bitter reality that the centenaries of the Anglo-Irish Treaty which partitioned the island and the Irish Civil War are just around the corner.

How does Sinn Fein spin the fact that after the Treaty, it split republicanism and sparked a conflict on the island more brutal than anything meted out by the Black and Tans during the War of Independence.

On one hand, Sinn Fein has strayed badly politically from its founding roots in 1905 when Arthur Griffith’s vision was for a separatist movement supporting dominion status for the island. That vision would have made Ireland more like modern Canada. Instead, Sinn Fein deteriorated into the mere mouthpiece of a violent republican movement. It has never fully matured politically from the bloodlust of the Irish Civil War when more IRA members were executed by Free State forces than shot by the Tans.

Sinn Fein needs to learn that politically or militarily, the British can never be outgunned when it comes to the tactic of attrition. Somehow, the Provos forgot the British had the experience of dealing with the Mau Mau in Kenya when the republican movement kicked off its so-called armed struggle in the early 1970s.

Using a system of informers, ambushes using the SAS, or alleged collusion using the likes of the so-called Glenanne Gang, the British Establishment – as it did in 1920 – forced republicans to the negotiating table. The British could replace dead or wounded squaddies with more trained soldiers much, much faster than the IRA could replace expert bombers and gunmen.

Sooner or later, the IRA was going to run out of experienced members and family relatives would put pressure on the IRA leadership to call a truce as more and more ‘volunteers’ were lost to prison or the grave. Essentially, the IRA can never go back to war otherwise Sinn Fein will see its political credibility evaporate overnight. Instead, Sinn Fein has only one way to go – to immerse itself even more deeply in the democratic process. Sinn Fein must play the British Establishment at its own game – playing democracy.

During my almost 40 years in journalism in Ireland, I’ve witnessed Sinn Fein take seats in local government, the Dail, Europe – and Stormont. I recall as a young cub BBC freelance covering the Fermanagh South Tyrone Westminster by-election won by Owen Carron. I wonder as he gave his victory speech that day did he ever imagine a situation where Sinn Fein would operate a partitionist parliament at Stormont with Rev Ian Paisley as its power-sharing partner?

The once insurmountable bastion of abstentionism has been diluted to just the House of Commons. Maybe one day Sinn Fein MPs will show the same tactical maturity as the Scottish and Welsh nationalists as well as anti-monarchists in Labour and take their seats at Westminster.

In the meantime, Ireland north and south must prepare for Brexit. Just as Unionists may have to swallow their pride and realise a special status may be needed for Northern Ireland given that the North voted ‘remain’ in the referendum, republicans must also have to face even more bitter medicine that for the South to retain a reasonable standard of living, it must negotiate a closer working relationship with the UK.

If republicans will not ditch their abstentionist policy towards the House of Commons seats, then Sinn Fein should definitely rethink its policy towards the CPA.

The UK and Ireland will have to be part of a major global economic body to survive Brexit. That potential solution lies with the CPA, which represents more than 50 national and regional parliaments throughout the world - not all of them part of the former British Empire.

And therein lies the solution. The CPA contains representatives which were never part of the imperial Empire, so what’s the problem in Sinn Fein linking up with the CPA for the benefit of all Irish citizens?

If Sinn Fein can work with the DUP at Stormont, surely the party can work with representatives of other parliaments in the CPA?

The process would be for the Republic to join the CPA and for the UK to negotiate a new Union with the Republic. This would encourage Unionists to think outside the six-county Northern Ireland.

It would also encourage nationalists to be part of a global alternative structure to the EU. The ethos would be an all-island accommodation rather than a united Ireland. Nationalists get an all-island system of government; Unionists see a return to the formation days of the CPA in 1911 when it was founded as the Empire Parliamentary Association when Ireland was entirely under British rule.

At that time, it must also be remembered that Sinn Fein favoured dominion status, not the 32-county democratic socialist republic as outlined in the Proclamation. It was Bloody Maxwell’s insistence on having the Rising leaders executed which changed Sinn Fein’s ethos from dominion status to outright republic.

For Sinn Fein, the question is simple – does it put the welfare of the people of Ireland first, or does it put an outdated aspiration of Irish unity first? It’s a ‘no-brainer’ – people before policy. Another question remains – does Sinn Fein possess the courage and maturity to follow this path into the CPA?Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter

The Thieves’ Kitchen

Matt Treacy with a piece from Brocaire Books which is critical of "Black Capitalism" in South Africa. 
Add caption

Today is the birthday of Kgalema Motlanthe. He was President of South Africa for a short period between 2008 and 2009 but few will recognise his name.

Like many leading figures in South Africa he came up the hard way. He was a member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress and spent ten years in prison. He was later general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.

The NUM connection is interesting as its first founding secretary was Cyril Ramaphosa, best known to Irish people as one of the overseers of the IRA decommissioning. An interlude that led to some lucrative business deals, apparently. Motlanthe and Ramaphosa’s political careers have followed similar trajectories.

So too have their material advancements. Although Motlanthe had been a critic of “black capitalism,” he and his partner were named in an investigation into a massive bribe to secure a deal with Iran for a South African helicopter company. Both were cleared of the charge.

Ramaphosa is not so discreet. He is a billionaire who in 2011 bought control of the McDonalds franchise in South Africa. More controversially, the former miners union secretary was a director of Lonmin which was the target of a strike in 2012. Over 40 strikers were shot dead.

The key to the vast wealth of the ANC elite, including the Mandelas, is legislation which requires that all companies over a certain size have to have a set proportion of board members who are black. Of course this means that the companies simply appoint members of the ANC apparat.

And how has “black capitalism” benefitted the people of South Africa? Well, it hasn’t. The murder of the striking miners was the largest mass killing in South Africa since Sharpville in 1960.

Unemployment is around 30%, and higher for black workers. A 2011 report found that 40% of South African women will be raped during their lifetime. One observer claimed that a black South African girl had more likelihood of being raped than of learning to read and to write.  South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

The civilized world was properly exercised over the inexcusable treatment of black South Africans under Apartheid.  Unfortunately, since it was ended, the position of black South Africans, and indeed of all South Africans, has severely did-improved.

Unless of course you have a seat at the table in the Kitchen of Thieves.

Whoosh Of Grenfell Tower

Mick Hall writing @ Organized Rage in July expressed little faith in the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire.
Updated: You can almost hear the whoosh of the Grenfell Tower public enquiry vehicle as it rushed by on it's journey to nowhere. 


A retired judge whom housing activists accuse of supporting “social cleansing” has controversially been appointed to lead the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower blaze that caused the deaths of at least 80 people.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who retired in December 2016 after a career spanning five decades as both a lawyer and a judge, was recommended to Downing Street by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the Lord Chief Justice, over a week ago, and was officially confirmed on Thursday.

Although establishment figures have branded the appointment an “excellent choice that will draw universal rounds of applause,” that applause was nowhere to be heard amongst the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. The decision to appoint Moore-Brick sparked a controversy within their community groups, as he once ruled in favour of a mother-of-five being rehoused by Westminster Council up to 50 miles away in Milton Keynes.

Back in 2014, Moore-Bick, whose most recent post was Lord Justice of Appeal, ruled the rehousing lawful, adding the council had no obligation to explain what other housing was available for the claimant Titina Nzolameso.

The woman’s lawyers claimed Moore-Bick’s ruling set a “terrible precedent for local authorities to engage in social cleansing of the poor on a mass scale.” In April 2015, the UK Supreme Court reversed the ruling, saying the judge had failed to ask “any questions aimed at assessing how practicable it would be for the family to move out of the area.”

Leading civil rights barrister Mike Mansfield QC, who has been involved in countless miscarriages of justice cases, said it's:

unbelievable that lessons are not learned from mistakes made in the child sex abuse inquiry ... In that instance, the government did not consult with the families and the survivors and the same thing seems to have happened all over again.

After Moore-Brick visited the scene of the fire he repeated the Tory mantra the fire was an "enormous tragedy," whereas most of the families and the fellow residents on their estate agree with Labour MP David Lammy when he said it was a "monstrous crime."

It's quite clear from the judges comments he was playing down expectations when he said:

I’ve been asked to undertake this inquiry on the basis that it would be pretty well limited to the problems surrounding the start of the fire and its rapid development, in order to make recommendations as to how this sort of thing can be prevented in the future ... I’m well aware that residents want a much broader investigation ... whether my inquiry is the right way in which to achieve that I’m more doubtful.An interim report could be produced within a year, the inquiry could be very challenging. I think it's impossible to say how long it's going to take; I have said on other occasions a matter of months, some people have talked about two or three months. I don't think that's realistic ... I would hope to be able to answer the basic factual questions such as how did the fire start, how did it spread, how was it able to engulf the building in such speed and also questions such as what internal precautions there were, what steps were available for alerting residents and allowing them to escape."

Speaking after the meeting with Moore-Brick, Joe Delaney, from the Grenfell Action Group, said:

He seems a genuine guy but seems to want to keep the scope very narrow... while we are more looking at why was it started in the first place, why were residents ignored?

Pilgrim Tucker, a housing campaigner who worked with Grenfell Action Group to expose the safety flaws at the tower is spot on when he said:

Residents pleaded with Theresa May to involve them in the decision-making about the inquiry. In appointing Sir Martin Moore-Bick, she has ignored them and appointed a completely inappropriate judge. We can have no faith that this inquiry will produce justice for Grenfell residents.

Jamal Williams who also lives on the Estate on which Grenfell tower is situated agreed with Pilgrim:

I think we need to call for a parallel inquiry. I think the inquiry is going to be very narrow, that is what I have come to understand.

To give him credit Moore-Bick has literally said as much, which makes one question why he took the job in the first place if he believed residents and the families of the victims want a much broader investigation?  Doesn't that seem to be a dishonourable thing to do?

Public enquiries have always been used by British governments to kick troublesome issues into the long grass. Tony Blair called a number of them to dig himself out of a hole of his own making. The Hutton Inquiry was perhaps the most notorious. Blair successfully used the narrow confines of this inquiries, along with the appointment of a pliable judge to keep his government's secrets from the public domain.

During Hutton decades in Northern Ireland he was known as the guardian angel of the British establishment, thus it was hardly surprising such a pliable fellow would be appointed by Blair, nor when he issued his report it exonerated from blame virtually everyone in the government.

After all as far as the British state is concerned that is what judicial public inquiries are for.

It was only after a public enquiry was set up by Gordon Brown with Sir John Chilcot, a non-judge in the chair, we finally got answers about the Iraq war and occupation.

Much the same happened over Hillsborough, a judge led public inquiry got nowhere, it was only after the families set-up their own Hillsborough Independent Panel to look into what happened, and who was culpable, the families finally got answers and actions from the police and criminal justice system.

After British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians during a peaceful protest march in Doire, which resulted in 14 having their lives stolen by the state. The British government commissioned the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery to head a tribunal to look into the bloody events of that day. When Widgery produced his report it supported the Army's account of the events of the day almost word for word. If ever a man should have been charged with bringing a public office into disrepute it was Widgery. Sadly that has never been the British establishments way.  In this class prejudice nation only the minnows get pushed under the bus..

As with the Hillsborough, the victims families spent years protesting and demanding justice for their loved ones before the truth was out. This only finally happened because they insisted judges from Canada, New Zealand, and Australia sat along side Mark Savile the British judge who headed the Saville Inquiry.

The reaction of many Tory MP's since the appointment of Moore-Bick, reeks of a cover up. They having been touring the TV and radio studios condemning Corbyn's response, claiming we need to take partisan politics out of this tragedy and await the public enquiry report.

You can almost hear the whoosh of the Grenfell Tower public enquiry vehicle as it rushed by on it's journey to nowhere.

Do You Have One Of These Five People In Your Life?

From Atheist Republic,  Jenny Del Toro asks about the type of pests that she has had had to deal with because of her atheism.  1. The butt-hurt Christian Facebook friend

They know you didn’t post that funny Richard Dawkins meme because you thought it was hilarious, and you thought your atheist friends would also get a kick out of it, you did it because you wanted them specifically to see it. You did it just to make fun of them and they’re going to let you know how horrible you are in the comments section. How dare you offend him? How DARE you?
2. People who think their religion gives them automatic cred

My husband and I faced a lot of this while interviewing potential child care providers for our son. “Good Christian” would be listed on resumes as a qualification next to “CPR Certified” and “Non-Smoker.” What does that even mean? Are non-Christians more likely to forget to use diaper rash cream? I had one potential sitter email me to tell me that I would need to be aware that she is a Christian before proceeding with any business. I emailed her back and let her know that I am a firm Bible-believing Christian as well, and that she will have full permission to tend to my child to the letter of Biblical child-rearing, so if he disobeys, stone him to death. Also, noticing that she was not of the same ethnicity as me, I told her that I would not be paying her for her services as it is my God given right to take her as my slave. She replied back with simply, “Satan, I rebuke thee!”
3. The relative who hates you

If the family you’re from is religious to any degree, no matter how cool the majority of them are with your atheism, there will always be that One relative who is utterly disgusted by your godless lifestyle, and lets you know exactly how they feel by posting vague, passive aggressive Facebook status updates and comments.

4. The people who believe in hell
This is the one that really makes me wonder about some people. There are still grown-ass adults alive today who believe that if you don’t believe in their version of religion, that you will indeed burn and suffer unbearable pain for all of eternity. Really? That doesn’t seem a bit harsh to you? That billions of people are going to burn for all of eternity just because they were born into the wrong religion? And people say it so casually too. I work with a girl who boasted to me once, “oh, I believe in heaven. I believe in heaven and I believe in hell!” Like it was her number one virtue. I asked her if she thought I was going to go to hell since I don’t believe in God and she just gave me a “sucks to be you!” look and shrugged. She shrugged at the thought of me being tortured for all of eternity. That’s messed up.
5. The people who think they can convince you you’re wrong

And it's finally time to talk about these guys. Ugh. They all use the same tired, erroneous arguments, “prove that there isn’t a god”, “what if you’re wrong?” “doesn’t it take more faith to not believe in god?” “aren’t you scared of going to hell?” “god exists because the bible says he does.” “you’ll stop being an atheist once you get cancer.” All of these are easily refuted, but you have to be careful when you prove a theist wrong, they get extremely irritable when they can’t prove their uneducated points. They're very committed to their delusion, so it's better to just walk away.

Authoritarianism And Liberatory Movements

Cormac Caulfield sees a link between liberation organisations and authoritarianism. This piece has been written with the recent controversies surrounding the ‘’dissident’’ Republican movement, (prison scandals, some treatment of activists within the movement and ‘’republican policing’’) although it is not specific only to the Republican grouping and can be generalised across all Authoritarian spheres of political thought and organising, from the Socialist Party on one side of the spectrum, to the Republican movement on the other. It is written from an Anarchist-Socialist (and anti-Imperialist), or classically political libertarian perspective.

Political Authoritarianism is a complex phenomenon but can be defined, partly as, hierarchical organising methods, with top down, centralised command structures, where power is vested in the upper echelons of an organisation/grouping. These structures lead to, most obviously centralised decision making and therefore centralised discipline/control, where the executive organs of a grouping has the authority to impose its will and decisions upon the lower ranks of the group.

Many in the Republican Movement will view recent events within prisons (and outside for that matter) as unconnected from the overall culture and structure of the movement. As being random, isolated events, simply abuses of individuals of others. This is not the case. The abuse and controlling behaviours of those with power within the Republican movement is inextricable linked to the structural and social power they hold within their organisations. e.g. their appointed position of authority within organisations.

Without positions of unaccountable authority abuse of individuals is greatly mitigated and even eliminated in some cases. It is the Capitalist way for abuse to flow down the hierarchy, whether that abuse is emanating from state structures, a corporation, a patriarchal home or a top down ‘’revolutionary’’ organisation. Only the elimination of hierarchical organisation, with proper democratic structures of equality in place, and accountability processes pre-planned, will minimise the possibility of violent abuse.

There will never be a perfect movement where everyone is treated right, all of the time. However, vesting privilege and power into the hands of a few is one way to guarantee that power is abused. Whether those wrongs done on people are dealt with in an accountable manner is a question of political choice - not mechanistic determinism.

Power begets power. It is a long standing established empirical fact that power is as addictive and intoxicating as a high on cocaine. The more you have the more it must be tightly watched and more must be had. If people think this is the first round of abuse by those with power of prisoners they are sorely wrong. Anyone who has been close to the Republican Movement has heard the incessant stories of prison bullying, isolation, vilification, prison beatings by so-called comrades, and worse, from the early 70’s, right up to the present day.

These things have all occurred to genuine and venerated anti-imperialist activists when they dared question ‘’the leadership’’. Most republicans can tell stories of comrades who have even died at the hands of other ‘’revolutionaries’’, sometimes from within their own groups, in order to rein in dissent.

These are political choices of individuals, not the results of abstract mechanistic determinism.

The Provo "policing" of the ceasefire has turned poacher into game keeper. The next step is for the current groups to take the same path. Kettling in dissent and funnelling resistance solely through its own organisations, through extreme violence when necessary. The war is over, justifications and calls for "unity" in order to cover up wrong-doings no longer hold any reasonable weight. 
These are methods to rein in dissent and highly coercive, brutal ways to create group hegemony, under the all seeing "leadership", which has the authority to do so, as it will guide us to "freedom". A "freedom" which largely means the absence of British Capitalist administration in Ireland, not a meaningful material freedom.

The fact is if people are given undemocratic, unaccountable leverage over others means it will be abused and justified through group think, facilitated through loyalty to the leadership or cause, which, as the "big other", is untouchable or unquestioanble, like God himself. As to question the leadership or its power is "counterrevolutionary", or worse still, "playing into the hands of the Brits".

From prison beatings to shooting children for anti social behaviour, it all come down to one thing - control. Control of organisations, control of movements, control of struggle and control of communities. Without directly democratic and accountable structures, power warps those who wield it, even with the best of intentions.

If any of this sounds familiar its because it is. The Admas/McGuinness leadership used the exact same methods to destroy political opponents and genuine anti-imperialists, to kettle in a potentially revolutionary movement into the corridors of acceptable power and eventually, to completely pull the teeth from a liberatory movement that had the greatest potential in western Europe. All done, facilitated and allowed to happen because of top-down structures.

Every, without exception, authoritarian, hierarchical movements have suffered the same fate throughout history and those today who seek to replicate the militaristic, hierarchical past will fall into the same trap. They are doomed to failure.

All top-down parties that seek power for themselves are authoritarian by nature and deploy any means of acquiring that power in their messianic quest for state authority and therefore the ability to legislate for liberty.

The Socialist Party is another example of authoritarianism, on the other end of the spectrum. It manipulates and splits working class movements to garner and carve out a bit more support for itself, lies and misrepresents its politics etc: viewing the organisation as an end in itself, not a tool to be used for liberation. This happened in the campaign against household and water tax movement, where, once it failed to create its central committee to control the movement, split it through electioneering. Similar stories of isolation, vilification ect (although to a lesser degree - they don't believe in physical force) of dissidents within the party can be heard from many a disgruntled former member.

The same can be seen in the SWP. The well known rape controversy is not shocking for its exceptionalism but for how standard such things are within hierarchical, male dominated movements. Circle the wagons, launch smear/isolation campaigns against those "attacking" the leadership, and therefore "the cause", and eventually destroy all opposition to any kind of dissent. 
Sound familiar? All of these things happen within all hierarchical, centralised organisations, with no accountability or recall. Why? Because of the very structural nature of such organisations, and the mentality they engender

From the authoritarian state-socialists of the east, to the republicans of Ireland, hierarchical movements have replicated and reproduced the very structures they sought to destroy, many from the beginning, in a form of symmetrical warfare. Anarchists on the other hand, while not denying the need for force, attempt to create asymmetrical, non-hierarchical structures which will not fall into the trap of the masters - that in reproducing the very exploitation and oppression caused by the systems we seek to destroy.

The seeds of this federalist, autonomous approach has some tradition within the Republican movement itself. The 1916 Societies, although largely commemorative, not political organisations, operate in a way that is not top down or authoritarian, at least from the writer's knowledge. These forms of organisational forms should be encouraged and supported if the mistakes of the past are not to be repeated.

Where Mythology Meets Reality – The Aran Islands

Sean Mallory writes of the beauty he finds in the Aran Islands.
The Aran Islands are such islands that captivate and entice the inquisitive traveller to have a look. Encompassing three islands, Inis Oirr, Inis Meáin and Inis Mór, this tiny Irish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean lies off the coasts of Co Galway and Co Clare and can be accessed from either counties coastal villages that offer a ferry service.

A modern mechanical ferry mind you and not the traditional currach that once dominated the seas around this coastline. These are no longer valued for their work ethic but are retired to spend their summers racing or filled with pot plants and adorn harbour walls or public view points around the various harbours.

Viewed from the mainland the Aran's, like the Blaskets, hold a mystical calling that at times can be difficult to ignore. Having visited the Blaskets off Dingle in Co Kerry, the recent calling of the Aran's got too great and we booked a day trip to Inis Mór as it was the largest of the Islands at 31 KM2 and mainly because it hosts the prehistoric hill fort of Dún Aonghusa. The child in me drawn by the attraction of a real fort.

Doolin, Co Clare, being our chosen point of departure, we booked our ferry the evening before just to be safe of our place on the boat!

Picnic packed and coats, fleeces and all other eventualities packed in a backpack that I was volunteered to carry, we excitedly headed off to catch the 10:30am ferry from Doolin. On arrival at the ticket office and in the mix of dozens of foreign touristy passengers all making the same enquiries, I handed over our on-line reference booking number (technology catching up with the Arans) to a local, who's mum I am informed through our cordial banter was originally from Strabane!

With 50 shades of un-erotic grey hanging in the skies above I quickly enquired as to the weather for today on the islands and was told that it would be dry and sunny spells and not to worry. Looking up that information began to sound as a well-rehearsed sales retort to such an enquiry. Chris De Burgh's Don’t Pay the Ferryman began to ring through my thoughts.

Administration finished we were politely directed out the office door and along the pier to a queue for where our ferry would be waiting to take us on our 1 hr and 40 min journey. Standing around waiting to board we selected the more modern and plush looking ferry as the one which we hoped was ours but a short time later we were boarded and much to our disappointment on to one of the more ‘experienced’ boats that reminded me of a converted fishing trawler....without the pungent odour!

The seas, very choppy, and unrelenting, for some passengers made the initial journey out and past Inis Oirr quite an ordeal. My family and myself, dreading having our sea legs tested, remained aloof and immune to such trials and tribulations to the point that I was able to remain outside the main passenger cabin enjoying the views of the 700ft high cliffs of Moher as they faded in to the distance.

I don’t know if it was the advice given to me by a friend many moons ago on a sea fishing expedition off the Giant's Causeway, that to avoid sea sickness, always keep your eyes on land or the horizon and don’t stare at the sea. Advice akin to when travelling in a car to avoid car sickness being told not to stare at the countryside!...strangely though my family were ignorant of such advice and yet didn’t succumb!

Past Inis Oirr and heading towards Inis Meáin, we were over taken by the plush ferry that seemed to glide along the surface while we hacked and trundled our way relentlessly onwards. If only!

Shortly afterwards the sea calmed and the sailing become more relaxed. The sky began to clear of grey clouds, replacing these with fluffy white clouds that drifted away from the islands on their own sea currents of air and the sun, long lost behind the grey, forced its way out and began to shine. This lifted the spirits of those on board and jackets were stripped of to cool down in the new morning heat.

Sparsely populated yet tightly knit, the island communities exist in small pockets dotted here and there. No doubt all family groups living side by side. One aspect that immediately hits the traveller is that the islands have very few if any trees of any significance. Stone being the prevalent and dominant material on the islands, is used to mark the boundaries of fields with carefully constructed and nurtured stone walls. What hedge rows that do exist are forever bent towards the mainland as if crying out for shelter from the ferocity of the Atlantic winds when they do blow.

Past Inis Meáin and on to our destination of Inis Mór. By the time we reached the harbour and had disembarked the sun was truly out for the day and sat brightly in clear blue skies exuding warmth. We immediately avoided those selling island day trips in either motorised coaches or on horse and traps and headed towards the nearest cycle shop and hired our bicycles for the day. With traffic at a minimum and an unlikely hindrance, we had earlier made the group decision to cycle round the island even though mum and dad hadn’t been on a bicycle in quite possibly 35 to 40+ years. A quick re-introduction to balance and apprehension aside, armed with directions to Dún Aonghusa and advice to take the less undulating coast road we set off.

With the Atlantic to our starboard side we cycled enthusiastically along, chattering and giggling at our ineptitude at cycling and trying to understand the gearing system. Twenty one gears is quite a struggle when you grew up on a simple 3 gear Raleigh Chopper!

As our little peloton meandered along we were joined by other families and also joined other families we caught up with and adopted them in to our group. The excitement rising and falling with the rise and fall of the road. A few short stops to view the seals basking in the summer sun, to have a short break of fluids or simply take in the view of Galway Bay and far of Connemara and an hour or so later we found ourselves at Dún Aonghusa.

A partially ringed fort that has one side open to the Atlantic but sitting on a 300ft sheer cliff face. Its purpose still somewhat of a mystery to historians and archaeologists alike. Was it built as a stronghold retreat for the ruling tribes of the West coast or was it built as a first line of defence from what was to come across the Atlantic? Perhaps a foreboding of Trump!

Bicycles parked up in a bicycle style ‘car’ park and no need to lock them as who in their right mind is going to steal these for there is no market on the island for stolen bicycles nor is there an obvious available means to remove them from the island. All transport, both on land and sea belongs to the community and this community doesn’t steal from its neighbour.

A stipend of a few Euros (kids go free), rucksack adjusted and we began our hike up a very stony path to the distant fort. Like something out of a fantasy novel the fort rises up before you. Huge stone walls designed to intimidate clearly warn the visitor that it means business.

Sitting inside and within the first ring of defence with high cliffs to our backs and the roar of the Atlantic lost far below we pick out from the stone surface a somewhat flat protruding stone to act as out table for our picnic banquet and tuck in. Admiring the size of the fort a few of us, tea and ham roll in hand, stroll off to take in its incredible construction.

Once finished we head up through the main gate to the inner ring and it is here that we venture over to the edge of the cliff, crawling the last few yards on our bellies, and looking down towards where the Atlantic crashes interminably against its face. 300ft is a long way down! No stone wall at the cliff edge to protect the visitor from absentmindedly plunging down in to the Atlantic far below....health and safety not being a priority among the ancient Celtic peoples!

Finished with our exploring of Dún Aonghusa we decide we have time to go and see the Worm Hole. A rectangular diving area of the Dún Aonghusa cliffs for the more adventurous or mad!

Down we trod back to our bikes, load up, and head down the road towards the Worm Hole – rucksack a lot lighter at this stage!

A sign informs the traveller that the Worm Hole is accessed by a country lane bordered with the ubiquitous stone walls. Unfortunately our path is blocked by a small herd of cattle grazing on the lush grass growing along the centre of the lane and its edges against the wall. The cattle have taken a few Spanish tourists prisoner who are standing in the middle of the herd, pressed tightly against one of the stone walls. Judging by their faces these Spanish nationals are not from Pamplona! Another walker and myself, herd the cattle back through the gate they initially escaped through and close it off to prevent further attacks on any weary Spanish travellers. Ours look extremely relieved!

Once at the Worm Hole and having viewed the madness we head back along the high road to the harbour to catch our return ferry. A huge climb, involving some walking beside the bicycles at times, actually a lot of walking, but we eventually reach the peak. Waiting on others to catch up we soon regroup and begin our decent.

Whizzing downwards without the slightest need to propel myself, fear and exhilaration mixing through my veins and hanging on to the handle bars like grim death and testing the brakes every few yards, my kids, carefree and oblivious to mum and dad's predicament, lift their legs of the pedals and let go wild shouts of joy at the world as they speed headlong towards the bottom. The scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, ‘Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head’, comes immediately in to my head.

At the bottom and much to our relief we return the bicycles, have a quick look around the sweater shops where we discover that the patterns in the knitwear, much as tartan colours and Scots clans, are associated with the individual island families. Memories of being made to stand like a tailors dummy come to mind while being measured for a home knitted Aran style sweater. And for some unknown reason my mother thought that it was a lovely and cute idea to dress her children in Aran jumpers where the wearer’s gender was identified by colour. A sweater or jumper that itched the life out of you!

Boarding the ferry while the kids continue to babble about their downhill rush we are told that we will have to get off the ferry at Inis Meáin and catch the fast ferry back as this one is scheduled to do a tour of the cliffs of Moher on its way back. The kids are delighted and when we do swap vessels the fast plush ferry is indeed just that.

Some passengers have left the seating cabin and are standing at the bow taking in the view in the evening sun. Some say the sea can be a cruel and vengeful mother and it is about to live up to that reputation.

A huge freak wave suddenly sweeps over the bow and drenches the lot of them. Perhaps a final mystical parting ‘tonn’ from the Arans.

Later that evening, excitedly recalling our day and our experiences one question arose in the conversation, would we want to be on the island mid-winter? The answer being unanimously a ‘No’. The Atlantic is an implacable, dogged, ferocious and an uncompromising pond.

Later one aspect of our trip suddenly leapt in to my mind. Aran, universally renowned for its woolly jumpers – we never saw any sheep – perhaps another Aran mystery!

Here's a simply written book about Island life on the Blaskets that I picked up last year and truly enjoyed and if you ever get the opportunity to read it please do - The Loneliest Boy in the World: The Last Child of the Great Blasket ......... by Gearóid Cheaist Ó Catháin with Patricia Ahern.

Clouds Of Suspicion Over Omission Of 9.4 Exemption In Oireachtas Water Committee Report

Enda Craig & James Quigley writing @ Buncrana Together  continue with their water charges exposé. 
European Commission and Senior Counsels on 9.4 Exemption and River Basin Management Plans Feb 15 2017

Oireachtas report omits any mention of crucial European Law session

In this article we will again return to the question of Ireland’s 9.4 Exemption, the River Basin Management Plans and their inexplicable omission in the draft or final report of the Oireachtas Committee on Funding Domestic Water when it concluded business in April 2017.
Conleth Bradley, SC legal opinion
Anyone not acquainted with the importance of the above topics can read our article Michael Noonan 'Water Charges Required Under European Law' is a Lie or listen to the 30 mins video below or read the excellent legal opinions by Irish Senior Counsels, Conleth Bradley and Matthias Kelly, who, by the way, were invited to present submissions to the Committee by Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, respectively.

This article zones in on the Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water debate on the 15th February, 2017. We draw your attention to the fact that the subject of the debate i.e the 9.4 Exemption and the River Basin Management Plans are of the utmost importance to the anti water charges’ campaign, that the debate lasted for a complete session and it somehow never got included in the final draft report or the subsequent final report of the committee. This final report was passed by the Dáil on the 13th April 2017 and will form the basis of any future legislation.
Matthias Kelly, SC, legal opinion
Report procedures and inconsistency
It could be the case that ‘it’s the way they do business down in Dáil’, as we were informed by a R2W TDs on the Oireachtas Committee, however, as ordinary citizens, we can only take the explanation found on the Oireachtas website itself at face value where it says, ″On an ongoing basis Committees publish reports based on the meetings and hearings they have held″.

Ordinary citizens would instinctively know that any chairperson would include in their report such important matters that were debated for a complete session, especially one with top opinions from senior counsel.

However, this was not the case here. One would think that the Committee members, those opposing water charging, including Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, would be up in arms over such an omission, especially since they were responsible for inviting legal submissions in the first place.

Significantly, there wasn't even a whimper after the draft report was presented to the committee member on the 5th April, 2017, (sans any hint of 9.4 Exemption or the RBMP).



Understanding the sequence of events for reports
After all the meetings of the Oireachtas Committee had ended, it was up to the chairman Pádraig ÓCéidigh and his team to furnish a " confidential draft report". This report should have included and reflected the various topics that had been discussed during the committee’s private and public sessions. This procedure allows committee members to scrutinise the contents and then agree or not to a final report.
Pádraig ÓCéidigh, Chairman
In this case a draft report was duly compiled and circulated to each committee member on the 5th April, 2017. After reading that report it would have immediately been obvious that any mention of one of the most important sessions, namely, the 9.4 Exemption and the River Basin Management Plans was not included.
Now would that not raise alarm bells?

If the R2W members or for that matter Fianna Fáil members had been genuinely fighting for the 9.4 Exemption as they professed during the 15th February session , they would have immediately taken steps to remedy the situation and insist that the draft report be rewritten to include the vital information.

This did not happen and as we have witnessed, when the draft report (without 9.4 Exemption) was circulated, unbelievably, Paul Murphy, Richard Boyd-Barrett, Mick Barry and Brid Smith headed for the media and claimed a great victory. This was followed the next day by a crowd of R2W TDs who again claimed exactly the same 'victory'. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael then rejigged a few words in the draft report during the following week and came up with a final report that again never mentioned the 9.4 Exemption or the River Basin Management Plan.

What are we to make of it?

Flabbergasted at the short shortsightedness, appalled at the double-cross and wonder at why the wastefulness of the elaborate legal opinions especially in defense of the 9.4 Exemption.

However, such is our paranoia, we can not rule out that Ó Céidigh did include the February session, as per protocol, but for some reason it was removed by agreement of the Oireachtas members. Such was the secrecy of some parts of the committee sessions and the scarcity of information about what was going on especially from R2W that we are really at a disadvantage.

If we take it that Ó Céidigh and his team omitted the February session, then we might look at that as grounds for calling for a mismanagement of committee protocol and ask for the final report to be deemed null and void.

Another aspect of members not objecting or saying anything is how can R2W hold Fianna Fáil, or vice versa, accountable if neither objected to the omission or worse colluded in it.

That is depressing enough but what is worse is the lack of any credible answers from R2W, Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and the Left despite being asked.

One response we came across is worthy of a mention though. That can be found in an unaccredited Right2Water Ireland revisionary article where, in relation to the ‘victory’ claim, it referred to R2W Oireachtas members as ‘Naive’.

Now if there is one description we would never use to describe Sinn Féin, it would not be ‘naive’. More like seasoned, wily, cunning, ruthless establishment politicians, cut from the same cloth as the rest down in the Dáil.


30 mins extract from the Oireachtas Committee on Future Funding of Water in Ireland - full debate here. 

Untruths Dónal Billings Must Address

Statement from E3/E4 Portlaoise Republican Prisoners regarding Dónal Billings.

Despite being reluctant to make statements regarding internal issues and individuals, we feel it necessary to clarify a few points relating to recent allegations. Contrary to what people on the outside have heard or believe Dónal Billings is not now, nor has he been, refusing food as part of any protest. Mr Billings left E Block, by agreement, on Sunday July 31st following conversations with all groups.

Since Mr Billings entered the jail late last year, we on E3/E4 found ourselves reluctantly drawn into negotiation and mediation between Mr Billings and other non-aligned prisoners, as a result of Mr Billings’ behaviour.

In December 2016, after only 2 weeks in jail, Mr Billings was ejected from the CIRA landing for un-republican conduct and following intervention from ourselves on E3/34, was accommodated on E1, where he accepted the Block’s code of conduct.

In March 2017, Mr Billings physically assaulted two POWs on E3 following Sunday Mass. He then refused to leave the landing and had to be physically removed by prison staff. Despite the seriousness of this incident, no action was taken by our unit, due to Mr Billings’ personal difficulties. Subsequently, Mr Billings was facilitated by the jail administration for religious services on E1.

There have been insistences where Mr Billings is alleged to have taken tools from E1 workshop and hid them in his cell, and was alleged to be making shiv-type weapons. The prison administration was aware of this and asked for E3/E4 staff to mediate and retrieve the tools/weapons, under threat of the prison being overturned in a search. Our unit was asked to mediate on behalf of all.
We were made aware by the jail administration of an attempt by Mr Billings to go live on radio. There would have been implications and consequences for E Block. When approached by us, Mr Billings gave an undertaking to desist but then ignored the promises which he made.

Mr Billings has engaged in ongoing intimidation of other POWs on E1 – issuing threats of violence and slandering POWs. He also physically threatened an older POW aligned to IRPWA housed on E1. Our unit was made aware that prisoners on E1 intended to take action against him. Our unit used our influence to avert this.

Mr Billings continually disrupted E1 education classes, with teachers present, denying POWs the right to education. Mr Billings continued to undermine republican prisoners’ access to all forms of education on E1. E1 prisoners repeatedly approached us to resolve this matter on their behalf.

Contrary to misinformation, Mr Billings has always been allocated visiting boxes and yard times on request, like everybody else. It has never been this unit’s policy to sit-in on anybody’s legal or personal visits. Any suggestion to the contrary is a complete fabrication, malicious in nature and designed to undermine the republican prisoner’s charter in the jail.

Haircuts are never an issue, as the jail supplies a barber on a weekly basis. POWs past and present know this to be a fact.

POWs on E1 asked E3/E4 staff to mediate in ongoing clashes on E1 amongst themselves. Each POW, including Mr Billings, was given an opportunity to air their differences. Following a two-hour consultation, a clean slate was agreed. 10 minutes later, Mr Billings approached POWs on E2, and slandered the staff on E3/E4. E2 POWs declined to get involved, and informed E3/E4 staff. This is a further example of E3/E4 being asked to mediate following problems manufactured by Mr Billings with other groupings.

It is the policy of E3/E4 to promote and encourage the use of the Irish language. Classes in Irish on our landings are held twice-weekly. We have a number of Irish speakers on our landings. Mr Billings took issue with, and undermined our Irish teacher, a fellow POW, believing his Irish to be superior to everyone else’s. It is preposterous to suggest that we would discriminate against a fellow Irish speaker regardless of who it is.

Mr Billings approached two POWs on E3/E4 in recent weeks and made serious allegations. He could not substantiate these allegations when asked to do so. On investigation, these allegations were found to be malicious and unfounded. No evidence to the contrary was offered.

Use of the library was never an issue, contrary to what Mr Billings might say. Mr Billings availed of the library on numerous occasions.

Mr Billings has ongoing issues with POWs on E1 and they do not want to facilitate him on their landing because of continued unrepublican conduct. It is not for us to elaborate on this, as they speak on their own behalf. Decisions regarding Mr Billings, were not taken lightly, but were cognisant of his personal difficulties, circumstances and relationships with other non-aligned prisoners. These decisions were taken in the interests of the integrity and security of all republican prisoners in E Block, following consultations with all landings involved. Mr Billings has a personal responsibility to address the untruths of recent days, but regardless, the republican prisoners in E Block will not be deflected by mistruths or malicious statements inside or outside the jail, or from any quarter.

We remain committed to providing a safe, hostile-free and supportive environment in the most difficult of circumstances for all Republican Prisoners in E block regardless of their political affiliations.

Republican Prisoners
E3/E4
Portlaoise
02/08/17