This & That 𐃉 Take 2

The Pain of Confinement

Jimmy Boyle touched on something when he titled one of his books The Pain of Confinement. It is a matter addressed  in today’s Sunday World by Suzanne Breen in respect of the ongoing detention of Marian Price. Were it not for Breen’s journalism many abuses of power in Irish society would never see the light of day.

Marian Price has now been in solitary confinement since May of this year. She told Breen of the "mind-numbing boredom" of being confined in conditions of isolation.  ‘I get three visits a week in Maghaberry. Those three hours' conversation is the only contact I have with other human beings. Of course, it's taking its toll on me.’

How could it not be? Her solicitor Peter Corrigan, like his client, himself a target of the PSNI political policing, has said:

Marian Price has been in solitary seven months. This shouldn't happen in a civilised country. Even those who vehemently oppose my client's politics must realise this amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment.

In spite of this she refuses to recant or renounce the republican political views she holds. Bailed by the courts on two separate charges means she is in jail on no charge, but as the result of a draconian decision by a British Tory.

It is not just that Marian Price's conditions of solitary confinement are wrong, her continued detention is itself a serious breach of justice. She should be released forthwith.


How the 1983 Sinn Fein Leadership Race was won.

A minute or so in and all is revealed in this recently discovered footage of what really happened at the 1983 Ard Fheis:


http://video.aol.com/video/the-dictator-trailer-no-1/825289193


Off They Go

Attention. Eyes right, politics as well. Nothing to the left where the US is concerned. Iraq, another super mess caused by a super power. Over 4000 American troops dead, an estimated 150, 000 Iraqi civilians – many think considerably more – what was it all for? Although termed Operation Iraqi Freedom, US foreign policy and other people’s freedom have long seemed mutually exclusive. Ask Henry Kissinger who has managed to outlive his bane Christopher Hitchens. He knows a thing or two about how US foreign policy values human rights and freedoms. So much so in fact that he no longer has the freedom to enter some countries for fear of arrest at the behest of the human rights lobby, determined to pursue him for his atrocious record of crimes against humanity.

What would make Iraqis so special that the US would select them out of all the world’s oppressed peoples with whom to share the gift of democracy? Why not share it with the Palestinians? Given the greed driven accumulation of wealth that the superpower lauds as freedom, sharing does not seem to feature much in the national culture. Sounds too much like that terrible thing called socialism which Jurgis stumbled across as a panacea to poverty in Upton Sinclair’s great novel of immigrant life in the US, The Jungle.

Consider wars for freedom in the context of an Alternet report which claims that evidence is emerging about the involvement of US troops in training reactionary juantas and dictatorships for the purpose of repressing the wave of uprisings popularly known as the Arab Spring:

As state security forces across the region cracked down on democratic dissent, the Pentagon also repeatedly dispatched American troops on training missions to allied militaries there.  During more than 40 such operations with names like Eager Lion and Friendship Two that sometimes lasted for weeks or months at a time, they taught Middle Eastern security forces the finer points of counterinsurgency, small unit tactics, intelligence gathering, and information operations -- skills crucial to defeating popular uprisings.

As Borat said, ‘we support your war of terror.’

5 comments:

  1. Read Suzanne Breen,s article in todays paper Anthony, it was well written and balanced, Suzanne Breen is one of the few journalists here with balls and I mean that with respect,it would take you to have a heart of stone not to feel for Marian,s plight,I tend to disagree with you here though when you say she is being held as a result of a draconian decision by a british tory,rather I believe sos Patterson as in the case of Cameron and the Finucane family are only acting on the instructions of the real brit masters ie, the faceless unelected securocrats.as for the 1983 qsf leadership race well thats a cracker a cara, and wouldnt it be lovely to see a rendition done on on those bastards Bush,Blair,Kissinger,and the rest...

    ReplyDelete
  2. part 1 -

    " she became disillusioned with Sinn Fein and so joined the sovereignty "

    Was she a member or supporter of Sinn Fein in the 80s early 90s-

    " being a Republican isn't about entering a popularity contest- it never has been "

    So marian is now opposed to the first Dail-


    " She was granted a royal pardon "

    The irony of it all- what did the dissidents call those a few years ago who got a royal pardon- the word traitor was used a few times- is this still their view-

    ReplyDelete
  3. Who gives a hoot what was said to BC.If they are dead then who cares.Their statements would be useless in a court of law.If they are alive then who cares cause they can say they made it up for whatever reason and therefore be useless in a court of law.Lot of fuss about nothing. They just want to stop ex combatants from either side leaving a written history in their name as to what really went on.Brits are terrified that some of their agents start to spill the beans.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's heartbreaking to see what's happening to this woman after all she's been through.

    I saw a video of her where she said when she joined the IRA it was to drive the Brits out of Ireland, not to place some in stormont.

    Maybe that answers you Michael Henry - she was involved up until the early 90's but withdrew her support when stormont came on the cards. She became disillusioned then.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Marty,

    I never bought into the securocrat argument, feeling instead it was a figment of SF's imagination. When McGuinness was asked to name one he picked somebody who opened doors for SF to get them over humps in the negotiations - Joe Pilling. Joe Pilling moved mountains to separate decommissioning from prisoner release so that SF could get the prisoners out without having to decommission as the unionists wanted.

    has left a new comment on your post "This & That. Take 2":

    Read Suzanne Breen,s article in todays paper Anthony, it was well written
    and balanced, Suzanne Breen is one of the few journalists here with balls
    and I mean that with respect,it would take you to have a heart of stone not
    to feel for Marian,s plight,I tend to disagree with you here though when
    you say she is being held as a result of a draconian decision by a british
    tory,rather I believe sos Patterson as in the case of Cameron and the
    Finucane family are only acting on the instructions of the real brit
    masters ie, the faceless unelected securocrats.as for the 1983 qsf
    leadership race well thats a cracker a cara, and wouldnt it be lovely to
    see a rendition done on on those bastards Bush,Blair,Kissinger,and the
    rest...

    ReplyDelete