Daniel Bradley calls on those republicans boycotting the Bloody Sunday march to think again.

Tony Taylor and other republicans, I need you to retract the statement that you published at this critical time.

I'm aware of what happened at last year's march. I am also aware that you have been supporting this march from day one.

You will agree with me at this present moment that 9 British soldiers are charged with murder and we are waiting for an outcome. If we as republicians and nationalists do not stand together and show support the British divide and conquer shall overcome and these soldiers will not stand trial. Is that what you want to see?

I want to share this. Many of the years in this Bloody Sunday march I would have loved to take the platform and share how volunteer Seamus Bradley was captured, stripped naked and shot three times as well as been tortured. But I had to agree with these two ladies, Kate and Linda Nash, that this March is about innocent people shot down in Bloody Sunday.

It doesn't take a lot  to understand a families injustice. Therefore, Tony, you must look once again and understand their decision in refusing your wife the platform.


Daniel Bradley is a Derry justice campaigner.






Think Again

Daniel Bradley calls on those republicans boycotting the Bloody Sunday march to think again.

Tony Taylor and other republicans, I need you to retract the statement that you published at this critical time.

I'm aware of what happened at last year's march. I am also aware that you have been supporting this march from day one.

You will agree with me at this present moment that 9 British soldiers are charged with murder and we are waiting for an outcome. If we as republicians and nationalists do not stand together and show support the British divide and conquer shall overcome and these soldiers will not stand trial. Is that what you want to see?

I want to share this. Many of the years in this Bloody Sunday march I would have loved to take the platform and share how volunteer Seamus Bradley was captured, stripped naked and shot three times as well as been tortured. But I had to agree with these two ladies, Kate and Linda Nash, that this March is about innocent people shot down in Bloody Sunday.

It doesn't take a lot  to understand a families injustice. Therefore, Tony, you must look once again and understand their decision in refusing your wife the platform.


Daniel Bradley is a Derry justice campaigner.






4 comments:

  1. I take it you mean Saoradh statement http://saoradh.ie/bloody-sunday-march-saoradh-statement/ It is a pity that it has come to this. I am sure Saoradh did not make this decision lightly and their grievances in my opinion are serious and substantial.
    How come they could not get them addressed? You say that it was known last year that there was controversy. How come we have not heard about it and how come it has not been rectified. This in itself may indicate there is a problem.
    Although I am and will be a supporter of the aims of Bloody Sunday families I am, like Saoradh, concerned about the openness,transparency and structure within BSMFJ. I have looked in their web page but could not find the committee members or anything about their structure. Although there is a mechanism to email, it does not work.

    Personally I do not support militarism nor paramilitary symbolism of Saoradh, and think it incongruous to what I believe is the ethos of Bloody Sunday, nevertheless I think Saoradh or anyone should have a right and a mechanism to voice their opinions.

    jamesq

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  2. Reading between the lines... all are probably agreed that the Bloody Sunday March is an established platform to champion human rights abuses. I get the sense that the disagreement is on the selection of cases the Bloody Sunday March should be used to champion. The Nash sisters (who are a driving force behind the march) are maintaining that the march ought only champion the cases of demonstrably innocent victims -no matter how personally sympathetic they may be for other cases, such as Tony Talyors' or Neil Hegarty's. In the interests of the long term survival and integrity of the March I think the Nash sisters, or 'The Committee', have made the right call. Though I agree that there should be more transparency on who the committe are and how they make their decisions.

    I am totally opposed to the use of closed material procedures but when they are used against people advocating the use of violence (as I understand both named individuals do)even at that the case against cmps is still not wrong but it is harder to object to their use.

    Both Eirigi and Saoradh are good examples of how organisations can quickly discredit themselves. Eirigi was said to have no armed wing -nobody believed that about them -Saoradh came about to replace Eirigi, and it too was said to have no armed wing -James Q states what everyone believes "Personally I do not support militarism nor paramilitary symbolism of Saoradh" It is probably only a matter of time that Saoradh will also fall to the wayside. People want genuine and meaningful political representation and being weighed down with the all the baggage of constantly justifying the use of violence will not advance more relevant and pertinent issues.

    It would make no sense for the Bloody Sunday Committee to allow itself to be negated or undermined as easily as the integrity of Eirigi and Saoradh have been; by allowing physical force dissidents dictate what they want above everyone else's concerns. In the complex fabric of Irish politics I can understand the difficulties the Bloody Sunday Committee face in making such a decision but I think for the greater good they have made the right call and I support them in that. That does not mean that no-one agrees with the use of CMPs or the plight of Mssrs Hegarty and Taylor -who are effectively internees. Fact is the world is no longer sympathetic to the use of violence by disenfranchised or radical groups.

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  3. Here is the Saoradh statement:

    'After a collective grassroots discussion among the Saoradh membership, an overwhelming decision was taken to withdraw the Party’s support from the Bloody Sunday, March.

    The process of discussion took place following the release of the reformist poster for the event, that quite clearly had a political agenda not linked to Bloody Sunday.

    Bloody Sunday was an Anti-Internment Rally. There are currently a number of Irish Republican Political activists from Derry City interned by the British state, the same British state responsible for the war crimes committed on Bloody Sunday. Tony Taylor and Neil Hegarty are two glaring examples of continued internment and British political oppression.

    However the march, and it’s fringe events, has morphed into a platform for a constitutional political party. The contradictory, and at times hypocritical material released in promotion of this year’s Bloody Sunday rally has ostracised a large section of support for the march.

    There is also serious concerns about the committee that oversees the march, who appointed them? How do they make their decisions? Bloody Sunday survivors and victims relatives have cited the lack of a clear democratic process regarding the Bloody Sunday, March committee and the inability, despite repeated attempts, to join the committee.

    Until such a time as the Bloody Sunday, March returns to its roots, we, as a movement, will mark the anniversary and continue to highlight modern British internment and ongoing political repression.'

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  4. Pádraic Séamus Ó Cathasaigh


    It reads as a reasonable statement but it does not disclose anything about why the Committee have taken the approach they have. From the original article we can see that something happened last year -will we later learn that this is all about personalities and egos rubbing each other up the wrong way - on whichever side?

    I note that on Monday 22nd Jan. there will also be a Panel Discussion on Imprisonment without Trial. I would imagine it will cover the use of CMPs and both Taylor and Hegarty's cases. Though possibly an event could have been dedicated to just local cases?







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