Belfast 32 County Sovereignty Movement

MARIAN PRICE UPDATE

2012-02-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

statement on marian price's internment and removal to hydebank

The 32CSM wishes to highlight the removal of Marian price from Maghaberry gaol to Hydebank prison. This move has been made in light of Marian's deteriorating physical and mental health. It must be highlighted that the British government have kept Marian in isolation for nine months in an attempt to break her psychologically. This has resulted in her health deteriorating to the point that the prison doctor had refused to allow her to be transported to court on medical grounds.

The national chairperson of the 32CSM Mr Francis Mackey today stated "The violation of Marian Price's human rights demonstrates how far the British government are prepared to go with their policy of internment in an attempt to break republican prisoners. This issue of injustice must be exposed for what it is. The plight of Marian Price stands above any political party or organisation and i urge all concerned about the case to come together in a spirit of unity to secure the release of Marian."

Mr Mackey highlighted the politicised nature of Marian's incarceration and stated "The facts are that Marian wasn’t out on licence for it to be revoked. She received a pardon which the British government now claim cannot be found. Only people power can now bring pressure to bear nationally and internationally on the British government. The move to Hydebank is merely transferring the problem. Marian will still be held in isolation and we hope that she receives the medical treatment she urgently requires."

The 32CSM will be escalating our campaign to highlight the case of Marian Price. With International Women’s day approaching on the 8th of March we urge all women’s groups to join us to highlight the case of a mother, wife and sister who is today interned in a British jail. Support Marian Price and work to secure her release.

Belfast 32csm attend Bloody Sunday March for justice !

2012-02-13T12:21:00.000-08:00

DAILY TORTURE CONTINUES FOR MAGHABERRY POW'S

2012-01-27T04:03:00.000-08:00

Colin Duffy interview with Andersonstown news - it's the H BLOCKS AGAIN

RUC / PSNI 100% BRITISH

2012-01-18T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of former RUC officers back working for the PSNI !

More than three quarters of civilian staff employed by the PSNI on temporary contracts are former RUC officers who retired under the Patten redundancy scheme.
Nearly half of them are employed in the most sensitive areas of policing, including intelligence, the BBC can reveal.
The rehiring of retired RUC officers is a contentious issue for the PSNI.

Legislation in 2003 stated anyone who left the police with an enhanced Patten package would have to pay back their lump sum if re-employed as a police officer within five years.

But the prohibition did not apply to anyone rehired in a civilian capacity.
Repeatedly we were told it was not possible to provide the details because the PSNI did not keep a record of the past employment of civilian staff.

That position has now changed.

The PSNI has previously revealed that it is currently using the services of 399 staff supplied by a recruitment agency on temporary contracts.

In a letter to the Policing Board, it has now revealed that 304 of them are former RUC officers.

Another document obtained by the BBC reveals that nearly half of them are involved in the most sensitive areas of policing.

Sixty-three retired officers have been rehired by the intelligence branch of the PSNI.

Fifty-nine are working in the department that investigates all serious crime, including terrorist incidents.
A further 19 are working for specialist operations who respond to serious criminal and terrorist incidents.
The PSNI has defended the practice, arguing that it needs the range of highly-specialised skills and experience possessed by the former officers it has rehired.
"They do absolutely fantastic work in some very challenging areas and their experience and expertise is of huge benefit to us," Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie told a meeting of the Policing Board last week.

IT WOULD SEEM THE ONLY THING CHANGED IS THE NAME

RUC/PSNI NO CHANGE

2012-01-13T03:28:00.000-08:00

A 32 CSM Ard Comhairle Member from Coalisland was attacked and his home wrecked in a vicious assault by the RUC/PSNI Tonight, the Man who has a young Family had just walked through the front door of his house when heavily armed Members of the Crown Forces TSG forced their way through the front door and said they were carrying out a stop a search the so called security and justice act section 24.
...The man asked them were they joking, they then said they were doing the Man with assault as he pushed past one of the Peelers to lift his son who was standing terrified,
Moments later 4 car loads more of TSG landed and entered the house were they proceeded to drag the man up the hall and into the garden wrecking doors and children's belongings in the process as the mans wife and children looked on in horror , the 32CSM member was then set upon in the front garden of the house as the neighbours came out shouting at the Crown Forces to go easy on the man , the 32CSM Member was lifted for assault and is currently in detention , another house wrecked another family scared and no doubt another set of trumped up charges for an Irish Republican to face in a British Court

ECHOES OF 1981 - FROM THE ANDERSONSTOWN NEWS

2012-01-13T03:25:00.000-08:00

The ongoing protest by republican prisoners in Maghaberry will be stepped up if Justice Minister David Ford does not implement the full terms of the August 2010 Roe House agreement.
Representatives of the support group Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry were speaking to the Andersonstown News as inmates in the prison’s republican Roe House wing continue their no-wash protest at the continued use of full body strip-searching by prison authorities. The Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) claim the use of full body strip-searching is “essential” for security reasons, an argument dismissed by the prisoners and their supporters, who say the inflammatory practice never guaranteed prison security in the past.

It has also been alleged that some long-serving prison officers are using full body strip-searching as “an opportunity to even old scores” against republicans.
The August 2010 Roe House agreement, which was struck between the republican prisoners and prison authorities with the help of independent facilitators, did away with full body strip-searching in the prison in favour of the non-invasive BOSS chair scanner and other technology-based procedures. The agreement also allowed for a gradual reduction in controlled movement for republicans within Roe House.
However, that agreement was to break down only a month later after prison authorities claimed it did not cover strip-searching in the reception area of Maghaberry Prison as prisoners were leaving and entering the facility.
The ensuing stand-off with the prison authorities over the issue, say supporters and relatives, has led to nearly 200 forced strip-searches on republicans inmates and the beating of prisoners who refuse to submit to strip-searching. It also saw the start of the latest no-wash protest, in May 2011.
Tensions have escalated to such an extent that the prison’s riot squad now permanently mans part of the wing in place of regular prison officers.
Brendy Conway of Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry, himself a prisoner in Maghaberry at the time of the Roe House agreement and who helped negotiate that agreement on behalf of the prisoners, said the problem has become so bad that prisoners are “looking into the abyss”
“Nothing has given rise to any hope at this stage that this can be resolved,” said Brendy. “The prisoners believed that they had been given cast-iron guaranteed commitments by the [prison] administration to do away with the strip-searching completely and to relax controlled movement within a given time-frame. It was also the understanding of the facilitators that that was the case. However, the Prison Service have now made it quite clear to the facilitators that the August 12 agreement did not cover strip-searching in the reception area. Had we known that we would never have signed the agreement.
“Since May 5, the protest has increased. We have a situation now where we have prisoners on various forms of protest – some are on dirty protest and some guys are not, due to health reasons and age. We are looking into the abyss.”
Former blanketman Alex McCrory, also of Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry, said that elements within the prison and the NIPS “began to work against the agreement” immediately after it was agreed upon by the relevant parties.
“Strip-searching was re-introduced after the agreement within a very short time and progress on controlled movement was stalled to a snail’s pace,” said Alex. “The prisoners would refuse to comply with the strip-searching as they said it was in breach of the agreement and this then led to forcible strip-searching. Since August 2010 there have been almost 200 forced strip-searches in the prison, leading to countless injuries to prisoners. These searches are very aggressive, involving four to six screws dressed in riot gear wielding shields and batons. Prisoners are beaten to the ground. They have restraining locks applied to their joints and their clothes are forcibly removed. On at least two occasions clothes have been cut off from their bodies using scissors. Several prisoners have received injuries as a result of that. In relation to controlled movement, in Maghaberry today there is a ratio of three screws to one prisoner and five screws to two prisoners. In Long Kesh you had a ratio of two screws to thirty-plus men on a wing with unrestricted movement. The history of republican wings tells us that prison staff are safe when points of conflict are removed. That is the situation that we find ourselves in at present.

Alex said the facilitators who helped broker the initial Roe House agreement have told the Friends and Family group that a “a blockage in the system at a very senior level” is preventing the full implementation of the terms agreed in August 2010. He added that long-serving prison guards were the main instigators of the “hassle” the prisoners were getting.
“They [the independent facilitators] said that there are people within the system that are totally opposed to the ending of full body strip-searching for the purposes of security even though there is new technology available that makes a full body strip-search obsolete and unnecessary.
“Certain protestors are singled out, such as Colin Duffy [Lurgan] and Harry Fitzsimons [Ballymurphy], men who have a history going back to Long Kesh. There is a sense that some prison guards are getting their own back now for what happened in the past. They have this old mindset and unfortunately Maghaberry affords them the opportunity to even old scores.
The current no-wash protest involves some 35 prisoners aligned to different republican groups who are refusing to wash, shave or have their hair cut.
“For example, on the top landing you have ONH [Óglaigh na hÉireann]-aligned and RSF [Republican Sinn Féin]-aligned prisoners who are putting their human waste on the walls,” explained Alex. “On the bottom landing, prisoners aligned to the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and independent prisoners are putting their human waste on to the landing.

Although there are differences in tactics, there is a full protest at present.”
Alex added that current conditions for prisoners in Roe House are “extremely harsh” and the atmosphere within the wing is “extremely hostile and tense”.
“The bottom landing, which holds 14 of the protestors, is being run by the prison riot squad in full riot gear so the ordinary screws have effectively been withdrawn,” he said. “The prisoners are searched leaving the cell, outside the cell and on returning to the cell. The screws in the riot squad are trained to be aggressive and in-your-face so there has been an awful lot of hostility and tension which the prisoners live with on a daily basis. There is always potential for a flare-up because of the tense relationship between the prisoners and the riot squad. A few of the prisoners have been in jail before and a sizeable number have been in the Kesh, but for the vast majority of them this is their first time in jail. There are no former blanketmen there, so this would be their first experience of these types of conditions and they find it very, very difficult to cope with, but they are very determined to see the agreement implemented in full.”
NIPS claims that the use of full body strip-searches is essential for security reasons have been rubbished by the Friends and Family group.

“As ex-prisoners, we can tell you that that’s complete nonsense,” said Alex. “A full body strip-search never guaranteed prison security. On the blanket protest we were able to bring in thousands of comms, tobacco, radios and God knows what else despite a full body strip-search and mirror search. The full body strip-search is about control and domination, it’s as simple as that. It’s the first contact that the prisoner has with the system and in the first contact you have with that system you are compelled to remove your clothing and stand naked before three or four grown men. The ironic thing is that the technology that we are proposing probably enhances security rather than compromises security.”

The support group backs the implementation of the recommendations of the recent independent review into the Northern Ireland Prison Service by Dame Anne Owers, in which she found the Prison Service here to be “dysfunctional” and “ineffective”.

“She recommends that the Prison service as a whole gets other forms of search procedures in place other than full body strip-searching,” said Alex.
“She says there are new technologies that would render the full body strip-search absolutely unnecessary and describes the practice as ‘an invasion of privacy and intrusive’. That report was released two months ago but [Justice Minister] David Ford is saying that it could take two years to implement her recommendations.”
The two men say that prisoners feel that they are not getting “the type of support they deserve from former friends

and comrades who should know better and who have been through this whole experience before”.

“Sinn Féin have met with the prisoners on several occasions and met with our group on several occasions and we have discussed the issues inside-out,” said Alex.

“They have made numerous public statements calling on David Ford to implement the agreement, but unfortunately that is not enough. We believe there has to be some sort of meaningful political action following on from these statements. The DUP are the main obstacle to the implementation of this agreement so there has to be a counter to that. The Family and Friends group are calling on Sinn Féin to use their political strength in a positive way to counter the DUP on this issue and to bring a speedy resolution to this problem.”

Alex accepts that the lack of outside interest in the protest could be because it involves prisoners from micro-republican groups

“To a large extent that is the case, but I also think that people don’t like the idea of the past coming back to haunt them,” he said.

The situation is bad at the moment and it is difficult to see how the protest can be escalated without something drastic coming into play. Obviously that’s not something that’s being talked about by prisoners or the organisations they align to, but we are talking about a situation here where prisoners are living in their own waste. Now I spent two and a half years on the blanket protest and it cannot get any worse than that. They are under enormous pressure in terms of the physical conditions in which they find themselves and because of that, that puts enormous pressure on the men’s families.”

Brendy Conway added that the prisoners “are not looking anything that was not already agreed as far back as August 2010”.
“Going into 2012 we have prisoners still on dirty protest and locked down 23 hours a day and people going through lengthy trials who are being forcibly stripped twice a day, such as Colin Duffy,” said Brendy.
“The ball’s in their court. To quote the facilitators, an hour could sort this out.”

A spokesperson for the NIPS said the service has “consistently maintained that full body searching on entering and exiting any prison is essential to preserve the security of the establishment and the safety of other prisoners, staff and the wider community in line with practice in other jurisdictions throughout Europe”. The spokesperson continued:“A search facility for separated prisoners at Maghaberry, incorporating a BOSS chair, has been operational since November 17, 2010. In line with the August 2010 agreement, there is no longer any requirement for routine rub-down searching within the separated wings, except where a prisoner is being moved out of the wing. However, the BOSS chair cannot detect non-metallic items. NIPS believes that the existing arrangements are consistent with the August agreement and remains committed to the implementation of the agreement. This position was upheld by the courts when it was challenged by judicial review earlier this year.

“In line with Dame Anne Owers’ recommendation that we should seek an alternative to ‘full body searching’ in her review of NIPS, we are currently researching what, if any, other alternative technologies are available. To date, no viable alternative has been identified.”

Asked about the deployment of the prison riot squad at sections of Roe House in place of regular prison guards, the NIPS spokesperson added: “Members of the NIPS Dedicated Search Team are currently deployed to Roe House at Maghaberry prison for operational reasons, but this arrangement is kept under review by the Governor.

“There is a complaints procedure in place, in particular the Prisoner Ombudsman, should any prisoner believe that NIPS staff have behaved inappropriately.”

Sister speaks of brother’s beating

The family of a West Belfast man currently on the no-wash protest in Maghaberry prison have vowed to stand by him 100 per cent “no matter what decisions he makes” as fears of a protest escalation mount.

Lilian Fitzsimons, sister of 43-year-old Harry Fitzsimons from Ballymurphy, was speaking to the Andersonstown News as her brother continues on the no-wash protest in the Roe House wing of the County Antrim prison.

Harry’s family say the father-of-four has been severely beaten on two occasions by guards at the prison, with the last attack in May 2011 leaving him with a suspected cracked rib and extensive cuts and bruising to his face and body.

Speaking about the most recent beating, Lilian said her brother was given a 15-minute ultimatum to agree to a strip-search before it was brutally forced upon him in his prison cell.

“When they [the prison guards] came in they got him on the ground,” she said.

“While they were beating him and trailing his clothes off him, one of them was ramming a knuckle into a pressure point below his ear constantly. There were six of them that came in and it lasted about 15 to 20 minutes.”

Lilian said when she heard about the attack and tried to contact the prison, she was told nothing of the injuries that her brother had suffered.

“When I asked about him and said I heard that he was beaten I was told ‘No, no, no. We don’t beat our prisoners. Don’t be silly, we don’t beat our prisoners’,” she said.

“I had a visit the next day with him and when I went up I saw the physical injuries on him and I could see the cuts where they had kicked his glasses into his face when he was lying on the ground.

“You could actually see the other visitors and prisoners that were in the visiting room that day taken aback when they saw Harry. It was awful and it was sad, particularly knowing that you couldn’t do anything about it. Even for me to hug him was hurting him.”

Lilian said a priest at the prison spoke to her about Harry’s injuries.

“He said to me, ‘He’s alive but he didn’t get that bumping into a door.’”
Headaches

The family say it was six days before a doctor examined Harry’s injuries.

“The prison was saying he was refusing to see a doctor. He wasn’t as he was in absolute agony,” said Lilian.

“Harry wears prescription glasses so he wasn’t able to see properly and he also gets terrible headaches when he has no glasses. The reason they gave for the savage beating is that when Harry was throwing his waste out on to the landing after the cell doors were opened some of it got on the prison guards’ shoes and that’s why they entered his cell.”

Lilian said that after the first beating her brother received in April 2010, he was put in the special supervision unit for 14 days.

“They didn’t even let his solicitor in,” she said. “We didn’t know if he was alive or dead or what physical state he was in as they gave him a real physical beating that time too. Families are given such little information and to us it seems these people think it’s their God-given right to beat any republican in the jail. It’s the same administration and regime that’s running the jail as it was pre-hunger strike and I get the impression that they can do what they want. This leaves the family so distressed, it hurts you and it makes you so angry and that’s why people are protesting on the outside as they know it just isn’t right.
“This isn’t normal, if this happened anywhere else in the world there would be such an uproar about it. In this day and age they should not be allowed to get away with stuff like that.”

Lilian added that despite the gruelling conditions her brother has to endure, “he is still very strong in body and mind”.

“No matter what, he stands up for what he believes in and a lot of people will stand by him,” she said.

“Nothing would get him down and this isn’t something that would break him, if anything it would make him determined to carry on.

“As a family we will stand by him 100 per cent no matter what decisions he makes, we will be there for him and we will stand by him.”

The bad faith and broken promises

1998: Good Friday Agreement is implemented. Political prisoners are released early on the condition that the groups they are affiliated with are on ceasefire and continue to remain on ceasefire

September 2000: The H-Blocks are closed down. Any republicans arrested after the closure of the H-Blocks are now integrated with ‘ordinary decent criminals’ (ODCs) in Maghaberry prison.

“They were mixed in with loyalists and the likes of paedophiles and so on,” said Brendy Conway, former Maghaberry prisoner and member of the Friends and Family of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry

“As the number of republican prisoners increased in Maghaberry over the years they spread them out throughout the prison.”

2002: Republican prisoners in Maghaberry begin forms of no-wash protest. Republican prisoners demand a separate wing in the prison from loyalist prisoners, after several clashes, and from ODCs.

September 2003: Publication of the Steele Report. Following escalations in the no-wash protests at Maghaberry, the British government commissions a review of conditions at the prison conducted by a team headed up by Sir John Steele, a former Director of the Northern Ireland Prison Service. The report recommends “separation by paramilitary affiliation” of prisoners to help provide a safer environment. The report recommendations are adopted. Two new wings are now to be built at Maghaberry Prison – Roe House for republican prisoners and Bush House for loyalists.

“On the basis of the Steele Report’s findings, and as part of the agreement then reached between the prisoners and the prison authorities, the prisoners agreed to come off protest until this new wing was built,” said Brendy.
“It was also agreed that the authorities would recognise prisoner structures – i.e. the prisoners would have representatives to deal with the authorities on education, for instance, or the day-to-day running of the landing.”
March 2004: Roe House is opened and republican prisoners move in. However, in a position statement shown to the Andersonstown News, republican prisoners claim the previous agreement with the authorities was instantly reneged upon when the wing was opened and a “criminalisation regime put in place which was again designed to control, degrade and criminalise republican prisoners”. This is alleged to have included: prisoners searched up to six times a day when moving between cells and recreation area; daily cell searches; “degrading” full body strip-searches; prisoners locked up for up to 22 hours a day; three guards to every prisoner when they left their cells.

2004 to 2008: Prisoners begin protesting again, this time in reaction to deteriorating conditions at Roe House. “There were different token protests by the prisoners to get the authorities to change the ratio of guards to prisoners,” said Brendy.

“This approach worked to some extent – they increased the number of prison officers to five officers for two prisoners but then the maximum number of prisoners allowed out was changed from three to eight.”

2008 to 2009: Talks and debates begin between the republican prisoners to decide how best to move the protest forward and improve the conditions for republican prisoners. “We identified the main areas that we wanted dealt with before we would come off protest,” said Brendy, who was then a prisoner in Roe House.

“These areas were: the controlled movement of prisoners; the full body strip-searching of prisoners; recognition by the Prison Service that republican prisoners were not ordinary prisoners and therefore should be treated differently. Strip-searching and controlled movement were the two main areas that we wanted movement on. I was involved in those negotiations and we came to an agreement on how we were going to do it. The first stage of that took place in April 2010.”

April 4, 2010: The prisoners barricade themselves into the canteen area of Roe House for 36 hours. “We were then forcibly removed from the canteen and returned to our cells,” said Brendy.

“After that the protest inevitably increased through April, May and into June. There were 28 prisoners on the two landings in Roe House and all of them were on full protest, which was throwing our waste on to the landing.

“On one occasion West Belfast man Harry Fitzsimons had a disagreement with an SO [senior officer]. He went out for an hour’s exercise, came back and after lunch a riot squad was sent into his cell and severely beat him. They pulled him off the wing and put him in the SSU (special supervision unit), handcuffed him to a bed, cut his clothes off and strip-searched him. That evening when they took him off the wing all the prisoners wrecked their cells, which signalled the start of the protest escalating.”

The new no-wash protest saw prisoners putting their waste out of their cell doors and windows and refusing to wash.

June 2010: Facilitation between prisoners and the Northern Ireland Prison Service begins. As the stalemate between the prisoners and the prison authorities deepens, the group Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry is formed outside the prison to raise awareness of the prisoners’ plight. By the end of June a facilitation group made up of Derry community worker Conal McFeely, Peter Bunting from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Dr Ram Manikkalingam from the Dialogue Advisory Group enters the prison to help mediate a deal between the prisoners, the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Maghaberry prison administration.
“The prisoners debated this [the involvement of the facilitation group] and agreed to it, under certain conditions – that we would speak to them frankly and at all times be in control of what we were doing,” said Brendy.
“A 10-man negotiating team was then set up by the prisoners to speak for them, who then elected two people to speak on their behalf, who were myself and Colin Duffy.”

The prisoners’ two main demands are: an end to strip searching and for more humane and less intrusive methods to be used instead; the end to controlled movement.

“We met facilitators and then met directly with prison governors,” said Brendy.

“The governors said they were willing to look at our demands, but only if the prisoners came off protest, which we refused.”

Negotiations continue.

August 6, 2010: A “final proposal” is offered by the prison that does not address the prisoners’ two main demands. “The facilitators told us there was nothing more that could be done,” said Brendy. “So the prisoners decide to increase the protest in jail, which led to a cessation of visits and an increase in tension in the prison.”
August 11: Facilitators re-enter the prison with a new agreement ending full body strip-searching. “It was supposed to remove the practice entirely from within Maghaberry, except in two circumstances,” said Brendy.

“One was if intelligence-led information suggested that a prisoner was smuggling stuff in and this information could be stood over by a credible third party (video footage etc). Secondly, if the technology we agreed could be used in the new search indicated that there was something there, a full strip-search could be carried out. So we gave them room that they still had an opportunity to carry out strip-searching in certain circumstances.”
The technology the prisoners agreed could be used in place of full body strip-searches includes a BOSS scanner, effectively a metal-detector chair.

“We agreed that if we were leaving the prison to go on visits or go to court we would remove our footwear, belts and outer coats and put them through an airport-type scanner,” said Brendy.

“We would then be given rubdown searches, scanned over with a metal-detector and seated in the Boss chair. We agreed on that and accepted it.

“In terms of controlled movement, we agreed that, on the signing of the agreement and on the end of our protest, the authorities would immediately increase the number of prisoners allowed out at one time. The number of prisoners allowed out on the landing at one time was increased from three to six straight away. It was also agreed by December 2010 that the number of prisoners allowed out would increase again, and by early 2011 we would all have freedom of movement within Roe House and the two landings from 8am in the morning to 8pm at night.
“The prison staff were always concerned that it would go back to a Maze-type scenario where there would only be a small amount of guards on the wing at any time. But we never negotiated for the removal of prison officers from the landing, if there had to be 50 of them we didn’t care as long as it didn’t impede our freedom of movement, i.e. that as prisoners our doors should be opened in the morning and we could move freely about our landings, canteen and yard.”
August 12, 2010: The Roe House agreement is signed. “Within the first few days there were teething problems on controlled movement – which we allowed for – for instance they were not allowing six out at a time as the place was upside down with tradesmen in working etc,” said Brendy.
“But right to this day they have never let six prisoners out as the guards were refusing to let that number out without 15 to 16 staff on the landing.;

September 23, 2010: First forcible full body strip-search since Roe House agreement is carried out on Brendy Conway as he is leaving for court appearance. “I was told to strip but I flatly refused as it was not part of the Roe House agreement,” said Brendy.

“I was told by guards it was part of the agreement as reception was not covered in the agreement. A big argument then started between prison governors and myself and during this I was forcibly removed from the reception area, brought to the punishment unit of the prison where I was pinned to the floor and forcibly strip-searched.”

Prisoners opt not to go back on protest but to inform facilitators of the agreement breach against Brendy Conway. The recently inactive group Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry is reformed on the outside.

November 17, 2010: New search facility opens adjacent to Roe House. This new search facility contains the aforementioned Boss chair and scanners. Prisoners are now searched leaving and entering Roe House to visit other parts of the prison as well as being strip-searched in the main reception area of Maghaberry when they are leaving and entering the prison site.

On the first day the new search facility at Roe House is used a mouth search is introduced on prisoners which they refuse to cooperate with. This sparks a stand-off between prison staff and prisoners in the run-up to Christmas which leads to the cessation of prison visits. Facilitators are brought in again and it is agreed that conversing between prisoner and guard would be seen as acceptable in place of a mouth search. Visits begin again in the week leading up to Christmas.

Early 2011: Prisoners continue meeting with facilitators and political parties visiting the prison while the Family and Friends group continue their campaign on the outside.

May 5, 2011: Prisoners begin protest again. The Prison Service makes it clear to facilitators that the agreement did not cover strip-searching in reception area.

“The prisoners deemed the agreement as effectively over as authorities were no longer adhering to it,” said Brendy.

“Prisoners then wrecked their cells and began a no-wash protest again. What needs to be made absolutely clear is that as far as the facilitators were concerned their interpretation of the Roe House agreement of August 12, particularly in regards to full body strip-searching, was always in line with the prisoners’ interpretation.”

October 2011: An independent review into the Northern Ireland Prison Service is published. The independent review, commissioned by the Minister for Justice David Ford and headed up by Dame Anne Owers, finds the Prison Service here “dysfunctional” and “ineffective”. One of its key recommendations is the need to do away with full body strip-searching in favour of using other technologies.

The no-wash protest continues.

MAGHABERRY 2012

2012-01-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

A Republican on dirty protest in Maghaberry jail claims the North's top security prison is fast deteriorating into a cesspit of disease.

Damien McLaughlin, the first prisoner on the protest to be freed, described in graphic detail the horrific conditions in which republican inmates live and prison staff work.
The 34 republican inmates are engaged in a bitter dispute with the authorities over forced strip-searching.
McLaughlin said: "Prisoners are smearing their excrement on cell walls or else mixing it with urine and pouring it out their doors onto the landing.
"Inside the cells are awful, outside is a mess too. The stench is unbelievable. The riot squad are permanently on our landing. They're dressed in white disposable boiler suits, helmets, boots, and latex gloves.
"They're armed with batons. They tramp through the excrement and urine to hand us meals to be eaten in our cells. It's a serious health hazard and there's a real danger of a disease outbreak."
The protesting prisoners claim a BOSS chair – an X-ray-type machine already in Maghaberry – means strip searching isn't needed and is used only to "degrade and criminalise" republicans.
But prison officers insist strip-searching is vital to security and the prisoners' protest is to blame for the current health risks.
McLaughlin claimed the prisoners were locked in their cells 22 hours a day and were sometimes denied food for up to 16 hours.
The situation was "at breaking point", he claimed: "Tensions are at an all-time high. Maghaberry is a powder keg."
Republican inmates are refusing to shave or cut their hair. McLaughlin, a 35-year-old father of two from Ardboe, Co Tyrone, was released last Friday.
Emerging from the prison to be greeted by family and friends, he looked like a H-Block blanketman from the 1970s, sporting a bushy beard.
McLaughlin, who served two years in Maghaberry for weapons' possession, was forcibly strip-searched 23 times. He said Colin Duffy – charged with murdering two British soldiers at Massereene – had been strip-searched 76 times.
McLaughlin claimed strip-searching was brutal. "One prison officer grabs your head, two others grip your hands, while the fourth holds you down on the floor," he said.

"They tear off your trousers, socks and boxer shorts. They run a scanner over your back passage and genitals. Then, they search your upper body.
"After a strip search, you feel like you've been in a car crash. Your whole body aches."
When asked why there should be any public concern for men accused or convicted of serious offences, McLaughlin said: "We know many people have no sympathy for us.

"Prisoners don't expect kid-glove treatment. Jails aren't holiday camps but neither should they be places of inhumanity. The dirty protest was a last resort because we were being treated like animals."
McLaughlin claimed lights are deliberately shone into prisoners' cells, or else their doors are banged three or four times a night, to stop them sleeping.
The prison service strongly denies allegations of brutality or harassment. The DUP accuses republicans of wanting to "turn Maghaberry into the Maze".

http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/breen/arts2012/jan1_dirty_protest_prison_brink_disease___SBreen_Sunday-World.php

32csm new year message

2012-01-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

As 2011 draws to a close we send greetings to our supporters and activists at home and abroad. We salute the dedication and enthusiasm shown by all during the past year. It has been a difficult year for Republicans, we have seen ever increasing levels of harassment of our activists on both sides of the border. This has extended beyond the targeting of individuals and is now being used as a tool of coercion against extended families and whole communities. The true nature of the six county state has been revealed as in the past year it has reverted to type. We have witnessed the reintroduction of the supergrass trial, political policing, sectarian marches and the criminalising of Republican POWs.

The 32CSM salutes the courage of the POWs in both Maghaberry and Portlaoise in the past year. An agreement that was signed in good faith by the POWs was reneged on by the prison service, but it is the British government and their accomplices at Stormont who bare the ultimate responsibility for the ongoing crisis. We call on them to recognise the agreement and to end the degrading and unnecessary strip searches.

We send greetings and solidarity to Marian Price, interned once again in a British gaol. Marian’s case should not be of interest only to republicans but to all who profess a concern for human rights and justice. The 32CSM will step up and expand our campaign in 2012 to highlight this blatant disregard for Marian’s human rights. We will not stop until she is back with her family and comrades.

The economic situation in Ireland has not only deteriorated in the past year it has exposed the fundamental contradiction in Capitalism and those who adhere to it in this country. Whilst the majority are told to shoulder the burden of the few, those who exploit and betray the working class remain immune. The 32CSM has laid out the framework for a new Ireland, sovereign politically, economically and socially on the basis that it is the people of Ireland who must decide how their country functions. The occupation of the six counties by an Imperialist power is mirrored now in the 26 counties by an administration that is directed by the IMF. The power wielded by both imperialism and capitalism in Ireland is an impediment to the Republic envisioned by Connolly, Lalor, Pearse and Tone.

The forces of resistance ranged against these twin impediments to progress are multifaceted in both their approach and character. The 32CSM recognises that whilst the cause of the conflict in Ireland is left out of political discourse then the solution will remain out of reach. The IRA has struck against the forces of the occupation and the capitalist institutions that enable and compliment the efforts of normalisation. The IRA are not the cause of conflict in Ireland they are a response to the conditions created by Imperialism in Ireland. The 32CSM believes that there is no room for ambiguity on the issue of resistance. To refuse to engage with those who acknowledge that resistance is inevitable and legitimate is to endorse the establishment narrative.

The 32CSM in 2011 showed our resolute commitment to make our Republicanism an active and relevant ideology. Our activists have been to the forefront in an array of campaigns across Ireland. Whether it is the issue of drug abuse in working class communities or right wing economic cuts against services we have recognised that it is imperative for us to respond to the needs of our communities. In the coming year we will enhance and broaden this social commitment and articulate our vision of a Republicanism that will meet the needs of the people of Ireland and provide a framework for political and social liberation.

We will continue the struggle in the coming year and we are confident that with courage and a sincere commitment to Republican values it will be a year of success and a defiant response to those who seek to destroy our movement and all it stands for.

Beir Bua

MARIAN PRICE - UNBOWED/UNBROKEN

2011-12-19T23:32:00.000-08:00

RELEASE MARIAN PRICE!

2011-12-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

Marian Price has now been in solitary confinement for over 7 months and is the only female prisoner in an all male prison - END THE TORTURE OF MARIAN PRICE !

you can highlight Marians plight and demand her release by writing to one of the following :

Juan E Mendes UN special rapporteur on Torture
Amnesty International
British Irish rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
International Action Centre

YOU CAN ALSO ADD YOUR NAME TO THE ONLINE PETITION AT :

epetitions,direct.gov:uk/petitions/4893

SUPPORT THE POW'S

2011-11-29T10:14:00.000-08:00

THE RIGHT TO PROTEST !

2011-11-28T12:58:00.000-08:00

Thousands of public sector workers are set to take to the streets on November 30th

across the six counties in response to the assault on public sector pensions from the

Tory-led government at Westminster and their allies at Stormont who voted in favour of adapting these measures by Westminster. One trade union leader hit out at what he described as 'the underhand decision' taken from stormont and accused the Assembly of acting 'in a cowardly fashion' .

Numerous Trade unions secured a vote from their members in favour of 'withdrawing their labour' - a decision that doesn't come lightly in these tough economic times, and they will be joined by millions of workers in Britain also in what is believed to be the largest strike since 1926.

The 32csm call on their members and supporters to join the fightback and attend one of the rallies!

The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland, the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour 'James Connolly'

MAGHABERRY SOLIDARITY PROTEST

2011-11-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

British Policing Protest

2011-11-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

Belfast 32csm members along with other republicans held a successful protest at a DPP meeting in west belfast on wednesday 23rd november, scores of protesters filled the room at the whiterock campus to highlight this charade. THE RUC/PSNI CONTINUE TO COMMIT HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST REPUBLICANS AND THEIR FAMILIES [ including children] and these DPP meetings must be seen for what they are - they are designed to present the ruc/psni as a credibile ' civic policing service ' in nationalist areas - NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH

No British Police in Our Children’s Schools

2011-10-29T03:25:00.000-07:00

The Belfast 32CSM have been contacted recently by numerous anxious parents dismayed at the prospect of British police entering their children’s schools given the recent revelations between the CCMS and the PSNI/RUC.

Our children’s schools are for education and should be free from political interference. At a time when British police are conducting abusive stop and search of republicans across the occupied six counties and home wrecking raids on a regular basis this must be seen for what it is, a PR exercise. They have made their intention clear from the start, that this is to create closer relations with young Catholics so that they can get them as new recruits for the British police.

The 32CSM fully supports the parents concerns and would urge ALL parents to contact their children’s schools or the CCMS on 02890 327875, to raise their concerns and to make their voice heard on this matter.

MI5 up to dirty deeds

2011-10-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

In the space of a week MI5 have approached three members of the Belfast 32CSM and their families to try recruit them as informers. Last week two members of the 32CSM were returning from a POW event Liverpool when they were pulled in Manchester airport and questioned by MI5 agents. The questions quickly turned to attempted brides which the members rejected which caused the agents to threaten them.

The next day a friend of another member had his home invaded by two more MI5 agents. This time they not only issued the usual bribes and threats but they produced a gun and a bundle of bank notes and told him that "this was the two options opened to him".

Two days later, the wife of another member had an envelope pushed through her door and when she looked in it she discovered £500 and a note with a phone number on it. When she phoned the number a man with an English accent introduced himself as Tom and told here that it would be in her best interest to work with them. She rejected this bribe and soon after she received a text telling her that he would be keeping the number on encase she changed her mind.

We would appeal to anyone who has been approached to become an informer to contact their solicitor or anyone else they can trust and have it put on record what has occurred.

To anyone who has given into the threats and intimidation,we would strongly urge you to come forward and tell someone because as soon as they have no more need for you, they will throw you to the wolves.

Notice to POWs friends and supporters

2011-09-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

It has been brought to our attention that money being sent to republican prisoners in Maghaberry has not been reaching them but instead has been taken by the jail administration and put into "governor's fund". This fund is used by the governor to do with as he pleases.

We would advise all family friends and supporter's of the POW's not to send money directly to them in the jail as it will never reach them. We would also strongly recommend to anyone who has sent money to the POW's to write directly to the governor requesting their money back as the jail will not notify them of the fact that their money has been stolen by the governor and used as he sees fit.

Annual Hunger Strike March Bundoran 27th August

2011-08-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

The 32CSM was delighted to attend the annual hunger strike march in Bundoran on Saturday the 27th August.

The march was organised by Republican Sinn Fein but attracted republicans of all hues, a welcome development at a point when the opponents of republicanism remain united. There was an excellent turn out and the 32CSM in the North West turned out in large numbers, a sign of the growing numbers of republicans in the region who are supporting the movement.

Likewise many Belfast 32CSM members made the trip to Bundoran to support the march. A banner was carried by the 32CSM highlighting the ongoing protest in Maghaberry and it attracted a lot of positive attention.

The brutal treatment of POWs in 2011 highlights the fact that the case of political status remains as relevant today as it was in 1981. It was a welcome sight to see many relatives of the hunger strikers in attendance and further demonstrates that the protest in Maghaberry must act as a cause for unity rather than friction.

Well done to all who attended.

Independant hunger strike commemoration

2011-08-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the 21st of August, the people of west Belfast and further a field came together to remember the Ten Brave men who died on the 1981 hunger strike.

The 32 CSM supported this event because it was totally independent and void of any political manipulation.

It was heartening to see people of all ages and of different political ideologies standing together to remember those brave men of 81.

Today, republicans are involved in a dirty protest. The reasons for this are the same as the reasons for the protest of the late 70's and early 80's. The British then, as now, are trying to implement the policy of criminalisation of the republican struggle both inside and outside the jail, but unfortunately, as always, the prisoners have to bear the brunt of this.

We appeal to all republicans to help lift this burden from the POWs shoulders by getting involved in the many protests on the outside. We appeal to you all to support the protest by coming along to any events organised on behalf of the prisoners.

The release of Brendan Lillis

2011-08-18T12:32:00.001-07:00

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement welcomes the release of Brendan Lillis today. However we are mindful that Brendan's health was allowed to deteriorate for months and that this treatment has left him in a very serious medical condition. The British government attempted to use Brendan as a guinea pig, a litmus test of republican resolve. The response from all shades of republicans showed that there is a groundswell of support and sympathy for Brendan and the POWs in Maghaberry. We salute the efforts of his partner Roisin who single handedly toured the country raising awareness of his plight and whose tireless efforts were an inspiration to all. We salute all the 32CSM members for the work they did on behalf of Brendan and we call for the immediate implementation of the agreement for the POWs and republican prisoners protesting in Maghaberry. The abuse of republican prisoners must stop and the regime in Maghaberry changed or Brendan Lillis will not be the last man to suffer in this inhumane system.

16th August white-line picket

2011-08-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Friends and family of Maghaberry POWS held a white-line picket on the Falls Road on Wednesday 16th August in support of the Prisoners Demands for full implementation of the August Agreement of 2010.

Afterwards a few of the protesters attended the West Belfast Talk Back event held as part of the Féile. Questions were put to the panel about the worsening crisis in Maghaberry and the response from Sinn Féin was the usual 'we are doing all we can'.

The DUP proclaimed that the question was settled and that was that.

As can be seen from the photo the room was almost empty. In previous years the West Belfast Talk Back was the flagship event in the political debates. It is clear that the people of west Belfast and Ireland as a whole have lost faith in a political debate and political activism.

The 37% turnout at the last election in west Belfast shows that the people have given up on constitutional politics and that it is not the only form of politics on offer.

We appeal to the people that there has never been a more important time than now to be politically active. Standing together we can confront the problems of sectarianism, inequality and injustice that are still alive in Ireland today. Everyone has their part to play no matter how big or how small.

West Belfast Talks Back St Louise’s Wednesday 3rd August, 7.30 - 9pm White line Picket

2011-08-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

Support our POW's white line picket this Wednesday 3rd August, 7pm outside St. Louise's school on the falls road.

POW March 30th West Belfast

2011-08-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

The turnout at the rally in west Belfast on Saturday 30th July in support of Maghaberry prisoners protest was heartening and to look down the falls road and to see that all the banners were in relation to the Maghaberry situation shows that the current protest is in center stage. Messages of support were read out from France, Germany, Italy and Sweden. The organizers would like to thank the bands from Scotland and Liverpool and both marchers and people form the surrounding area who came out to support the POW's.

The Truth about Maghaberry 28 July 2011‏

2011-08-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

The family and friends of the protesting republican prisoners organised a panel discussion on the history of the Maghaberry struggle from 2002 to the present day, as part of the west Belfast festival.

After horrific account of the conditions republican prisoners have faced from 2002 - 2004 by Matrin Brogan, Brendan Conway gave an update to the present day and the reasons why the protest has resumed. Eamon Mc Cann talked passionately about the plight of Marian Price and highlighted the fact that her arrest and detention is nothing more than the resumption of interment. The partner of Brendan Lilis also give an emotional account of her family's struggle to secure the release of Brendan.

The fact that the room was packed and that there was standing room only shows that the campaign in support of the prison protest is gathering momentum and we firmly believe and that with this amount of support the POW's will achieve their demands.

POW Public Rally

2011-07-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

POW March
Saturday 30th July, 2.00 pm
Assemble Dunville Park, Falls Road

We call on everyone to attend.
Victory to the POW's

Hunger Strike Exhibition

2011-07-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Maghaberry Debate and Hunger Strike Exhibition

Thursday 28th July, 7.30 pm

St Mary's Training College

Falls road

The Belfast 32CSM Cumann call on all republicans to attend.

Nil bua gan dua.

2011-07-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

In a blatant attempt to disguise the political reality that internment is in use the British authorities have brought fabricated charges against republican Marian Price to portray her detention as being ordered by a court and not a British Minister. This same British Minister has interned others, including Brendan Lillis, who is critically ill, and all calls for his immediate release have fallen on deaf and indifferent ears. Is this the so called new beginning widely hailed by those who are administrators of this insidious regime?

Marian Price was interned on the day the micro ministers in Stormont were appointing another puppet, a so called ‘Justice Minister’; these charges also protect that position from exposure as being a toothless façade. Nothing has changed. The criminalisation policy of the British government towards Irish republicans continues as does our steadfast resistance to it. These actions demonstrate clearly the failure of the so called peace process to address the root cause of the conflict. The 32CSM calls for the immediate release of Marian Price, Brendan Lillis and all political detainees. We call for the implementation of the agreement in Maghaberry and an immediate end to political policing.

72 Hour Fast for Brendan Lillis

2011-07-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

Day 2

On day 2 of the fast to highlight the plight of Brendan Lillis the so-called justice minister David Ford once again buckled to pressure from above and refused to order the release of Brendan. Ford unbelievably stated that Brendan was still a risk to society and that he did not qualify for release on health grounds. Anyone following the plight of the Lillis family will know that this is absolute nonsense .We add our voice to the many and again call for Brendan’s immediate release.

At 7pm this evening people from west Belfast joined the vigil on a white line picket to show their support for Brendan Lillis.

Protest for Marian Price Friday 22nd July 10:00 AM Laganside courthouse Belfast

2011-07-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

We call on everyone to show their support for Marian and their opposition to the tactic employed by the British State of revoking the licences of ex-pows in an attempt to try and silence alternative republican voice.

72 Hour Fast for Brendan Lillis

2011-07-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

Day 1

Today members of the 32 CSM attended the beginning of a 72 hour fast in support of Brendan Lillis at the site of the old barracks on Andersonstown road. Brendan had his licence revoked by the British secretary of state in October 2009 and has been held in Maghaberry gaol and confined to a hospital bed for 600 days and is not receiving the correct medical attention. His condition, ankylosing spondylitis which cause the spine to fuse, has deteriorated rapidly and his family fear if he is not released immediately he will surely die in jail. Given the fact that he should not be in jail at all haven not been before a court and haven not been found guilty of any offence, we call on everyone to show their support and to get behind the families campaign to have him released immediately.

POW sponsored walk

2011-07-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

Belfast cumann would like to thank the Lynch/Duffy Derry cumann for the invite of the successful sponsored walk to highlight the plight of the protesting republican prisoners in Maghaberry gaol. The walkers braved heavy rain and wind and we would like to thank them for their hospitality.

Victory to the POW's

POW Rally 30th July

2011-07-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

The current situation in Maghaberry goal is not a resent event. The ongoing protest started in 2002 when republican prisoners were sent to Maghaberry after the closure of the H blocks.

The intention of the NIO back up by the signatures of the stormount agreement was to peddle the myth that there were no longer any political prisoners, only criminals.

Republicans found themselves fighting a system that was trying to force them into integrating with loyalists; drug dealers and other criminals Once again the criminalization policy was being introduced to try and brake the republican struggle through the prisoners.

Although small in number and heavily out numbered by loyalists, they embarked on a protest that accumulated in a no wash protest.

Eventually the gaol system was forced to act and the Steele report was commissioned and on the 8th of sept 2003 The Steele Report was accepted and the republican prisoners, on the basis of the report and other commitments given ended their protest.

The republican prisoners were housed in Roe house ,a compound within the main gaol, with its own added internal and external security.

During the protest and negotiations the POA became a blockage to any change. They were and still are totally opposed to republicans getting their own wing.

Immediately upon entering Roe house, the prisoners found themselves in constant battle with the POA and gaol admin to try and get them to implement the Steele report and other commitments giving.

Controlled movement was introduced were by 3 screws would have to escort one prisoner anywhere he went on the wing. prisoners we routinely striped searched up to 6 times a day. Cells were searches every day more often than not racked in the process. Prisoners were expected to eat there meals in there sells next to their toilet and wash their utensils in the sink that they use to wash themselves.

These were measures meant to make the prisoners feel isolated powerless and alone. But as in the passed they had the opposite affect.

Republican prisoners regrouped and channelled the gaol administration at every opportunity.

On Easter Sunday the 4th of April 2010 all republican prisoners barricaded themselves in the rec room after the yearly event of being charged for refusing to remove their Easter lilies and intensified the protest.

A period of intense negotiations were held between the gaol admin/NIO and the prisoners witnessed by 3 outside independent facilitators and on the 17 august 2010 agreement was reached.

Once again the POA and some elements within the NIO were not happy and from the outset the POA and NIO set out to undermine the agreement.

The time table for relaxing controlled movement was not adhered to ,the POA refused to honour the day to day workings of the agreement and the issue of strip searches rose its head once again.

When the republican prisoners , quoting from the agreement, refused to comply with strip searches leaving and entering the jail, they were held down by up to 10 screws. They were beaten, had their cloths ripped from them and in some cases sexually assaulted.

From august until the resumption of the protest the republican prisoners, tried to find a way out of the impasse but reluctantly they came to the conclusion that they had no choice but to resume the protest.

We the friends and families of the non conforming prisoners call on everyone to get behind the prisoners and have the august agreement implemented.

The 32CSM fully support the upcoming protest rally on the 30th July Belfast, and call on ALL republicans to show their support by attending the rally.

2011-02-14T03:24:00.000-08:00

2011-02-14T03:17:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone that showed up in support of Republican POWs on Sat night. A special thanks to those who provided the music.
Go raibh maith agaibh a chairde

Francie Mackey Address 32CSM Ard Fheis 2010

2010-11-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Francie Mackey Address 32CSM Ard Fheis 2010
Chairperson’s Address
Ard Fheis 2010

A chairde, delegates and comrades; we are the spearhead of this struggle. Our innovation, political maturity, our activism and leadership has ensured that this struggle is to the fore in the minds of the political establishment. We are a movement that looks forward and moves forward. We have grasped the nettle of reality concerning our struggle and laid bare the fallacies which have mired it in suspicion and factionalism.

All this we have done because we put republicanism first. We put the objective first. We embraced democracy and married it to our republicanism. We have not cocooned ourselves within restrictive rules or dogmatic history. We took the strength of our argument and brought it to the national and international stage. A liberated republicanism is the proper vehicle for change. A unified republicanism is the most potent mechanism to achieve that change.

Republican unity is not going to go away. All that stands in its way is an unwillingness to engage with it. There is no ideological or political argument against it for if there were we would have heard it by now. It is not a case of the sovereignty movement calling for unity but the goals for which we struggle demanding it. We have no right to stand at the graves of our patriot dead and preach factionalism. We have no right to stand at the monuments of our great thinkers and invoke their words to justify isolationism. And we have no right to stand before our people and in their name give less than the sum total of our parts.

For our part we concentrated on the issue of national sovereignty. We did so because there is armed conflict in our country. As republicans we saw it as our duty to address the causes of this conflict in a clear and defined manner. Ending the armed conflict does not end the struggle for republican ideals. Squabbling over what those ideals should be will not end the armed conflict. War demands from us all an immediacy in our strategic thinking to find ways to resolve it.

We again put forward the view that a coming together of Irish republicans to fashion a course to remove the cause of armed conflict is essential if any of our ideals are to flourish in a unitary state. The sovereignty movement remains committed to this task. We have taken the view that republican unity is more than the coming together of republican organisations. The path the so called peace process has taken has left large numbers of disillusioned republicans searching for direction and new ideas. We are committed to providing these ideas by engaging directly with these republicans. Their contribution to this struggle has been immense and has earned them the right to determine where now they wish to continue it. We want their ideas, we want their commitment, we want their contributions; but we have to earn it. We have to demonstrate to them that our activism looks forward and not back: that our ideas are inclusive and adaptable and not insular and reactionary.

I say to all our activists here that the coming year will require you all to reach out and engage with this constituency. As ambassadors for the sovereignty movement you will need to be fully acquainted with our policies and strategy documents. Read them, and read them again. Discuss them regularly at cumann level but above all spread the thinking behind them. Knowledge of our policies must be the cornerstone of our activism.

There is always healthy debate in the sovereignty movement. It is one of our great strengths. Prominent in these discussions is the issue of policy formation on social matters and the various aspects of governance in a future unitary state. The number and depth of motions before us here today reflects this. I wish to address two points concerning policy and policy formation; firstly the context of our policies and secondly the cause of labour. From the outset I want to commend our activists throughout Ireland for their sterling work in their respective communities. Your innovation and commitment are a lesson for all those seeking social change and justice.

Because we are constituted to campaign on the singular issue of our national sovereignty all our policies must be geared toward this end. Sovereignty is not a narrow nationalist agenda but an agenda for real change and a precursor to Irish society taking charge of its own destiny. Sovereignty is not simply a Brits Out slogan but a charter for ownership returning to the people. It is within this context that our policies must be forged. We cannot adopt policy for policy sake or direct our limited resources away from our central goal. Our policies must satisfy a strategic objective. And because we are engaged in a national struggle how we adopt our policies is just as important as the content of those policies. This is why we campaigned vigorously for republicans to forge policy together so that the very act of unity advances their content. I reiterate to our members; when you sit down to think, and rise to act, be at all times focussed on where we need to go. Be pragmatic, be realistic, do not be distracted nor blindly influenced. Bring your ideas to your comrades so that your comrades can prepare those ideas for our struggle.

James Connolly told us; “The Cause of Ireland is the cause of Labour, The cause of Labour is the cause of Ireland.” The current economic crisis both in Ireland and throughout the world has brought the issue of labour to everyone’s door. We are no different. The question for the sovereignty movement is this; not whether labour must wait but in what capacity must labour act? As it stands the cause of the labour movement is not the cause of Ireland. As it stands the cause of labour is to forge an arrangement with capitalism with labour as the junior partner. The fallout from the economic crisis demonstrates this. Is there any point in marching with the labour movement if the cause of Ireland is left behind? Is socialism served by campaigning with the labour movement for better scraps from the capitalist table? Has not this very same approach on the national question led to the grotesque spectacle at Stormont? Is this a road we truly want to go down just so that we can say we are aligned to labour?

The struggle for sovereignty and the struggle for labour must be synonymous. Republican policy and activism must reflect this. A veneer of mutual association is not enough. At the recent Student demonstrations in Dublin both the veneer and the true alliance were evident. Labour is not a pedestrian stroll, politely shouting slogans for change. Labour must be at the coalface fighting for that change. Labour must be indifferent to the howls of establishment condemnations whenever labour chooses to act. I salute our activists present here today who acted in labour’s best interests. I quote the insightful Irish republican socialist Ta Power when he says ‘there is no parliamentary path to socialism’. Equally there is no waiting for the so called ‘right time to strike’. For revolutionaries it is always the right time to act. Partition and capitalism never postpone their activities and neither should we.

To other republicans and socialists we say this: for the cause of labour to be the cause of Ireland we must rebuild the labour movement by making the cause of Ireland the cause of labour. Connolly sought to do this by working with the national and cultural movements in his day. If we wish to move beyond rhetoric then we must come together to put the bones of this movement in place. If you cannot commit to this, if working together is beyond you then both the cause of labour and of Ireland is beyond you also.

On behalf of us all I wish to send solidarity greetings to Irish republican prisoners of war where ever they may be. We salute your courage and commitment. We send greetings to your families and loved ones and pledge to do everything in our power to be of assistance to you. I also wish to thank the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association for their diligent work on behalf of prisoners and their families.

The past year has seen our prisoners to the fore in our struggle. Once again Westminster has chosen this venue to try and undermine the republican struggle. And as before they will fail. The despicable use of degrading strip searches as a means of punishment has hardened our resolve. On this issue we did have republican unity and the benefits of it were clear for all to see. This needs to continue because perfidious albion is beginning to resort to form. The agreement reached between the prisoners and the prison authorities is steadily being undone. There is an undoubted political agenda behind this. It is not a case of rogue prison officers but a deliberate policy being overseen by their political masters.

During the year we marched in great numbers to protest. Our protest could not go unnoticed so they had to engage. And if needs be we must protest again, in greater numbers and with greater regularity. Every county must get the message. The plight of our prisoners must be to the fore in our activism. We must place this issue onto the national agenda and keep it there until such time that it is addressed. We can do no less when the prisoners themselves are doing so much.

The National Army continues to engage the enemy. Our right to national self determination will be protected and fought for. War is an inevitable consequence of the presence of the British government in our country. There are those who say that now is not the right time for armed struggle; that alternative strategies must be pursued. But it must be grasped that armed struggle is an inevitable reality and any strategy hoping to be viable must recognise this. Armed struggle cannot be wished away no more than it can be stored neatly in a box so that a political initiative can be aired in public. Avoiding reality cannot be a precondition for any strategy.

Comrades I wish to conclude with an impassioned plea to you all, at every level in our organisation, to both experienced and novice activists, make the coming year one of sustained activism within your communities. Bring the issue of national liberation with you. Demonstrate that there is an alternative and that they have it within their power to realise change.

Successful Protest at Alliance Office

2010-05-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Successful Protest at Alliance Office

Republicans from a number of different groups, along with other non-aligned Republicans, showed up today at a protest outside the Alliance party office on University street, Belfast. This was a show of support for the Republican prisoners and their families and friends. The Alliance party office was chosen due to the recent comments made by the new Justice Minister David Ford, on the treatment of Republican POWs in Maghaberry.

“This is the latest in a series of actions by a small number of prisoners, designed to form the impression that they are being mistreated”

He went on to say
“They seem determined to create conditions which they will then complain about, but they will have no-one to blame but themselves.”

As anyone who has been keeping up to date with the Maghaberry regime will know, Republican prisoners are being picked out for selective treatment and have been forced back into a corner. Beatings and the stripping of basic human requirements have been forced upon them and at no fault of their own. Republicans are well used to this type of treatment from another arm of the British occupation and they can only respond with the limited options available to them.

No members of the Alliance party were in the office at the time, as they had evacuated the building in anticipation of the planned protest. However a letter was left into the office mail box by Lillian Fitzsimmons, the sister of Harry Fitzsimmons a prisoner currently feeling the full force of the vicious campaign. A response is awaited.

We would like to encourage all Republicans concerned with the treatment of POW’s to attend another protest on Sunday May 16th at 4pm outside the Maghabery Gaol organised by Concerned Families and Friends of Maghaberry POWs.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement would like to thank the organisers for inviting the 32CSM and congratulate them on such a successful protest, with over 80 people attending despite short notice.

Belfast 32CSM

The Treatment of Republican POW’s is Horrendous

2010-05-10T14:43:00.001-07:00

The treatment of Republican Prisoners Of War and political prisoners alike in Maghaberry gaol is nothing short of disgusting and inhumane. The abusive treatment by Prison employees has escalated drastically in the past few weeks. Recently Republicans have been informed that they will receive no showering facilities, no visits, no phone calls and no exercise time, this is clearly in breach of their human rights. Another issue that seems to be part of the screws plan of action is withholding food from the men for days on end, another very serious breach of human rights.

Strip searches have become another weapon of choice for Maghaberry screws it is being used in such a fashion as to humiliate the Republicans under their control. It was also being used extensively against family and friends visiting the gaol. Strip searches were being carried out a highly inappropriate number of times, even when men were walking from wing to wing they were being intermittently searched when they had no possibility to have received contraband items. Due to the wide spread use of this tactic Republicans have refused to strip down past their boxer shorts resulting in numerous beatings.

Numerous men are being sent to the SSU (Special Supervision Unit), this was previously called the Punishment Unit but was later renamed. The understanding of these actions by Republicans is that this is just another excuse to try and separate Republicans and break their morale.

Most personal belongings have been stripped from the men’s cells, leaving them with nothing but a mattress and the clothes they stand in. When Republicans saw a comrade receiving a severe beating by a number of balaclava clad screws, in protest and in the hope of stopping the vicious assault they wrecked their cells, including their toilets and sinks, this obviously flooded their rooms, where they had to stay for the duration of the night with a six inch puddle of water surrounding them. When the screws did eventually move the prisoners to dry cells while they clear the rooms, they soaked the POW’s mattresses and moved them back in.

With no toilet facilities in their cells the POWs are expected to use buckets to defecate and urinate, in attempts to get rid of this human waste, they try have to throw what they can out windows and pour urine onto the landing which is often swept back in around them, this is fertile ground for various harmful bacteria and infections, which, as summer approaches, may result in an epidemic outbreak, in correlations with the lack of nutrition, resulting in weakened immune systems, this poses a serious threat to the prisoners’ safety. Another incident reported to people before the communications shut down, was that food that was getting through to the POW’s was being tampered with, leaving numerous Republicans violently ill, the tampered food and no drinking water has compounded this health issue.

Not only is this a vicious and underhand campaign against legitimate political prisoners it is obviously a great health risk to the men suffering this reality. To compile the health risk POW’s that are on long term medication, have been refused their medicine for the past number of weeks, suffering in a regression of their medical wellbeing.

The media have been absolutely deafening in their silence about this torturous campaign waged against our incarcerated Republicans comrades. The only reporting of this issue is coming from the Republican groups supporting these men and from a few humanitarian organisations. If the media are refusing to document and shame the system for its vile actions, it is up to us as Republicans to take to the street to protest, poster and challenge this regime, we owe our comrades that much. They can ignore one of us, but they cannot ignore all of us.

Belfast 32CSM

Gary Donnelly Returned To Republican Wing

2010-03-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

Freedoms Struggle Will Not Be Terrorised, Nor Freedoms Fight Criminalized

Gary Donnelly a highly committed Republican from Derry, was recently sentenced to 7 months in gaol. He received this sentence for some of the most obvious political policing in recent years. Gary had been on Foyle Street in Derry when he was approached by a number of RUC officers, one being a well known Scottish Inspector, who already has a history of abusing republicans. The altercation ended with Mr Donnelly having his arm broken in 3 places. If this wasn't punishment enough the RUC moved to put an assault charge against him. After the first hearing Gary was fined £450, which he quite rightly appealed, being guilty of having your arm smashed is not worthy of a fine. Upon the next hearing Gary was sentenced to community service, again why should an innocent man do the work of a criminal? The final review of his case ended with Gary being handed a ridiculous sentence of 7 months in Maghaberry Gaol. This despite the “police” obviously lying in court a number of times, with a British judge even saying “There were a number of discrepancies in the evidence given by police officers during the trial”.

Gary was taken to Maghaberry where immediately went on the Republican wing where he was given a warm welcome by comrades and fellow political activists. Then a light-bulb must have lit up in the heads of the Dirty Tricks departments of the British state, it was announced that Gary's life was under threat by fellow Republicans and that he would have to be moved off the wing. This as anyone who is politically aware knows is utter nonsense and a complete fabrication. The screws in Maghaberry moved Gary to a criminal wing of the gaol, where his life would definitely be under threat so he had to remain in solitary confinement. Following in the footsteps of other great republicans, Gary Donnelly refuses to be criminalized, and much like the men of ‘81 embarked on the last form of protest open to him Hunger Strike.

Gary started his strike on Friday 12th March, and over the next week lost over a stone in weight. The NIO stated it was investigating the situation, but that it could take them up to 2 weeks to come to a conclusion, this was clearly a way of prolonging the suffering of this Irish man and his family. Each of the represented groups in Maghaberry emphatically stated that there is no threat on his life, and there were even messages from the outside delivered by a Priest from the IRA leadership to unequivocally disprove this vicious attack on an unrepentant Irish republican. If there is anything that can be taken from this, it is that MI5 have their claws in every facet of life in the 6 counties, and if they see you as a threat they will take every opportunity to put you down and criminalize what you stand for. We must be organised on the outside, and shout this from the roof tops, we must show the people of Ireland that the so called Law and Order in the North is far from under the control of the inhabitants there, and most of all we must be there for men inside like Gary, victims of state aggression and political policing. It won't be as lonely for them in there if they know that we are all out here for them.

We are happy to say that Gary was moved back to the Republican wing along side his comrades and friends, it’s a small mercy in such a disgusting show of strength by the British secret services. Cases like Gary Donnelly’s, Terry McCafferty and Colin Duffy’s must be shown the length and breadth of Ireland and further afield because what the British state is doing is wrong, but what would be worse would be if we let them get away with it.

Republicans have refused and resisted criminalization all through out Irish history and it will continue for as long as there is a concerted effort to enforce that stigma on them. We would like to thank Gary Donnelly, for again showing the British system that we as Republicans won't accept the tag of criminals, and for doing it in such a brave and commendable a fashion. No doubt if they had got away with it this time they would use it in future to place republican volunteers and political activists in criminal wings.

Belfast 32csm
20/03/10

Solidarity In Derry

2010-03-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

32CSM New Year Statement 2010

2010-01-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

32 County Sovereignty Movement

New Year Statement 2010

We commend our activists for their dedication and hard work in pursuit of the republican goal in 2009. We commend all other republican activists for being true to their beliefs and for being generous and inventive in listening to the beliefs of others. 2009 was a year which witnessed that inventiveness being translated into political action which was widely recognised throughout the republican base. It represented the most potent expression of solidarity with imprisoned comrades. It is solidarity in action with those who were bereaved in the struggle. It is also the way forward for Irish republicanism.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement has a clear vision for the year ahead. The reclamation of our sovereignty must take real form. We must give leadership to our communities to help them achieve this. Throughout Ireland communities have been betrayed by the institutions of faith, finance and state which have long purported to speak and act on their behalf. The abundance of trust placed in the integrity of individual leaders has proved misplaced. They have been left leaderless.

They have not, however, been left powerless. It is in recognition of this reality that the 32CSM will now engage with our communities. In a disciplined approach the 32CSM will liase directly with local communities to explore ways of reclaiming their sovereignty, and under these auspices, help them pursue their political and social objectives. We will focus our efforts in ensuring that all community activity will by default be a pursuit toward national sovereignty. Such a process will be a challenge to both states. It is a first step in filling the vacuum left by those who are now wholly subsumed into the apparatus of partition.

Communities so organised can become the template for national freedom. The republican objective is twofold; to secure our sovereign independence and to organise a just society within that independence. Like our republican forebears we can now enact our aspirations, we can involve our people with our beliefs in real and tangible terms. Republicanism cannot be detached from the people and the people cannot be detached from the strategies deployed to secure their freedom. We can only lead through democratic involvement with our communities.

Because it is a first step it must be taken with due diligence. We have prepared our arguments and are refining our position as mandated at our Ard Fheis. It will be democratic. It will be a learning process which will require discipline, patience and pragmatic political judgement. Republicans cannot interact at a distance. We need to create a new interface between ourselves and our people which will allow us to seek their mandate for our struggle. This mandate will not be measured by a gerrymandered vote. Its value will be in its democratic integrity and its sovereign credentials. For us the ballot box means more than just numbers. Democracy can only be returned to the Irish people when their national sovereignty is recognised.

Because it is a challenge to the state the state will obviously respond. Mistakes will be made, but also learned from, and it is this disciplined approach which will allow for this engagement to spread successfully to other areas. In part the success of this project may be gauged from the state’s reaction to it. They will not be alone. Establishment Nationalists will also have a vested interest in seeing this project fail. They will seek to divide and conquer. But a clear understanding as to the implications of its sovereign distinction and clear democratic practices will thwart them. After all it was disdain for democracy within their own organisations which led them into the cul de sac they now find themselves.

The 32CSM will be active on other fronts. Two major international initiatives will be launched in the coming year. We have observed how issues at play on the international stage are geared toward political events in the occupied six counties. We have made our intentions known to the relevant governments that we are determined to follow a particular path challenging any move that would seek to de-legitimise the republican struggle. These initiatives are for the benefit of Irish republicanism, we will not claim sole ownership of them. But we will provide the leadership that will open up counter arguments for all republicans to employ against these nefarious measures.

Republican unity in 2009 resulted in impressive demonstrations on a range of issues. The continuing media and political demonising of republicans is proof of their effect as is their grudging admission of our growth. The media and political establishment’s objective is to ignore us but through mutual cooperation we have made this impossible. In the coming year this cooperation can be galvanised within our communities as these issues now become their issues in pursuit of our national objectives.

The British Government’s strategy of finally destroying any vestige of republicanism within the provisional movement will not be allowed to undermine the separatist ideal. A resurgent republicanism will demonstrate to both governments and the international community that the destruction of the provisional movement was the liberation of Irish republicanism. It is up to all of us to ensure that 2010 clearly demonstrates this reality.

Marian Price Arrest

2009-11-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

Statement

The recently staged political arrest of 32 County Sovereignty Movement National Secretary Marian Price underscores the fact that policing in the Six Counties will always be political. We have long stated that where sovereignty is disputed policing will always take a side in that dispute. The myth that policing in the Six Counties could be detached from the constitutional question by employing the charade of ‘Civic Policing’ has been shattered yet again.The British Government has repeatedly used policing to curry favour with whichever political mood prevails. On the one hand we had the establishment of the benign District Policing Partnerships as a sop to the constituency of establishment nationalists. And now that we have unionists grappling with the issue of devolving minimalist Policing and Justice ‘powers’ to Stormont we witness the targeting of high profile republican activists for arrest by the RUC/PSNI. Coupled with this is the appearance before Crown Courts of Irish Republicans on the most spurious of grounds. All of this points to where the British Government desires that political policing should lead. We urge all republicans to be vigilant in the times ahead as British efforts to secure its illegal sovereign claim over part of Ireland intensify.

Statement Ends

John Brady RIP

2009-10-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

John Brady RIP
Statement 32 County Sovereignty Movement
6/10/09

On behalf on the 32CSM I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of John Brady who died whilst in police custody.

We echo the concerns of the family and the broad republican movement that answers surrounding the circumstances of John’s death be immediately forthcoming.

The issue of sustained harassment of republicans by British forces cannot be divorced from the search for those answers.

Equally the use of the ‘Release Under Licence’ system as a mechanism to coerce political expression and as a blunt instrument to re-intern republicans on the flimsiest of grounds needs to be fully exposed.

We offer our full support to John’s family in their quest for the truth concerning his death.

Francie Mackey
Chairperson 32CSM

Anti Extradition Protest Belfast 18/09/2009

2009-09-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

Anti-Extradition Protest Friday 18th September 9AM Laganside Court Complex Belfast

Anti Extradition Protest Belfast 24/08/2009

2009-08-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Protest Opposing Extradition of Liam Campbell

Terry McCafferty/Liam & Michael Campbell Protest

2009-07-22T11:28:00.001-07:00

Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association

Terry McCafferty/Liam & Michael Campbell Protest

Saturday 25^th July, 2 pm North Queen Street RUC/PSNI Barracks, North Belfast.

The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association are urging all Republicans, Socialists and anyone concerned with human rights and civil liberty abuses to attend our protest on Saturday July the 25^th at 2pm outside North Queen Street RUC/PSNI barracks. This protest is in support of Terry McCafferty, interned by the British secretary of state in Ireland despite having served the requisite amount of his prison term.
Liam Campbell who was kidnapped by the RUC/PSNI after crossing into the occupied six counties and is currently being extradited by the British to Lithuania for alleged offences in that country despite him never having set foot there.
Michael Campbell is currently being held in medieval conditions in a Lithuanian prison accused of attempting to procure weapons for Irish Republicans, Michael has been held hostage for a year and a half despite no evidence being brought forward as of yet.

The IRPWA believe it is imperative that the cases of these three men, among others, need to be brought to the public attention and that all Republicans attend the various protests that are being arranged.

All Republicans and all banners are welcome.

32CSM Refute Kelly's Claims

2009-07-14T09:52:00.001-07:00

32 County Sovereignty Movement
14/07/2009
32CSM Refute Kelly’s Claims

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement absolutely refute Gerry Kelly’s assertions that members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, in concert with other republicans, were ‘sent’ into the Ardoyne area to create conflict and we challenge him to produce proof to support this outlandish claim.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement did have members, from Ardoyne, at the protest to observe the overreactions of the British police in Ireland. Kelly’s comments are deliberately phrased to mislead the wider community into believing that the show of resistance by the people of Ardoyne was cynically manipulated by people from outside the area and thus misrepresented the feelings of the people from Ardoyne. The 32CSM reject this and we fully commend the people of Ardoyne, and neighbouring nationalist areas in their efforts to repel the RUC/PSNI from imposing a sectarian hate march in an area where it is clearly not wanted. We do however agree with Minister Kelly on one point, it was people from outside the area who caused this situation, we do not imagine many of the Orangemen or RUC/PSNI personnel were from Ardoyne.

Terry McCafferty and Michael Campbell protest

2009-06-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHAV_nxmAFo

Free Terry McCafferty

2009-06-27T13:31:00.001-07:00

Terry McCafferty Protest

2009-06-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

A chairde,The next protest for Republican hostage Terry Mc Cafferty will be on Saturday 27th June in North Queen St. Belfast at 2.00pm. (A white line picket outside the Barracks) Please make every effort to attend to show support for Terry and his family.

Ardoyne: A Community Abandoned

2009-06-19T09:08:00.003-07:00

Ardoyne: A Community Abandoned

There was surprise in the mainstream media earlier this year when Provisional Sinn Fein representatives announced that they were going to be unable to control Ardoyne during this year’s marching season. Ardoyne was one of the most formidable strongholds of the Provisional IRA and the support for PSF there is somewhat of a litmus test for the support trends in hard-line republican areas across the occupied six counties. However the people of Ardoyne are no longer content to accept the unquestioned rule of Sinn Fein and the Provisionals because they have seen no changes or benefits from the GFA in their community. Social deprivation, unemployment, drugs and sectarian attacks have plagued Ardoyne since the ceasefires. Community spirit still endeavours and the pride shown by locals in protecting and maintaining their communities is admirable. They have however been abandoned by the leadership of the provisional movement. Rather than protect and aid the community these people were content to “control” the area. What they failed to realise was that they had always relied on the support of the people of the area to have any influence. Under the GFA this community has been subjected to humiliation, left defenceless to sectarian marching, British harassment and anti social crime. The situation was never going to be tolerated for long by people who had been to the forefront of opposition to British rule. As PSF moved into the constitutional nationalist position and the British parliament in stormont so discontent and disillusionment grew.

The issue of perhaps most contention is the annual Orange march through Ardoyne. This sectarian display is one of many across the six counties. These marches seek to dominate and humiliate nationalist communities. Glorifying sectarian politics and revelling in the perceived superiority of the orange culture. They are akin to white supremacists marching through African American neighbourhoods and are bitterly opposed by nationalist people. Ardoyne as an interface area has suffered more than its fair share of sectarian attacks and these marches merely reinforce the reality that they are facing a sectarian opponent that is backed by the state. How then can a British police force be acceptable to people in communities like Ardoyne? A police force that aside from a cosmetic makeover is the same one that savaged this community on a regular basis for 30 years. The truth is of course that it will never be acceptable, because Republicanism is not a tactic for the people there it is an identity that has defined them and one that they have fought, suffered and died for. It will not be traded for seats in Stormont.

And so the people of Ardoyne turned to those that had stayed the course. The so called “dissidents” are not monsters that seek to cause havoc. They are republicans that are in no way different to those that defended the community for years. They are people who stayed true to the cause that was fought for. It is hardly surprising that they are being welcomed slowly but surely in working class communities across the six counties by beleaguered residents who need help. These were people who were familiar who did what they said they would do. They do not wear Armani or lunch with Brown but they do actually work for the communities. They have been subjected to at various times, ridicule, slander and vile accusations by both former comrades and the mainstream media. But the truth is becoming clear. They are being accepted by Republicans. Ardoyne is one of many communities rejecting the provisional sell out.

The price of this is isolation and harassment. The suits from Sinn Fein will not venture into the area but neither will funding or community support which is tightly controlled by PSF. Likewise the psni/ ruc do not have to worry about their abuse of the community being highlighted by the “nationalist representatives”. the message is clear. If you don’t tow the line you suffer the consequences. The community has refused to bow to this cheap intimidation. The papers have been running lurid and sensational reports about the “dissidents” planning mayhem before this year’s marches. Translated into honest terms this means that the community will not be beaten and subdued by PIRA members this year. Last year youths were pepper sprayed by provisionals who were policing the area for the British who commented that they were more effective than the psni. Not this year it would seem.

Having rejected British authority the people of Ardoyne have rejected the authority of the discredited provisional movement. They will not be subdued nor will they submit to cultural humiliation or degradation. Republicans everywhere should follow their example and stand united against the onslaught sure to come with devolution of policing and justice. In the words of the late, great Brendan Hughes “stay true to yourselves and stand by the republic”

Right To Protest Targetted

2009-05-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

32 County Sovereignty Movement
17/05/2009

Political Protest viewed as act of Terrorism by State Forces.

The Stopping and searching of a number of protesters after yesterday’s (Saturday 16th) protest against the continuing internment of Belfast republican Terry McCafferty illustrates perfectly that the British state in Ireland considers all anti state protest as a potential terrorist act and all those who engage in protest as potential terrorists.
Following the protest outside North Queen Street RUC/PSNI barracks, and as the protesters dispersed, the RUC/PSNI pounced on small groups of activists making their way home. In an obviously pre planned action, the RUC/PSNI followed various cars and individuals, waited until they were isolated from other republicans and stopped them under section 44 of the terrorism act. Cars and persons were rigorously searched in the middle of the day close to Belfast city centre in front of hundreds of motorists and shoppers. Members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the IRSP, IRPWA and members of the North Belfast community were among those subject to these demeaning and politically motivated police actions.
While the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and indeed the entire republican community are well used to this sort of political policing we would urge the wider nationalist community to open their eyes and take a good look at what is happening around them. The state police in Ireland are acting on behalf of the British states political interests in Ireland, there is no separation of political policing and ‘ordinary’ policing in today’s RUC/PSNI.
The British secretary of state for occupied Ireland interned Terry McCafferty without giving a credible reason to make a political point, when republicans sought to make a political point against that internment we were subjected to intimidating searches and harassment under British terror legislation.
This is the sort of police force and political system republicans and nationalists are being asked to accept as a stepping stone to a 32 County Democratic Socialist Republic.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement ask all republicans and nationalists to reject this political police force, reject this political system and to finally to support Terry McCafferty and his family for while it is an inconvenience to be detained by the state forces for an hour at a roadside what must it be like for the McCafferty’s? Their nightmare continues indefinitely.

Sovereign Nation

2009-05-08T04:03:00.000-07:00

Click Here For Latest Edition

Prison Protest Set To Escalate

2009-04-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association
24/04/2009

E3 Prison Protest to escalate.

The current protest by republican POW’s on E3 landing in Portlaoise gaol is set to escalate following a ruling that yet another prisoner has been denied temporary release by the Free State department of justice. Last week two republicans prisoners went on a no wash/dirty protest over the politically motivated denial of temporary release, more prisoners were set to follow but an agreement was made between the Irish Prison Service and the Officer Commanding republican POW’s to call a temporary halt to the escalation of the protest in order to see what moves could be undertaken to end the action by the prisoners.
Earlier today the OC of the prisoners informed the IRPWA that the Irish Prison Service had come back empty handed and another prisoner was denied temporary release. It seems that the Department of Justice and the Irish Prison Service are committed to the policy of confronting republican prisoners.
We have been informed that all republican prisoners on E3 will join the protest on Monday. The POW’s had earlier stated that they would stagger men in pairs until the whole landing was on protest, the OC has informed the IRPWA that this is no longer the case as the prisoners now see no merit in this course of action.
The IRPWA call on the entire republican family to support the men in their protest and to support the IRPWA in a series of protests they are now planning, we thank those republican comrades who have already come out in support of the POW’s.
The Department of Justice and the Irish Prison Service are making a grave mistake if they think they can call these man’s bluff and they are guilty of a gross underestimation of the Óglaigh na hÉireann POW’s resolve.

POW Protest Portlaoise Prison

2009-04-18T08:53:00.001-07:00

IRISH REPUBLICAN PRISONERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION 18/04/2009 Protest on E3 Portlaoise Gaol.
It is with great regret that the IRPWA call upon the republican family to once again support POW’s in their protest against the blatant injustice of the Prison system in Ireland.
The IRPWA have been tasked by the republican POW’s to state how and why this protest has occurred and to clarify the facts of this protest.
A protest is currently underway on E3 Portlaoise due to the suspension of the temporary release (TR) and compassionate release (CR) programmes. It is the belief of the POW’s that this has happened due to IRA actions in the occupied six counties, indeed the Irish Prison Service have indicated this much and one of their spokespersons has even asked the OC of E3 if he ‘Believed in the border’!
The situation at present is as follows: Two republicans prisoners (Vinny Kelly and Justin McCarthy) are currently involved in a no wash/dirty protest, NOT on the blanket as some have suggested. At intervals republican POW’s will join this protest until the whole landing is on protest , at this stage the protest will escalate.
The Irish Prison Service representative and the Governor have asked the Officer Commanding to reconsider the POW’s stance pending talks with the Free State government, the only concession the POW’s have been willing to make at this stage is to delay further men joining the protest for a short period to give them a chance to resolve the issue. It is the understanding of the IRPWA that this window of opportunity is fast closing and we would urge all those involved in the Free State government and the Irish Prison Service to make strenuous efforts to resolve this intolerable situation as soon as possible.

32CSM Easter Oration

2009-04-13T09:17:00.001-07:00

32CSM Easter Oration

2009

A chairde, there are those who would say we are traitors gathered here to commemorate the actions of traitors. Pearse and Connolly were deemed to be traitors because the British trenches in the Somme were filled with Irishmen deceived into thinking that fighting in the imperial slaughter of the First World War would lead to Home Rule. Pearse and Connolly said it wouldn’t, and they were right, but still they were vilified and executed. Ninety three years later republicans once again state that the Home Rule strategy will not deliver Irish freedom. Calling us traitors for saying so from the steps of Stormont, flanked by Britain’s head policeman in Ireland, proves we are also right. We are immensely proud to share the views of Pearse and Connolly.

Once again British soldiers are being killed on Irish soil. Once again British soldiers are using Irish soil to train to kill in foreign wars. Once again establishment nationalists have moved to support the British regime in Ireland. Nothing has changed. Claiming that unity will be achieved by 2016 is similar to the deception employed to lure men to their deaths in the fields of Flanders in the lost hope of securing Home Rule. Nothing has changed here either. The men and women of 1916 fought for fundamental change. They were not reformists, but Irish separatists who articulated the basic republican message that our sovereignty is inalienable and indefeasable.

This year also marks the 90^th anniversary of the establishment of the First Dail Eireann. The First Dail was the Proclamation in action. It was an Irish parliament of, by and for the Irish people. It declared our independence to the world and set about a radical social programme to cherish all of the children equally. It remains our blueprint for the future of our country and our people.

Our history is one of conflict because too often our history has been repeated. Political arrangements which usurp Irish sovereignty cannot lead to peace or freedom. Inherent in these arrangements is the attempted suppression of those who seek to defend our sovereignty. They murder us. They hang us. They intern us. They intimidate us. They malign us. It represents that familiar colonial chorus, ever desperate to maintain itself. Trading civil rights in return for recognition of foreign rule condemns our children to fight for that most basic of rights, their own freedom. The men and women of 1916 were not fooled or bought by the trappings of Home Rule nor intimidated by the forces of Westminster and her Irish lackeys. For them democracy meant more than an opinion poll rating or a gerrymandered election. The voice of the people can only be heard if it is freely expressed.

And this is the message which republicans need to articulate today. As republicans we need to put before the people our framework from within which Irish democracy can function without external impediment. We need to set our case against British occupation in a way which is relevant to our people’s needs today. Our aims cannot be solely the product of the past nor can they be a slave to that past. British reasons for remaining in Ireland will change according to modern British interests and republican strategies opposing these interests must adapt accordingly. But in doing so we cannot repeat the failures of history by compromising the legitimacy of our position for the appearance of short term gain. The British have no right to be here and our right to resist them is a matter for us to determine and not them.

We are constantly asked; what is your alternative? The answer depends on who is asking the question. To those who call us traitors we say; any alternative but yours. To those who call us anti democratic we say; let us negotiate without pre conditions. To those republicans who genuinely seek an alternative we say; let us construct one together. We must be clear that the Good Friday Agreement represents a significant defeat for republicanism. And in the face of this we need to be pragmatic and not reactionary. Recrimination is not an alternative. Working constructively together is. Along with other republican comrades the 32 County Sovereignty Movement has engaged in an initiative to forge a way forward from a unified republican position. The ideology behind it is the ideology of necessity. All republican banners are welcome because all republican banners are needed.

How we engage with the Irish people is as important as what we engage them on. From the outset the truth of what we say will be judged by the strength by which we say it. Eloquence and emotion are no substitutes to a unified voice. The politics of conflict resolution requires clarity to ensure that any resolution is just and democratic. Armed conflict is in existence because such a resolution has not been entered into. Neither republicans nor the British government can invoke the existence of armed conflict as an excuse not to engage in a process to find a final democratic resolution to the Anglo Irish conflict. We have to deal with reality as it is and not how we wish it to be.

Standing here in commemoration of 1916 let us invoke the clarity of the Proclamation as we now address the British government today. You must leave Ireland. If, as you say, you have no selfish, strategic or economic reasons for remaining in Ireland then there is no excuse for you not to leave. There is no problem in Ireland which demands your presence that the Irish people themselves cannot resolve. If you require a framework to allow you to disengage from our country we will construct one for you. But for this to happen you must go before the international community and renounce your claim to sovereignty over the Six Counties. A claim of sovereignty represents the bedrock of any strategic interest so let this be the basic test of your intentions.

We call on all republicans to realign ourselves around the securing of achievable aims. We have set forth a programme to rebuild the republican movement through political advancement. We have proposed that commemorating 1916 should be the annual barometer by which we measure our success especially in the run up to its centenary in 2016. Irish republicanism must be in a position on the occasion of this centenary to tell the Irish people that concrete political gains have been made toward making national reunification an unstoppable reality. The Proclamation is too important a document to condemn it to perpetual aspiration.

The Unity Initiative is the only realistic way forward. Armed struggle is a reality in our midst. We must address it for what it is, a symptom of the unwillingness of the British government to engage on the core cause of conflict, namely, its illegal claim to sovereignty over part of our country. For those who want armed struggle to cease they must come forward with proposals to address its cause. The politics of condemnation is a failed irrelevancy just as British micro Ministers are sitting in Stormont. The 32 County Sovereignty Movement have endeavoured since its formation to put such proposals into the public domain.

We sought a peaceful alternative through the auspices of the United Nations only to have that route disbarred to us when the US authorities, acting on influence from London and Dublin, banned our organisation from travelling there. But we are not deterred by this and efforts are underway to petition the Obama administration to reverse this policy. Because contrary to previous declarations made there, Ireland is not at peace.

We have sought dialogue with both governments, unionist and nationalist parties in an attempt to seek a peaceful way forward but these offers have been largely ignored. We thank all those who worked toward achieving this. And we say it again now; if you truly believe our position is so flawed come and tell us how, rather than grandstanding on media soap boxes. Our door remains open and we will not stop knocking on yours.

Comrades, the template of 1916 remains supremely relevant for us today. It was republican unity which drafted the Proclamation and allowed for the accommodation of its diverse views so magnificently. It was republican disunity which led to that fateful confusion on that day. They have given us the benefit of their foresight and the lessons of their errors. Let us leave here today all the wiser for both.

Beir Bua.

Release Terry McCafferty

2009-04-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

Release Terry McCafferty Protest
Saturday April 4th
North Queen St Barracks
Belfast 2pm

Republicans Protest British Policing

2009-03-26T05:22:00.001-07:00

End The Conflict. End The Occupation

2009-03-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

32 County Sovereignty Movement

12/03/2009

End The Conflict, End British Rule In Ireland

If the conflict in Ireland is to end once and for all, so too must the illegal British claim to sovereignty over the Six Counties. That has been made clear in light of the violent events of recent days. That the so called peace process failed to openly address this central core issue of conflict is the reason for its failure now. Attempts to cocoon the problem in a puppet British Assembly arguing along sectarian lines are doomed to failure. From the outset of this process the British government have moved to defend their illegal sovereign claim to Irelands territory. This was evident when they made it an absolute pre-condition that the entry fee into negotiations was the acceptance of a partitionist outcome. Once republican leaders acquiesced to this British demand the republican project within that process was doomed. As it limped from crisis to crisis its British and unionist credentials began to assert themselves. What also emerged was the clear fact that rather than accept their abject defeat in negotiations with the British, republican leaders dug deeper into the morass whilst making outlandish and unsustainable claims about achieving Irish unity by certain dates to keep supporters on board. It was a classic British trap. This British strategy has now reached its pinnacle with a Provisional Sinn Fein leader standing at Stormont, under the British flag, as a minister of the British crown, calling IRA Volunteers ‘traitors’ for continuing to resist British occupation.

We note the ritual chorus of condemnation emanating from Leinster House. Far from reflecting a unity of purpose it represents a bankruptcy of will from that institution to pursue the objective of a Sovereign Irish Republic. From its inception Leinster House abandoned the Irish people in the Six Counties. It abandoned them further under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. It evolved a politics which made it a slave to vested interests. It is economically on its knees because of financial and political corruption at the highest level. It has selectively spurned its own referenda results because it lacked the courage to represent those results to the political elite in Europe. It is no position to lecture to anyone on any matter of substance.

From its inception the 32 County Sovereignty Movement has endeavored to place the issue of Irish National Sovereignty at the heart of the political process via peaceful methods. We sought to raise our concerns by pursuing our case at the United Nations only to have that peaceful route disbarred to us when London and Dublin petitioned Washington to have our organization declared illegal in the US. We petitioned all the main parties with detailed submissions but were met with silence. We sought peace. We seek peace, but we recognise clearly that this can only be achieved if true parity is brought to a negotiations process. Britain’s claim to have ‘no selfish, strategic or economic reasons’ to remain in Ireland is laid bare when one sees its use of Irish soil to train and dispatch British soldiers to kill in foreign wars. The British are not neutral in Ireland, no more than they are in Afghanistan or Iraq. To allow them to claim this, which the Good Friday Agreement does, represents a massive abdication of duty and responsibility by all those supposed nationalists who support it. The recent loss of life as a result of military action is yet another tragedy in the continuing conflict in Ireland. What is required to resolve it is an end to British Parliamentary activity in Ireland so that the people of the island can come to their own democratic arrangements as to how we govern ourselves.

Ardoyne Raid

2009-01-28T05:37:00.001-08:00

32 County Sovereignty Movement
28/01/2009

The 32csm was appalled to hear reports of a number of Anti-Community raids in the Ardoyne district yesterday, these raids were seemingly aimed at a group of Community based Anti-Drugs Campaigners known as CFAD (Concerned Families Against Drugs), they were raided under The Prevention of Terrorism Act, once again we see who the real terrorists of our communities are. The scale of the raids would seem to indicate that they were sanctioned by the upper echelons of the RUC/PSNI structure, it is clear that in this time of political policing that nothing has changed and the RUC were clearly perturbed by a group of local people that were more capable of doing their supposed work than they were. We need look no further for evidence of this form of “policing” than one of our own members Terrence McCafferty.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate CFAD on the outstanding work they are doing, and would encourage more of our communities to take up groups such as these and quell the rising tide of Anti-Social Behaviour.

32csm Belfast

Terry McCafferty Bebo Support Page

2009-01-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

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A bebo page has been set up to campaign for the release of Terry Mc Cafferty.Please click on the image to view the page and lend your support.

Belfast 32CSM Gaza Solidarity

2009-01-12T13:30:00.001-08:00

Free Terry McCafferty

2009-01-10T15:26:00.001-08:00

White Line Picket

2009-01-08T06:16:00.001-08:00

White Line Picket

Saturday January 10th

3.PM

New Lodge Road Belfast

Terry McCafferty Video

2009-01-06T03:50:00.000-08:00

RUC/PSNI Behind Threats

2009-01-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

Belfast 32 County Sovereignty Movement
4/1/2009
North Belfast Republican believes RUC/PSNI behind threats.
A member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement has stated that he believes that the RUC/PSNI are behind the latest in a series of threats made to him. On Sunday the 4th January the North Belfast man received a number of texts stating that ‘We know where you live, we are coming to get you. UVF’
The Republican commented “While this is nothing remarkable what stood out was the fact that these messages were sent to a phone that I seldom use and very few people would have the number of, I believe this was to intimidate me because if they had texted the phone I normally use for political work then they knew I would have shrugged my shoulders. A number of weeks ago myself and another comrade in the Belfast 32 CSM were told by the RUC/PSNI that our lives were under threat from criminal elements, at the time we stated that we believed that these threats were emanating from some branch of the British security apparatus, I believe that this latest threat is an extension of that.
I am of the opinion that while the last threats were linked to my work in the community on issues such as drugs and housing these threats are specifically linked to the work I have been doing to get Terry McCafferty released from his internment by the British Secretary of State. I have been under constant overt surveillance by the RUC/PSNI who sit outside my house and follow me wherever I go and I would assume I am under covert surveillance as well, such crude intimidatory tactics will not deflect me from the work I have undertaken, I am a member of a legitimate political organisation carrying out legitimate and legal political work and I will continue to work within my community for the release of Terry McCaffrerty and for the return of political status to all Republican POW’s”

32CSM New Year Statement

2009-01-02T01:40:00.000-08:00

32CSM
New Year Statement
2009
On behalf of the National Executive I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all our activists who campaigned so effectively for our goals during 2008. I choose the word effectively deliberately as I believe certain milestones in Irish republicanism were achieved during the past year. At the outset let me address the realities of our struggle by welcoming home the Derry 4 but in equal breath call for the immediate release of Terry McCafferty, Michael Campbell and all incarcerated Irish republicans. If ever a set of circumstances so described the nature of justice under partition it is these which do so with the greatest clarity. Partition is maintained by the establishments on either side of it which makes our struggle a thirty two county affair. A protest in Kerry is no less important than a protest in Belfast and in our efforts to build our organisation this is the message we must bring with us.

Our organisation has grown in 2008. We have reached into new areas and attracted new people who share our strategic vision. 2009 must see the Sovereignty Movement consolidate this growth and give it firm political leadership. The effective activism I speak of was visible in a number of areas;

A mature campaign for a No Vote against Lisbon.
The sustained protests on Prisoner issues.
The establishment of the Irish Republican Forum For Unity.

Our efforts at securing a No Vote in the Lisbon referendum were based on ensuring that the issue of Sovereignty and Partition were at the heart of our strategy. In doing so we made it clear that all issues of national relevance, be they concerned with natural resources or national heritage, can only be addressed in the context of National Sovereignty and that a resolution of one must contain a resolution of all. Sovereignty cannot be sub-divided.
Our comrades in the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association facilitated our activists in holding protests and demonstrations concerning imprisoned Irish Republicans. We point to the successful intervention in the Aidan Hulme case and the release of the Derry 4. But the cases of Terry McCafferty and Michael Campbell loom large and require similar attention to secure similar outcomes. We send solidarity greetings to all imprisoned republicans but we will do so through continued activism on their behalf.

After long and searching debate the Unity Initiative bore fruit with the formal establishment of The Irish Republican Forum For Unity. At its inaugural meeting in Derry City the republican base could finally see the unity idea transformed into political action on an inclusive basis. A series of public meetings have been planned throughout 2009 to bring the Unity Forum to different areas so that the broad republican base can be instrumental in forging its political activity. The 32CSM will remain fully engaged with the Unity Forum and have proposals prepared to put to it for the coming year.
2009 will see us once again confronted with the Lisbon issue. Those who make the repeated charge that republicans should respect the ‘democratic’ wish expressed in the dual referendums on the Good Friday Agreement should have their hypocrisy thrown back at them. A second referendum will have the added issue of its democratic nature and once again the 32CSM will campaign to ensure that this undemocratic premise and that of Partition itself will be seen as one. Our analysis of the re-run Nice Treaty convinced us that only a Yes vote will satisfy the Dublin Government and having anticipated the inevitability of a second poll we had begun our preparations for our campaign soon after the No victory. I take this opportunity to formally launch ‘Countdown To Lisbon II’ as our effort in the forthcoming campaign. It will be a campaign which will focus on our original objections to Lisbon and also on the status of a second referendum as it relates to our National Sovereignty. We will also campaign for a No Vote by highlighting the extraordinary corruption and social bankruptcy of the Twenty Six Counties political and financial classes as it tries to convince the people that a treaty hewn from the same bankruptcy is in our best interests.

2009 will not see the ending of Partition. Neither will 2016. These are the realities which face us and they need to be recognised by all republicans. However, this does not mean that 2009 and 2016 cannot witness political achievements that will help us secure this objective. Acting within our limitations and acting together to reduce those limitations can greatly enhance our prospects to once again place the republican position back onto the national agenda. Wallowing in the past or afraid to grasp nettles is the stuff of cul-de-sac politics. There is no need to reinvent the republican wheel but we do need to reinvent ways and means by which our core message is given the weight of political activity behind it. We view the Unity Forum as one such means and we strongly urge that all republican groups engage with it so that 2009 can become a watershed in our history.
Beir Bua.
Francie Mackey.

Free Terry McCafferty

2008-12-28T12:36:00.001-08:00

Terry McCafferty Protest

2008-12-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

Release Terry McCafferty

2008-12-23T15:37:00.000-08:00

Whiteline Picket

Dunville Park, Falls Road

3PM Christamas Eve.

32 County Sovereignty Movement
22/12/2008

FREE TERRY McCAFFERTY NOW

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement call for the immediate release of North Belfast Republican Terry McCafferty who was returned to Maghaberry gaol last night just four weeks after being released having served half of a 12 year sentence for his part in Republican activity in Belfast.
Terry McCafferty was returning from a holiday in Spain with his family when he was arrested and told he was being returned to Maghaberry having had his license revoked by British secretary of state Paul Goggins.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement view this action as blatant harassment of a Republican and his family just before Christmas. We have little doubt that there is no reason to revoke Terry’s license and we believe it may be a spiteful reaction to the release of the Derry 4 last Friday. It is quite clear that MI5 did not get the result they wanted in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin and they have ordered that Terry be imprisoned due to the fact that he has been recently released and his first Christmas with his family for years is approaching, It was designed to cause maximum misery to Republicans

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement call on all Republicans to unite to ensure that this spiteful action be overturned immediately.

http://www.irpwa.blogspot.com/

Republicans accuse MI5 of being behind threats

2008-10-29T07:58:00.001-07:00

32 County Sovereignty Movement
21/10/2008

Republicans accuse MI5 of being behind PSNI/RUC threats.

Two members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement in Belfast have accused the British security services of being behind threats they received from the PSNI/RUC indicating that ‘Criminal Elements’ were going to take some form of action against them.
The men, from North and East Belfast told the 32 County Sovereignty Movement that while the threats were worrying, they believed that they were either emanating from within MI5 or being pushed by them through their agents in the Criminal underworld in order to pressurise Republicans to cease carrying out the work they have being doing within the Republican community on issues such as anti social behaviour, underage drinking, poverty and the drugs scourge.
One of the men, who did not want to be identified stated “ I believe that these are attempts to force us to go home and close the doors and to stop us from our work as Republicans in the community, they will not work. As Republicans we are always under threat from somebody whether that be Loyalists, criminal gangs or indeed the biggest criminals of all, the forces of the British occupation in Ireland which is who we believe are behind these threats”
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement advise all Republicans to be vigilant in light of these threats and the threats last week against a member in North Armagh.

Aidan Hulme Latest

2008-10-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

POSITIVE OUTCOME TO AIDAN HULME CAMPAIGN

The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association (IRPWA)welcome the latest development in the Aidan Hulme campaign whereby the Prison Governor in Portlaoise Gaol has agreed with the prisoners and Aidan that the OC and Adjutant will be allowed access to accompany Aidan when he is visited by a doctor or when visited by the Governor.

Today (15/10/08) such a visit took place and it is confirmed that gangrene is not present in Aidan’s foot rather the symptoms are a result of a severe infection for which Aidan is now being treated.

Staff from the hospital will now visit Aidan to clean the infected areas of his foot and renew dressings to prevent further spread of infection.

An assurance is also given that Aidan will have a consultant assessment before the end of the month and an agreed care plan is being implemented and developed. This will allow for a proper consultant led care management package.

This positive and jointly agreed approach to Aidan’s welfare will ensure early intervention in the event of deterioration and will allow for continuous monitoring of his condition.

The negative effects of the medication will also be closely monitored and with Aidan’s agreement can be reduced depending on his individual needs at any given time.

The IRPWA on behalf of the POW’s would like at this time to thank most sincerely the many people who moved to support Aidan in his time of need and to those who sent greetings.

We would like to extend this thanks to other republican organisations who pledged their support and advice to ensure that Aidan received immediate professional intervention.

Aidan is indeed most grateful for all the support he has received and extends his heartfelt appreciation to everyone involved.

Marion Price

IRPWA

Support Aidan Hulme

2008-10-10T14:21:00.001-07:00

Belfast 32 CSM Address to Civil Rights March

2008-10-07T23:58:00.000-07:00

Because partition remains so too do all the injustices associated with it. That’s how partition has been maintained. To remove the injustices you must also remove partition. To address any injustice we must address its root cause and in the case of the Housing Discrimination in North Belfast that means addressing it as a means to address the issue of partition itself. We are only fooling ourselves, or allowing others to misguide us, if we think that issues such as these can be resolved independent of resolving the politics which created them. Civil Rights was and is a political tool of the British and Unionist establishment to coerce and cajole in equal measure nationalist acceptance of the constitutional status quo. Within a system such as the Six Counties there are no civil rights; rather there is a system of dispensing social favours in return for acceptance of the legitimacy of the political power dispensing them. This abuse did not commence in 1969. Rights, be they social, civil, political or cultural, have been denied the Irish people since the occupation began. The political response to this has generally taken two forms, those who would campaign for repeal of such abuses in pursuance of national freedom and those who seek their reform in pursuance of a British/Irish constitutional arrangement on the island. In the 1840’s James Fintan Lalor expressed it very clearly when he said that the struggle between tenant and landlord is but a smaller version of the struggle between Ireland and the power that occupies her. To struggle for one you must struggle for both. It remains the same today. Equality in Housing Allocation will only come about for two reasons; either it is in the interests of the British/Unionist establishment to grant it, which means a political price to be paid from nationalist parties, or, we fight for them as a mechanism to undermine the very existence of the Six County state itself. We cannot go down the road as some have done with Policing. We cannot be fobbed off with cosmetic gestures, toothless talking shops whilst all the while the old practices continue hidden by a very thin veneer of so called reform. Neither can we allow ourselves be bought with the promise of funding for inadequate and outdated modes of housing. PR sound bytes on the Six O’Clock News from political representatives seeking kudos for securing inadequate funding for inadequate housing projects must not be considered progress. Social progress must mean social change. Political progress must mean political change and in the Six Counties that must mean constitutional change. In the meantime people need to be properly housed. We fully recognise that we cannot act like the British and hold our people’s need to housing as a ransom in return for supporting our particular point of view. As republicans we recognise that we have no choice but to support our people in their social needs but we do have a choice as to how and why we do so. We do not have to capitulate in order to support our people’s needs. We do not have to recognise the legitimacy of any governmental authority from whom we demand proper housing. We do not need a rating in an opinion poll to be legitimate ourselves. And we say this very clearly to the people of North Belfast our right to proper housing is a right we must take and not a favour we must barter for. The 32 County Sovereignty Movement will stand four square behind the people of North Belfast, and elsewhere, in their struggle for basic human rights. We will sit on these platforms, we will march on the streets, we will seek unity of consensus to maximise the political strength of our protests. But we will act in the capacity as has been defined here today. We are Irish republicans. We seek an end to British Parliamentary Activity in our country. Housing Discrimination is part of that Parliamentary activity as is the denial of collective Civil Rights. This problem cannot be reformed, it can only be removed. Beir Bua.

Ardoyne DPP Protest

2008-08-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

32CSM along with comrades from the RNU (Republican Network for Unity), the IRSP (Irish Republican Socialist Party) and some unaligned, held a dignified and peaceful protest in Ardoyne last Thursday the 14th August against the local DPP meeting. The 32CSM use these type of meetings to express our disgust at the very idea of British policing in our communities, and that of people working towards normalising foreign rule on our streets. The protest was a great success with over twice the number of people outside protesting , as there were inside.
However the protest took a harrowing turn when a local man approached members of the protest with what appeared to be a pipe bomb, he went on to explain that one of his young children had been playing with the device and had actually brought it into the family home. The item was inspected and decided to be nothing more than a hoax, the child had found the hoax device in the playground within the community centre grounds. The device had been well put together and was obviously intended to cause tension and suspicion. As the protest broke up the PSNI/RUC arrived in a number of land rovers, clearly they were expecting some sort of incident to occur.

Republican protest at Twinbrook DPP meeting.

2008-08-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

August 9th Internment Protest

2008-08-13T11:42:00.001-07:00

Sovereign Nation

2008-08-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

DPP Protest

2008-07-28T13:03:00.001-07:00

The 32csm along with the IRSP will be holding a protest on Wednesday the 30th of July at 6.45 at Millgreen Youth Centre 19a Newton Gardens Bawnmore Newtownabbey.The protest has an open invitation to all republican groups or individuals to take part. The protest will be to highlight the normalisation process that some ex republicans are trying to force down the throat of the republican community. And to show that the sectarian RUC/PSNI are NOT welcome in our community's no more today than they were at any other time in our history.

Internment Commemoration

2008-07-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Whilst The Occupation Remains, Resistance Will Remain

2008-07-08T10:34:00.001-07:00

The revelations that the people of Derry City are to be petitioned in order to put pressure on Anti Agreement Republican Separatists to disband is disingenuous in the extreme and smacks not only of political opportunism but also no small measure of desperation.

It is clear that those behind this political stunt are using the understandable anger in the community at the murder of Emmet Sheils to further their own political objectives, namely an end to opposition to support for the RUC/PSNI and the British Administration in Stormont.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement will not be deflected from our political work by such ill conceived political posturing nor will any other Anti Agreement Republican groupings.

Those who have sought to ferment community tensions by deliberately and falsely attributing blame for the murder of Emmet Sheils will be exposed for what they are as will their cynical use of his death for their own narrow agenda. Republicans will not be intimidated from upholding the Republican position and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement are resolute in our intention to continue our work in Derry City and across the nation.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement are attracting disillusioned and disenfranchised Republicans right across Ireland and further a field as are other Republican organisations and the cynical manipulation of this tragic event illustrates how low Pro State Nationalists will go to undermine this growth, they will fail.

We note also the presence of the so called Deputy First Minister in Iraq. Just recently the same Minister greeted the US President to the Six Counties without a whimper of protest from him against the occupation and wholesale slaughter in that country. This reluctance to petition for protest against these blatant injustices is at least consistent with their equal reluctance to petition for protest against other high profile murders here because they do not afford him the same opportunity for cheap political kudos

The Irish Resistance Movement will not be forced to disband and anyone endeavouring to do so is not only naïve but is also acting in a dangerous manner. Attempts to foster a civil war mentality will also fail as all previous attempts have done.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement have this pledge to make to Republicans,
While the British Occupation remains so too will Irish Resistance to that Occupation

George Bush Protest

2008-06-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

Belfast 32csm were in attendance at the George Bush Protest held at Belfast City Hall on Monday 16Th June. The protest was well attended, with speakers from a number of different groups. Later in the day a number of people moved on to protest at Stormont and at a school in the Castlereagh area where the war criminal was going to further his PR stunt.

New IRPWA Mural Unveiled

2008-05-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Belfast cumannn of the 32 CSM along with the I.R.P.W.A. this week unveiled a new mural on the international wall at the bottom of the Falls Road. The aim of the mural is to highlight the the ongoing plight of Irish republican prisoners being held in British and 26 county jails on trumped up IRA membership charges.

Sovereign Nation April/May 2008

2008-04-16T12:44:00.001-07:00

The new edition of the Sovereign Nation has just been released. Click below to view it or right click and save to save it to your desktop:

Bugging Device Found

2008-03-24T13:51:00.001-07:00

A sophisticated bugging and tracking device has been unearthed in the vehicle of a member of the Dublin 32 County Sovereignty Movement. The device was secreted internally into the dashboard of the vehicle and was equipped with its own self contained power supply. The manner by which the device was installed strongly suggests that those who planted it took considerable time to effect this and was obviously professionally done. The device bears English Manufacturing Labels but as of yet it is uncertain whether it originates from a British, Irish or joint British/Irish intelligence source. Suffice to say that the unearthing of yet another intelligence gathering device clearly illustrates that the war against those who articulate the right of the Irish people to National Sovereignty continues in government(s)circles. The individual 32CSM member involved has sought legal advice on the matter. The 32CSM reiterates our call for all republicans to be diligent in the face of these insidious attempts to undermine the republican struggle. British Parliamentary activity in Ireland takes many forms.

Nationalist Approve British Offensive

2008-02-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement views with deep anger this weeks dramatic upsurge in offensive operations by the British police directed at nationalist districts across the 6 occupied counties. It is clear to us the swamping of working class nationalist housing estates, roads and rural districts in south Armagh, Newry and Derry city since Saturday evening accompanied by low flying helicopters, aggressive searching, patrolling and surveillance by heavily armed British policemen is a direct result of the public statement in the week prior to Christmas by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and SDLP leader Mark Durkan. These constitutional nationalist political leaders openly criticised the PSNI for failing to arrest and jail republican activists in sufficient numbers, giving the British the green light to pursue its aggressive armed incursions within our communities.This disgraceful public statement was accompanied by an unprecedented and prolonged campaign of propaganda emanating from the constitutional nationalist media, politicians and British intelligence services seeking to demonise and criminalise republican activists. The nationalist political establishment at Stormont have clearly signalled to the British their support and compliance for offensive operations within republican heartlands. The responsibility for the British forces activities in our districts this week lies as surely with them as it does in MI5's Holywood base.These counter insurgent operations from Derry to Newry are also clearly not directed at any one group in particular but against working class nationalist and republican communities in general as a show of strength by the British police encouraged and openly egged on by nationalist political leaders. No republican can give their support to this activity by the British forces in Ireland, a foreign occupying force showing its true counter insurgent colours and hostility to traditionally republican working class communities. The PSNIs role is the RUC's and RIC's role - Defence of the Realm and the suppression and criminalisation of all opposition to British state institutions in Ireland. That is the purpose of their invasion of our districts in the last 4 daysWe are also mindful that the response of your youth to this armed offensive against their districts by the British police has, as always, not been found wanting. The 32CSM recognise and salute their ongoing resistance to the British forces this week and regard any calls by local politicians for their neighbours to inform on them to the British as utterly despicable. Our youth are our future and their instinctive response to these armed incursions by the British into their districts is a source of pride to many.We take this opportunity again to make it clear that the republican struggle for national sovereignty will neither be criminalised nor defeated by the British state and its hangers on within the constitutional nationalist political leadership class. The PSNI are a force of British occupation in our country and its is they who are the criminals, not those republicans who oppose their illegal presence and the crime of partition in Ireland. Finally we express our solidarity with those who have been arrested and call on all republicans regardless of party allegiance to stand side by side in comradeship against these attempts to criminalise and subdue not only our struggle but the very communities from which we draw our strength, solidarity and support.

32 csm uncover huge drugs haul in east Tyrone

2008-02-01T04:04:00.000-08:00

32CSM uncover huge drugs haul in East TyronePosted on 31/1/2008 at 14:39:19 by The Sovereign NationOn Tuesday 29th January a number of members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement in East Tyrone uncovered a huge cannabis factory in the Kildress area. The members were alerted to the drug factory when they recieved a number of complaints of anti social behaviour in this house and the surrounding area. On entering the premises the republican activists found a huge amount of cannabis in various stages of growth as well as assorted parapenalia for its cultivation such as vents, heaters and a sprinkler system. The 32 CSM members took a local priest along in order to witness them uncovering the drugs haul and to leave him to do with that knowledge as he saw fit. The discovery of such a huge operation by the 32CSM has undoubtedly helped in the fight against criminality and drugs in this rural area and we commend our members for their actions. We also urge anyone with information on drug dealing and anti social behaviour to contact the 32 County Sovereignty Movement

32CSM Protest at the Irish News

2008-01-27T05:51:00.001-08:00

The 32CSM held a successful protest outside the offices of the Irish News in Belfast (26/1/08) demonstrating against articles written by the newspaper which form part of an overall criminalisation policy against Irish republicans.

The following is an interview that evening on Radio Free Éireann that evening with 32 County Sovereignty Movement director of publicity Andy Martin:

The following is some photos taken at the protest: