Wednesday, January 23, 2002

Looks like the Dallas Celtic supporters community is in the same shape as the republican movement was in the fall of 1969. Discontent with the leadership. Things not being done the way they've been done in the past. Maybe we've got a split coming and we'll have an Official Celtic Supporters Club with the current leadership and a Provisional Celtic Supporters Club with the 'traditionalists'. If that happens I'm getting some stickers made up with Celtic logos to sell to the guys in the official club and some buttons made up to sell to the guys in the provisional club. 7:15:19 AM

Neighbour foils possible UDA attack on former prisoner A loyalist attempt to kill a former republican prisoner in Ballycastle was foiled after a neighbour of the man stumbled on masked men behind houses in the Knockglade area of the North Antrim town. 7:13:56 AM

Who are the Terrorists? Brendan Hughes 17/02/2002 A warning is given. A bomb goes off in Belfast. It was not meant to kill anyone. Right or wrong for planting it, to kill people was not the objective. This all raises questions of who is right? Who is wrong? What is right? What is wrong? The war is right - or so it seems. Who wins decides. The winner makes the judgement. In the cold light of day we know that the winner has the power to decide. 7:12:11 AM

Reid finally meets Barron On the eve of a meeting between British Secretary of State John Reid and Justice Henry Barron, chair of the Independent Commission of Inquiry set up by the Dublin government in January 2000, the families of those killed in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings have expressed their deep concern at the lack of cooperation by the British despite many requests. 7:09:56 AM

Calling a Spade a Shovel Anthony McIntyre 28/11/2001 As young republicans, we were always given the type of advice articulated by the anarchist Michael Albert - powerful oppressive propagandists rewrite history to show their roles as always virtuous. Not us, however. Our philosophy could never be labelled 'revisionist'. That pejorative adjective was something we hurled with fierce conviction in the direction of others who happened not to share our worldview. And who also deliberately falsified the historic record solely to justify their 'deviations'. Later in life I came to share the view of a Dublin politician who put things more bluntly - we just tended to hate those who disagreed with us. 7:08:09 AM

Coroner grants anonymity to Jordan killers In a controversial decision on Tuesday 15 January, Belfast coroner John Leckey granted anonymity to all the RUC and British Army witnesses involved in the operation that lead to the death of IRA Volunteer Pearse Jordan in November 1992. 7:03:04 AM

Writing as Activism Aine Fox 10/01/2002 Writing is a form of communication that dates back thousands of years. Many ancient societies believe that the Gods created writing, that it had divine origins. Most will today accept that this is not so and that progression and evolution lead to what we today call writing. We have come a long way from a caveman[base ']s etchings on a wall. Writing marks also a point between history and prehistory. History only began to be recorded of course when people where able to write it. Like most things in this world however writing was at one stage a new phenomenon and evidently only the privileged and rich where literate. 7:01:02 AM

Gunned down by the UDA Young postal worker was soft target It has been a dreadful week. Serious trouble in North Belfast sparked by loyalists last Wednesday culminated in the shooting dead of a Catholic postal worker on Saturday by the UDA and with death threats hanging over Catholic teachers and postal workers. 6:58:59 AM

The Policing Problem Liam O Ruairc Starry Plough December/January 2002 On the 4th of November 2001, the RUC will change its name to 'Police Service of Northern Ireland'. This is a result of the policing reforms set up by the British Government under the pressure of Nationalists and Republican after the April 1998 Stormont deal. Reforms are necessary because policing in Northern Ireland differs significantly from the norm in standard Western capitalist societies. 6:51:43 AM

Violence or Non-violence? Billy Mitchell 14 /01/2002 Violence of the sort that we have been witnessing in recent days is clear evidence of an unwillingness by many to engage in dialogue and rational political argument. It betrays a lack of confidence in the power of political persuasion to facilitate a resolution to the social and political issues that have created a sense of alienation within many working class unionist communities. It must be said, however, that lack of confidence in dialogue and the political process stems as much from the corruption that has increasingly become characteristic of post-Agreement politics as it does from any unwillingness by people on the ground to engage in political action. 6:49:33 AM

Test post. 5:30:17 AM

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