"Welcome
to the Irish Anti-Partition League Associate Members'
Website" is the inviting opening message of
Cumann Frithdheighilte Na h-Eireann, which can be
located at www.ia-pl.org
This site was created to promote alternative and
diverse platforms in opposition to what was being
presented in the late '90s as a political cure-all,
a much heralded, yet highly dubious, Pan-Nationalist
front.
Like
many republican projects there was a parting of
the ways, quite early on, re. agreement as to what
could, and should not be tolerated, or promoted
- personal attacks being considered "beyond
the Pale". One recalls Brendan Behan's famous
quip, 'get a group of republicans together, and
no doubt the first motion to be tabled is "I
propose a split". In the embryonic IA-PL's
case it was no bad thing, as the individual/s who
posted personal attacks against defenceless, untried
people behind bars, were doing so in a very covert
fashion. Without making an issue of it at the time,
they greatly resented being blocked, it emerged
some time later. Such led to their absence, without
an open and honest explanation, until, later they
insisted that the policy should be changed, even
on the basis of permitting their postings "to
remain for a mere 24-hour period". Such a proposal
was naturally rejected, as it was not in keeping
with the basic strategy of the IA-PL 'experiment'.
While
"Dissident" unity was viewed as Utopian,
mutual co-operation between groups and individuals,
on issues and campaigns, was considered the best
avenue to pursue, especially in the midst of so
much division in the aftermath of the Belfast 'Agreement'.
That continues to be the bedrock on which the IA-PL
managed to survive, maintain independence and be
pro-active. It has expanded mainly on that basis,
which down the years enabled a measure of trust
to take root across the networks.
"The
Watch" ticks on
The
site originally revolved around the IA-PL's on-line
forum, Stormont-Watch, which in the early days had
the illustration of Dublin-born Lord Carson on his
plinth, apparently with the right hand gesturing
towards heaven, or was it the bigoted Orange masses,
but ironically with his back to Stormont buildings
itself. That monument by way of illustration has
latterly been replaced by the pillared White Elephant
on the hill, which unlike the Trojan horse, has
no would be victors inside, even though the lights
are on.
The
forum is commonly referred to as "The Watch"
and was primarily designed to be a "Human and
Civil Rights Monitor". Obviously it goes deeper
and wider than that term of reference. Initially
a 'Free for All', which caused difficulties and
friction, for some years it's been monitored and
as its creators' desired postings reflects a much-needed
diversity of facts and opinion. One wag in the States
often refers to it as the "Stormont-Bored",
rather than "Board"; because it allows
a mere six or so posts a day. This is because many
"Watchers" say their time is limited,
desire an emphasis on pro-active reports, and only
news items deemed to be important. They correctly
argue that current affairs and breaking news can
be tapped into elsewhere within www.ia-pl.org
as well as the Home Page of the more recently created
www.irishrightswatch.org.
Both boards, alas, have yet to reflect any high
degree of attention to environmental matters, particularly
the abuses being carried out by multi-nationals
such as Shell, or the get-rich-quick developers/politicians,
and their brown envelope culture. Such antics insult
every honest citizen and what passes for the rule
of law within any democratic system.
Carson
or "The Watch" were not left standing
alone for too long, and were soon in the company
of Unionism's most dedicated enemies - the October
Fifth Association [OFA] - a truly global network
of 1968 civil rights veterans and supporters. In
the main these activists are fiercely anti-partitionist,
and see no full human rights or civil liberties
ever dawning without the realisation of national
rights, as a pre-requisite. The black and white
oak leaf, the symbol of the earlier civil rights
movement in Derry, made its appearance, and their
traditional emphasis on non-violence no doubt is
a strong influence on the entire network, and what
it should stand for. A deeper study of the network's
component parts confirms such to be the case.
By
contrast, the CR Vets forum is not as active as
"The Watch", mainly because of their emphasis
on being an historical archive, with retrospection
to the fore, although its original aim was also
to cater for current affairs. However, students
of the civil rights struggle have found it to be
highly useful. Moreover, from any short study of
the network's development, one will soon realise
that the OFA has other pressing priorities, and
has not been wasting its time on mere keyboard historical
pursuits, but is in fact tackling current affairs
by creating new dedicated and campaigning sites,
linked to pro-active external networking with leading
clergy, politicians, the media and especially Irish-America..
The
OFA Campaigns
The
"CR Vets" in more recent times created
the Irish Rights Watch, located on www.irishrightswatch.org
This site campaigns for the reform of the Garda,
on a similar basis as the Patten-style recommendations
and radical changes to the system of highly-exorbitant
tribunals. It evolved as a result of the dramatic
Morris Tribunal's exposures and the site was quickly
endorsed by the McBrearty family of Raphoe, Co.
Donegal, whose story is told therein backed up by
video evidence. It also contained a hard-hitting
petition which no doubt will be ignored by the current
Minister of Justice, Mr. McDowell, unless it attracts
a massive show of practical solidarity, from at
home and abroad, which has, unfortunately, been
lacking so far.
A
much more successful crusade, the Captain Kelly
Justice Campaign, took root after Capt. James J.
Kelly passed away on July 16, 2003. Again this is
a controversial issue which should not be ignored,
and who could even harbour the thought that the
civil rights struggle could be anything other than
controversial, given the status quo in Britain and
Ireland. Located at www.captainkelly.org
the site is dedicated to "clearing the good
name of the recently deceased Capt. Kelly. A co-accused
in the Arms Trial of 1970, who although acquitted
was unjustly scape-goated throughout his life by
partisan sections of the Irish establishment and
media".
The
site was launched on St. Patrick's Day 2004, and
on July 16th, the first anniversary of his demise,
his widow, Sheila, a son and two daughters attended
a press conference in Derry. It was disrupted for
a few minutes before it began. However, when sober
sanity returned, both widow and son spoke, as did
John Kelly, former Sinn Fein MLA and Niall Blaney
Ind. FF, T.D., Co. Donegal, whose uncle, the late
Neil Blaney TD, was also one of the co-accused in
1970. The well attended event included several former
leading members of the civil rights movement as
well as high-profile figures of yesteryear within
the Belfast and Derry Citizens' Defence Committees.
An international petition, which is the centre-piece
of the website, has attracted hundreds of signatures,
including many prominent in the spheres of politics,
religion, literature, and the media. Three DVDs
relating to this period are essential viewing to
those who wish to learn more, and equally revealing
are numerous press reports on the campaign which
are re-produced on the Home-Page.
The
OFA views it most constructive years as 2002-4.
It had lobbied widely and held two pivotal press
conferences. These firmly placed spotlights on the
situation within the prisons and re-opened the 1970
Arms Trial controversy. Key SDLP politicians within
the networks, several prisoners' relatives and other
campaigning groups firmly believe such targeted
lobbying was pivotal in bringing about the Steele
Report [Sept. 2003]. This gradually led to the separation
of Republican and Loyalist prisoners. Republicans
then were greatly outnumbered and occasionally subjected
to physical attacks, some certainly life-threatening.
The
OFA's contacts in the USA, at the time of writing,
purchased a new domain which is now ready for development.
It is www.IPRWatch.org
- The Irish Prisoners' Rights Watch. Once again,
it will be independent of any one party, faction
or group. It emerged from the CR Vets efforts since
before February 2003, and thereafter, to co-ordinate
a campaign aimed at highlighting the prolonged suffering
of Aiden Hulme, HMP Full Sutton. It will carry a
petition on the Co. Louth man's plight aimed at
Justice Minister, Michael Mc Dowell TD. Repatriation
will be its central demand. It intends to promote
the work of other concerned groups, including those
dealing with several known non-political prisoners,
who believe they have been unjustly incarcerated.
The work of the Irish Political Status Committee
(IPSC) and the Catholic Church's Irish Commission
for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) will be focused upon,
and input is now cordially invited from any interested
groups or individuals, via rights.civil@googlemail.com
Other features
There
are several other interesting features on www.ia-pl.org,
and more are in the pipe-line. Students of history
will be delighted to find there the history of the
United Irishmen and Robert Emmet, as well as a series
of lessons based on a US-created curriculum on An
Ghorta Mhor-the Great Irish Starvation (or Genocide)
-of 1845-53. Some years ago, on a cross-community
basis, around 350 colleges and schools across the
Six Counties were notified of this educational project
by the N-W Great Hunger Memorials Committee, which
is also part of the IA-PL Network. There are now
plans to include more cultural links, and embrace
genealogy resources relating to the O'Dochartaighs,
O'Kane's, O'Neills, O'Donnells, McGuires etc. This
should materialise in the not too distant future
with the assistance of the Inishowen Heritage Centre,
based on the Shore Front, Buncrana, Co. Donegal.
The centre, since 1984 has created databases which
currently contain around eight million entries.
Somewhat
outdated is an item on the Siege of Short Strand
but still very topical are items relating to Bloody
Sunday, especially as we await the publication of
the Saville Inquiry Report. Under "Voices for
the Republic" are The Blanket, New Republican
Forum, Radio Free Eireann (NYC), Fourtwrite, the
Irish Republican Writers Group and the highly informative
Irish History DVD Project.
The
latter are only some of the useful links. Others
are categorised, e.g. Civil Rights-British Irish
Rights Watch, Amnesty International (Irish section),
Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Troops Out Movement
and the Wolfe Tone Society (London).
On-line
news is provided by Newshound (N. of Ireland), Irish
American Voice, Irish American News Service (daily
email news update), RTE Teletext, Reuters (top news),
the BBC on-line et al, as well as a list of newspapers,
magazines and other sources.
Conclusions
This
is not a site that can be studied in a few minutes,
needing more like a few hours. It does not reveal
the full work of the IA-PL, but gives more than
the tip of the iceberg. All its campaigns, although
coming under one umbrella, so-to-speak, are separate
by way of their own contacts lists etc. The most
crucial impact of www.ia-pl.org is in the fact,
that where co-operation between groups has emerged,
there has been a sharing of interests in each other's
viewpoint, e.g. expressed in their publications,
as well as diverse campaigns and issues. What has
emerged from such a collective effort is a very
powerful, and no doubt influential, iapl_newsroom32@hotmail.com.
On its own it has become a deep well of contacts,
some of whom are household names, within politics,
literature, and religion. It becomes even more potent
as a result of the daily input from other workstations.
Most important of all, some would argue, are those
in the print, radio and TV Medias, as well as scores
of groups concerned with similar issues. Most have
reacted positively, and welcome being alerted or
ignited by these complimentary crusading networks
in cyberspace.
It
takes a lot of rain from the hills or mountains
to create a stream, and several of those to produce
a river. It takes several rivers to create a sea
or an ocean, but every drop of rain contributes
to those overall creations of nature. In similar
vein, every one of us can make a difference, if
we but dare to turn our dreams for Ireland into
its everyday reality. One therefore wonders, from
the point of view of the republican ideology, could
the dissenting approach of the IA-PL and its associate
members, those 'micro-groups', ever become the "mainstream"?
Fionnbarra
O'Dochartaigh, Derry, was a co-founder
of the Civil Rights Association in 1967. His writings
include: Ulster's White Negroes-From civil rights
to insurrection (AK Press, 1994).
