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10 July, 2003 |
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Loyalist is bailed to attend the Twelfth Could it happen anywhere but the Six Counties? The fact that a man facing 64 serious charges, including murder, has been granted bail at all is amazing. The fact that those conditions were 'relaxed' to allow him to attend a Twelfth of July parade is utterly astonishing. Or it would be if anyone could be surprised at the crazy operation of the sectarian Orange state. Sectarian intimidation must be tackled It was revealed in a Housing Executive report on Saturday 5 July that almost 90 families have been intimidated from their homes in Antrim in the past year. Back to the future: Warders assault prisoners in Maghaberry Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly has voiced his concern at reports that prisoners in Maghaberry Prison were assaulted by prison warders and forcibly washed when high powered hoses were turned on them. McGuinness warns British on elections Martin McGuinness told the British government this week that if its refusal to hold elections in the Six Counties continues beyond the first anniversary of the suspension of the Assembly in October, the Good Friday Agreement will be in "dire straits". The Orange Order's parade to Drumcree passed without incident last weekend but its ethos remains far from peaceful. The persistent refusal of Orangemen to extend even the minimum courtesy of speaking to residents of Garvaghy Road is indicative of the Orange Order's continuing hostility to the notion of accommodation and respect. When he was arrested for possessing a gun during the recent loyalist feud, Andre Shoukri claimed the weapon was for his personal protection. Sinn Féin leaders' details found close to spypost Following the discovery of details on Sinn Féin Leaders, Martin McGuinness, Pat Doherty and Mitchel McLaughlin on a document found near a spypost in Derry, a Sinn Féin spokesperson has called for the removal of the spyposts on Derry Walls and Rosemount Barracks. Tensions are high in the Short Strand area of Belfast in the run up to this year's Twelfth of July. Trimble rejects resignation call Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has rejected calls for his resignation after only marginally defeating a vote of no confidence motion tabled by his own constituency association this week. Former RUC man charged over Hamill killing Former RUC member Robert Cecil Atkinson, his wife Eleanor Jean and Kenneth George Hanvey appeared at Craigavon Court on Thursday 3 July charged with perverting the course of justice into the investigation of the killing of Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill in April 1997. Is Blair serious about the Good Friday Agreement? The actions of the British government in the next few weeks will be carefully scrutinised throughout the island of Ireland as supporters of the Good Friday Agreement from both sides of the border assess just how serious the British Prime Minister is about ensuring its full implementation. A 22-year-old man living in West Belfast has become the latest member of the nationalist community to be targeted by the PSNI to become an informer. Equality Commission under fire "The Equality Commission is a toothless body, which is not delivering the equality agenda promised under the Good Friday Agreement," says Sinn Féin's Paul Butler. Yu resigns from Human Rights Commission Patrick Yu has become the atest memebr of the Six-County Human Rights Commissin to resign his position. In a letyter to Secretary of State Pau Murphy, Yu said he could not continue because he had been forced to conclude that the commission had adopted a position that undermined aspects of the Good Friday Agreement as well as existing human rights protection measures and current equality protections. That and other concerns had led him to the conclusion that the HRC could not fulfil its mandate. The hidden Ireland in Leinster House Hospitals are in crisis, cutbacks in education and services for people with disabilities are taking effect, unemployment is on the rise and the economy is on the slide but until 30 September Fianna Fáil and the PDs will not have to answer to the Dáil for their misgovernment. The FF/PD majority in the Dáil last week voted to adjourn until well after the children are back in school. Sinn Féin secure key council positions in Monaghan Sinn Féin in County Monaghan have, since the spectacular local election results in 1999, held almost all of the senior council positions in authorities across the county. This continued in June as AGM elections returned a Sinn Féin cathaoirleach in Monaghan Town and An Meara Bhaile in Castleblayney. The Proclamation and working class politics today I don't believe working class politics has been forgotten in the debates around the national question or sovereignty, but I do believe that the social and economic debate has been adversely affected by division and conflict in our society. As long as political representatives are identified with one side or other of the sovereignty debate, it will be difficult for people to affiliate or identify with parties on their social and economic policies alone. The legacy of imperialism overshadows attempts to appeal to voters based on social policies because the question of allegiance will invariably influence voters' decisions. A 28-year-old Catholic man is lucky to be alive following a vicious sectarian attack carried out by a loyalist gang who targeted him as he walked along the Cloyfin Road near to Coleraine County Derry at around 4.30pm on Wednesday 2 July. Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams on Sunday met former US President Bill Clinton in Derry for around 30 minutes. The Sinn Féin leader expressed his concern about the failure of the British government thus far to publicly set a definite date for the Assembly elections. Robert Emmet Bicentenary - La Fete de la Bastille The Robert Emmet Association has announced that Bastille Day will be celebrated in Dublin for the first time since 1803 as part of the Emmet Bicentenary celebrations. Details were outlined by the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the French Ambassador, Mr Gabriel de Bellescize, at the Mansion House on Tuesday 8 July. Sinn Féin demilitarisation conference in South Armagh Members of Ógra Shinn Féin from throughout the north gathered in south Armagh for a weekend campout on Slieve Gullion mountain to monitor the level of British Army activity in the area. On Sunday, two members of Ógra Shinn Féin - Barry McNally from Carrickmore and Barry McColgan from Omagh - attended a Sinn Féin conference held in Slieve Gullion Courtyard to report back with the results of their survey. A Nation Once Again? People, Territory & Institutions Coiste na nIarchimí, the umbrella organisation for republican ex-prisoner groups, held a very successful summer school in Tí Chulainn, Mullaghbawn, 25-28 June last. The Scoil Samhraidh, entitled, A Nation Once Again? People, Territory & Institutions, attracted a diverse audience including several unionists, two of whom are members of the Ulster Unionist Party's Unionist Council. Steven King, of the Ulster Unionists was also due to address the gathering but had to offer his apologies at the last minute due to the ongoing difficulties within his party at the time. Sinn Féin Chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin last Thursday visited a number of council areas around the North that presently have Sinn Féin mayors, deputy mayors and chairpersons. What decoupling means for Irish farmers At Luxembourg on 26 June, the Agricultural Ministers of the 15 EU member states agreed an amended version of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform proposals. Some of the original Commission proposals were rejected in full. Among them was degression, which would have seen a progressive reduction in the payments going to farmers so that they could be used for 'future market requirements'. Changes were also made to the proposal on modulation, which reduces the annual percentage decrease in the funds taken from farmers and diverted towards rural development measures. Member states will also now have greater control of the modulated funds than was originally proposed. SF councillors call for end to FF/Labour abuse of Mayoral role Dublin Sinn Féin councillors on Monday night voted for Independent Cllr. Vincent Jackson to take on the role of new Mayor for Dublin. The councillors opposed the election of Fianna Fáil's Royston Brady, guaranteed because of a pact with Labour to share the top job. The World Social Forum, whose members included the millions who protested across the world against the Iraq War on 15 February; the hundreds of thousands of people who have tracked and protested at meetings of the G8, World Bank, World Trade Organisation, the IMF, from Seattle to Prague, Davos, Melbourne, to Genoa; the people who in their righteous defiance, may lend hope that a world other than our one dominated by corporate power is possible; the people who the New York Times, after 15 February, recognised as "the other superpower", launched an Irish chapter last weekend in Dublin. Jackie Griffith Commemorative weekend The annual Jackie Griffith commemorative weekend began this year with a public meeting in the Holiday Inn on Pearse Street in Dublin. "Grim statistics" and "shameful" facts was how Bertie Ahern described the findings of the UN Human Development report this week, which showed, apart from over a billion people living on less than a dollar a day, that the 26 Counties has still the second-highest level of poverty in the industrialised world. "Man's experience is human experience: women's experience is women's experience." Former women POWs to tell their stories In a unique and historic event, former women prisoners will tell their story of life and struggle in Armagh Womens' Prison from the early days of the conflict in the North in the 1970s up until the prison was closed down in the 1980s and the women were moved to Maghaberry Prison in County Antrim. |
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