Call for international human rights observers

A Chairde


The trial of Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and Jim Monaghan will begin in early October. The men were arrested in August 2001 and have been held in various Colombian Jails since then. They have been charged with the use of false documents and training the FARC. The men will be tried in a one judge no jury court.

The lawyers for the three men are very concerned that the men will not receive a fair trial and that their case has been prejudiced by public comments made by senior political and judicial figures in Colombia.

As you may be aware, Colombia has one of the worst human rights records in Latin America, as documented by the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other human rights agencies.

The men are being represented by very committed and experienced human rights lawyers whose lives have been threatened. Many of their colleagues have been killed by right-wing paramilitaries and state forces.

The lawyers for the three men and the Bring Them Home Campaign (which comprises members of the men's families and human rights workers) are urgently calling for human rights groups, political parties, academics and lawyers to attend the trial as international observers. The trial will begin in October and the lawyers expect that it will take place over a few months. We will be organizing a rota of observers to cover various aspects of the trial.

If you are interested in attending the trial please contact me at [email protected].


Caitriona Ruane
Chairperson
Bring Them Home Campaign

A Basque replies

A Chara


"It is the duty of any newspaper to deliver the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to the best of their ability... a few others like myself who occasionally trawl your pages in the hope of harvesting the odd nugget of truth which is ignored by the mainstream press."

Dear God! The mainstream media "ignore" the odd nugget of truth! That is certainly something to think about, I am sure that no other reader of An Phoblacht has ever noticed that fact, except John Stafford (Mála Poist, 5 September). Aren't you an intelligent bloke?

In relation to the poor reputation for balanced reporting in An Phoblacht, I dare you to mention a single publication in this country, or for that matter in any other, that has no agenda behind it. Please open your eyes and look around you, before you start writing nonsense.

Finally, I will deal with the extract of your letter that pushed me to write this reply, where your referred to the unbalanced reporting of the Basque conflict. The Spanish, as you call them, I suppose meaning the Spanish government, do not include in their thousand reasons (literally) to ban Batasuna the support by this political party of the "bombing of 'civilian ' targets", or any other target, but the fact that that they do not condemn the actions of ETA. Please get your facts right next time.

In answer to that I have only one thing to say; it is a little bit cheeky on the part of the Popular Party to ask for any condemnation of any action when they have refused time and time again to condemn the coup d'êtat of Franco, Could it be because a large number of the supporters of Franco now belong to the Popular Party, including several situated in very high positions.

Please John, next time you are looking for the point of view of the Spanish government, may I suggest you read the articles by Jane Walker in the Irish Times; she is a fine translator of the Spanish interior ministry's press releases. Or you could simply read the half page article, also in the Irish Times, a couple of weks ago, that amounted to a free ad in which the Spanish ambassador to Ireland condemned the use of violence and praised Spanish democracy. He forgot to mention that Spain is a Kingdom in which the monarch was hand picked by a dictator, or that Spain is mentioned time and time again in Amnesty International reports on torture. He also failed to mention the support of the Spanish government for the recent antidemocratic coup d'etat in Venezuela, or the pardons handed out to members of the security forces found guilty of killings, torture, kidnapings... the list is endless.

Respect for human rights is a two-way street.


Idoia Irvine
Dublin 15

No to a 'toothless Republic'

A Chairde,


Congratulations on the publication of a well researched and well argued article on the benefits of fluoride in water (An Phoblacht, 5 September).

There are millions of people with their own teeth in their head because of fluoride in drinking water, who would otherwise be toothless and/or have their mouth full of expensive dentures.

Please stop printing groundless drivel that originated with rabid anti-communists in the US in the 1950s. The same people campaigned against free public health provision ('socialised medicine' they called it) as a 'communist plot'. The character satirised in the film 'Dr Strangelove', who launches a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, is typical of the type of person who thought they were being brainwashed by fluoride in water and who retained his 'purity of essence' by drinking only distilled water.

It is ironic that our enhanced concerns about environmental pollution allow us to fall victim to dangerous hysteria about water fluoridation. Sinn Féin public representatives should make sure that they contact responsible scientific opinion before agreeing with vociferous groups who appear out of the blue campaigning about obscure aspects of daily life.

Our knowledge of the misuse of science by big business and governments sometimes makes us dismissive of all representative scientific opinion. This is a mistake.

Logic should tell us that the charge that dentists promote fluoridation for selfish economic gain does not make sense. If selfish gain was the aim, then dentists would be encouraging tooth decay by also campaigning against fluoride, so that they could have more anguished and partially or wholly toothless patients to minister to.

Instead, the reason the vast majority of dentists and the vast bulk of scientific opinion in this area is in support of fluoride in water is because it is in the public interest. The idea that dentists are engaged in a conspiracy against their patients' dental interests is tantamount to suggesting that doctors promote ill health.

The section of the community to benefit most from fluoridation is the working class, particularly the poorer sections. By and large working class people get sick more, are smaller and die younger than the rich because of poor nutrition, poor education, more stress and less access to health care. Get rid of fluoride in water and working class people will have a lot less teeth too.

Or maybe the anti-fluoride campaigners want a return to the days when the greatest 'gift' a working class bride could receive was a trip to the dentist to extract the few remaining rotting teeth in her skull, before fitting a full set of dentures.

Any republican who joins this campaign is in favour of a toothless republic.


Thomas Mahon
Dublin

Bleeding obvious

A Chairde,


PSNI Assistant Chief Constable, Alan McQuillan, has, in what Basil Fawlty might term "a statement of the bleeding obvious", admitted that loyalists have been responsible for the significant majority of serious violence in the north over the summer.

Why, then, were 29 nationalists and only 27 loyalists arrested for rioting in North Belfast over the past three months?


(Dr) Seán Marlow
Dublin 11

Thank you, Cork

A Chairde,


Through your paper we would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to the people of Cork.

The Short Strand, a tiny nationalist enclave in predominately loyalist East Belfast, has been subjected to an orchestrated and unrelenting campaign of sectarian violence. During this time people have suffered psychologially, physically and emotionally.

The new police force has offered us no protection. In fact they have aided and colluded with loyalists attacking our area. There have been numerous plastic bullet injuries and many women and children have been hospitalised by baton-wielding RUC/PSNI.

Mná Le Chéile in Cork made contact through our local Sinn Féin councillor Joe O'Donnell. They offered a visit to Cork for a respite weekend in August for the families living on the interfaces of the area. Twenty two adults and 23 children travelled to Cork from 23-26 August. Mná Le Chéile had a fun packed weekend organised.

On arrival, we were met by our hosts and treated to a buffet and music after the long journey. No expense was spared during our weekend, which was amazing for parents and children, including a karaoke evening and a visit to Cork women's gaol. On our last night we were treated to a three-course evening meal and music. On the morning of our departure we were invited to Cork City Hall to have light refreshments with the Lord Mayor, who was quite interested to hear of events in the Short Strand and met a plastic bullet victim who was with us.

We would like to thank everyone who was involved. One of the comments frequently heard throughout the weekend was that "these people can't do enough for us". A special thanks to Jackie Connolly, who first made contact.

Unfortunately, on our return, our area was again under attack, with one of the families who made the trip with us being a victim of a bomb attack within hours of returning home.


Nancy McKieran, Mairead O'Donnell
Belfast
(On behalf of the families who travelled to Cork)