Top Issue 1-2024

17 August 2006 Edition

Remembering 1981 - 10th Hunger Strike martyr is buried in Derry

17 August 2006

On the death of INLA Volunteer Michael Devine at 12 minutes to eight on Thursday, 20 August 1981, his brother-in-law Frankie McCauley said, "One thinks,'Ten men, how many more have to die? We have ours now over us. Next week it will be big Laurence's people waiting for the same thing. Then the Devlins after that and another boy will go on hunger strike and another. They'll never break them.'" Free article

Remembering 1981 - Jackie McMullan's Hunger Strike experience

17 August 2006

Jackie McMullan, aged 25, joined the 1981 Hunger Strike on 17 August, replacing the late Thomas McElwee. The third of a family of seven, the young McMullan studied in Athlone as a boarder. In Belfast the conflict loomed large and by 1971 he had gone home. That summer his home was raided several times a week and in September his older brother Michael was interned. Later that year Jackie joined Na Fianna Éireann. In 1973, aged 17, McMullan joined the IRA. He was arrested in 1976 and charged with attempting to kill RUC members. Sentenced in a non-jury court to life imprisonment, he joined the blanket protest. From 1976 to 1978 McMullan took no visits, refusing to wear the prison uniform and only seeing his mother twice in three years. His mother died in 1980. Neither Jackie nor Michael were allowed compassionate parole to attend her funeral. Last weekend, as republicans prepared to mark the 25th anniversary of the Hunger Strike, ELLA O'DWYER spoke to Jackie and his sister Esther. Free article

Rembering 1981 Falls witnesses another remarkable event

17 August 2006

Belfast's Falls Road has been at the centre of the political and military struggle for independence since the mid '60s.This Road and the districts adjacent to it produced some of the most memorable events in this phase of the freedom struggle. For almost 30 years the Road echoed to the sounds of the armed and political struggle. Free article

The Mitchel McLaughlin Column

17 August 2006

Since partition, unionists have denied or refused to recognise the right of Catholics to participate in the functions of government. This was the outworking of the 'Protestant State for a Protestant people' as espoused by James Craig. This writ ran virtually unopposed either by nationalists in the North or by successive governments in Dublin up until the mid-1960s. In this unchallenged situation unionists had nothing to fear, as there was no debate about how the state was run. They had the unfettered control of every aspect of life and even the so-called 'mother of parliaments' exercised a convention of non-interference in the domestic affairs of the North. This all changed in the aftermath of the Civil Rights campaign when the Stormont regime violently responded to simple demands around voting, housing and jobs by unleashing state militias to defend the sectarian status quo. This in turn contributed to the escalation of conflict and descent into a 30-year war. Free article

Media View

17 August 2006

Most journalists know - even if they don't proclaim it - that the Israeli PR machine is massively resourced compared to its opponents in the Palestinian and Arab camp. And while there are differences (of emphasis only) between the European and US media, these, too, are essentially pro-Israeli. Free article

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The Fifth Column

17 August 2006

Weekly Satirical Column Free article

The Matt Treacy Column

17 August 2006

The best way to assess matches, especially at this time of the year, is to watch the full thing again on tape with the sound turned down. In fact with the advent of a certain TV channel you don't even have to tackle the intricacies of VCRs because they will show it up to five or six times the following week. Free article

Le Gael Mise

17 August 2006

Cá raibh ár dtriail na seachtaine seo ach in Iarthar Bhéal Feirste. Bhí muid ann le haghaidh Féile an Phobail, an féile chomhphobail is mó (agus is fearr, dar le muintir na háite) san Eoraip. Free article

Hezbollah Neamhchloíte!

17 August 2006

Tá pobal Iosrael go mór in ísle brí tar éis sos comhraic a bheith fógartha idir treallchogaithe Hezbollah agus Stát Iosrael de dheasca gur chlis orthu na treallchogaithe seo a chloí. Tá a lán milleáin á dhíriú ag cuid mhaith de phobal Iosrael ar Ehud Olmert mar gheall ar an gcinneadh aige tabhairt faoi na treallchogaithe nár éirigh leo a chloí roimhe nuair a bhí orthu Deisceart na Liobáine a thréigean sa bhliain 2000. B'fhiú a chuimhneamh, áfach, gur thacaigh an pobal céanna leis na ionsaithe barbaracha i gcoinne shibhialtaigh agus Arm Iosrael i mbun gach iarrachta Hezbollah a scriosadh ó bhun go barr. Níor éirigh leo agus tá sé feicithe ag na pobail timpeall orthu cé chomh huilechumhachtach is ba mhaith leo a bheith. Do shochaí bunaithe ar fhorneart, ar fhoréigean agus ar bhulaíocht, is baolach an scéal seo dóibh nuair nach samhlaítear iad a bheith laidir agus chomh cumhachtach sin. Free article

Remembering the Past

17 August 2006

Napper Tandy Free article


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