29 October 1998 Edition
Back issue: Haringey calls for withdrawal
The 20th anniversary of the start of the Civil Rights Movement was marked in Haringey, North London, with a meeting in the area's Irish Centre attended by five hundred people and addressed by Tottenham Labour MP and black rights campaigner Bernie Grant. Bernadette McAliskey and journalist Michael Farrell also spoke.
The event launched the Haringey Year of Action for Ireland and many further events are planned in the borough to promote British withdrawal from Ireland. The year will end in August 1989, exactly twenty years after the British troops were sent in by a Labour government.
The meeting emphasised the links between the struggles of black and Irish peoples. Speakers described the use of the PTA and the discrimination faced by Irish people in the area.
Bernie Grant called for British withdrawal leading to Irish reunification as the only way towards peace. He rejected the recent Labour Party policy document on Ireland because it gave loyalists a veto over the future of the whole island by saying that Irish unity could not happen until it was supported by a majority within the artificial six-county state.
Bernadette McAliskey and Michael Farrell both received standing ovations when they addressed the meeting. Farrell stressed the need for Irish people to make links with black people in their struggle for freedom. McAliskey said that Irish activists should distinguish themselves from the mass of white people by their support for anti-racist campaigns.
The event launched the Haringey Year of Action for Ireland and many further events are planned in the borough to promote British withdrawal from Ireland. The year will end in August 1989, exactly twenty years after the British troops were sent in by a Labour government.
The meeting emphasised the links between the struggles of black and Irish peoples. Speakers described the use of the PTA and the discrimination faced by Irish people in the area.
Bernie Grant called for British withdrawal leading to Irish reunification as the only way towards peace. He rejected the recent Labour Party policy document on Ireland because it gave loyalists a veto over the future of the whole island by saying that Irish unity could not happen until it was supported by a majority within the artificial six-county state.
Bernadette McAliskey and Michael Farrell both received standing ovations when they addressed the meeting. Farrell stressed the need for Irish people to make links with black people in their struggle for freedom. McAliskey said that Irish activists should distinguish themselves from the mass of white people by their support for anti-racist campaigns.