Honouring women POWs

A Chara,

As a result of the peace process, this year uniquely marks the first year without any republican women being imprisoned in Ireland or abroad.

From the arrest and internment without trial in 1971 of Andersonstown woman Liz McKee, to the release last December of Tyrone woman Geraldine Ferrity - the very last republican woman prisoner - virtually hundreds of women have been incarcerated in prisons throughout Ireland, England and abroad.

Their contribution and sacrifices were equal to that of their male comrades. Yet, in the stereotyped, media society in which we live, their role has been downplayed, devalued and more often ignored. By virtue of their smaller numbers, the prison regimes viewed this as a vulnerability to be exploited at every opportunity.

Consequently, republican women prisoners have in many ways been subjected to far greater levels of inhuman and degrading treatment than their male counterparts. This was pertinently evidenced from 1982 on with the introduction of the degrading policy of forcible strip-searching.

Despite international condemnation, strip searching was targeted more deliberately and more brutally used against women prisoners in an attempt to break them and the struggle on the outside.

As history shows, this and many other draconian methods introduced over the decades, failed to deliver their objective.

In order to go some way towards acknowledging the contribution of former republican women prisoners, the Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP will be making a special presentation to several women on Saturday night, 7 August 1999, as part of the West Belfast Festival events.

On behalf of the organising committee, I would like to take this opportunity to invite all former women republican prisoners to make every effort to join us there on the night to mark this very special and historic event.

Tickets at the door are £5 or available on request from the Féile Offices, 473 Falls Road, Belfast BT12 6DD, or telephone Belfast 01232 313440.

Is mise,

Chrissie McAuley,
Sinn Féin councillor and former republican prisoner.

No, Mo

A Chara,

Secretary of State Mo Mowlam, in a desperate bid to salvage the precarious future of her employment in British-occupied Ireland, recently visited the United States, petitioning Irish-Americans to pressure the IRA to decommission.

Defying mandate and failing to allow a power-sharing Executive government the opportunity to prevail in the course of justice over violent alternatives, unionists continue to demand decommissioning from only one armed force in the conflict and now audaciously seek support in the very country born as a result of British tyranny and injustice.

Am I to understand that Irish America is to conspire to circumvention of the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement as written and ratified by the Irish majority? Would that not be in direct defiance of our own country's founding principles of democratic process? Am I to understand that we are being asked to petition solely the IRA, the one group remaining on ceasefire despite absolute provocation by loyalist paramilitaries? Is not inclusive in this appeal the wide array of armed loyalist groups whose names and persistent attacks on Catholics continue to elude both mainstream media mention and acknowledgement by the government?

With all due respect, Secretary Mowlam, this Irish-American declines.

Máire Kelly,
Corpus Christi,
Texas.

Breast feeding babies

A Chara,

Just a quick note on the recent article, `Mothers pass toxic milk to infants'(15 July 1999).

Without some amplifying information, an unintended result of this article might be that young mothers decide to feed their babies formula rather than breast feed their infants.

One need not look far to find the overwhelming scientific evidence that human breast milk is, without argument, the best source of nutrition for infants.

Certainly, as the article points out, if there are cases where mothers are passing on toxins or diseases, then steps should be taken in those particular cases to protect both mother and child. But the article failed to mention where or how a young mother (or expecting mother) could be tested for high levels of toxins in her body. The tone of the article is such that one would expect a new mother to simply forego the ``risk'' of breast feeding, and feed her child a demonstrably inferiour product: baby formula.

A comparison of the benefits of the two (breastmilk versus formula) might also give your female readers more information with which to make an educated decision about their children's early nutrition.

Joe Kracht

National Graves Association goes online

A Chara,

The National Graves Association has just recently updated its internet service.

Readers can check out this new service by visiting: http://members.xoom.com/ngaireland

Information on all aspects of the NGA - from associate membership to donations, projects, history etc - are now available on this service.

The National Graves Association's main function is to care for the memorials and graves of our patriot dead.

Our postal address and contact numbers are listed below.

Matt Doyle (Secretary),
74 Dame Street,
Dublin 2.
Tel: (01) 8621928