Smelling a rat in Colombia

A Chairde,

I am completely dismayed and angered at the Colombian authorities' detention of the three Irish men arrested over there.

Reading up on the issue surrounding the detention of these men, it seems clear that the Colombian authorities have no real evidence to charge these men with the said `offence'. During the initial week of the arrests we had all sorts of spin and nonsense coming from the masters of spin and nonsense, the media, suggesting that the men were up to all sorts of capers and had been filmed by satellite and that traces of cocaine and explosives had been found on their clothing - all of which turned out to be complete poppycock.

Then reports filtered in that the only offence the men had committed and could be found guilty of had been entering Colombia with false documentation, an offence punishable with deportation (if you would call that punishment). Having heard this I was relieved, knowing Colombia's record on human rights, and expected the deportation to take place within a matter of days. At this stage the media said they were definitely up for deportation, when all of a sudden, without evidence or admissions, they were charged with training the FARC guerrillas and could now be held for nearly a year until the Colombian authorities could `build a case against the men'.

Almost immediately, myself, and I would imagine, all right thinking people smelt a rat, a rat in the shape of British dirty tricks. Of course, this is speculation, but one has to wonder, it would suit the British securocrats to have these men detained, cause a smoke screen to avoid progress on the peace process and to provide a `told you so' cliché for the Ulster Unionists. To top it all off, it gives those dogs who feed off the scraps of the securocrats' table, the media, a field day to attack Sinn Féin, bizarrely trying to link them to the detained men in Colombia.

Not fooled.

JM,

Cabra,

Dublin 7

Policing double standards

A Chairde,

The rapid arrest and charging of ``a leading republican'' after a fracas in Ardoyne is in sharp contrast to the RUC's failure to charge anyone with the dozens of UDA pipe-bomb attacks in north Belfast and the murder of Gavin Brett in nearby Glengormley. However, it is very much in keeping with the RUC's record there since they first killed Samuel McLarnon in 1969 - will his killers be in the PSNI?

Only last June, the RUC prevented children going to their primary school in Ardoyne because of loyalist protests, but, two weeks later, they physically ejected local residents from their own front gardens to force a ``UFF''-chanting loyalist band through this nationalist area.

Some naïve media pundits have been gloating about Sinn Féin's ``isolation'' over the SDLP and Catholic Hierarchy acceptance of the watered down Patten compromise on policing. They seem to have conveniently forgotten that, in the last election, the majority of nationalists chose Sinn Féin as their representatives, knowing very well its strong stance on the need for a new police service.

The Catholic Hierarchy, who are elected by no-one, have at least been consistent as the likes of Cardinal Daly and Fr Faul have always advocated support for the RUC, even while they were shooting children with plastic and lead bullets and colluding with loyalist death squads.

What is harder to understand is why the SDLP should accept this ``gutted'' Patten, especially when Seamus Mallon, at the SDLP's 1999 conference said ``Let nobody doubt our absolute determination to see the Patten report implemented in its entirety; it is what the situation requires.''

Cllr Dessie Ellis

Finglas,

Dublin 11.


A Chairde,

As a regular Sinn Féin voter and reader and subscriber to An Phoblacht, I'd like to comment on the recent media controversy regarding the arrests of republicans in Colombia and provoke a debate about the political direction of Sinn Féin.

Firstly, let me say that Sinn Féin is very correct to support the Basques, Palestinians, Corsicans and Bretons in their respsctive battles for self-determination and nationhood. You were also right to support veteran ANC freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela in their struggle for freedom.

The Republican Movement are, however, gravely mistaken to give such uncritical support to Marxist movements in South America and Cuba. Such uncritical support is used as `red scare' propaganda by the enemies of a 32-county Republic, i.e. the British establishment media, the unionists, MI5 and MI6, in America to discredit the unanswerable, legitimate demands of Irish republicanism for a united Ireland.

Cuba; I disagree with US economic sanctions against Havana, but it isn't a workers paradise, as observers such as the respected Amnesty International will testify; is a deeply repressive, undemocratic and unjust, one party state, which has very little to offer those interested in social justice in Ireland. I hope, before Gerry Adams meets Fidel Castro, that he has the intellectual honesty to read the prison memoirs of Armando Valladares `Against All Hope'. The book, which is available in all public libraries, outlines the testimony of a man who was tortured by Castro's political police; imprisoned for twenty years, went on hunger strike before being released due to pressure from Amnesty Internationa; in October 1982. If Sinn Féin want to replace Fianna Fáil as the largest republican party in Ireland (and it can do it in time), then I feel it's time they jettisoned extreme left wing political baggage and leave Marxist dogma to Derry journalist Eamon McCann, and the infantile Trots of the Socialist Workers' Party. In similar fashion, if Sinn Féin want to become a large Republican Labour alternative to the Labour Party, then it's time they adopted mainstream democratic socialist policies in the European norm.

As a non-Marxist republican who supports the fight for social justice and a united Ireland, I feel Sinn Féin have a great political future in Ireland, north and south, but only if they adapt to the changing socio-economic realities of the world post the fall of the Stalinist block countries. Giving such uncritical support to regimes such as Castro's Cuba is counterproductive and as anyone who reads such biased newspapers as the pro-unionist Daily Telegraph will testify, will and is being used against the Republican Movement abroad, particularly in Irish America, to marginalise you and discredit the wider Irish nationalist case for a united Ireland. The Daily Telegraph newspaper can't cope with the fact that the Ulster Unionists have few friends internationally (with the exception of Sir Anthony O'reilly's Sunday Independent), and the majority of opinion, both Republican and Democrat in America and both Labour and Tory in Britain is for a united Ireland, why then should Sinn Féin hand the British a propaganda victory on a plate by giving such uncritical support to Castro's Cuba and other Marxist movements in South America.

I hope my letter provokes a health debate in your always interesting letters page.

B.J Ó Droighneáin,

Chontae na Mí

Socialist Party response

A Chairde

As the introduction to the article taken from Sinn Féin magazine states the content was ``bile laden''. As a Socialist Party member and activist for ten years I object to the spirit of the article for being wholly sectarian.

The message of the article is in effect `if you are involved in a campaign do not let socialists take part in it'. As for left wing groups being ineffective, may I point in reference to the campaign of the water charges of 1994-7 and ask which party put its full weight behind this campaign and established it kept the moment of the campaign and brought it to its successful conclusion.

Now while $500 dinners with Gerry Adams and quoting Connolly and using the language of revolution would seem incongruous, the Socialist Party is entitled to ask certain questions of Sinn Féin.

Why is Sinn Féin in favour of local service charges in Sligo and not Dublin? Why does it appear to be dragging its feet in terms of establishing the campaign against the bin tax in Dublin? Why is a left wing party in favour of Private Finance Initiatives in the North? Indeed, if Sinn Féin is a left wing party it does appear hopelessly compromised and it is on this programme rather than its repubican programme that it will be judged.

The writer of the article in your paper one would assume to be young and possibly quite new to the party but the publication of the article in your paper shows the true callous face of Sinn Féin.

Far from our party being obsessed with Sinn Féin, we do recognise the role of Sinn Féin in the political situation and with that the increased electoral support that your party has gained. However we are not, as your article states, standing in every area where you have a councillor but are standing in key constituencies where we have a base.

In 1997, we gained slightly more votes in Dublin than Sinn Féin so are not to be taken lightly. There are many areas where we do not offer an electoral alternative to Sinn Féin and likewise there are some that one would assume in which we will not face opposition from Sinn Féin. Two constituencies come to mind they being Dublin North and Dublin South. In 1997, we gained over 2,000 votes in Dublin South West, substantially more than the couple of hundred we might hope for, as the writer in your paper suggests.

Since then we have branched out and significantly built our party and one manifestation of this is the production of a `political journal' where we do reserve the right to expose Sinn Féin. We do look forward to real political responses as opposed to rants and infantile cries.

Garrett Mullan

Socialist Party member

Britain's human rights breaches

A Chairde,

On 10 December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations, including Britain, adopted and proclaimed `The Universal Declaration of Human Rights' comprising 30 articles.

In the Six Counties, Britain, backed by the unionists, has flagrantly and consistently violated over half of these articles. In the three years since Britain signed up to the Good Friday Agreement, on the most generous interpretation, Britain is still in breach of Articles 2, 7, 11, 12, 19, 28, 29 and 30. It seems they are impervious to any pressure or action - local, national or international - taken to try and redress these violations.

I believe that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is embedded de facto in Sinn Féin's political philosophy and agenda, and think that it should be publicised and used more strongly by republicans to bolster their fight for rights - not `concessions' as portrayed by unionists, the British government and the media.

Of course, by its very nature, the Universal Declaration can only be fully achieved in a region free from the bondage of colonial rule: Sinn Féin's home territory.

Name with editor