Witch-hunts and repression as Ireland war stepped up

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"The court is led to the ment, and in particular As the British Tory press launched a full scale witchhunt following the leak of a secret army document to IRA intelligence units, the imperialist army in the occupied North of Ireland was firing plastic bullets at a large demonstration called by Belfast Sinn Fein.

The march, supported by thousands of anti-imperialists, marked the release from the Long Kesh concentration camp of Ciaran Nugent, the first republican prisoner to embark on the heroic three year "blanket' protest demanding a restoration of political status.

Neave's stand-in It marked a sharp warning to Thatcher's man Humphrey Atkins-stand-in for the unlamented Airey Neave-that even the intensified repression in Ireland since the Tories under. Heath last attempted to beat down the Irish people has failed to stem support for the war of liberation.

This is also confirmed by the contents of the leaked army document. Flying in the face of Labour butcher | Mason's repeated claims that the IRA was a discredited "handful of mindless criminals and social outcasts, the secret report, drawn up by a Brigadier Glover points out that:

"The Provisional IRA has the dedication and the sinews of war to raise violence intermittently to at least the level of 1978, certainly for the forseeable future.

"Even if 'peace' is restored the motivation for politically inspired violence will remain.

"Arms will be readily available and there will be many who are able and willing to use them.

Superficial

"Any peace will be superficial and brittle. A new campaign may well erupt years ahead."

T T8 avuy report, unlike makes atemot deny the political character of the IRA's campaign. In this sense the release of this secret dossier adds further weight to the struggle for political Pow status for those republican prisoners in jails in the six counties and in Britain.

So too, does the ruling last week by US Federal Judge Frederick Woeflen, who last week refused a request by the British government for the extradition of IRA militant Peter McMullen.

Woeflen's refusal was based on the fact that the 1974 Mason-lies exposed extradition treaty between Britain and the US excludes cases where the accused's crime is poiitical.

Pointing to admissions by the British Government that an insurrection was occuring in Northern Ireland in 1970 and 1974, Woeflen concluded: inescapable conclusion that an insurrection and a disruptive uprising of a political nature did in fact exist when Mr. McMullen is charged with the crimes against Claro Barracks"

More. embarrassingly still, Woeflen went on to slam into Mason's basic argument by demolishing the government claim that McMullen's alleged bombing of the Claro barracks was "personally motivated"

Yet not only Labour butcher Mason, but Tory Deputy Premier Whitelaw have gone on record as totally opposed to restoration of political status for the republican prisoners of Long Kesh-who have been caught and tortured by political police; framed and convicted in political no-jury courts; and incarcerated in Long Kesh with other political prisoners.

Challenge The British labour 1 rovethe Atkins Labour Party must be challenged and mobilised on this question in support of the legitimate struggles of the oppressed nationalist minority in Ireland.

Troops out of Ireland now! Restore PoW status to republican prisoners!

For a united Irish socialist republic!

Callaghan-sold arms a revolutionary epoch in Latin America.

The Popular Revolutionary Bloc of El Salvador, despite its ability to mobilise sections of the masses and carry out spectacular actions seems incapable of offering such leadership.

After the massacre it has reportedly accepted the offer of the Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador to mediate between it and Romero's regime.

But it seems doubtful that the masses will accept such a compromise. seller held