The Plough No 2

national | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis Monday August 25, 2003 11:19 by Rapper Tandy - IRSM johnmartinps at eircom dot net

The Plough
Number 2 - 22 August 2003

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html

CONTENTS

+INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
+MAGHERA MEMORIAL CONTROVERSY
+SUNDAY WORLD-SUNDAY LIAR
+STATEMENT ON THE 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INLA CEASE-FIRE BY THE
LEADERSHIP OF THE IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY
+RESEARCH ON MIGRANT WORKERS
+FORTHCOMING EVENTS
+COMMENTS ON PLOUGH

The Plough
Number 2 - 22 August 2003

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html

CONTENTS

+INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
+MAGHERA MEMORIAL CONTROVERSY
+SUNDAY WORLD-SUNDAY LIAR
+STATEMENT ON THE 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INLA CEASE-FIRE BY THE
LEADERSHIP OF THE IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY
+RESEARCH ON MIGRANT WORKERS
+FORTHCOMING EVENTS
+COMMENTS ON PLOUGH

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

A recent documentary on the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo
broadcasted on Channel 4 brought light on the deadliest conflict
since world war two. Four million people have been killed in the
Congo since 1998. However, the documentary did not emphasise enough
the responsibility of Western powers and economic interests in
creating this war.

In May 1997, Laurent Désiré Kabila, a long time Congolese
guerrilla fighter against Mobutu's dictatorial and kleptocratic
regime took power in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Soon, Kabila
frustrated the Western governments and multinationals' appetite
for 'a second scramble for Africa'. As soon as he settled in
Kinshasa, Kabila started to articulate clearly the aspirations of his
people and summoning them to take their own destiny into their own
hands, politically and economically. This was perceived by Western
powers and their African allies as a covert declaration of
independence. Kabila's nationalist stance immediately clashed with
their interests, as he eventually reviewed all the contracts he had
signed with American and South African mineral companies, demanded
that they pay upfront for decades of future profits and subsequently
nationalised all the mines.

The people of Congo enjoyed a short-lived time of respite during
Kabila's first year in power. They could eat three times a day again
as prices of essential commodities drastically dropped, roads and
bridges were repaired, public transport restored, electricity
extended to the suburbs of Kinshasa and people liberated from
Mobutu's ill paid soldiers' ransoming (67 members of the new army who
resumed the practice were arrested and jailed). The new currency, the
Congolese franc, was launched and the inflation rate dropped from
8.828% in 1993 to 6% in 1997. Embezzlers were thrown into jail.
Corruption was severely combated. All this was achieved in the
absence of any help from the IMF and World Bank who conditioned their
financial support to Congo normalising its relations with the
institutions of Bretton Woods and pledging to pay all the debt the
old regime contracted.

The new government embarked on an ambitious three year programme of
national reconstruction and during the third summit of Comesa (common
market community of central and southern African countries) held in
Kinshasa on 29 June 1998, Kabila clearly outlined what role Congo
would play within the common market and in Africa as a whole. He
explained that "more than 40 years of African independence have
offered to the world a sad spectacle of a continent looted and
humiliated with the complicity of its own sons and daughters". He
expressed the wish "to see Africa entering the 21st century totally
independent of foreign interference" and declared that the battle for
Congo's independence and sovereignty is fought in the interest of
Africa as a whole.

"Our country", he said, "has a vocation of exporting peace,
development and security to the rest of Africa. A weak Congo means a
vulnerable Africa from its centre, an Africa without a heart." The
stakes were then raised. America and Britain branded Kabila a 'loose
cannon that had to be restrained. But as Colette Braeckman (an expert
who is for Congolese affairs what Robert Fisk is for the Middle East)
who reports for the Belgian daily, Le Soir, wrote in her book,
L'enjeu Congolais - l'Afrique Centrale après Mobutu, this "sudden
animosity against Kabila could only be explained by the fact that his
nationalist stance collided with or frustrated their economic
interests in Congo. Kabila opposed all forms of investments that did
not represent the interests of the people of Congo."

Upon Laurent Désiré Kabila's assassination in 2001, Michela
Wrong, a former correspondent for Reuters, BBC and The Financial
Times, and author of In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz, Living on the
Brink of Disaster in the Congo, wrote in the Financial
Times: "Laurent Kabila alienated Western powers and African allies in
his three-and-half years in power. He was welcomed as a liberator
when his rebel forces marched into Kinshasa in 1997, toppling the
late Mobutu Sese Seko, but diplomats and statesmen had come to view
him as a man impossible 'to do business with', a key factor in
central Africa's growing instability. The World Bank and the IMF
found him so obstructive, talks on new aid were abandoned."

Consequently, on 2 August 1998, a Rwandan-Ugandan-Burundian coalition
launched a war of invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
logistically supported and financed by well known Western powers and
multinationals, as well as with the complicity of the so-called
Congolese 'rebels'. They are systematically looting Congo's fauna and
flora, natural and mineral resources and destroying or transferring
what is left of Congo's infrastructure to their own countries.

According to Wayne Madsen, an American investigative journalist and
intelligence specialist, author of Genocide and Covert Operations in
Africa 1993 - 1999, the US military has been covertly involved in the
war in Congo. Madsen on May 17 2002 told the US House subcommittee on
International Operations and Human Rights, that the US was using
Private Military Contractors (PMCs). Madsen said American companies
including one linked to former President George Bush Snr are stoking
the Congo conflict for monetary gains.

It should be made clear that what is at stake in this war is not
some "ethnic conflict" between "rival tribes", but a fight between a
popular nationalist regime and a Western-backed invasion force.

LOR

MAGHERA MEMORIAL CONTROVERSY

The IRSP have accused the Northern Ireland Housing Executive of being
the political dupes of the SDLP, DUP, and others following the
smashing of a monument to two INLA volunteers due to be unveiled on
Sunday.

The monument to Brendan Convery and Gerald Mallon, killed in action
on the main street of Dungannon during the 80's, was due to be
unveiled tomorrow by IRSP Ard-Chomhairle member and ex-blanketman
Paul Little. However at 5 AM this morning, Ministry of Defence
contractors from Henry Brothers construction company, supported by
almost 200 RUC/PSNI personnel, turned up at the back of MacAtamney
Crescent and demolished the plinth for the memorial.

"What price the Good Friday Agreement now?", said IRSP Ard-Chomhairle
member and Chairman of the Memorial Committee Terry Harkin.

"Was this agreement not meant to guarantee 'parity of esteem'? Was
the GFA not meant to enshrine the rights of the indigenous Irish to
their own cultural identity? That was what the people were told. When
did it change to 'everyone has the right to express their identity
except the Irps and those loyalist groups who are anti-agreement?'

"There has always been, for the most part anyway, a tacit agreement
between the local communities not to interfere with how the other
side honoured their dead. The murals on the Shankill to Brian
Robinson and his ilk have been largely ignored even though they can
be plainly seen from nationalist areas, the payment of tens of
thousands of pounds to the UDA's C Company by a multinational to
remove murals from NIHE land went un-noted as did the NIHE's
complacency when the same C Coy smashed down walls in Executive
property to create the big brother house in a housing black spot. Why
were Henry Brothers and their police escort not brought in to repair
the damage or paint out the murals? There are double standards being
applied in Maghera due to the unholy cabal that has developed between
local SDLP representatives and (Box Car) Willie McCray of the DUP.

"Well, we've a message for both those parties, we do not need their
mandate to commemorate our dead, and before the sun sets on Sunday
they may want to take a walk up to the estate, they'll be surprised,
for they'll find a monument to two brave INLA men who gave their
lives fighting for National Liberation and Socialism there.

"Sure they can send for their MOD contractors and the Henry's can
pull it down one more time, but it wont go away you know, it'll be
back. I would still appeal to them all the same to step back before
they do any serious damage to the community by raising tensions when
they do not need to. Let this memorial stand, let the loyalist and
republican monuments stand. Let's have parity, not parody, of
esteem."

UNVEILING OF CONVERY/MALLON MEMORIAL PLAQUE

The Unveiling of the Memorial plaque to Brendan Convery and Gerard
Mallon took place on Sunday 17th of August in Maghera. A crowd of
several hundred people followed took part in a march to McAttamny
Crescent where the memorial plaque was unveiled and wreaths laid on
behalf of the families of the two dead volunteers and the various
branches of the Republican Socialist movement. Brendan's brother made
a moving and hard hitting speech reminding the audience what the
struggle had been about and that tho' methods may change the struggle
continues.

Pol Little speaking on behalf of the IRSP lambasted those in the SDLP
who's protests led to the RUC/PSNI sneaking in at 5.30 in the morning
to wreak the previous memorial. He paid tribute to the Republican
Socialists of South Derry who in the space of 24 hours had rebuild a
magnificent tribute to the dead INLA volunteers.

SUNDAY WORLD-SUNDAY LIAR

The Sunday World is a tabloid paper which many people believe sets
people up for assassination. Over 20 people named in the newspaper
have died in violent circumstances. August 17th had an article by
Hugh Jordan in which he poured scorn on the INLA, besmirched the
memory of two dead volunteers and defended the Good Friday Agreement
calling it "the only show in town". Some political analysts he is!!!.
The institutions set up under the GFA have failed, having been
suspended four times. Elections due to be called were postponed due
to fears that Trimble might lose support of the majority of Unionists
and the British Government has reneged on its part of the GFA.
Sectarianism has increased massively since the GFA and violence still
continues. God help us if this is the only show in town. Wake up and
smell the stench of a rotten corrupt statelet, Jordan!

An other article written by John Cassidy repeats the lie that "Eddie
Copeland, alleged to be associated with the IRA, and Dark Cloud, who
is alleged to be associated with the INLA, were banned from" the
Shamrock GAA Club. That is a lie as both individuals are still
members of the club and play a prominent part in its social and
cultural activities. Three weeks ago the SW claimed Copeland was
dismissed as O/C of the Provos in Ardoyne and now they claim he is on
the Northern Command of the IRA. They forget their own lies!!

STATEMENT ON THE 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INLA CEASE-FIRE BY THE
LEADERSHIP OF THE IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY

The following statement was received by the Plough from the
leadership of the Irish National Liberation Army on the 5th
Anniversary of the INLA ceasefire.

In August 1998 the leadership of the INLA with the full support of
the volunteers of the People's Army called a ceasefire in
response to the will of the Irish people as expressed through the
Referenda on the Good Friday Agreement.

Now five years on it is time to take stock.

Nothing that occurred since then has persuaded us to change our minds
on the Good Friday Agreement. Four suspensions of the Assembly, a
massive increase in sectarianism, the introduction of a neo-liberal
economic agenda, the failure of mainstream unionism to actively
accept an equality agenda, and continuing direct rule by the British
Government confirms the correctness of our analysis. The Good Friday
Agreement is a failed and flawed agreement. The Northern Ireland
State is a failed political entity.

With the increasing disillusionment within loyalist ranks over the
whole so-called peace process and with whole sections of the UDA
rejecting the GFA while the UVF re-arms now is not the time for any
republicans to be even considering negotiating any arms surrender. A
squalid political deal that exchanges guns for government was not
what the republican struggle of the past was about. Such a deal is in
effect an attempt to hide and cover up what has been in effect a
defeat for republicanism. Running Stormont departments does not and
will not hide that reality.

However the INLA does not see a return to armed struggle as a viable
alternative at this time. Accordingly we have encouraged our
membership and supporters to become actively involved in the day-to-
day struggles of ordinary people. Such political involvement is
following the example of our founder, Seamus Costello. A
revolutionary army without a clear base of political understanding
and activity is no longer a revolutionary army. The INLA is part of
and acts in the interests of the Irish working class.

Five years on from our ceasefire there is still a role for the INLA.
We will remain vigilant in defence of working class communities but
we will not take offensive action.

We will assist in resolving disputes within working class communities
but we will not police those communities. The INLA is not a police
force and we call on all units of the INLA to desist from policing
communities. It is no part of our role to police the working class.
However we do reserve the right to defend our membership and the most
vulnerable members of our community. It is time to encourage working
class communities to take responsibility for their own lives. We will
encourage initiatives that give some respect and dignity back to
communities living in fear from drug dealers and young, disaffected
youth. Therefore we encourage all volunteers to actively participate
in a positive manner in daily lives of working class communities. The
INLA has no interests outside the liberation of the working class and
the establishment of a socialist society.

There are however those who have abused and exploited working class
communities. We warn those who used and abused the name of the INLA
within working class communities to intimidate and extort to desist
forthwith. We are aware of individuals who use our name as a flag of
convenience. Your day is done.

To the gutter press who regularly print falsehoods, gossip, title
tattle, and lies about this movement - stop. Check your facts with
this movement before you go to press.

Five years on the INLA ceasefire is solid. We recognise that the
republican struggle has to take a new direction and we call on all
other republican forces to enter into dialogue with us and other
republicans to discuss the way forward in the new situation we all
find ourselves in.

Now is not the time for the failed strategies and tactics of the
past. Now is the time for a new departure.

Statement on behalf of the leadership of the INLA

RESEARCH ON MIGRANT WORKERS

Migrant workers in Northern Ireland-Research-Mid Ulster readers
please note!!!

The Institute for Conflict Research, an independent research
organisation, has been commissioned by the Office of the First
Minister and Deputy First Minister to research the experiences and
needs of migrant workers living in Northern Ireland. A migrant worker
is defined as anyone working in Northern Ireland who is not from the
United Kingdom or Ireland.

The research aims to establish an overview of migrant workers'
participation in the employment market in Northern Ireland. It also
seeks to document the variety of problems that migrant workers may
experience in relation to employment rights, pay, racism, access to
health, housing, education, and social services. The research will
also examine the standard of service currently provided by statutory
agencies to migrant workers.

Versions of the questionnaire are available in English, French and
Portuguese. All the information you provide is anonymous, and will
only be used for research purposes.

If anyone there knows of any migrant workers could they please
encourage them to help out with this research by complete the online
questionnaire by clicking on web: http://www.conflictresearch.org.uk/

For more information, contact Kathryn Bell, Institute for Conflict
Research, on tel: 028 9074 2682 or email:
research3@conflictresearch.org.uk

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Anti-War Movement: Wyns Hotel Lower Abbey Street Dublin 2.00pm to
5.00PM Saturday 23rd August IAWM Calls Public Meeting To
Decide The Three Representatives From Ireland To The Nov. 2003
European Social Forum and to Mobilise Participation in the ESF.

The Irish Anti War Movement (IAWM) sent a representative to the
European Social Forum (ESF) Planning Assembly in Genoa in early July.
This gathering was to continue preparation and plans for the 2nd ESF
taking place next November in Paris. At this meeting: (a) Ireland was
allocated a total of three speakers for the Plenary meetings of the
Paris ESF, (b) Ireland was allocated one representative on a new ESF
Working Group which will decide the final details of the 250 Seminars
of November ESF.

The IAWM has called a public meeting for Sat. Aug 23rd 2003, 2pm,
Wynns Hotel, Abbey St., Dublin 1, in order to mobilise people from
Ireland to attend the Paris ESF and to address issues (a) and (b)
above. The IAWM has asked in their invitation that as many groups,
organisations and movements as possible be represented at this public
meeting.


Political Status for Republican POWs!

Leafleting to highlight the dirty protest and campaign for political
status in Maghaberry prison.

The GAA Football semi-final in Croke Park on Sunday, 24th August will
be leafleted to highlight the POWs campaign. The Minor is at 2pm and
Kerry play Tyrone at 3.30pm.

All interested are asked to come along and give a hand.

Meeting point is the bus stop opposite The Big Tree pub on Dorset
Street 1pm. Keep and eye out for a big black banner with the
slogan "Political Status for Republican POWs", that'll be us.

Organised by: Na Fianna Eireann and Working Class Action and
supported by the IRSP


North East Social Forum One World Centre, Lower Crescent
Belfast 7.15pm Tuesday 26th August Anyone can attend


Ard-Chomhairle IRSP 392 Falls Road Belfast 10.30- 5.00pm
Saturday 30TH August A/C members and delegates only.


Anti-Imperialist Camp in Assisi, Italy.

Sunday to Saturday 31st August to 6th September .

Programme of the Anti-imperialist Camp 2003 Assisi, Italy, August 31
to September 6

Sunday, August 31

10 p.m. inauguration concert

Monday, September 1

10.30 am

Forum 1 The true story of the Iraqi Communist Party By Ahmed p.m.,
leader of the anti-imperialist opposition within the ICP

Forum 2 The road map and the political military in Palestine Meeting
with the Palestinian delegation (PFLP, Abnaa el Balad, solidarity
groups)

Forum 3 With Kurdistan In memory of Dino Frisullo, leader of the
Italian solidarity movement

5 am

Round table Trial against the war criminals Liberation movements
listed by US and US as terrorists speak out (Basques, Colombians,
Palestinians, Turkish, Filippinos, Lebanese, &)

10 p.m., theatre

Tuesday, September 2

10.30 am

Forum 1 The Italian youth between commitment and indifference

Forum 2 The empire: a critical analysis of Toni Negris thesis by
Costanzo Preve

Forum 3 Meeting with the Lebanese National Resistance

5 p.m.

Round table Beyond Porto Alegre The World Social Forum and the
perspectives of the movement against globalisation with Piero
Bernocchi (Italian Cobas leader), Costanzo Preve, ....

10 p.m. film

Wednesday, September 3

10.30 am

Forum 1 Kidnapping Meeting with the leader of defence of Slobodan
Milosevic, Vladimir Krsljanin

Forum 2 From Venezuela to Brazil: reform and revolution

Forum 3 Cuba: blockade, socialism and democracy

5 p.m. Round table La lucha sigue: Class struggle and anti-
imperialism in Latin America By Elias Letelier (Chile), Mario Maestri
(Brazil), ...

10 p.m. Meeting with the Anti-imperialist Poets of America

Thursday, September 4

10.30 am

Forum 1 Revolutionary prisoners: testimonies from Turkey and Israel

Forum 2 Is Maoism still up to date?

Forum 3 Against the imperialist occupation An Iraqi Fedayyin recounts

5 p.m. round table Christianism, Islam, Judaism with Hamza Piccardo
(leader of the Union of Italian Islamic Communities), Shia leader
from Lebanon, Representative of the Franciscans.

10 p.m. theatre

Friday, September 6

10.30 am

Forum 1 The collapse of the German left: from anti-fascism to
Americanism

Forum 2 Without truce: The Basque struggle against Spanish oppression
Militants from Euskal Herria speak out

Forum 3 Intifada, Jihad and Arab nation Meeting with the Arab
delegations from Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq.

5 p.m. Round table Waiting for Godot Transatlantic tensions and the
future of Europe

10 p.m. theatre

Saturday, September 6

10.30 am

Forum 1 Between persecution and integration: Islam in Italy By the
lawyer of the Islamic communities

Forum 2 The European workers movement and anti-imperialism

Forum 3 Armageddon: religious fundamentalism in the US By Miguel
Martinez

5 p.m. Round table For a resistance movement against the American
empire what alternatives to the imperialist transformation of the
Western left?

10 p.m. Closing concert of the Camp

Accommodation Fees Anti-imperialist Camp 2003 Assisi, Italy, August
31 - September 6

Hotel / Bungalow Full Board* E 250

Caravan Full Board*E 200 only night's lodging E 100

Tent Full Board* E 160 only night's lodging 70

Tent under 25 years Only night's lodging E 50

One day fees Hotel/Bungalow only night's lodging E 25 Caravan only
night's lodging E 16 Tent only night's lodging E 12

One meal voucher E 10

PLEASE NOTE: * Includes lunch and dinner (3 courses). Breakfast is
not included

For information and reservation please contact the Reception Service
at: registration form

e-mail: reception@antiimperialista.com

Please note that reservations are only valid upon payment of a
deposit of 30% of the total amount to the following Italian bank
account: Campo Antiimperialista account N°: 679/53 bank name:
Banca
dell'Umbria transfer codes: ABI: 6235 - CAB: 21800 - SWIFT: CRPG IT 3P


Irish Social Forum Conference Crescent Arts Centre Belfast
10.00 am-5.00pm Sunday 23rd September .

International Day of Action Dublin Saturday 27TH
September


GEORGE MONBIOT

George Monbiot, a regular feature writer in The Guardian, is the
author of Captive State and The Age of Consent.

The One World Centre, The New Ireland Group and The de Borda
Institute have organised the following events:

1 GEORGE MONBIOT The 2nd One World Centre annual lecture, 12 noon
to 2 p.m., Thursday 9th October, Room G07, Peter Frogatt Building,
Queen's University. Everyone welcome.

Further information available from The One World Centre, 4 Lower
Crescent, Belfast BT7 1NR, Tel 90241879, e-mail stephen@owcni.org.uk

2 GEORGE MONBIOT "Unionism, Nationalism or Globalisation?"
7.30 for 7.45 p.m. on Thursday 9th October, in The Elmwood Hall,
Belfast Tickets £5 (concessions £2.50), includes a free glass of
organic wine from the Belfast Food Co-op.

Tickets and further information available from either The New Ireland
Group, 7 Slievedarragh Park, Belfast BT14 8J
sec.newirelandgroup@ntlworld.com or The de Borda Institute, 36
Ballysillan Road, Belfast BT14 7QQ pemerson@deborda.org


European Social Forum Paris, St Denis 12-15 November


COMMENTS ABOUT THE PLOUGH

"Fantastic newsletter -- good work!"

"Overall good, however what is problematic is the lack of uniformity
of - colour - letter format (I prefer Times New Roman format 12)-
space

If the whole newsletter was like the section included on the Assisi
camp, it would be more pleasant to read."

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