Gerry Adams pledged to do his best to represent Protestants in West Belfast after Unionists failed to secure a single seat there. The Sinn Fein President hailed a huge success for his party after seizing four of the constituency's six places in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
He said it was regrettable that Unionists and Loyalists did not manage to win a seat to represent the Shankill Road area. "I can tell you that we will do our best to represent all the people of that area," he said.
The SDLP won the other two seats. One of their winners Alex Attwood also gave a commitment to the Protestant community in the constituency. He said they must be represented equally and seen to be represented equally by all the people elected." That commitment has been made by Gerry Adams. That commitment has been made by all the candidates who now represent the constituency of West Belfast," he said.
Irish National Liberation Army
calls cease-fire
"The onus is now on all political parties,
governments and observers to ensure that the
democratic wishes of the Irish people are
upheld. This includes all armed groups.
Therefore we have taken this cease-fire
decision to take account of the people's desires."
Yes, the document is significant, a significant piece of political ink and paper meant for media celebration. While the document is historical for what it states, it still is a car with square wheels bound to take its driver no where and disappoint the owners.
Supposedly, politics is the art of the possible, but really politics is the art of the possibility of promoting the impractical and unworkable. The media has failed to understand that Britain, historically and currently, is a terrorist state that has upheld Protestant supremacy and has done nothing to eliminate the keystone of the problem. The media continues to frame the conflict in terms of nationalism and sectarianism between Catholics and Protestants, ignoring Britain's role in the conflict.
When Irish Americans complain about English prisons like Whitemoor where Danny McNamee, an innocent man, was held in solitary confinement, the British government showcases the Maze prison as a nice place to be. Again the media is taken in by first impressions and accepts the words of Government officials at face value. Remember, this is the same government that just recently refused to open an investigation into the death of attorney Pat Finucane after being urged to do so by the United Nations. Pat Finucane was killed by Loyalists terrorists for taking on political cases.
Democracy will never work in the new assembly if David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party will not talk to Sinn Fein. The IRA will not decommission unless the British troops leave and if the IRA does, the INLA will double in size overnight. The Irish Free State will endorse the agreement but won’t revise its Constitution. The issues of prisoners is simply placed under review. The Royal Ulster Constabulary remains intact and is suppose to abide by human rights documents, but where is the enforcement? The new assembly? How? Does anyone remember SUNNINGDALE where Loyalists went on strike and turned the power off? How is this suppose to be prevented? It all comes back to the British Army.
The heart of the problem is security which ruins individual rights. British claim they want it. Partionist Loyalists say they want it but those receiving the least security are Irish and Catholics who fear both government and paramilitary groups and the collusion of the British government with Loyalist terrorists makes the agreement all that more difficult to swallow. The document states the British Government will reduce the military consistent with “the level of threat” and to levels “compatible with a normal peaceful society”. Meaning nothing will change. The 66 page document does not even mention the term "individual rights" once
Seventeen Catholics were murdered by Loyalists terrorists during the cease-fire which is not consistent with a "normal peaceful society." If any more Catholics die, the IRA will respond and if the IRA does not, than INLA will as it has and if they don’t, the CIRA will. Which brings the troubles back to square one. The document has a back door exit for British rule through Loyalist terrorists: kill a few Catholics and British rule is maintained. For Catholics and Irish to defend their own is not acceptable to the British and Loyalists for Catholics and Irish are meant to suffer and die. As these words are written, a 17th Catholic has been murdered by Loyalist terrorists during the cease-fire and 12 year old David Goodall lies in a hospital after being attacked by a Loyalist gang. Goodall was hit by a brick and suffers a fractured skull. Where is security for these people?
The document suffers due to the requirement of cease-fire of related paramilitary groups in order to be in the talks, thus the talks were not an all-party talks leaving a vast array of possibilities for failure. Without the input of all-parties, the flaws inherent in the document remain.
The agreement is meant to divide the Irish people and leave them to blame for the chaos that will follow the flawed agreement. The people of the island of Ireland should not be voting for peace. The people of the United Kingdom (Scotland, Wales and England) should be voting on whether or not they want to remain at war on the island of Ireland. This case must be put to vote of the citizens of the United Kingdom, and Irish Americans should push them to end British rule on the island of Ireland. The citizens of the UK should not be paying for the intolerance of the David Trimbles of the world nor be wasting taxpayers money on a false peace that rests in the palms of Loyalist terrorists.
SUNNINGDALE 1974 and analysis .
CAIN site on SUNNINGDALE.
HILLSBOUROUGH 1985 and analysis.
Óglaigh na hÉireann.
Solid proof that the British government is a terrorist state using extra-judicial means, avoiding police, juries, judges and prosecutors, to deal with those they consider to be law-breakers.
These eight young men who died at Loughgall, all came from
the realization that the British Government, their foreign
laws, their oppressive military occupation, was the root
cause of the troubles which were happening around them, their families, their friends, and their country.
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