Letter from Long Kesh

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bullets. In England no citizen has been interned on remand on the word of paid informers. In Wales no-one has been executed on the snap decision of the local police..

and let us get on with the task of Dear Comrades, It is important that the links between Irish Republicans and other opponents of imperialiam be kept alive and strengthened, since ultimately your victory depends on our victory, and our vid mill come with ys letter in mid-August.

At the time of writing, the main news concerns the shoot to kill tactics (of the RUC and the Army) and the informer trials' at Belfast court. I was going to write 'sic' after that word trial' because believe me, those courts are a sick joke. When a system is so much rejected, so incapable of solving its problems that it must institutionalise the temporary, then the system *self has changed.

What we, in the north east of Leland, are now living in is not the British system found in Edinburgh or Finchley, but a notation of that eystem, with countles special features, none at which are normally acceptable in society.

The courts are but one example - juryless, they are ander the direction of Orange jadges and designed to make metalili use of paid informatta, unacceptable in England but used without qualm in Ireland by the English government.

The shoot to kill policy is another example of the extension of perverted laws by British forces in Ireland:

Last week a young man in Belfast was shot dead by a British soldier. A week previous-. ly an 18 year old in Armagh was summarily executed by the Ulster Defence Regiment in front of several eyewitnesses. What "crime" was committed by these unarmed civilians to merit death? Their crime was to exist in a community which long ago refuted the right of Britain to dominate any part of our country.

British withdrawal is fast becoming a cliche, so let us examine in the light of present British occupation, what is meant by withdrawal. Perhaps the British people, so used to the British way of life, think we are some sort of savages trying to shake off British civilised society or order. But no, what we are trying to shake off, and what we in socialist will shake off, is the legalised corruption, discrimination, and the murderous regime which is British occupation, The difference • between British society in England, Scotland or Wales, and the supposed British society in the six counties is almost infinite...

In Scotland no children have been butchered with plastic bullets. In England no citizen has been interned on remand on the word of paid informers. In Wales no-one has been executed on the snap decision of the local policeman.

I could continue to draw comparisons but it's only fringing on the main fact. The writ of British law does not run in Ireland... What does run is a completely different writ, one geared solely for oppression, one designed to terrorise those who dare to say that the presence of British troops and their political masters in Ireland is immoral and unwanted, and must be removed as à prelude to peace.

So what do we want when we call for British withdrawal? Are we seeking the removal of the false cover, the special laws, the martial regime - and then a return to "proper" British rule?

No, and most definitely no again. We do not want a normalisation or an Ulsterisation of life here on British terms. Remember that prior to the introduction of the obscene 'emergency' legislation British rule had already effectively failed.

All schemes, plans and initiatives since the British came to Ireland have been based on one major misconception, i.e. that Britain will remain in Ireland to monitor the progress, and maintain the peace.

The truth is that while the British remain here they stultify progress and create the conditions for war. Let the one untried option be tried. Let the British get out of Ireland and let us get on with the task of uniting our people in a socialist repubSCin four and a half years time, Thatcher, if she is consistent will have turned Britain into one large nationwide dole queue: Possibly by then the Labour Party will have a leadership prepared to implement what it promises as its policy.

At present, however, republicans in Ireland can only view the Labour leadership hostility.

What Don Concannon didn't say in Westminster during the hanging debate should be known. He claims to have talked to the hunger strikers. I suppose that is one way of interpreting 'having words'. But when he entered the cell where Frank Hughes lay dying to gloat over told him that if he didn t get out EliTe s of the cell, Frank would rise and put him out. Concannon withdrew, and Concannon's troops will just as surely withdraw.

Labour in Britain should be a powerful force. But labour must organise itself and define specific policy and maintain a consistent line on that policy.

We are asking ' that the membership of the British labour movement actively support British withdrawal from Ireland. To do less is to give tacit support to imperialism, surely anathema to anyone purporting to be a socialist.

Eoghan MacCormac H3 Long Kesh

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'In Scotland no c been butchered v uniting our people in a republic'

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