In May 2011, Marian Price was arrested after she held up a piece of paper on a windy day, at a traditional Easter commemoration from which a masked man read. She was taken to Maghaberry high security prison an all-male prison and was placed in solitary confinement, where Marian was accused of, ‘encouraging support for an illegal organisation’. Marian has now been in prison for 16 months, during which time neither her lawyers, or Marian have been allowed to see any of Britains ‘alleged’ evidence. Having been previously force fed 400 times by the British in an English prison and in considerable, ill health, distress with extreme pain as a result, she was taken ;
The Martyrdom of Marian Price
In May 2011, Marian Price was arrested after she held up a piece of paper on a windy day, at a traditional Easter commemoration from which a masked man read. She was taken to Maghaberry high security prison (an all-male prison) and was placed in solitary confinement, where Marian was accused of, ‘encouraging support for an illegal organisation’. Marian has now been in prison for 16 months, during which time neither her lawyers, or Marian have been allowed to see any of Britains ‘alleged’ evidence. Having been previously force fed 400 times by the British in an English prison and in considerable, ill health, distress with extreme pain as a result, she was taken ;
• She has been kept in solitary confinement in a ‘male’ high security prison
• She is effectively interned without a trial, sentence, or release date.
• She has not been given any timescale for any investigation.
• She has not been allowed to see the evidence that the state claims to have
• Her release has been ordered on two occasions by judges. However, on both occasions the secretary of state has overruled those decisions.
• The secretary of state claims he has ‘revoked Marian’s license’. This is despite Marian never being released on license. She was given a Royal Pardon.
• Marian’s Royal Pardon has ‘gone missing’ from the home office (the only time in history). The secretary of state has taken the view that unless a paper copy can be located – it must be assumed that she does not have one.
• Despite no ‘license’ existing for her release from prison in 1980, it is the non-existent license that is being used to keep her in prison.
• She can only be released by Theresa Villiers the current Secretary of State responsible.
The charges against Marian were thrown out of court for lack of evidence by a Judge, the last time she appeared and now the very same charges have been re-instated against Marian again !
Rory McIlroy the world number one golfer has admitted that the heartfelt reaction by fans to an article in a British tabloid, claiming he has decided to choose the British team over the Irish team for the Rio 2016 Olympics is inaccurate and reaction to it, has led him to think deeply about his identity.
Chatting before the Championship climax in Atlanta, the young Irish champion golfer said, “After everything that happened last week it definitely makes me reconsider my position and reconsider a lot of things. I think it just really hit home with me how important it is for a lot of people and how important my success has been to them. Obviously I have had a lot of support from all sides, from people who call themselves Irish, from Northern Irish, to the whole of the UK, to people over here in the States. It just hit home with me at how my success is welcomed by everyone.”
Rory insists that has made no final decision on the matter and that he has plenty of time to think about this before the Olympics in 2016, adding that choosing one team over another is difficult for him as he does not want to seperate himself from people who support him.He said, “It would be terrible for me to nearly segregate myself from one of those group that supports me so much. It’s four years away andI still have a bit of time to decide. But, I’m very, very appreciative and very grateful of the support that I get from everyone. It’s great that I get so much support. There are not many people in my position that have to go through what I might have to go through in four years’ time, but it is what it is. I’m a golfer first and foremost and I just want to play well on the golf course. Hopefully people enjoy that and the entertainment that that brings.”
Rory McIlroy has represented Ireland on many occasions playing alongside Graeme McDowell in the World Cup.Rory was born and reared in Ireland of Irish parents.Rory is a name of Irish and Scottish origin. It is of the Irish Gaelic originRuaidhrí/Ruairí ("red king"), the name of Irish kings Ruaidrí na Saide Buide and Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, and the Scottish Gaelic Ruairidh/Ruaraidh explained by the clip above from Braveheart. Unfortunately the British use their tabloids and the BBC world service to politicize such matter even in sport and music, causing division and sectarianism to divide and conquer occupied Ireland, which fuels the sectarianism that murdered Rory's Uncle. The Irish flag above which Rory and Graeme McDowell both Catholic and Protestant have previously had no problem representing Ireland under its green white and orange flag which represents both traditions equally but outside interference is the problem. Sport ha snormally brought people together in Ireland such as the Irish rugby team and several other sports. The background to the story is covered below on Twitpic with Irish people having obviously strong feelings about the matter, where they have been re-tweeting the article below in support;
FREE PRICE in British Occupied Ireland http://www.causes.com/FREEePRICE
10,784
9 days ago
Rory McIlroy whose great Uncle was murdered by Loyalist Paramilitaries in the '70's for being Irish is under extreme pressure. Hollywood in British Occupied Ireland is where the British secret services train and finance British Loyalist terrorists, to assassinate Irish people like Rory and his family, who are bullied & pressured to consider their extended family with regard to their identity.Now that Rosy is successful and very wealthy, these same British secret services surround & control his family and personal security whether he like it or not, putting them in an extremely difficult situation. Opinions are like arseholes, everyone has got one one but the FACT is that anyone born on the small island of Ireland is Irish whether they like it or not. Retweet to show your support.
A Modest Proposal for preventing the politically interned wives of poor Fenian Irishmen in Ireland from being a financial burden on your country and for making them beneficial to the British publick. I seek also to prevent a re-occurrence of the Great Irish Holocaust, under your majesty's pleasure, that cost 6,257,456 Irish person's lives, during your Viceroyal Villiers family ancestor reign in Ireland previously.
by Dr. Jonny SwiftishNUJ
2012
It is a subject to those, who walk through this great towns or travel in the country known as British Occupied Ireland, when they see the streets, roads and former hospitals daubed with grafitti of free price or crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every Orangeman for peace and alms. These mothers who are not yet interned, at great expense or instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood at home for their husbands, are forced to employ all their time in strolling out and about to beg for work and sustenance for their helpless Fenian infants who, as they grow up, either turn dissident for want of work or leave their dear native occupied country, to fight for the US of A or sell themselves into Banks or Taliban slavery.
I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number of Fenian women not yet interned, carrying children in their arms, or on their backs, or at their heels, is in the present deplorable state of the occupied six counties, a very great additional grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these women sound and useful members of the British common-wealth, would deserve, so well of the publick, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation beside the existing one at Stormont.
But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the wives of Irish Fenians: it is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of women at a certain age, who are married to Fenian husbands in effect as little able to restrain them, as those who demand Orange charity in the streets.
As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years, upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of our projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in their computation. It is true that a Fenian wife with a child just dropt may be supported by her milk, for a solar year, with little other nourishment than force feeding: at most not above the value of two hundred pounds, which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her unlawful occupation of human rights campaigning for prisoners; and it is exactly at the age of their child being one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner, as, instead of being a charge upon their husbands, or the British empire, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their Fenian lives, they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the feeding, and partly to the cloathing of many thousands of children.
There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their Fenian bastard children, alas! too frequent among us, sacrificing the poor innocent babes, I doubt, more to avoid the expense than the shame, which would move tears and pity in the most dissident and inhuman Fenian breast.
The number of souls in British Occupied Ireland being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand Fenian couples whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couple, who are able to maintain their own children, (although I suspect there cannot be so many, under the present distresses of the kingdom) but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand Fenian breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand, for those women who miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remain an hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born. The question therefore is, How this number shall be reared, and provided for? which, as I have already said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto proposed. For we can neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture; we neither build houses, (I mean in the country) nor cultivate land: they can very seldom pick up a livelihood by stealing till they arrive at six years old; except where they are of towardly parts, although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier; during which time they can however be properly looked upon only as probationers: As I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of Cavan, who protested to me, that he never knew above one or two instances under the age of six, even in a part of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that art.
I am assured by our merchants, that a girl before twelve years old, is no saleable commodity, and even when they come to this age, they will not yield above thirty pounds, or three pounds and half a crown at most, on the exchange; which cannot turn to account either to the parents or kingdom, the charge of nutriments and rags having been at least four times that value.
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.
I have been assured by a very knowing American with a rather large white hat of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy Irish woman well nursed is a most delicious nourishing and wholesome meal, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.
I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration, that of the hundred and twenty thousand Fenian women, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle, or swine, and my reason is, that these women are seldom of circumstance not much regarded by our Orangemen, therefore, one orange male will be sufficient to serve four fenian females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, be offered in sale to Loyalist persons of quality and fortune, through the United Kingdom, always advising the Fenian women to let their Loyal orangemen to suck plentifully, so as to render your majesty's kingdom plump and fat unlike your great great grand father's subjects of his Irish holocaust. A woman will make two or three good meals a day and excellent entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, her fore or hind quarter will make a delicious dish, seasoned with little herbs or tinctures, will be very good boiled on the fourth day of her internment should that be necessary.
I grant this dish will become somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for loyalists, who, as they have already devoured a lot of the parents, seem to have the best right to these women. Dissident's flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentiful in March, and a little before and after; for we are told by a grave author, an eminent French physician, that fish being a prolifick dyet, there are more Irishwomen born in Roman Catholick countries about nine months after Lent, the markets will be more glutted than usual, because the number of Popish women, is at least three to one in this kingdom of British Occupied Ireland, and therefore it will have one other collateral advantage, by lessening considerably the number of Papists among us.
I have already computed the charge of interning a Fenian (in which list I reckon all cottagers, labourers, and four-fifths of the farmers) to be about two hundred thousand pounds per annum, rags included; and I believe no Loyalist gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good Fenian, which, as I have said, will make dishes of excellent meat, even Fenain males who can be gay who because of dire poverty hath only some particular friend, or his own family to dine with him. Thus the Loyalist squire will learn to be a good master, and grow popular among his Fenians, the mother well fed albeit occasionally force fed be fit to produces orange children.
Those who are more thrifty of Scotch origin(as I must confess the times require) may flea the Fenian carcass; the skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for loyal ladies, and summer boots for fine marching gentlemen.
As to our City of Belfast, shambles may be appointed for this purpose, in the most convenient parts of it, and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting; although I rather recommend interning the women alive initially, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.
A very worthy person, a true lover of his British Occupied country and whose virtues I highly esteem, was lately pleased, in discoursing on this matter, to offer a refinement upon my scheme. He said, that many loyal gentlemen of this kingdom, having of late destroyed their deer, he conceived that the want of venison might be well supply'd by the bodies of certain gay young lads and comely Fenian maidens, not exceeding sixty years of age, nor under twelve; so great a number of both sexes in every country being now ready to starve for want of work, peace and justice and these to be disposed of by their political leaders if alive, or otherwise by their nearest relations. But with due deference to so excellent a friend, and so deserving a patriot, I cannot be altogether in his sentiments; for as to the males, my American acquaintance with the rather large white hat assured me from frequent experience, that their flesh was generally tough and lean, like that of our school-boys, by continual exercise, and their taste disagreeable, and to fatten them would not answer the charge. Then as to the females, it would, I think, with humble submission, be a loss to the publick, because they soon would become breeders themselves: And besides, it is not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice, (although indeed very unjustly) as a little bordering upon cruelty, which, I confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against any project, how well soever intended.
But in order to justify my friend, he confessed, that this expedient was put into his head by the famous Salmanaazor, a native of the island Formosa, who came from thence to London, above twenty years ago, and in conversation told my friend, that in his country, when any female person happened to be put to death, the executioner sold the carcass to persons of quality, as a prime dainty; and that, in his time, the body of a plump girl of fifteen, who was crucified for an attempt to poison the Emperor, was sold to his imperial majesty's prime minister of state, and other great mandarins of the court in joints from the gibbet, at four hundred crowns. Neither indeed can I deny, that if the same use were made of several plump young girls in this town, who without one single groat to their fortunes, cannot stir abroad without a chair, and appear at a play-house and assemblies in foreign fineries which they never will pay for; the kingdom would not be the worse.
Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor Fenians, who are aged, diseased, or maimed; and I have been desired to employ my thoughts what course may be taken, to ease British Occupied Ireland of so grievous an incumbrance. But I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known, that they are every day dying, and rotting, by cold and famine, and filth, and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected. And as to the young labourers, they are now in almost as hopeful a condition. They cannot get work, and consequently pine away from want of nourishment, to a degree, that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labour, they have not strength to perform it, and thus the country and themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come.
I have too long digressed, and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the advantages by the proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance.
For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the number of Papists, with whom we are yearly over-run, being the principal breeders, as well as our most dangerous enemies, and who stay at home on purpose with a design to deliver British Occupied Ireland to the Pope, hoping to take their advantage by the absence of so many good Protestants, who have chosen rather to leave their country, than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an episcopal curate.
Secondly, The Fenain tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by law may be made liable to a distress and help to pay their landlord's rent, their corn and cattle being already seized, and money a thing unknown.
Thirdly, Whereas the maintainance of potentially a hundred thousand Fenian women interned, the nation's stock will be thereby increased two hundred thousand pounds per annum, besides the profit of a new dish, introduced to the tables of all orange gentlemen of fortune in the kingdom, who have any refinement in taste. And the money will circulate among our selves, the goods being entirely of our own growth and manufacture.
Fourthly, The constant breeders will interned be rid of the charge of maintaining their Fenian offspring.
Fifthly, This food would likewise bring great custom to taverns, where the vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts for dressing it to perfection; and consequently have their houses frequented by all the fine Loyal gentlemen, who justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good eating; and a skilful cook, who understands how to oblige his guests, will contrive to make it as expensive as they please.
Sixthly, This would be a great inducement to marriage, which all wise nations have either encouraged by rewards, or enforced by laws and penalties. It would encrease the care and tenderness of mothers towards their husbands, when they were sure of a settlement for life, provided in some sort by the publick, to their annual profit instead of expense. We should soon see an honest emulation among the married women, which of them could bring the fattest daughter to the market.Fenianmen would become as fond of their wives, as they are now of their mares in foal, their cows in calf, or sow when they are ready to mate; nor offer to beat or kick them (as is too frequent a practice) for fear of damaged goods.With the legal option of internment of their wives such extremities would not be necessary.
Many other advantages might be enumerated. For instance, the addition of some thousand female carcasses in our exportation of barrel'd beef: the propagation of swine's flesh, and improvement in the art of making good bacon, so much wanted among us by the great destruction of pigs, too frequent at our tables; which are no way comparable in taste or magnificence to a well grown, fat woman, which after internment and forced feeding, roasted whole will make a considerable figure at a Loyal Lord Mayor's feast, or any other publick entertainment. But this, and many others, I omit, being studious of brevity.
Supposing that one thousand Loyalist families in this city, would be constant customers for Fenian flesh, besides others who might have it at merry meetings, particularly at weddings and christenings, I compute that Belfast would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses; and the rest of the kingdom (where probably they will be sold somewhat cheaper) the remaining eighty thousand.
I can think of no one objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it should be urged, that the number of dissidents will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom. This I freely own, and 'twas indeed one principal design in offering it to the world. I desire the reader will observe, that I calculate my remedy for this one individual Kingdom of British Occupied Ireland, and for no other that ever was, is, or, I think, ever can be upon Earth. Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither cloaths, nor houshold furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury: Of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women: Of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence and temperance: Of learning to love our country, wherein we differ even from Laplanders, and the inhabitants of Topinamboo: Of quitting our animosities and factions, nor acting any longer like the Jews, who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken: Of being a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing: Of teaching landlords to have at least one degree of mercy towards their tenants. Lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, and skill into our shop-keepers, who, if a resolution could now be taken to buy only our native goods, would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon us in the price, the measure, and the goodness, nor could ever yet be brought to make one fair proposal of just dealing, though often and earnestly invited to it.
Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, 'till he hath at least some glympse of hope, that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice.
But, as to my self, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal, which, as it is wholly new, so it hath something solid and real, of no expence and little trouble, full in our own power, and whereby we can incur no danger in disobliging England. For this kind of commodity will not bear exportation, and flesh being of too tender a consistence, to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it.
After all, I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion, as to reject any offer, proposed by wise men, which shall be found equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual. But before something of that kind shall be advanced in contradiction to my scheme, and offering a better, I desire the author or authors will be pleased maturely to consider two points. First, As things now stand, how they will be able to find food and raiment for a hundred thousand useless mouths and backs. And secondly, There being a round million of creatures in humane figure throughout this kingdom, whose whole subsistence put into a common stock, would leave them in debt two million of pounds sterling, adding those who are beggars by profession, to the bulk of farmers, cottagers and labourers, with their wives and children, who are beggars in effect; I desire those politicians who dislike my overture, and may perhaps be so bold to attempt an answer, that they will first ask the husbands of these mortals, whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness to have their wives sold for food rather than interned more than a year, in the manner I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of misfortunes, as they have since gone through, by the oppression of landlords, the impossibility of paying rent without money or trade, the want of common sustenance, with neither house nor cloaths to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather, and the most inevitable prospect of intailing the like, or greater miseries, upon their breed for ever.
I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for women, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. I have only one wife by which I can propose to get a single penny but unfortunately for you Viceroyal Villiers she is not Irish.
The Internment Without Trial of Marian Price and Martin Corey is the return of the Guinea Pig experiment of 1971. Experiment for what you may ask ? For You ! whether you be a working parent in the North of England who cant feed your children, a trade unionist or simply someone who challenges the status quo, its back and British Occupied Ireland is probably where you will be rendered. It has been Britain's laboratory for a police state, Kitsonian low level intensity war on civilians, state secret service testing political laboratory for more than 40 years now with all genuine human rights lawyers, eradicated or compromised. It is Britain's state with the real power
This article bylibcom.orgis a good summary of the internment of Marian Pricea 58 year old Irish Republican. She was initially jailed in 1973 for her part in an IRA bombing campaign in London. She targeted the Old Bailey, and an army recruitment centre. She was subsequently sentenced to two life terms.
Immediately on her incarceration, Marian went on hunger strike. The hunger strike lasted 200 days – during which Marian was force-fed on over 400 occasions.
In 1980, Marian was gravely ill, days away from death due to severe anorexia – which she had developed following the ordeal of being force-fed. Marian was granted a ‘Royal Pardon’ (Royal Prerogative of Mercy) and was immediately released from prison.
Marian survived, and over the next thirty years, she remained active in several republican groups such as the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, and the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association.
Present Day
In May 2011, Marian Price was arrested after appearing at a Irish Republican rally, where she held up a piece of paper from which a masked man read. She was immediately taken to Maghaberry high security prison (an all-male prison) and was placed in solitary confinement.
Marian has been accused of, ‘encouraging support for an illegal organisation’. Marian has now been in prison for 14 months, during which time neither her lawyers, or Marian have been allowed to see any of the state’s ‘alleged’ evidence.
Key facts from Marian’s internment in Maghaberry prison:
• She has been kept in solitary confinement in a ‘male’ high security prison
• She is effectively interned without a trial, sentence, or release date.
• She has not been given any timescale for any investigation.
• She has not been allowed to see the evidence that the state claims to have
• Her release has been ordered on two occasions by judges. However, on both occasions the secretary of state has overruled those decisions.
• The secretary of state claims he has ‘revoked Marian’s license’. This is despite Marian never being released on license. She was given a Royal Pardon.
• Marian’s Royal Pardon has ‘gone missing’ from the home office (the only time in history). The secretary of state has taken the view that unless a paper copy can be located – it must be assumed that she does not have one.
• Despite no ‘license’ existing for her release from prison in 1980, it is the non-existent license that is being used to keep her in prison.
• She can only be released by the secretary of state responsible (Owen Paterson)
Marian suffers from numerous physical health problems due to how she was treated in prison in the 1970’s. Due to her year-long solitary confinement, Marian’s physical and mental health has deteriorated rapidly, and she has been transferred to hospital.
As I pointed out at the beginning of this post – you may not share the same political views as Marian Price, but you should be deeply concerned about how the state treats people who it views as a threat.
I recall that some anarchists were snatched from their beds on the morning of last year’s royal wedding, and detained for the day – but imagine being interned without trial for over a year, and kept in solitary confinement.
The case of Marian Price is one we should all keep a close eye on, and is best summed up by the Irish civil rights leader Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, who said that:
Quote:
“Is a clear signal to everybody who is not “on board” and who is not of the same mind as the government: that no dissent will be tolerated. No dissent will be tolerated and you challenge the status quo at your peril.”
‘The Guineapigs’ by John McGuffin (1974, 1981)
The Guineapigs
by John McGuffin (1974, 1981)
Originally published in London by Penguin Books, 1974. Paperback, 192 pp. Out of Print.
2nd edition Minuteman Press, San Francisco, 1981. Paperback, 75 pp. Out of Print. The first edition by Penguin sold 20,000 copies and was banned after one week by the British government and Reginald Maudling. The 2nd edition in 1981 updated the fate of the victims and named the torturers, but omitted two chapters from the original edition. A complete compilation of both editions is now here available for the first time. Feel free to download these pages, but if you decide to do so we would like to ask you to make a donation to Irish Resistance Books, in order that IRB can publish further works. (Note: We are not in receipt of any grants or Art Council funding.) You may not edit, adapt, or redistribute changed versions of this for other than your personal use without the express written permission. Redistribution for commercial purposes is not permitted.
From the back cover (2nd edition):
The Guineapigs in the title were fourteen Irish political prisoners on whom the British Army experimented with sensory deprivation torture in 1971. These 'techniques' are now outlawed, following Britain's conviction at the International Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg, but have been exported and used by Britain's allies throughout the world. This book first appeared in 1974, published by Penguin Books in London. It sold out on its first print run and was then abruptly taken off the market following pressure from the British Government.
In Ireland in 1971 there was deliberate and careful use of modern torture techniques, not merely to get information but to perfect the system of Sensory Deprivation for use against civilians. The author, an ex-internee himself spent two years researching the book following his release from Crumlin Road jail where he had been held without charge or trial. In this new edition he is at last able to name the torturers and those responsible for this sordid episode in British Imperial history. No member of the British Army or the Royal Ulster Constabulary has ever been convicted of torture or brutality to prisoners, although the Government has been forced to pay out over $5 million in compensation to torture victims.
This re-issue of 'The Guineapigs' is dedicated to the blanket men in Long Kesh concentration camp and the women political prisoners in Armagh jail. 'Na reabhloidi Abu.'
Acknowledgements
This book could not have been written without the active help and advice of many people. Firstly I must thank the 'guineapigs' themselves, and in particular Jim Auld, Pat Shivers and Paddy Joe Mc Clean. A large debt is also owed to the Association for Legal Justice, Amnesty International (and in particular Richard Reoch) and the British Society for Social Responsibility in the Sciences. For help on the medical and psychological aspects of SD I am particularly indebted to Dr. Tim Shallice of the National Hospital and Dr. Pearse O'Malley of Belfast.
As for the rest, many have preferred that they remain anonymous, but special thanks must go to Judy Smith, Frank Doherty, Johnathan Rosenhead, Kevin Boyle, Hurst Hannum, Father Denis Faul, Margaret Gatt, Ian Franklin, Eamonn Kerr, Billy Close, Joe Quigley, Noelle, Hugh, Judith and, of course, R. W. Grimshaw. I am grateful to Gil Boehringer for permission to use part of his work for Appendix I.
Finally, I must thank Marie for her typing and Fra for putting up with it all.
JOHN McGUFFIN
Belfast, February 1974
Preface
Torture and brutality – or 'ill-treatment' as Sir Edmund Compton would prefer to call it – are as old as war itself. Mankind has expended centuries of research in trying to devise newer and more bestial ways of extracting information from reluctant witnesses or causing lingering and painful deaths.
The purpose of this book, however, is not to deal with torture in general. It is specific. It deals with the treatment meted out to fourteen Irishmen by the British 'security forces' in the period from August to October 1971. It is not written to show that this treatment was more barbaric than that practised by the British Army upon hundreds of other Irish internees/ detainees/ political prisoners since 1969 nor upon the victims of the ten colonial actions undertaken by the British since the Second World War. Instead it is an attempt to show how these men were selected as unwilling and unwitting subjects upon whom Army psychiatrists, psychologists and 'counter-terrorist strategists' could experiment in that particular field known as 'SD' – Sensory Deprivation. That the experiment was a dismal failure, both from a military and a propaganda point of view, mattered little to the men in the War Office. Worse still, the fact that several of the men used were literally driven out of their minds and still today, over two years later, suffer from severe mental traumas which they will carry with them to the grave has evoked not a shred of remorse, admission of guilt, or apology, let alone an attempt at recompense – though how do you give a man back his mental health? – from the 'mother of parliaments'. This book is an attempt to tell these men's story, the story of the 'guineapigs'.
Irish Fellas, conjunto de música tradicional irlandesa de Porto Alegre, Brasil, formado por Caetano Maschio Santos e Victor de Franceschi, acompanhado de Alex Navar na Uilleann Pipes (Gaita-de-Fole Irlandesa).
Irish Fellas, trad irish group from Porto Alegre, Brasil, made up of Caetano Maschio Santos and Victor de Franceschi accompanied by Alex Navar on Uilleann Pipes.
I couldn't produce a blog yesterday because I was busy getting married to Matcha ! The tune below is Tamhair dom do Lamh or Give me your hand ! IRISH WEDDING TRADITIONS There is one wedding Irish tradition that states: 'Marry in May and Rue The Day' while another states: 'Marry in April if you can, joy for maiden and for man'. When I told my daughter about this Irish superstition, she changed her wedding date so that she'd be married in April! What began as a search for Irish traditions and customs that she could incorporate into her celebration ended up as an incredible pile of notes that eventually took on a life of its own. Long after her wedding, I was still obsessed with delving into history and folklore, looking for everything I could find on how weddings were celebrated in Ireland long ago. I am convinced that if couples make the effort, they can have a totally Irish celebration from beginning to end - even to the pre-wedding parties. There's one quaint custom where the groom was invited to the bride's house right before the wedding and they cooked a goose in his honor. It was called Aitin' the gander — it has to be where we get the expression 'his goose is cooked!' We threw one of these dinner parties for my daughter and everyone had a great time. (The apple-potato stuffing has become a family favorite!). There are so many other traditions, customs and just an incredible amount of folklore to draw upon, that it would be remiss to be of Irish descent and not take advantage of all the possibilities. Here are just a few ideas culled from what eventually has become a 200-plus page book called 'The Traditional Irish Wedding' and it is now available in the United States and will be released in Ireland this spring. As complete as I could make it, the book covers attire, decor, menus, recipes, music, toasts, vows, and perhaps of most value, a resource listing that will help you find everything from Irish wedding gowns and tiaras to sheet music for a Celtic Mass. Here are some more: * Bunratty Meade is a honey wine that's served at the Bunratty Castle medieval banquet. It's from a recipe based on the oldest drink in Ireland and if you've never tasted it, it's well worth trying. In the old days, it was consumed at weddings because it was thought that it promoted virility. (If a baby was born nine months after the wedding, it was attributed to the mead!) Couples also drank it from special goblets for a full month following the wedding, which is supposedly where we get the word honeymoon. This was to protect the couple from the fairies coming to spirit the bride away. * Lucky horseshoe. Irish brides used to carry a real horseshoe for good luck. (Turned up so the luck won't run out). You can get porcelain horseshoes which most Irish brides carry these days, or one made of fabric which is worn on the wrist. * Magic Hanky. This charming custom involves having the bride carry a special hanky that with a few stitches can be turned into a christening bonnet for the first baby. With a couple of snips it can be turned back into a hanky that your child can carry on his/her wedding day. * Make-up bells. The chime of bells is thought to keep evil spirits away, restore harmony if a couple is fighting, and also remind a couple of their wedding vows. Giving a bell as a gift has become an Irish tradition. You could also have your greeters hand out tiny bells to your guests to ring as you process. (You might want to let them know when they're supposed to be rung - perhaps mention it in your program along with an explanation of the custom). Guests could also ring their little bells at the reception in lieu of clinking glasses. * Irish Dancers. Consider hiring a group of Irish dancers to hand out your programs before the ceremony. Dressed in their full regalia, it would add a wonderful touch of of pageantry and color. They could also dance at the reception later. We did this at my daughter's reception and it was a major hit. * Music. There's so much wonderful Irish music available, you'll have no problems in finding appropriate selections for both the ceremony and the reception. The difficulty will be in deciding which pieces to play! * Readings: My daughter had the following Irish wedding vow on the front of her program: By the power that Christ brought from heaven, mayst thou love me. As the sun follows its course, mayst thou follow me. As light to the eye, as bread to the hungry, as joy to the heart, may thy presence be with me, oh one that I love, 'til death comes to part us asunder. On the back of the program, she had this old Irish proverb: Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and just be my friend. * The Irish Wedding Song. Very popular at contemporary Irish weddings. We had two friends sing this at my daughter's reception while the newlyweds cut the cake. (Afterwards I thought we should have had the lyrics typed up and placed on the tables so that everyone could join in). * Flowers. In the old days, many Irish brides wore a wreath of wildflowers in their hair; they also carried them in bouquets. For my daughter's wedding, our florist designed gorgeous bouquets that included a flower called Bells of Ireland. In Wales, brides carried live myrtle and gave a sprig to each bridesmaid which they planted. If it grew, the bridesmaid would marry within the year. If you're planning a more general Celtic celebration, this might be worth considering. * Ancient custom: In the old days, couples ate salt and oatmeal at the beginning of their reception: Each of them took three mouthfuls as a protection against the power of the evil eye. Also, when a couple is dancing, the bride can't take both feet off the floor because the fairies will get the upper hand. Fairies love beautiful things and one of their favorites is a bride. There's many an Irish legend about brides being spirited away by the little people! For the same reason, it's bad luck for a bride to wear green. I've also heard that it's bad luck for anyone to wear green at an Irish wedding - but I think it really only applies to the bride. It's also bad luck for a bride or the groom to sing at their own wedding. Portents and omens: * A fine day meant good luck, especially if the sun shone on the bride. If you're a Roman Catholic, one way to make certain that it won't rain is to put a statue of the Infant of Prague outside the church before your ceremony. * It was unlucky to marry on a Saturday. * Those who married in harvest would spend all their lives gathering * A man should always be the first to wish joy to the bride, never a woman *It was lucky to hear a cuckoo on the wedding morning, or to see three magpies * To meet a funeral on the road meant bad luck and if there was a funeral procession planned for that day, the wedding party always took a different road * The wedding party should always take the longest road home from the church * It was bad luck if a glass or cup were broken on the wedding day *A bride and groom should never wash their hands in the same sink at the same time—it's courting disaster if they do * It was said to be lucky if you married during a 'growing moon and a flowing tide' * When leaving the church, someone must throw an old shoe over the bride's head so she will have good luck * If the bride's mother-in-law breaks a piece of wedding cake on the bride's head as she enters the house after the ceremony, they will be friends for life. Many other customs are interspersed throughout the book, e.g. (from the reception section) the top tier of your wedding cake should be an Irish whiskey cake which is saved for the christening of your first baby. I've also heard of another custom which just came to my attention and will be included in the next edition: a bottle of champagne is saved from the reception so that it can be used to 'wet the baby's head' at the christening. In finally making this book a reality, my hope is that when he says to you 'would you like to be buried with my people', or you say to him 'would you like to hang your washing next to mine', you'll say yes, and then use the suggestions to help you plan an Irish celebration reflective of your roots and as romantic as your heritage. And for all engaged couples and their families in the midst of pre-wedding chaos, I raise a parting glass: May all your joys be pure joy and all your pain champagne. Sláinte! Bridget Haggerty Get this book by visiting here: Irish Wedding Traditions - An article provided by The Information about Ireland Site.
USAGE: THIS ARTICLE MAY BE REPRODUCED ON YOUR WEB SITE OR IN YOUR EZINE OR NEWSLETTER ONCE THE FOLLOWING COPYRIGHT AND 'LINK' TO THE INFORMATION ABOUT IRELAND SITE ARE INCLUDED AND LEFT INTACT.
More than 200 years before the British ethnically cleansed its first colony Ireland in the 1840's of native Irish, whom like all of their colonies to follow, they regarded as subhuman, with their systematic, organized Holocaust that "disappeared" 6,257,456 Irish persons, there is the serious matter of Irish slavery, a subject worth remembering, not erasing from our memories by British mentored historians, well paid to airbrush these British crimes against humanity from our history books. Where is the truthful education of our public (and PRIVATE) schools??? Where are the honest history books? Why is it not discussed? Do the memories of hundreds of thousands of Irish victims not merit a mention in Irish or British history ? Or is history forever to be one that English pirates control: Unlike the African records, the Irish story has like its holocaust, completely disappeared like it never happened. Its not just holocaust denial by the British with regard to the Irish, its their inhumanity in British Occupied Ireland denial, right up to the present day. See torture, see internment without trial. None of the Irish victims ever made it back to tell their story. They are the lost slaves of very expensive history books, that conveniently forgot like other history books of British mentored revisionist historians, the airbrushed history of genocide and the murder of 6,257,456 Irish people, revised down to a million to a million and a half, in one of the greatest examples of history being written by the victors, to hide British crimes against humanity in British Occupied Ireland. Below is the story of "The Irish Slaves That Time Forgot." By John Martin They came as slaves; vast human cargo transported on tall British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children. Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. They were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives. We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? After all, we know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade. But, are we talking about African slavery? King James II and Charles I led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s famed Oliver Cromwell furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbor. The Irish slave trade began when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies. By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and Montserrat. At that time, 70% of the total population of Montserrat were Irish slaves. Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for English merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were actually white. From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade. Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s solution was to auction them off as well. During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers. Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly were: Slaves. They’ll come up with terms like “Indentured Servants” to describe what occurred to the Irish. However, in most cases from the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle. As an example, the African slave trade was just beginning during this same period. It is well recorded that African slaves, not tainted with the stain of the hated Catholic theology and more expensive to purchase, were often treated far better than their Irish counterparts. African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (50 Sterling). Irish slaves came cheap (no more than 5 Sterling). If a planter whipped or branded or beat an Irish slave to death, it was never a crime. A death was a monetary setback, but far cheaper than killing a more expensive African. The English masters quickly began breeding the Irish women for both their own personal pleasure and for greater profit. Children of slaves were themselves slaves, which increased the size of the master’s free workforce. Even if an Irish woman somehow obtained her freedom, her kids would remain slaves of her master. Thus, Irish moms, even with this new found emancipation, would seldom abandon their kids and would remain in servitude. In time, the English thought of a better way to use these women (in many cases, girls as young as 12) to increase their market share: The settlers began to breed Irish women and girls with African men to produce slaves with a distinct complexion. These new “mulatto” slaves brought a higher price than Irish livestock and, likewise, enabled the settlers to save money rather than purchase new African slaves. This practice of interbreeding Irish females with African men went on for several decades and was so widespread that, in 1681, legislation was passed “forbidding the practice of mating Irish slave women to African slave men for the purpose of producing slaves for sale.” In short, it was stopped only because it interfered with the profits of a large slave transport company. England continued to ship tens of thousands of Irish slaves for more than a century. Records state that, after the 1798 Irish Rebellion, thousands of Irish slaves were sold to both America and Australia. There were horrible abuses of both African and Irish captives. One British ship even dumped 1,302 slaves into the Atlantic Ocean so that the crew would have plenty of food to eat. There is little question that the Irish experienced the horrors of slavery as much (if not more in the 17th Century) as the Africans did. There is, also, very little question that those brown, tanned faces you witness in your travels to the West Indies are very likely a combination of African and Irish ancestry. In 1839, Britain finally decided on it’s own to end it’s participation in Satan’s highway to hell and stopped transporting slaves. While their decision did not stop pirates from doing what they desired, the new law slowly concluded THIS chapter of nightmarish Irish misery. But, if anyone, black or white, believes that slavery was only an African experience, then they’ve got it completely wrong. Irish slavery is a subject worth remembering, not erasing from our memories. But, where are our public (and PRIVATE) schools???? Where are the history books? Why is it so seldom discussed? Do the memories of hundreds of thousands of Irish victims merit more than a mention from an unknown writer? Or is their story to be one that their English pirates intended: To (unlike the African book) have the Irish story utterly and completely disappear as if it never happened. None of the Irish victims ever made it back to their homeland to describe their ordeal. These are the lost slaves; the ones that time and biased history books conveniently forgot.
international | rights and freedoms | opinion/analysis 
Saturday September 22, 2012 03:40
by BrianClarkeNUJ - AllVoices 
10,784
