Part of the Kitsonian manual of British Dirty War in Ireland, includes using the courts and detention system, as part of the process of criminalizing and isolating Irish POWs in Maghaberry, from their communities' struggle on the outside, and also isolating them from their leadership within the prison system. This was part of what led up to the death of 10 hunger strikers previously, but yet again Sinn Fein are also abusing the current POWs, for political expediency. The admission recently of events explained, in part of the statement from IRPWA below, demonstrates this. It also demonstrates, that the loyalist DUP are politicizing the treatment of POWs, while Sinn Fein, who are also part of the Stormont Junta, appear to be enabling it. Juan Mendez of the UN, needs to be contacted, regarding this breach of Human Rights, by both Sinn Fein and the DUP Junta. Sinn Fein seems to have a very short memory, about the treatment of Irish POWs, or perhaps yet again, they would prefer airbrush all of these facts, from the current political landscape, with their British illusion of normalization.
"During meetings with Tom McGonigle he has, like so many others, largely agreed with our analysis; he even went so far as to state: “…there is political interference by the DUP”, and that, “…the situation is political”. David Ford, and a spokeswoman for the Ombudsman’s office, further declared that there are Staff working within the gaol that are directly answering to the NIO and the Secretary of State (Irish News 17-02-15) and not to the Jail Administration. Contextually, these are euphemisms for MI5. Neither could answer as to whether they had oversight of such staff. Such recognition of MI5 interference should certainly have led to the Ombudsman’s office issuing a public statement of outrage, yet Tom McGonigle seems indifferent. As a consequence, Republican prisoners in Roe House are being persecuted by faceless ‘staff’. The presence of these unaccountable NIO/MI5 personnel, and their malign influence, has been ignored by the Ombudsman’s office for far too long."
Know the Enemy
By Jon Taylor
March 08, 2015 "ICH" - "Dissident Voice"
A terrorist is someone
who opposes the dictates of imperialism;
an extremist is someone who defends
his country against foreign invasion.
A radical is someone
who takes democracy seriously;
an anarchist is someone who gets beaten
and arrested at a street rally.
An Islamofascist is someone
who gets the goat of a Christofascist;
An anti-Semite is someone who condemns
the genocide of the Palestinian people.
A political fanatic is someone
who challenges the mainstream consensus;
a traitor is someone who refuses to fight
in wars of criminal aggression.
Statement from Roe 4 Republican Prisoners 8/3/15
Prisoner Ombudsman and Prison Oversight Bodies are Paper Tigers.
From its inception in 2005, Republican Political Prisoners in Roe House have been zealously engaging the office of the Prisoner Ombudsman in an effort to resolve serious issues of concern. We have found that the Prisoner Ombudsman is at times weak and is used by the Jail administration as afaçade of accountability. We have regularly used its complaints systems, as well as multiple meetings with former Prisoner Ombudsman Pauline McCabe and the current Prisoner Ombudsman Tom McGonigle, with a view to resolving all on-going issues. In the last quarter alone, the complaints which we have registered number in the hundreds.
During the recent attack on a Republican prisoner by the Jail’s Riot Squad and the subsequent lock-down, the ombudsman was being kept up to speed (during and after the events) via phone calls. He was also made aware that medical treatments, along with legal and social visits, were being withheld. Despite this, it took several days for him to arrive at the Jail and in spite of having viewed video and physical evidence of the events confirming the account of Republican prisoners; he has yet to contradict the blatant lies issued by David Ford and Sue McAllister. For the Prisoner Ombudsman to cite Prison Rule 79 (part VIII) or Terms of Reference for Complaints as a means to avoid its responsibility can only be seen as submitting to these bodies, and cannot be viewed as having any degree of impartiality or independence.
Pauline McCabe released a report, nearing the end of her tenure, in May 2013, in which she made a number of recommendations. The Jail administration largely ignored the substantive recommendations within her detailed report. After further multiple complaints, and meetings with ourselves relating to this, Tom McGonigle compiled and released his report, recommending the Stocktake in June 2014, in order to re-engage the implementation process of, and remove ambiguity from, the August 2010 Agreement.
What as come of the recommendations and of the reports? In short, the Jail administration had dismissed the views and intent of those substantive recommendations regarding Republican Roe House; ignored the recommendations which do not suits its agenda; and twisted others to give the impression of fairness. Prevarication and unaccountability are the order of the day.
Security Governor Brian Armour stated, when confronted with the Ombudsman’s recommendation on controlled movement, that the Prisoner Ombudsman “was not qualified” to make that recommendation. Further recommendations have been repeatedly ignored or rejected by the Jail, including recently, those related to 35 complaints regarding persistent sleep deprivation, and continuous ‘alarm tests’, by night guards. This aggravating issue has been challenged ad nauseam during both Pauline McCabe and Tom McGonigle’s time in office, whilst the Jail persists with its sleep deprivation policy, and other methods of psychological torture unabated.
During meetings with Tom McGonigle he has, like so many others, largely agreed with our analysis; he even went so far as to state: “…there is political interference by the DUP”, and that, “…the situation is political”. David Ford, and a spokeswoman for the Ombudsman’s office, further declared that there are Staff working within the gaol that are directly answering to the NIO and the Secretary of State (Irish News 17-02-15) and not to the Jail Administration. Contextually, these are euphemisms for MI5. Neither could answer as to whether they had oversight of such staff. Such recognition of MI5 interference should certainly have led to the Ombudsman’s office issuing a public statement of outrage, yet Tom McGonigle seems indifferent. As a consequence, Republican prisoners in Roe House are being persecuted by faceless ‘staff’. The presence of these unaccountable NIO/MI5 personnel, and their malign influence, has been ignored by the Ombudsman’s office for far too long.
The conduct, and lack of grit, shown by Tom McGonigle and others involved in the complaints, assessment and facilitation process within the Jail, will only serve to embolden those who are determined to provoke conflict. The prolongation of instability within the Jail is the only definite result of evasive and political responses from bodies who are supposed to be independent and averse to political interference.
Republican Political Prisoners
But alas we seem to be moving further away from these things.
Re: "Sustaining and resourcing circles of protection for the weakest and most vulnerable is indeed an important aim." It is and actually it benefits everyone in the long-term, so you can actually make an economic argument (as well as an altruistic one) to support this idea.
It's a fierce big book....is it worth the effort?
BO'B is really engaging in a bit of strawman bashing with this effort. Objectivism is a non-philosophy philosophy. Like Creationism, it can't be disproven but doesn't add anything to our ability to understand the world around us.
The liberalism that I understand is about maximising freedom for the greatest possible number of people. You should have the freedom to live your own life however you want. But, that freedom does not extend to things that would impinge upon the freedoms of others. It's well summed-up by the maxim "your right to swing your fist ends where my face begins". So you don't have the right to drive your car as fast as you want. Industries don't have the right to dump their waste into rivers. Advertisers don't have the right to make false or misleading claims about their products. Business owners don't have the right to discriminate against customers or employees on the basis of gender, ethnicity (etc). It's not at all the same thing as "do what thou wilt".
These are just some of the many ways in which liberalism differs from libertarianism. Liberalism recommends laws and regulations to keep rogue individuals from depriving others of their rights. Libertarianism, on the other hand, favours smaller government, privatisation, de-regulation. Let them do as they please; regulations are expensive and bureaucratic, the free market will sort everything out in time. For example, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 effectively ended the racist Jim Crow laws. But Ron Paul, libertarian, opposes the Act because it restricts the rights of the individual to run their business the way they want. Not that he thinks segregation was a good thing, but he values the rights of the bus company to segregate its passengers more than he values the rights of the passengers not to be segregated. This is at odds with liberalism. And it means he's still a racist.
Liberalism is a religion/philosophy/political stance whereas "liberalism" (Irish Times style) is a mental illness that thinks it's Liberalism.
If Catholicism is the destruction of oak trees than "liberalism" is a massive waste of spruce trees....
No man is an island especially in todays world where we depend on others for nearly everything - work, food, clothing, even entertainment. So no matter what you do you are inpinging on others. The area of family life is one of the best examples where freedom these days is exactly the same as the libertarianism you describe.
As the Gospel says "You will know them by their Fruits" and America exemplifies everything that is undesirable in today's world .
The reason for this is American society has come to a dead end. This is evident in the fact that their version of human rights (which we are now aping here e.g. the children's referendum) in based on "Enlightenment" thinking with an emphasis on an atheistic individualism which seeks to replace religion with science, bans God from all aspects of life, replacing Him with a system that puts the interests of the individual over the interests of the common good and society at large. (as Breda points out above about Rand “Man – every man – is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.”)
While there is a pretence of Christianity in American society "This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;" This is obvious in the fact that the Judeo-Christian version of human rights based on the Mosaic Covenant which established an absolute right to the one true God, the right to the truth, the right to life, the right to a natural family and the right to ownership of property are noticeably absent from their legal system.
I guess all her 'friends' took her writings too seriously.
I think selflessness is far more in vogue these days in this country than the days when the vast majority stood by as a tyrannical church systemically abused and tortured and utterly destroyed the lives of thousands of vulnerable children, young single mothers and their families. Up until 1993 we had a law, vehemently supported by that church, that made it illegal for same sex couples to be couples, and today that church and certain organisations still oppose the equal rights for those couples. Some people are so selfish in their beliefs and their parenting that they implant their religious beliefs into the young vulnerable minds of their children in attempt to skew any chance of them making a rational, objective choice on their own (to the point where we end up with buckets of lukewarm believers who aren't sure why they believe or what they believe - quelle surprise). How selfish is it to mutilate the body of your baby boy because of your religious convictions? It's just my opinion: I could go on; I could be wrong
This cry that selfishness is a new idea that is in vogue is utterly ridiculous. Ireland was once a very, very brutal place. It is undoubtedly less so now. If you were a member of a vulnerable minority which year would rather live in?
While we have a very friendly reputation, we are certainly not good at looking after our own here. We're like the family who make the downstairs spotless for the big visitor while making sure that the dysfunctional members of the clann are kept quiet upstairs.
We have a way to go, but we are on the road. People like Breda O' Brien are trying to make us believe that we left some mythical better place behind us. It just isn't so.