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offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

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offsite link Can Science Tell Us the Meaning of Life? Mon Dec 23, 2024 19:54 | Dr David Bell
At Christmas time, Dr David Bell reflects on what has true value in this world, the limits of science to tell us what that is and what a baby in a manger might have to say about it.
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offsite link Non-Crime Hate Incidents Surge in Half of Police Forces Despite Government Crackdown Mon Dec 23, 2024 17:46 | Will Jones
The number of?non-crime hate incidents?recorded by police has surged in half of Britain's forces despite attempts by the previous Government to crack down on the practice, official data show.
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offsite link Reeves?s Simplistic Thinking Spawned This Budget from Hell Mon Dec 23, 2024 15:44 | David Craig
Simplistic linear thinking by Rachel from Accounts and the Treasury spawned this Budget from hell, says David Craig. A systems thinker would have known it would send the economy into a doom loop of recession and decline.
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offsite link British Drivers Steering Away From New Cars In Their Droves Mon Dec 23, 2024 13:00 | Sallust
British car-buyers are turning away from new vehicles in their droves and keeping their reliable old petrol models going for far longer as Labour's Net Zero war on affordable motors heats up.
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offsite link Britain on Brink of Recession After Growth Revised to Zero Following Reeves?s Horror Budget Mon Dec 23, 2024 11:09 | Will Jones
Britain is on the brink of a recession after official figures were revised to show zero growth in the third quarter of the year and living standards fell, with Rachel Reeves's horror Budget blamed.
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offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

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British Sinn Fein Takin the Piss Process Ireland

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis author Thursday July 25, 2013 18:01author by Brian Clarke - AllVoices Report this post to the editors

Release Martin Corey

'All this is doing is undermining the Peace Process and it doesn’t benefit anyone except those who want the Peace Process to fail' Seán Crowe Provisional Sinn Fein Member of Parliament. While separately Pat Doherty British Sinn Fein's Member of the Parliament In London stated:

“John Downey is a member of Sinn Féin and a long-time supporter of the Peace Process. The decision to arrest and charge him in relation to IRA activities in the early 1980s is vindictive, unnecessary and unhelpful.
Irish Peace Process?
Irish Peace Process?

'All this is doing is undermining the Peace Process and it doesn’t benefit anyone except those who want the Peace Process to fail' Seán Crowe Provisional Sinn Fein Member of Parliament. While separately Pat Doherty British Sinn Fein's Member of the Parliament In London stated:

“John Downey is a member of Sinn Féin and a long-time supporter of the Peace Process. The decision to arrest and charge him in relation to IRA activities in the early 1980s is vindictive, unnecessary and unhelpful.As part of the Weston Park negotiation, the British Government committed to resolving the position of ‘On the Runs’ (OTRs). John Downey received a letter from the NIO in 2007 stating that he was not wanted by the PSNI or any British police force. Despite travelling to England on many occasions, now, six years on, he finds himself before the courts on these historic charges.

This development represents bad faith and a departure from what was previously agreed by both governments. Sinn Féin will continue to support John until his situation is satisfactorily resolved. And we will continue to make whatever representations we feel will expedite John's release.John Downey needs to be released and allowed to return home to his family.”

Crowe who is also a member of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, called on the Tánaiste and the Irish Government to raise the issue with the British Government and request John Downey's immediate release.

“I discussed John’s arrest with the Tánaiste in the Dáil today and I welcome his commitment to follow John’s case closely and to ensure that he receives all the consular assistance he needs.However, the Tánaiste and the government, need to ensure that John Downey is released and allowed to return home to his family immediately.“All this is doing is undermining the Peace Process and it doesn’t benefit anyone, except those who want the Peace Process to fail, further stating that the Tánaiste needs to strongly remind the British Government of the commitments it signed up to and that his government won’t sit idly by while they break these mutually agreed guarantees.

He reiterated Provisional Sinn Féin’s view, that John’s arrest and treatment represents a departure from what was previously agreed by both governments. Crowe also said that John Downey's local TD, Provisional Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty, was denied his representational visit to Britain. Pat Doherty Provisional Sinn Féin' MP was also told that he will not be permitted a visit. Crowe also revealed that an Irish newspaper an Phoblacht was not allowed into John, “because of the Irish content in that newspaper despite the fact that other prisoners don’t seem to have a problem in relation to other language publications”.

Meanwhile traditional Irish Republican Martin Corey maintains he still has absolutely “no idea,” why he is being interned without trial more than three years.Speaking from a hellhole in Maghaberry Gaol, the Lurgan man said he believes he was interned strictly because of his political belief in a United Ireland.Martin said “I have been interned for more than three years now and I still have not been given a reason. They have put forward a number of allegations against me, and for three years, I’m not able to defend myself against any of them.They say I have been seen speaking to known republicans, and that I visited a number of houses in Lurgan Tarry but almost every house in my town is Irish republican. What does that matter? It doesn’t mean I’ve done anything wrong. They have absolutely nothing on me, and that’s why they haven’t charged me. When I went to court, I end up being ordered to be released by the Judge, but without a a shred of evidence against me the English Viceroyal again overruled the judge and interned me again.

When I was arrested, I was taken to Lurgan police station. None of the police officers knew why I had been arrested. I was then taken to Maghaberry. When I got here, the prison officers were surprised to see me. One of them asked me, what I was doing here, and I replied, 'You know as much as I do’. I was thrown into a cell and I have been here ever since.The fact that I’m in here and haven’t been given a reason, makes the whole thing even worse. If they have anything on me, they should charge me and send me to a proper trial. If not, I should be released.”

When I was released from Long Kesh internment camp originally, after serving almost 20 years, I did not get involved in anything. I would have attended the odd white-line protest picket, things like that. But that is definitely the most I would have been involved with. I have held down a steady job for more than a decade, and even got a character reference from Monsignor Hamill. To accuse me of posing a threat is just ridiculous.A hunger strike is looking like a very real possibility. The agreement is not being implemented. There are plenty of volunteers for a hunger strike. That’s one thing there’s no shortage of.”

According to Wikipaedia : "Taking the Piss" is a British term meaning taking liberties at the expense of others, or to be unreasonable.The term sometimes refers to a form of mockery in which the mocker exaggerates the other person's characteristics; pretending to take on his or her attitudes, etc., in order to make them look funny. Or it may be used to refer to a ruse where a person is led to believe something is true that is not (usually a fairly unbelievable story) for the purpose of ridicule of the subject.
In colloquial usage, "taking the piss" is also used to refer to someone or something that makes a claim which is not in line with a recognised agreement e.g. an invoice that is double the quoted price with no explanation for the added charge could be said to "take the piss", or likewise if something consistently misses a deadline, 'taking the piss out of' came to be synonymous with disparagement or mockery itself, with less regard to the pride of the subject.

Of course it is obvious to "Intelligent republicans" that British Sinn Fein are seriously compromised and do not have the wherewithall to activate the necessary and obvious actions, to be taken seriously by anyone, let alone Perfidious Albion. Any party remotely republican, embedded in the establishment of British Occupied Ireland, like Adam's party, would withdraw immediately, from all of these British institutions, like the SDLP did in a principled manner, when political internment was last introduced. Unfortunately it is now becoming clearer, that it is not just the British Tories who are taking the piss out of the long suffering Irish people, who have been hoodwinked again by those who would be Ireland's liberal elite.of betrayal.

Related Link: http://irishblog-irelandblog.blogspot.com/

Caption: Video Id: Ff-G0DPkBv8 Type: Youtube Video
The Liberal Elite has Betrayed the People They Claim to Defend


author by brionOcleirigh - AllVoicespublication date Sat Jul 27, 2013 06:11author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The following is from Wikipedia the Free Encylopedia which was written before the re-introduction of internment hidden in full view in Maghaberry today.

"The Men Behind the Wire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The Men Behind the Wire"
Single by The Barleycorn
from the album Live at the Embankment

A-side "The Men Behind the Wire"

Released December 1971

Format 7" single

Recorded 1971

Genre Protest, republican

Label Release Records

Writer(s) Paddy McGuigan

Producer Billy McBurney

"The Men Behind The Wire" is a song written and composed by Paddy McGuigan of theBarleycorn folk group in the aftermath of internment.

The song was recorded by the Barleycorn in Belfast (produced by Billy McBurney) and pressed in Dublin by Release Records in December 1971.[1] After its release on 14 December the song shot into the Irish charts, selling far more copies than any other single until then released in Ireland, and remained in the charts for months.[2] It reached #1 position in the Irish charts on 22 January 1972, where it remained for three weeks. After a gap of one week it returned to #1 for two weeks on 15 February. Royalties from the recording were donated to families of the internees.

The song was subsequently recorded by many singers and bands in Ireland and abroad, including the Wolfe Tones, Liam Clancy and the Flying Column. British singer/songwriterDido in her song "Let's Do the Things We Normally Do" from the album Safe Trip Homeused a few lines from this song. This included the lyrics "Armoured cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our sons. But every man must stand behind, the men behind the wire."[

The song describes raids by British soldiers, and the "men behind the wire" refers to those held without charge or trial at Long Kesh prison camp, Magilligan prison camp and on board the Maidstone Prison Ship."

Men Behind The Wire

Armoured cars and tanks and guns
Came to take away our sons
But every man must stand behind
The men behind the wire

Through the little streets of Belfast
In the dark of early morn
British soldiers came marauding
Wrecking little homes with scorn

Heedless of the crying children
Cragging fathers from their beds
Beating sons while helpless mothers
Watched the blood poor from their heads

Not for them a judge and jury
Nor indeed a trial at all
But being Irish means you´re guilty
So we´re guilty one and all

Round the world the truth will echo
Cromwell´s men are here again
England´s name again is sullied
In the eyes of honest men.

Proud we march behind our banner
Firm we´ll stand behind our men
We will have them free to help us
Build a nation once again

On the people step together
Proudly firmly on their way
Never fear never falter
Till the boys are home to stay"

Internment Rally Belfast
Internment Rally Belfast

Caption: Video Id: 0eZnfedrv0k Type: Youtube Video
Athenrye - Men Behind the Wire & Free the People spirit


Related Link: http://bit.ly/16aEw6W
author by Brian Clarke - AllVoicespublication date Sun Jul 28, 2013 06:04author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The British government arrogantly believes in one rule for the rest of the world, and one for the UK, where human rights are not allowed to interfere with SS UK Secret Services.

The European Court of Human Right earlier this month, published a moderate ruling on 'whole-life' sentences, stating that there needs to be a review all prisoners detention, after 25 years, stressing it was merely a review and it was perfectly legitimate, to continue to detain certain individuals, considered a continuous danger to the public. Its careful judgement had examined principles and practice around the world, citing the International Criminal Court, who also require a review of detention, for those serving sentences after 25 years.

On the very same day in New York, the British government applied for membership of the UN Human Rights Council, citing the words “We are committed to a strong, effective international human rights system” stressing the importance the British place on human rights internationally, and all it does to promote human rights worldwide, cited by William Hague, stating that “We continue to work tirelessly for the promotion and protection of human rights, both domestically and abroad.”

Now to Britain's close neighbours in Ireland and particularly Irish citizens living in British Occupied Ireland, all of this pompous British rhetoric seemed more than a little Pythonesque, bearing in mind the British were found guilty of torture in Ireland, not too long ago by the European Court of Human rights, when they were prosecuted by the Irish Government there and subsequently the British were also found guilty for numerous human rights abuses in Ireland thereafter.

Britain currently interns without trial many political prisoners of conscience, solely on the basis on their peaceful political beliefs in a united Ireland, the most well known currently being, 63 year old Marin Corey, who has now spent more than 3 years interned without trial, after already serving almost twenty years for political offences, previously. All of this, all the more provocative, in light of an Irish Peace Process which the Tory Government has virtually abandoned and destroyed, piece by piece.

Now of course, a civilized government as committed to international human rights as British spin claims to be, when faced by a ruling from an international human rights court, might demonstrate, or consider a little tolerant reflection and be moderate in its response. Not the British however, whose most senior justice ministers Theresa May and Chris Grayling within minutes of the ruling, attacked the International European Court ranting on with considerable, fuming, vitriol as they hade previously on many, many, occasions before. Not alone their two most senior ministers but no less than their own Prime Minister joined the raging attack on the International European Court. Both May and Grayling apparently want to rip up the UK's few remaining Human Rights by abolishing their own remaining Act and responsibilities hiding with bluster that Britain is the only country, to pull out of the European Court, since the Greek military junta or dictatorship did almost 60 years ago the 1960s.

British attacks on human rights, besides their Human Rights Abuse in British Occupied Ireland, have reached such a ferocity of scum behaviour, that minister Grayling wrote later about the 'tentacles' of the human rights court 'creeping' into Britain. No other democracy in the world is under such relentless attack, where the concept of human rights is subject unceasing daily attack, as from the most senior members of the British government currently. Still the same government stresses the importance of an effective international human rights system for other countries like Russia and China who are far superior, to British standards of abusing Human Rights. The British government arrogantly still believes asin the days of Empire, in one set of rules for the rest of the world, another for the UK and certainly different again, British Occupied Ireland where human rights are never allowed to interfere with the British Government orders to murder of Human Rights lawyers and journalists and where political internment without trial of Irish citizens like Martin Corey are hidden in layers of political blackmail and censorship.

This message has of course a green light effect for military juntas, of allowing British type human rights type abuse in places like Egypt, where the the British trained their army with their SAS marksmen planted on rooftops, practicing the murder of innocent civilians, first on the Irish at occasions like the better known Bloody Sunday, indeed for the last forty years in their latest phase of their centuries of ethnic cleansing in Ireland, while at the same time, their duplicity and hypocrisy demands UN protection of human rights which they claims to strongly support.

The British believe that the political, blackmail, censorship, political internment, murder of human rights lawyers and journalist which silence the Irish can be effected worldwide in the same manner as occupied Ireland. While Grayling acknowledged, that one of the authors of the International European Court was Winston Churchill, he dismissed its human rights, as only about defeating the Nazis of that time, forgetting that British Nazism is on the rise again and what Churchill said, “The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization of any country. A calm and dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused against the State, and of convicted criminals against the State … these are the symbols which in the treatment of crime and criminals mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation'. Political prisoners are not criminals but the British try to criminalize resulting in the murder of 24 Irish hunger strikers.

Britain also has numerous numbers of prisoners being murdered in police custody but the British Government says it cannot charge community police, such as their paramilitary PSNI in Occupied Ireland or those private police hired by councils, while the UN still only pays lip service to British torture. While the UN lashed out at Britain's human rights record last month for its human rights abuses it still has not applied sanctions or considered a trade embargo of Britian.

The UN torture watch dog has however also recently blasted the British last month, when the UN panel in its harshest criticism yet of the British Government, warned Britain that it needs urgent action, to meet international standards of human rights or justice. Britain however still ignores the fact, that Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, says: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." and that includes locking people up behind bars without trial, throwing away the key, and telling them: 'That's it, be you Julian Assange, Martin Corey or any prisoner of political conscience, you're there till the day you die.'

The British ruling class arrogantly pride themselves on a sense of justice, which may have some truth when it comes to animals but when it comes to humans, they have little comprehension of what basic human rights mean and as result of not having the capacity, to take on board standards of civilized human rights are now, in all seriousness, attempting to rip up the UK's obligations to the European Court of Human rights, before Martin Corey and other political prisoners get their only chance in any court, to plead their case in an open transparent European Court.

Almost 30 years ago, The Conservative British Observer had an editorial: "Which country has been found to be in contravention of the European convention on human rights more often than any other signatory? The shameful answer is the United Kingdom, which last week stood in the dock with head bowed for the eleventh time to hear the judges pronounce a verdict of guilty ... In the past decade, we have established ourselves as the worst protectors of human rights in western Europe." This was Britain's abysmal record long before the threat of jihadi terrorism and 9/11 paranoia. The British just pay lip service to protecting human rights and seem to have no sense of shame, particularly the Irish, whom their xenophobic establishment, still refer to, as "White Nigger". This despite the British playing a leading role, prosecuting at the Nuremberg war crimes trials or was all of that just about claiming the international high moral ground, to hide their own holocaust of more than 6 million Irish disappeared by the British in Ireland with their own holocaust there.

Britain lambasts foreign countries, while they condemn regimes like that in Egypt, with a nod and a wink of lucrative arms sales, in token, superficial spin, while Cameron conducts lucrative arms deals with them, as they train their personnel to use torture, extra-judicial detention and political assassination from rooftops, to silence "enemies of the state" and they continue to lecture all and sundry about an independent judiciary and open justice.

It has stunk to high heavens for over eight centuries across the irish Sea in Ireland and then around the whole world, in their colonies of human misery and colonial repression. Britain now has the worst record in Western Europe on Human Rights and has been overtaken by Russia in Eastern Europe even after Stalin, as being far more civilized. Don't believe me? Ask Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Martin Corey where they would currently prefer be or the scores of Irish political prisoners currently, interned on remand or without trial and hidden in full view at Maghaberry, British Occupied Ireland
.

European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights

Caption: Video Id: 33oIF-ggK5U Type: Youtube Video
Putin talks NSA, Syria, Iran, drones in exclusive RT interview


Related Link: http://bit.ly/16oOAap
author by brionOcleirigh - AllVoicespublication date Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:19author address author phone Report this post to the editors

“The republic that was created from the ashes of the rising was a perversion of the human rights ideals of 1916,” the outgoing Ombudsperson and Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly has said.
Addressing the first evening of the MacGill Summer School in Co Donegal, she said people were not yet fully aware of what a real republic looked like. Delivering the 13th annual John Hume lecture, Ms O’Reilly said it was particularly appropriate that the lecture was named after the Nobel peace prize winner as he was a “pre-eminent human rights defender”.
She criticised the successors of the 1916 leaders, accusing them of franchising the State “to a private organisation called the Catholic Church, shedding in particular its responsibility for the education and health systems, and thereby allowing little actual space for the elected leaders of this republic to play their role in pursuing the happiness and prosperity of the nation”.
It was difficult for citizens to remind themselves that “we are actually the ones in charge”.
This was a difficulty, she added, that the executive and judiciary also struggled with. Referring to former attorney general Peter Sutherland, she said his core assertion made in a speech earlier this year, that the courts were “inappropriately forced to decide not alone what our values in this republic are or should be, but also to divine what the elected representatives of the people think about those values”.
She said that while the courts had too much unwanted power, parliament spent “much of its time ducking and diving and pretending it has no power whatsoever”. She accused the executive of “planting its boot far too firmly on the neck of the parliament and wielding power in a manner never envisaged by the Constitution.”
Quoting President Michael D Higgins, she said: “There is a deep-seated anti-intellectualism prevalent in Irish life,” and that our political and cultural life was marked by the false notion that one person’s ignorance was as good as another’s knowledge. She turned to the Constitution, quoting article 28.4.1 which states that the Government “shall be responsible to Dáil Éireann”.
“Quite clearly this is not the case. The nub of the problem is that parliament does not take itself seriously,” she said. “Our failures are essentially human rights failures and we should be particularly alive to the fact that, never more so than at a time of recession and austerity, are bodies such as a Human Rights Commission and an Equality Authority needed to make sure that in a decade’s time we won’t be weeping our way through another pitiful cataloguing of State-inflicted abuse, albeit with a modern twist.”

Gulag Britain
Gulag Britain

Caption: Video Id: CTG3hE5IDMQ Type: Youtube Video
END INTERNMENT NOW!


Related Link: http://bit.ly/16t3PPC
author by W. Finnertypublication date Mon Jul 29, 2013 11:38author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Reply to brionOcleirigh - AllVoices at Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:19 ...

Re: Ombudsperson Emily O’Reilly statement:

'It was difficult for citizens to remind themselves that “we are actually the ones in charge”'

Article 6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann -- the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland, and such the SUPREME LAW of the Republic of Ireland -- VERY CLEARLY states:

"All powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive, under God, from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good."

Allowing for the very straightforward and clear contents of Article 6.1 why does Ombudsperson Emily O’Reilly state:

'It was difficult for citizens to remind themselves that “we are actually the ones in charge”'

Related Link:
"Ombudsperson Emily O’Reilly, Article 6.1, Republic of Ireland Constitution, William Finnerty ..."
http://tinyurl.com/pbfqsla

author by brionOcleirigh - AllVoicespublication date Mon Jul 29, 2013 14:42author address author phone Report this post to the editors

As Bob Marley sang, "None but ourselves can free our mind." Yes, despite letting go of Roman masters, we still mostly suffer mental slavery. We could throw off our chains easily right now and empower ourselves, if most of us simply realized the power actually have within us. by birthright.

Terence MacSwiney wrote in Principles of freedom "A spiritual necessity makes the true significance of our claim to freedom: the material aspect is only a secondary consideration. A man facing life is gifted with certain powers of soul and body. It is of vital importance to himself and the community that he be given a full opportunity to develop his powers, and to fill his place worthily. In a free state he is in the natural environment for full self-development. In an enslaved state it is the reverse. When one country holds another in subjection that other suffers materially and morally. It suffers materially, being a prey for plunder. It suffers morally because of the corrupt influences the bigger nation sets at work to maintain its ascendancy. Because of this moral corruption national subjection should be resisted, as a state fostering vice; and as in the case of vice, when we understand it we have no option but to fight. With it we can make no terms. It is the duty of the rightful power to develop the best in its subjects: it is the practice of the usurping power to develop the basest. Our history affords many examples. When our rulers visit Ireland they bestow favours and titles on the supporters of their regime—but it is always seen that the greatest favours and highest titles are not for the honest adherent of their power—but for him who has betrayed the national cause that he entered public life to support. Observe the men who might be respected are passed over for him who ought to be despised. In the corrupt politician there was surely a better nature. A free state would have encouraged and developed it. The usurping state titled him for the use of his baser instincts. Such allurement must mean demoralisation. We are none of us angels, and under the best of circumstances find it hard to do worthy things; when all the temptation is to do unworthy things we are demoralised. Most of us, happily, will not give ourselves over to the evil influence, but we lose faith in the ideal. We are apathetic. We have powers and let them lie fallow. Our minds should be restless for noble and beautiful things; they are hopeless in a land everywhere confined and wasted. In the destruction of spirit entailed lies the deeper significance of our claim to freedom."

Release Martin Corey
Release Martin Corey

Caption: Video Id: Wn0VAdLEVwA Type: Youtube Video
Terence MacSwiney's Death


Related Link: http://bit.ly/162Imgf
author by Brian Clarke - AllVoicespublication date Tue Jul 30, 2013 06:31author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Negotiations are currently being carried out between the British government and legal representatives of Mau Mau insurgents who were tortured by colonial law enforcement officers during the Mau Mau rising.

Britain established British East Africa, as a protectorate on 1 July 1895. Under an arrangement similar to the plantation of Ulster in Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries, white settlers were encouraged to emigrate to Kenya. The British seized over 7 million acres of land including an area that became known as the White Highlands, which was set aside for the exclusive use of white European settlers.

Kenyans rebelled against British rule and colonialism, climaxing with the Mau Mau Revolt of 1952. A state of emergency was declared on 20 October 1952, during which Operation Jock Scott was launched. Although KAU President Jomo Kenyatta and 180 other Mau leaders were interned without trial, as happened later with Operation Demetrius in British Occupied Ireland, many of the movement’s most instrumental members were able to evade capture, as news of the impending sweep had been leaked.

By 1953, the British had screening centres in their detention camps, and began mass deportations of Kikuyu from Nairobi, which was the center of the Mau Mau insurgency. Forced labor was imposed, and internment camps were established. Within these internment camps and screening centers torture took place. A 2011 editorial in The British Guardian compared them to Nazi concentration camps:

'There is something peculiarly chilling about the way colonial officials behaved, most notoriously but not only in Kenya, within a decade of the liberation of the concentration camps and the return of thousands of emaciated British prisoners of war from the Pacific. One courageous judge in Nairobi explicitly drew the parallel: Kenya’s Belsen, he called one camp.'

The Kenya Human Rights Commission reported that 90,000 Kenyans were tortured or executed by British security forces during the Mau Mau Rebellion, as techniques including electric shock, cigarette burns, sodomy and rape were used to gather intelligence about insurgent operations. Some were burned alive, while others were castrated or had other body parts cut off. In many cases, detainees died due to such brutal treatment.

'With the tacit consent of ministers at Westminster, a British administration in colonial Kenya chose to behave as if Africans had no human rights. Rattled by a handful of murderous attacks on planters, they tried to face down the rebels using the empire's default setting of brutality. Castration, sodomy, rape and beatings were everyday weapons in its unremitting defence of the rights of the white settlers.'

In 2009, British lawyers Leigh, Day & Company filed a compensation claim on behalf of five Kenyans who suffered abuse and torture at the hands of the British authorities. In addition to detailing acts of torture against each of the claimants, the papers alleged “widespread interference by British authorities in criminal investigations into allegations of abuse and torture of Kenyans” and that “London ignored detailed reports of widespread and systematic violence by security forces.” According to the suit, “Far from being the acts of a few rogue soldiers, the torture and inhuman and degrading treatment of Kenyans during this period was systemic and resulted from policies which were sanctioned at the highest levels of the British government by the then-colonial secretary.”

Other colonial situations in which Britain used torture include Swaziland, Aden and British Guiana. These stories are detailed in a book calld, Cruel Britannia. These same techniques were used in British Occupied Ireland during the Troubles, the ones that were inflicted on the Hooded Men. In fact, both the Compton Committee and the Parker Committee found that the techniques used in British occupied Ireland in 1971 were the same as thosee approved for use in previous operations that included Kenya.

Forty two years ago internment without trial was again introduced in British Occupied Ireland after which the irish Government were forced to take the British to the European Court of Human Rights where the British were found guilty of torture. AAfter the verdict the British Government gace an undertaking to the world they would use these techniques again. What they failed to mention was that they passed the techniques on by training Americans to use them in Abu Graib. They also fulfilled their undertaking by using Americans and extraordinary rendition to do their dirty work for them.

A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office said, “It is an enduring feature of our democracy that we are willing to learn from our history.” Given Britain’s sustained use of torture against its own people, one must question the veracity of that statement indeed any statement beaing in mind the treatment of one Martin Corey. Martin Corey was incarcerated by the British in Long Kesh Concentration Camp over 40 years ago and is still interned without trial now in Maghaberry.

We are just coming up on the 42nd anniversary of internment without trial, in the latest phase ob Britain's unrelenting war on the plain people of Ireland when internment without trial was introduced on the 9 th of August 1971. The Plain people of Ireland took to the streets to protest internment without trial, unarmed peacefully in Derry. They were gunned down in a cold blooded massacre on Bloody Sunday in Derry. Martin Corey currently interned more than 3 years without trial, simply for his political belief in a United Ireland. He is a prisoner of political conscience interned by the dictat of an unelected English Viceroyal in Ireland

Before Abu Graib Martin Corey
Before Abu Graib Martin Corey

Caption: Video Id: 3fegh3bYHhY Type: Youtube Video
The Troubles: Internment & Bloody Sunday


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