Wednesday 30 January 2008

'Disturbances' In Newcastle

Statement from 32 County Sovereignty Movement, South Down

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement in South Down takes issue with the recent reporting of the so called "disturbances" in Newcastle, Co. Down last weekend. After talking with young people from the area, the 32CSM representative, ascertained the facts, which contrary to TV and print media, lays the blame for the "disturbances" with the RUC/PSNI: Local people who witnessed the events told the 32 CSM representative that a minor argument had in fact been resolved when one notorious RUC/PSNI member (Alexander Boyd), who seemed to be out of control, viciously attacked one young person with a baton. When other young people tried to intervene to prevent serious injury, the said RUC/PSNI member repeatedly struck out, injuring several people, some sustained injuries to their heads. Eventually local people managed to restrain the RUC/PSNI member but came under a frenzied attack from RUC/PSNI reinforcements that had flooded the Donard Park area and prevented local people from making their way home by blocking the two exits out of Donard Park. The actions of the RUC/PSNI left the young people with no alternative to defend themselves and thus shows again that this British police force is unacceptable to the Irish people.

Statement Ends.

Tuesday 29 January 2008

Sucessful Protest held

The 32CSM held a successful protest outside the offices of the Irish News in Belfast (26/1/08) demonstrating against articles written by the newspaper which form part of an overall criminalisation policy against Irish republicans.

The following is an interview that evening on Radio Free Éireann that evening with 32 County Sovereignty Movement director of publicity Andy Martin:



The following is some photos taken at the protest:





Tuesday 22 January 2008

Protest against criminalisation Saturday 26th January

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement urge all republicans to support a protest against criminalisation planned for Saturday 26th January at the offices of The Irish News 113-117 Donegal Street Belfast at 3pm.

A dangerous new trend has developed in recent weeks whereby some elements within the media have attempted to criminalise those republicans who have rejected the British administration in Stormont. The Irish News has been particularly active in this new role as MI5 mouthpieces rather than an impartial representative of nationalist opinion. The editorial team in this once credible paper have taken to their new role with great relish to the point of publishing outlandish stories supposedly taken from unnamed and unsubstantiated ‘sources’ and then refusing Irish Republican Separatists any print space in order to counter these ludicrous creations.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement believe that it is imperative that the actions of The Irish News do not go unchallenged as it is our opinion that such attempts at criminalisation are a pre cursor to a new crackdown on anti agreement republicanism.
This crackdown has been called for by the main nationalist parties through the pages of this paper and this line has been faithfully parroted by Irish News editorials.
As it is clear that no republican in Ireland can receive a fair trial and that the British intelligence services and their agents are up to their necks in attempting to frame republican separatists we would ask the Irish News how exactly republicans should be dealt with?

The Irish News has put itself firmly on the side of the British political administration in Ireland, not alone by attempting to recruit young nationalists in to the British army and police through their situations vacant pages but also by putting themselves and some of their staff at the disposal of the British security services.
The Irish News must be in a position to prove the veracity of their stories and we call on them to do so. We also call on them to cease their practise of adopting a partisan political position in defence of the British administration in Ireland and to give republican separatism a right to reply to criminalisation attempts emanating from MI5.

These are issues which impact upon all republicans not just those within the 32 County Sovereignty Movement as it is not just our organisations that are being criminalised but the whole republican separatist position.

Fight criminalisation
Fight censorship

Thursday 17 January 2008

Beware Black Propaganda

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement urge all republicans to be wary of black propaganda emanating from within the British intelligence services as evidenced in the lead story of The Jan 16th issue of The Irish News.

The 32CSM have every faith that the republican base will see such stories for what they are, a clear attempt to criminalise and demonise the wider republican movement in advance of a possible reintroduction of some form of internment in the six counties.

The media in recent weeks has carried a number of reports from the constitutional nationalists, policing board and the leadership of the RUC/PSNI stating the need to deal with the ‘dissidents’ as a matter of urgency. Many such leaders have pointed out the success of the Dublin government in dealing with republicans. We believe this is all choreographed and may be the first move in introducing legislation similar to that in the twenty six counties that allows republicans to be interned of the word of a senior garda alone. We believe that either new legislation will be used or that the British will enact existing legislation such as the ‘anti terror’ legislation that was recently cobbled together to intern Muslims in Britain.

Republicans are of the opinion that the ‘exclusive’ in The Irish News has been place by elements within MI5 in order to make moves to introduce such legislation more palatable to the wider nationalist community. Sunday tabloid style sensationalism on the front page of The Irish News is a part of the choreography

Attempts to link Óglaigh na hÉireann to drug dealers and loyalists is an exercise in barrel scrapping which will not fool a single person who has any knowledge of the use of black propaganda in the conflict in Ireland.

We would also advise republicans to be vigilant at this time as such a story may have another sinister purpose. It is possible that this story has been planted in advance of moves to eliminate members of the republican movement and then to write it off as simply a fall out between criminals, thus absolving the British and their pro Stormont allies from any blame.

Finally we would question why not one member of the republican movement was contacted in advance of this story to check its veracity and when did the Irish News begin to use unnamed ‘sources’ to build stories around and then present them as fact. The onus is now on The Irish News to prove their allegations or to risk being viewed as tools of the British intelligence services, whether willingly or otherwise.

Tuesday 8 January 2008

Óglaigh na hÉireann New Year's Statement

The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann send new year’s greetings to all our friends and supporters both nationally and internationally. We also extend special greetings to our volunteers who have remained faithful to their oath and to their constitution, and to all POW's who have stood resolute in the face of the on-going criminalisation process in Maghaberry and Free State internment in Portlaoise. Our thoughts are with you and your families at this time, you remain an inspiration to the republican base.

Once again the constitutional nationalist and establishment parties are attempting to sell the lie that the RUC/PSNI are a civic police force, the IRA stand by our assertion, and this has been borne out by recent events, that the RUC/PSNI are primarily a political police force whose primary function is to protect British interests in Ireland. It is for this reason that the IRA have carried out a number of attacks against the British police in Ireland, these attacks will continue.

Óglaigh na hÉireann advise political and community leaders to desist from the practice of assisting, and urging others to assist the RUC/PSNI, those who do so are clearly making the choice to align themselves with the enemy. The repercussions of assisting the enemy are clear and those who do so bear full responsibility for any action that may be taken against them.

The last year has seen a marked increase in the activities of MI5 inspired counter gangs masquerading as republicans, these gangs will be seen for what they are by the republican base and their attempts to bring the republican movement into disrepute will not be tolerated. Such counter gangs exist to sow discord and confusion within republicanism. It is also clear that such groups are behind an increase in sectarian attacks across the six counties, sectarianism is anathema to republicanism and serves the interests of British imperialism in Ireland, not the republican position.

Óglaigh na hÉireann exist to defend the republic and we reject all British attempts to implement the long held policy of Ulsterisation, criminalisation and Normalisation. The Irish Republican Army will continue to carry out armed attacks against the British military and political apparatus in Ireland and those who assist in anyway their illegal occupation

Friday 4 January 2008

32 County Sovereignty Movement 2008 New Year Statement

In extending New Years greetings to the Irish people at home and abroad let us reflect on the past year to help us move forward in the new. We extend also greetings to all republican prisoners of war (POW’S) who find themselves incarcerated in gaol because of an intransigent British Government who are unwilling to engage with the Irish people unless they are addressing a British agenda. From our perspective the Republican Unity Initiative formed a major plank of our strategic efforts to advance the restoration of our National Sovereignty. The 32CSM approached this vital area in an incremental manner so as to maximize inclusivity amongst other republican organizations. We deliberately chose a private route to engagement with other republicans given the British and media efforts to deliberately misrepresent what the Republican Unity Initiative was trying to achieve. We first circulated a discussion document simply titled Republican Unity to give a degree of focus to a debate which was already well underway within the broad republican base. As interest in the initiative grew and formal meetings were arranged the 32CSM put forward a proposal titled Preparing An Irish Democracy which was intended to act as a mechanism within which all republican organizations could collectively draft a republican blueprint of the independent Ireland we envisaged. Reaction to the initiative was predictably cautious but the mixed to poor result showing in what was ostensibly a referendum on British Policing in Ireland conclusively demonstrated that Irish republicanism needs a political initiative to move it on from its inert state. On the back of an IRSM proposal a Unity Commemoration was held at Bodenstown to honour Wolfe Tone which was widely received as a very positive development.

To augment our existing proposals and to build on this positivity the 32CSM now launch Dismantling Partition, A Unified Republican Approach.. Here we outline where and how we believe this project should develop. We introduce timeframes and achievable goals coupled with a realistic appraisal of our current strengths. But as with our previous proposals the 32CSM strongly urge a parallel response from other republicans so as to make the Republican Unity Initiative truly representative of the broad republican family. 2008 will offer republicans an opportunity to both consolidate and advance our goals and the 32CSM herein publicly declare our intention of working tirelessly to achieve this end.

The 32CSM strongly believes in political engagement with our opponents. We have sought this engagement on a number of fronts but focused squarely around the issue of our national sovereignty. Through this engagement we have sought to advise that national sovereignty is not confined to the national question as that pertains to partition but to all other questions of national concern. Issues such as Shell To Sea and the Save Tara project are all urgent matters of national sovereignty and as such are deserving of intense republican involvement. The impending EU Constitution referendum in the twenty six counties is one such issue that deserves republican attention. Whether it is called Constitution, Treaty or whatever its essential components remain the same. The 32CSM communicated with a variety of republican and nationalist organizations with a view to citing Partition as valid grounds for its rejection. We circulated Six Points of Objection that we believed could form the basis of a strong separatist No Campaign without alienating other valid objections which may also exist. The 32CSM will be pursuing this correspondence in 2008 seeking definitive responses to our circular.

Following on from our AGM in December the incoming National Executive will be tasked with implementing the changes and policies mandated by that AGM. These will include political policies as outlined above, organizational changes and proposals for updating our print and electronic publications as well as the launch of our newly revamped website. We look forward to the challenges we have set ourselves.

Again we have it demonstrated that British Policing in Ireland will never change no matter what titles are invoked and no matter how many token nationalists sit on token Policing Boards. The Hoey debacle laid bare both the unchanging nature of British policing and the facile arguments from those who would plead with us that it can.

Notwithstanding the importance of these issues and their relevance to Irish republicanism the 32CSM is of the firm belief that the most salient issue which will face republicans in the coming year will be the issue of criminalisation. We say this because those in the driving seat of this policy are Provisional Sinn Fein, acting under obligation to the agreements which they entered into with both governments. History, both ancient and modern, has taught us that the occupier will always covet an indigenous political voice to do its dirty work. PSF have stepped into this breech. Following recent acts of armed insurgency there came an almost panicked response from the PSF leadership. They publicly called for informers to be activated against insurgent forces claiming a lack of electoral mandate invalidated their right to rebel. The glaring hypocrisy of this stance was designed to distract republicans from the fact that it was political challenges to the PSF position which forced this outburst and not merely criticism of them.

We have sought engagement with PSF since 2005 wherein the 32CSM were greeted with duplicity, subterfuge and lies. Our persistence however has been rewarded with the political exposure as to exactly what signing the Good Friday Agreement entails for them. Whereas political criticism theorizes, political challenges demonstrate. These challenges must continue, and emanate from broader quarters, because the resources behind the criminalisation policy far exceed the resources of those whom the policy is directed against. As before when the British government were the direct vanguard for this policy manipulation, deceit and murder were the hallmarks of this campaign. Coupled with a media who afford republicans scant exposure to air our views the only resources open to Irish republicanism are those which we already possess and the argument for republican cooperation on this issue is self evident. The policy of criminalisation will pay scant heed to technical differences of position amongst us as it seeks a broad labeling for those opposed to the current political direction.

The emergence of seemingly new armed groups making threats of a kind which give succor to the PSF call for informers is yet another dimension of this dirty war. All of this requires a political response from Irish republicans which removes any semblance of cover or distraction for any group pursuing the criminalisation agenda. There can be no place within republicanism for a civil war mentality. Such a mentality is a British device. The 32CSM response is first and foremost a call on PSF to forward to us their alleged written response to our Submission to them in 2005 and for them to outline the lawful basis upon which they call for informers to be activated against those who struggle against British Parliamentary activity in our country. We respond also by seeking engagement with other republicans on the national issues which are relevant to our struggle. And we respond by stating that we will never allow the republican struggle to be criminalized no matter how treacherous the status of those who would try.