The National Irish
Freedom Committee's (NIFC) undertaking to lend financial support
to the dependents of political activists being penalized by the
British and Irish authorities for the promotion of Eire Nua is
an obligation inherent in the NIFC's founding principles as
espoused by Wolfe Tone i.e., to unite the whole people of
Ireland regardless of religious conviction and to break the
connection with England, the never- ending source of all
political evil.
Since the partition
of Ireland by the British in 1921, Irish Republican activists
who continue to struggle for a reunited Ireland are targets of
draconian legislation and criminalization policies by the
authorities in both the British occupied six counties and in the
twenty-six county Irish Free State.
The Special Powers
Act of 1922 promulgated by the British in the occupied counties
was later matched by the authorities in the twenty-six county
Irish Free State with the equally repressive Public Safety Act,
known today as the Offenses Against the State Act. These
repressive Acts provide for arrest without warrant,
interrogation without legal counsel, denial of the rights to
remain silent, non-jury courts, and the suppression of the rules
of evidence.
This perversion of
justice set in motion a seamless conveyor belt of injustice that
ensures the confinement of republican activists who promote the
Eire Nua (New Ireland) political formula. Eire Nua is an Irish
crafted political formula designed to bring a just and lasting
peace to Ireland as opposed to the 1998 British formulated Good
Friday Agreement (GFA) that copper-fastens the partition of the
Irish nation.
The following
references are taken from 'Outlines of History" by Professor
Seamus Metress: Amnesty International Report July 2000 - Amnesty
International is urging the UN Human Rights Committee to
scrutinize emergency legislation, fair trial issues and police
investigations during the examination of the second periodic
report of Ireland on 13 July in Geneva. Amnesty International
draws the Committee's attention to various provisions and
practices which are in contravention of the internationally
recognized rights to life, to fair trial, to liberty, and to
freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Amnesty
International, 1994 - details the chief aspects of army
collusion with loyalists armed groups in the planning and
execution of political killings.
Amnesty
International, 1991 - documents new cases of ill-treatment
of prisoners, violation of rights to fair trial, collusion
between security forces and armed groups and killings in
disputed circumstances.
Amnesty
International, 1988 - documents concerns about killings in
disputed circumstances and the use of paid perjurers to convict.
Bennett Report,
1978
- a British government report documenting mistreatment of
Irish political prisoners.
Amnesty
International, 1978
- reaffirmed and presents new evidence of use of systematic
torture by authorities in northeast Ireland.
European
Commission on Human Rights, 1978 - found the British
government guilty of torture of Irish prisoners.
Amnesty
International, 1972
- reported systematical torture by the British in northeast
Ireland.
As a result of
constant police harassment at homes and places of employment,
political activists and family members are being ostracized and
marginalized in their own communities. As an added burden,
political activists appearing before non-jury courts are
subjected to arbitrary bail conditions that inflict severe
hardships on their dependants. These arbitrary bail conditions
are tantamount to a virtual state of imprisonment. All of these
malicious tactics are designed to silence the voice of Eire Nua
proponents, who are viewed by the ruling elite in both states as
a threat to the status quo, hence, a threat to their own
privileged lifestyles.
In order to meet its
obligation the NIFC will support the aforementioned dependents
through Cabhair in Ireland. Cabhair is a charitable organization
that has been in existence for many years supporting the
dependents of true Republican prisoners and ensnared political
activists throughout the 32 Irish counties. The NIFC has
established a Monthly Sustainer program to help Cabhair in its
humanitarian endeavors. The sustainer program operates on the
pledge principle, whereby, donors pledge a monthly contribution:
the amount to be decided by the donor.
