Now the Whitewash

The release of the Birmingham 6 was followed by a wave of relief and triumph among Irish people every where, and especially among the emigre community in Britain itself. The relief is self-explanatory. The triumph arose from the fact that the release of the 6, Guildford 4, of the Winchester 3 and the clearing of the Maguire family was notthe gift of British justice, but was prised inch by reluctant inch from the British government and judiciary by popular pressure in Ireland supported by sections of the British socialist movement.

As one of the 6 said immediately after their release, every dog has its day, and this was a day on which Irish people The Six taste freedom celebrated a triumph over racism, conspiracy and hypocrisy.

### COVERUP

It was also the day that the coverup began. In fact the last months of the incarceration of the 6 and the final slap in the face of detention over Xmas were imposed simply to give time for the whitewash to begin. During the trail the Judges accused the DPP of “damage limitation”. This was brass neck ona big scale. In fact the judiciary had forced the DPP to bring an impossible case to trial to distract attention from their own role in the affair and begin the campaign to save Lord Lane from the consequences of his bigoted remarks at the last appeal.

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In fact Lane was only the foreground of the “appalling vista” that Lord Denning had set out when he first rejected the men’s road to appeal. By releasing the 6 the British judiciary were in effect finding themselves, the police and the British state guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Denning did his bit in a statement the next day blaming the whole thing on a few bent coppers, but the main thrust of the whitewash came in the Government announcement of aroyal commission (reporting in 2 or 3 years when the dust has settled). This will look into the structure of the British legal system and the functioning of the various elements -very worthy matters, but designed to distract attention from the real issues.

### OFFENSIVE

The truth is that the conviction of the 6 was part of an offensive by the British state to defeat a revolutionary process in Ireland. The conspiracy this involved was not simply one of individuals but of the state itself. In this conspiracy the rule of law has essentially ceased to operate in the North of Ireland and in Britain itself a system that was already unjust and class-ridden was bent to breaking point.

That’s why we had the Birmingham 6, the Guildford 4, the Join P.D. Now!

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Belfast; Conway Mill, Falls Road Dublin; 38 Clanawley Rd, Kilester Winchester 3, the Maguires and the copy-cat frame-up of Black people in Broadwater Farm. The list is long: the torturers charter of the PTA, ‘internal exile, Internment (kept on the books and recently used to terrorise the Arab community) Diplock courts in the North, the continuing witchunt of the trials of almost 40 West Belfast people after the killing of 2 British army corporals 3 years ago (new trials in the coming weeks will make this the longest running and most extensive trail in British legal history], The absolute ban on nationalist demonstrations in Belfast city centre. The law has also been used “positively” - to establish a Shoot to Kill policy and make the state forces immune from the force of the law, to shore up a UDR regiment given the bigotry of its membership, their involvement in Loyalist murder squads and its policy of targeting only republican violence.

The British attempt to put the Birmingham 6 case to sleep will be welcome news to Charlie Haughey and the Fianna Fail Governmentin Dublin, Their last intervention was to urge the 6 to do a deal and accept release without clearing their name. More recently they forced the extradition of Desi Ellis only to have the British tear up the most basic principles of international law on the first day of the trial.

Those who supported the 6, those who celebrated their release, should join now to fight the whitewash. We should do this not because we seek vengeance but because the conspiracy is still going on and we should not allow division in the anti-impcrialist and socialist movement to any longer obscure the basic task of self-defence.

John North.

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