Free Citizen: Vol. 2 no. 7, 13 November 1970

FR

GITIZ

THE GOVERNMENT HAVE NO

INTENTION OF REPEALING THE

REPRESSIVE CRIMINAL JUSTICE

ACT IN THE FORESEEABLE

FUTURE. THAT WAS THE MES-

SAGE DELIVERED BY JOHN TAY-

LOR, THE 'MAN AT THE MINE

STRY' OF HOME AFFAIRS, WHEN

THERE WAS A DEBATE ON THE

ACT IN STORMONT LAST TUES-

DAY. UNDER THE CRIMINAL

JUSTICE ACT MAGISTRATES

MUST SEND PEOPLE TO JAIL FOR

A MANDATORY SIX MONTHS ON A

SERIES OF CHARGES. THE ACT

EVEN APPLIES TO CHILDREN AND

YOUNG PEOPLE - WHO MUST BE

SENT TO BORSTAL OR REMAND

HOME - EVEN IF THE OFFENCE

IS THEIR FIRST.

PURGE

Taylor, who appears to be modelling himself on his recent predecessor at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr. Craig, described the Criminal Justice Act as "a strong antiseptic applied to a festering sore’. N.Ireland is indeed a festering sore, but what it needs is a physie that will purge it of the venom- } ous Unionist Party, not legislation which grinds people further into misery while doing nothing to change , the underlying causes. | Next week the S.D.L.P., who have at long last awakened to the evils of } the Criminal Justice Act, will propose in Parliament that it be abolished. It's not before time that they did! The act has been on the statute book for almost five months now.

Hundreds of people are in jail and ‘ borstal. The Act was passed ina ‘ single day - something that could never have happenc ' if the oppos- + ition had put up a fight. They de- : serve little credit now for belatedly attempting to have it repealed.

PICKETS

Meanwhile, Peoples Democracy plans a series of pickets outside magistrates' houses. These are the men who send young people to jail or borstal for six month stretches under the Criminal Justice Act. We might as well let their panes know.

HWM

REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER AT THE POSTOFFICE

NEWSPAPER OF THE

PEOPLES DEMOCRACY

3

PRICE

WEEKLY FRI. 13 NOV 1970

CRIMINAL ACT TO STAY

eugene Cassin brian vallely

PD PRISONERS

WE WELCOME BACK OUR COMRADE OLIVER COSGROVE UN-

; JUSTLY JAILED FOR A MONTH FOR PROTESTING AGAINST CE-

MENT STRIKE BREAKERS, AND AMIDST THE CELEBRATIONS LET

US NOT FORGET COMRADES EUGENE CASSIN AND BRIAN VALLELY,

OTHER VICTIMS OF THE RIOT SQUAD PERJURERS. KEEP WRITING

{ . TO THEM, FOUR MONTHS IS A LONG TIME - AND SIX EVEN WORSE.

WE MUST NOT FORGET THAT THESE COMRADES ARE THE ONLY

| IRISH PRISONERS IN JAIL FOR INDUSTRIAL ACTION. THESE

COMRADES HAVE SHOWN IN THE PAST THAT THEY CANNOT BE

INTIMIDATED BY THE FORCES OF 'LAW AND ORDER'.

WE? ; } ‘

ESS

if 5. Belfast Corporation have announc- ; ed that they are to spend £1,200 of i public money on publicising the virt

NOR CAN

folk concert The concert will be held on Wednesday, November 25th, starting 8pm at McMordie Hall, Students Union, jues of the Corporation =s part of thei Queens University jcampaign against local government ae wuptretra) jreform.It has been used to hirePublic Tickets mas bavoheatwed — ‘Relations Advisers Ltd. own rJ : : ; esses es : ed py Joh 88 Ladybrook Park by sending 5/-d.

saughey- whose former co-director ; : postal order & stamped addressed envelope, or from your local Free Citizen seller. ? r 7 : 5 :A.V. Brown of Brown Advertising Ltd vas so successful in explaining the i ‘increased bus fares to the public.

: Caughey has certainly started off (The proceeds of this concert will go on the same (wrong) foot - by prom-{ towards the dependants of Eugene ' ising to launc! ‘ies of T.V. ads § Cassin and Brian Vallely who are . against the MacRory report - in serving, respectively, four months | spite of the fect that U.T.V. is and six in Crumlin Road jail for { prohibited by law from broadcasting | ‘heir part in the Ardglass protest | political Fear ee against Cement Strike Scabs).

FREE CITIZEN 13th NOVEMBER 1970

HOW

The struggle against the increase in Belfast bus fares continues. We have shown in recent issues the class nature of the fight. In issue No.5 we named the councillors who voted for the increase and showed that not only were they all car owners but were mainly representing business interests. The council was faced with a choice between an increase of 30% and a subsity from the rates or a 50% increase and no subsity. The Council chose the latter. They rejected even a small rise in rates in favour of a massive jump in fares. Even under the present system (where the London bankers took £244,000 of the £280,000 lost on the buses last year) modest support from public funds could have |; prevented the fares rise. Two shil- !

lings per pound of valuation on both domestic and commercial rates .

would have raised half-a-million pounds. For the average working class family (living in a house with a valuation of up to £20) a 2/-d.

rates increase would have meant £2 extra in the year. The fares in crease means £80 extra per year for the average working class family.

The same sum of half a million pounds (which would have paid off last year's loss on the buses twice over) could have been collected by increasing the commercial rate by 4/-d. and leaving the domestic rate alone. And this is where the business men come in. Let us examine a typical Councillor-businessman.

Alderman Joe Cairns lives in a fine house at 598 Antrim Road. He runs two cars, he even has a space marked out in the City Hall grounds for parking the fine car supplied to him by the people of Belfast. He also owns five shops, on the Shankill Road, Newtownards Road, Albertbridge Road, Duncairn Gardens and Sandy Row, as well as his headquaters in Dover Street. The total valuation on all his shops comes to £1,293. And here is the crunch: a levy of 4/-d. on the commerical rate to support the buses would mean.that Joe would have to fork out an additional £260 a year. Not that he couldn't afford it, of course.

But why should he and his cronies have to pay, when the bus fares could go up instead? Sure he might have to sell one of his wife's fur coats! To bring home, to the workers of Belfast, the real reasons for the increase in fares and also to try to force the council businessmen to reconsider their decision the P.D.

decided to picket the Lord Mayor's shops. Last weekend demonstrations were mounted outside two of his premises and more are planned for this weekend. On Friday five members paraded in front of the shop on the Shankill Road. The pickets carried posters reading: "Down with Fares", ''How's your Car Mr. Mayor?" and "Hit him where he hit you - in the pocket".

The protest continued for about twenty minutes receiving a very friendly reaction from passers-by, until one man began to shout and gathered a bit of a crowd. He then | tore the posters, and at that point, rather than provoke a confrontation, the P.D. members left. Another demonstration outside the Duncairn Gardens premises was very well re cieved for an hour. However a gang of men arrived and ripped up the placards, much to the annoyance of some local housewives who shouted that we were doing a good job. Even the Belfast Telegraph, which gave a very sneering report of the Friday picket, was obliged to recognise the support as well as the objections on Saturday. And during the week someone wrote to the Unionist owned Newsletter calling for a boycott of the Lord Mayor's shops until the fares were reduced. We do not expect to see Cairns signing on in Corporation Street for a few weeks yet, but we bet he is begining to feel the pinch! We are continuing to gather signatures from councillors to calla special council meeting to reconsider the fares' question, and to suspend the increase. Next week we will publish a list of those who signed, and those who refused, it will contain a few surprises.

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HE FARE INCREASE

UNHOLY

ALLIANCE

Guess to whom the Irish Christian Brothers, aggressively Catholic guardians of the native culture, language and heritage, sold their old Oxford Street Primary School for use as a political party headquarters? To those darling new sons of Mother" church, the Green Tory bourgeois S.D.L.P. or some such craw-thumping R.C. body?

Not on your Bishop Philbin!

Instead it went to the right-wing Alliance Party, the offspring of Green-Orange bourgeois intercourse, for the knock-down sum of £12,000. It will cost the wealthy Alliance members £14,750 to convert and furnish it. The God of Mamon knows no political barriers.

The Christian Brothers tried to keep the deal as quiet as possible.

The pietistic "Irish News" did not even mention their name in connection with the sale, and the pussyfooting ''Belfast Telegraph" vaguely referred to "an old Belfast Schoolhouse". The unaccomodating "Irish Times" mentioned the Christian Brothers' arrangement with the wealthy exploiters. Does it seem more important to this powerful Order within the Catholic Church to house a political party than house a youth-centre or old people's club or even the temporary homeless? But then, where would such people get the money to buy anything? Just another example of the Alliance of Church and State to keep the little man in his proper place - at the bottom of the heap.

CRITICIS

Peoples Democracy always welcomes intelligent criticism. Our columns are open, within reason, to readers who wish to disagree with any articles published in FREE

CITIZEN.

by M. Maguire Some weeks ago Free Citizen revealed that the Stormont Govt.

was busily selling off the North's mineral resources to various foreign capitalists. Already 12 British or international mining concerns have applied for prospecting licences covering 1,000 sqr. miles of land in the North. A number of P.D. members in the areas concerned have lodged complaints with the Ministry of Development. This article explains how Stormont is once again auctioning off the North's natural wealth to be exploit -ed by foreign parasites.

In the September issues of "Mining Magazine" there appears a very interesting article on "'N.

Ireland Mineral Development" by H. E. WILSON of the ''Geological Survey of N. Ireland" ( a government financed body). Wilson boasts of the "N.Ireland Mineral Development Act", as having no parallel in the U.K. , no wonder !| This act literally puts up for auction the Mineral Rights of N. Ireland, while providing compensation for landlowners or rather title or deed holders. No doubt of particular benefit to the Clarkes, Brooks and Earl of Shaftesbury Estates. So big a sell out was it, that Wilson remai‘ks "The Act has met with remarkably little opposition", the robbers being amazed at their own audacity and how easily they got away with it. One wonders what the so called called opposition M. P's. were doing to permit this legalised theft. Wilson regrets that he cannot offer any prospective speculator, the same advantages that are to be found in Fianna Fails' capitalist Paradise, such as a '20 year tax holiday', which he thinks ‘would probably cover the life of most enterprises." It would entail a Westminister Act to enable this, and even the Tories aren't that stupid. However, he does offer a 45% grant for machinery and plant for either Exploration or Extraction purposes. Plus of course a high unemployment rate ~ low wages. The entrance fee to this bonanza which the poor capitalist will have to foot out, is the enormous sum of £100 per sqr. mile per year.

So a licence for the maximum 50 sqr. mile block, would cost £5,000 per year, ~ peanuts to any large mining company. In addition exploration bore holes etc., will gain a Government grant. A Newsletter” editorial recently estimated that it cost an aver~ age of £8,000 to establish one new job in N. Ireland. Thus on this reckoning, each prospecting com pany will create 5/8 of ajob, a fact which will surely gladden the hearts of the 15% plus unemployed

A CROCK OF GOLD

of Fermanagh and Tyrone. The Government has already invested large sums of money in Preliminary Prospecting; as Wilson points out it has financed, the ''Geological Survey", and a Survey by the ''Department of Applied Geochemistry of Imperial College London", which discovered a high copper content in the rocks of the Antrim Plateau. N.

Ireland has been geometrically, and magnetically surveyed, it is the only area in the British Isles which has been completely geologically mapped on a 6 inch scale FREE CITIZEN 13th November 1970 Should the results of all this expenditure be given to Imperial- « ists and foreign capitalists?

If the necessary technical expertise to exploit these minerv als, is lacking in N.Ireland, then this can be purchased, like any other commodity, even if it means paying temporarily, high wages and costs. But the Land and Waters of Ireland and its mineral resources belong to the People of Ireland. And.no capitalist , be he gombeen native, or foreign imperialist has the right to rob the People of what is rightfully theirs.

HE TROOPS

AN ARDOYNE READER WRITES

This article, from an Ardoyne reader, was received last week, too late for publication. October, 1970. British democracy, the British imperialists would have us believe, has spread truth and ~-2edom across the world. But last Sunday's papers gave an example of their truth. The same great propaganda machine that made ‘Mad Mich! a hero, and covered up the thousands of Egyptian dead in Cairo, has made heros of the men who so cruelly shot three young boys on Thursday 24th October and carefully covered up their outrageous actions over last weekend in Ardoyne. The papers told how some poor soldiers heroicly withstood riotious mobs of people, but they neglect to say why the people rioted. They do not tell of the three boys who were deliberately shot by a British soldier before any rioting began. Of course it wouldn't be cricket to tell, and some businessmen wouldn't like it if what really is happening in N.Ireland ever got to the British public. The men who opt out of society to join the British army are safe in the knowl edge that they will never have to make a decision or bear the responsibility of human feelings.

Safe in all their protective clothes, with the special armourment that disqualifies them from the human race, mindless, they are free to shoot and kill young unarmed boys , to gas old men, women and young children. The Irish working class have long been used to injustice at the hands of these kind of creatures, and their slimmy slick controllers such as Ted Heath, Taylor, Faulkner, and their kindred spirits south of the border. But are they so used to injustice that they are complacent to it and indeed court it by their inactivity to preven The workers of Ireland, all 32 counties of its religion-doped soil, have suffered all tvpes of injustice. In the north both Catholic and Protestant have suffered at the feet of the British army The riots referred to took place on the weekend of 30th forces. They beat women on the Shankill and the Falls. On Friday 30th October they shot a tear gas cannister into a house in Ardoyne which set it on fire, and hosed everybody who rushed to aid the people in it; a young lad of 13 was carried choking and wet in his pajamas to another house, where the windows and doors had to be sealed to keep out the clouds of gas in the street. One old woman nearly died of a heart attack. Dozens were treated for shock. But this is nothing new. It has happened again and again. ‘Innocent’= Claim Six men from Ardoyne are on trial for murder, they are all innocent.

When their wives and relatives protested for the umpteenth time on Saturday they were battoned. Three boys from Ardoyne were shot; when their friends protested they were turned away, pushed around and finally provoked into a riot which the British troops hoped would cover up their own terrible act. The NICRA sit in the background and ask whether they should take to the streets. They hesitate, they say, because they wish to prevent further violence. But how more violent can our society be? How more vicious ?

Carpenters are being arrested for carrying nails, glazier for having putty knives, for freedom's sake it is time to act before we are all imprisoned for thinking. The barbarous and scandalous debasement of the men of Ardoyne on Saturday and Sunday lagt and the repressive laws in N.Ireland are all examples of the British Imperialists 'Freedom'.

If making men strip of their shirts, shoes and socks to be searched is an example of that 'freedom' then it is time the people took to the streets.

They would have nothing to lose but this 'freedom', which is chaining them to an existance that must be abhorent to any civilised race.

FREE CITIZEN 13th NOVEMBER 1970

FORTUNE'S FAVOURITES

| Our average policeman is really | wonderful. Indeed he is positively astounding. At almost everything: football-fan beating, drunken perjury, murder and conspiracy to silence. But he is only as good as his superior officers. And just how good are they? To establish this we analyse some answers given at the Scarman Tribunal by two typical superior R.U.C. officers, Assistant Chief Constable Sammy Bradley and Chief Inspector Davy Cushley. Two straightforward honest men, loved by all who know them. | From what they told Scarmen a composite profile of a police officer | emerges. He turns out to a man of many qualities with varied roles to play as part of his job. A complex profile, signifying anything.

Judge him for yourself, from the Q. What do Bradley. the U.V.F. but ists now. sent to you to read and check.

Cushley. only human. word perfect. ment was erroneous. I made a mistake. Iam My statement was not The Well-informed Watchdog: you know of the U.V.F.? I don't believe it ex- They have no organisation.

They have no leader. I do not know of any Protestant organisation comparable with the I.R.A. / Q. What did the findings of an investigation conducted by Assistant Chief Constable Harry Baillie into incidents in Derry convey to you?

Bradley. Nothing. Q. But you have read the Hunt Report which states that Catholics form a very small precentage of questions asked at Scar man and from | the R.U.C. Have you any idea of these answers two officers gave.

The policeman is all t hese things:- The Trained Observer: Q. You indicated that a crowd of 500 attacked Townsend Street police station, yet in a report to your superiors you describe the crowd as being 200 strong? what that precentage is? Bradley. No. The Visionary Seer: Q. If there was heavy firing from Divis Street at the police, as you have said, do you not find it strange that only four policemen received bullet wounds? Cushley. Both my estimates couldbe |Cushley. Fortune favours the brave!

wrong. Q. How many petrol bombs did you see at North Howard Street on 13th August. Cushley. The Impartial Lawman: Q. Are you a member of the Orange Order? Cushley. Yes. Q. You told the Tribunal you had no trouble on 13th August from Protestant crowds. So all the trouble was caused by the Catholics? Cushley. Yes. That is correct.

The Police Expert Q. What is the range of a police Browning machine gun? Bradley. I don't know. Q. How many petrol bombs did it take to burn down all Bombay Street?

Bradley. Oh, one or two. I cannot remember. | The Loyal Officer: Q. Could you tell us the names of the policemen who told you that police had been shot at from Divis St.

flats ? Cushley. I would not! Q. Supposing you could write those names on a piece of paper and hand them over, would your answer be different ? Cushley No! The Buck-passing Comrade: Q. Who commanded the Shoreland armoured cars, mounted with Brownings, on the night of August 14th?

Cushley. They were under the super-; vision of Chief Inspector Gilchrist, I and ultimately under my command.

But I did not see Gilchrist that night | nor did he communicate with me.

x*.2 Incorruptible Witness: Q. Ten months ago on January 12th 1970 you stated you saw police Browr:: ing machine guns fired at the Divis Street flats. How did you come to | make a statement like this? It was | printed and published weekly by the Peoples Democracy 88 Ladybrook Pk Belfast Subscription 50/- per year The Blind-eye Turner: Q. Commandant Thompson of the B Specials stated here that he saw two men running toward Divis Street with a crate of petrol bombs which they threw into St. Comgall's School.

About 100 - 200 Protestants got into Divis Street then. At any stage on your visit did you see a mob rushing into Divis Street? A. I saw B Specials there but I can't say I met Mr. Thompson. I did not see a mob on the rampage.

The Professional Soldier: Q. General Freeland has stated.that if you are going to use minimum force an automatic weapon is a dangerous thing to have ? Cushley. I cannot agree with him.

The Naked - Q. You say you didn't see any firing at the flats or receive a report about it? Cushley. I think there was a report.

I didn't receive a report. Iwasa mere District Inspector then and men wouldn't have put their reports through me. And the Dead: What are your feelings about the Q. death of nine-year-old Patrick Rooney in Divis Street Flats on the night of the 14th August? Bradley. I often wondered about the death of that young lad who was shot dead in the flats while in bed.

Final Touches to the Profile: By now your profile should be fully sketched. If you still wish to add a touch or two, consider the | comments of Justice Scarman to ‘ each of his police officer witnesses: ' To Bradley - You are not being fully ' frank with this Tribunal.

To Cushley - Just bear this in mind.

{| That when you are asked about what you have seen, please tell us ALL the facts. That piece of my state I have heard rumours about

BRIXTON

VICTIMS

Since July 15th last three Belfast men have been languishing in Brixton prison in London. They are being held in solitary for 23 hours out of 24. The charge is one dearly beloved by the pig state - conspiracy.

On Monday of this week they appear: ed at the Old Bailey for the umpteenth time, and for the umpteenth time they were refused bail. Needless to say despite the fact that it is four months since they were arrested, the police have no evidence on which to proceed, so they are unable to go on with the case. Asa result, Thomas O'Donnell, Joseph McBrinn and James George are likely to be incarcerated in Brixton until after Christmas. The chief conspirator in this sham trial is Superintendent Howell of the Special Branch. With the help of his fellow pigs from Mountpottinger sty, he has strenuously opposed bail - on one occasion going to the extent of lying to a judge in Chambers that a bailsman who was prepared to put forward a substantial sum on O'Donnell's behalf did not exist. Needless to say, the judge believed the pig and not O'Donnell's lawyer. It is alleged to be one of the cardinal points of British law that a man is innocent until proven guilty.

Yet here is a blatant example of the way in which the police and their magisterial lackeys manipulate their own judicial system in order to impose prison sentences, before trial and conviction, on their political opponents and on those who are prepared to speak out against British imperialism and its attendant injustices. It is up to us, and other socialist groups, to publicise these examples of repression, since the so-called public representatives have been remarkably silent in this as in so many other cases. Comrades in London are requested to visit the three comrades in Brixton (same jail as Frank Roach) since it is very difficult for their families to get across very often. I would like to become a member of the People's Democracy. I enclose a fee of 10 shillings. All letters, gifts, correspondence etc:. tor- 88, Ladybrook Park, F Belfast.

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