Reports: PTA Arrests

ISR 24

changed so visibly that it is obvious to all that Britain as such is no longer the only agent of exploitation in Ireland.

Japanese, German and American capital also dominate Irish life. International capital in some of its crudest and most blatantly exploiting forms are a daily fact of life for Irish workers, and the end of partition in itself would not stop this, indeed might even facilitatitate it.

Also during the last ten years the | Southern Irish working class and small ; On economic issues which has emerged : only sporadically in connection with the ; war inthe North. The Republican move- } ment has understood that the class struggle must be linked in practice with the national struggle if either is to succeed. Finally, Sinn Fein has made wider and deeper contacts over the recent period with foreign socialist and nationalist movements, and has studied with great interest experiences such as that of the Portuguese revolution, and the way it was reversed, or at least securely set back, by the intervention of international capital. Lessons have been learned. There is realism and a sense of urgency about the problems facing any country attempting the project of socialism, but particularly one so closely tied to the European mainland and the tentacles of the EEC, and of NATO. Debate on Women The second day of the conference was devoted to messages of support from , foreign visitors, a renewal of Sinn Fein’s : _policy of non-participation in national farmers have shown a level of militancy ; *& elections north and south, as long as Ireland remains divided. There was then an important debate on women, the first time this has been raised at a national , conference. This was the culmination of ; a year of organising by Sinn Fein women ; on a new women’s committee, to : introduce women’s rights into the policy : documents. A women’s commission has been set up to produce a full report on the position of women in Irish society and in the Republican Movement. There is no doubt as to the real significance of this debate: it does not represent merely window dressing at a time when no selfrespecting socialist organisation can omit the woman question. No, this has arisen out of real social developments north and Portuguese revolutionary Otelo de Carvalho greets the Ard Fheis | <a ae a | south, which have brought women themselves to the forefront of political activity.

In the South the feminist movement has grown and proliferated over the last decade; in the North women have been crucial, and often dominant in the war “effort, organising at all levels, from the Relatives Action Committee work in support of political status for the prisoners of war, through to the women volunteers in Armagh jail, whose commit- , ment and bravery in their protest for ' political status has been an inspiration to all members, men and women.

The last big debate of the weekend was devoted to the question of political status and the condition of the H-Blocks and the prisoners of war in all the jails of Ireland and Britain. The overwhelming sense from the debate was that the men and women demanding political status will never give in, no matter what the cost, to being labelled criminals by the British forces of occupation. But the more sombre theme was the fear that coffins would be leaving Long Kesh before long if pressure could not be brought upon the British government to abandon their attempt to criminalise the political prisoners in Treland.

In concluding this report I would urge British socialists, and in particular trade unionists, to make every effort to understand the nature and development of Provisional Sinn Fein. The working class in Northern Ireland has not had open to ita kind of dense structure of democratic processes that exist in Britain from trade unions to the immense variety of eta ) local and single issue pressure groups. The Catholic community in Northern Ireland has had almost no political representation of any kind at any level for most of this century. The reformist traditions of democratic socialists in Britain are offended and outraged by the methods of the republican movement and by its radical political solutions to the problem of the Six Counties, These British socialist traditions were played upon by the Labour Party leadership at the last conference to swing the vote against the troops out resolutions. It is time British socialists tried to understand the different political solutions required in the highly undemocratic and unreform- ' able six north-east counties of Ireland.

Sue O'Halloran PRO Sinn Fein (Britain) Chairperson, Sinn Fein POW Department (Britain) PTA Arrests Since 1974, when the Prevention of Terrorism (Emergency Provisions) Act was first introduced in Britain, more than 4500 people, almost all Irish, have been detained under its provisions. Of these, 195 people have been deported, 249 have been charged with other offences, less than 50 have been charged under the Act itself and of these only 29 found guilty. Despite the wide variation between the numbers arrested and those actually charged, let alone convicted, the use of this Act and its sweeping powers have very rarely been publicly discussed. The press has usually greeted the news of arrests with wild choruses of delight, proclaiming each time that IRA gunmen are being swept off British streets. The arrests of nearly 30 Irish people in December last year received similar treatment. This event and the experiences of the people detained shows clearly the type of operation the police (Anti-Terrorist Squad) are currently engaged in. In the early hours of the morning of the 12th December, in raids involving Anne Doggett hundreds of armed police in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Southampton, 26 men and women were arrested. All were held incommunicado and the majority were held for 4 days.

The police refused to give any information and denied permission for solicitors to visit. (The solicitor for Paddy Prendiville, an assistant editor of Hibernia, took out a writ of Habeas Corpus after being denied permission to see him.). Those detained were subjected to various ordeals, including threats, humiliating treatment —