Students Support Prisoners

Salvador could really tip the balance in favour of the revolutionary forces. There is widespread support for HBlock and Armagh among students. This is the message that came out of a National Student H-Block/ Armagh Conference last month in were represented at the conference and they saw their central task as the relaunching of the campaign in the student movement.

While there has been very little build a mass student campaign still colleges and a National co-ordinating committee.

The main discussions at the conferMost delegates felt the politics of the H-Block/Armagh issue had been left out of the campaign and that this had been a major barrier to the winning support among students.

It was decided that future propagorion repressive nature of the 6 -county state. Combined with a motion which welcomed all support ision provoked a clear political framework for the campaign.

Given the closeness of the hunger strike, most of the conference time was spent discussing activity. As well as mobilising st udent contine The political targets for this action hunger strike. They called for an Trinity College Dublin. 17 colleges student activity on H-Block/Armagh since January, the structures to build exist - action groups in all the major union meetings.

ence were around the political basis , of the campaign and future activ ity. Armagh jail. ando would situate the protest of the prisoners in the context of the sectfor the prisoners' demands, this decnational campaign.

gents for the March Ist demonstration in Belfast and the Armagh jail picket on International Women's Day March 8, it was decided to hold a national student day of action on March 14th.

would be Fianna Fail, the SDLP and the Catholic Hierarchy - these were the people who did their best to undermine the campaign during the last as a whole. end to the hunger strike to allow for a settlement but they have been totally silent for the last two months while Britain reneged on its agreement with the prisoners. To build for these activities, a propaganda campaign will be launched in the colleges, through public meetings, leaflets, etc. explaining the current situation in the prisors. It is the aim of the campsign to make the struggle of the prisoners in H-Block/Armagh the central issue in the student movement. Motions in support of the prisoners will be raised in all students’ union elections and at students‘ A special effort will be made to get all College women's groups to take up the issue of the women in Just as the compaign as o whole has been under attack at every level from assassinations to police harassment so also the student campaign has to defend its right to exist. The defence of the right to organise politically will be a central feature of the student campaign. This issue has already been raised and will continue to be raised through publicising police harassment ond denial of facilities by College Authorities and by getting student unions to campaign on these issues. The conference also promised student support for all defence octivities of the It was resolved also to build closer links with the Youth Campaign on H-Block and to build joint Student/ Youth activities. It is hoped to mobilise youth for the Day of Action. There are plans for all student action groups to send delegates to the Youth Conference on March 14th. This will be an important step in uni- Ireland. fying the two campaigns which will have great benefits for the campaign Recognising the importance of international solidarity the conference decided to seek support for the prisoners among Youth and Student organisations abroad and specific plans are being made to hold a fringe meeting on H-Block/Armagh at the conference of the British student be body, National Union of Students.

One of the most important decisions of the conference was to maintain action groups oftersthe resolution of the campaign and to organise a conference in October to build on the ~ the campaign and to organise a con -ference to build on the gains which the campaign has mode in the student movement. The actual theme of this conference is to be decided foll -owing discussion in the action groups. This decision will hopefully get over the recurrent problem in the student movement of having to start from scratch with every issue that comes up each academic year.

The October conference provides the opportunity to build a strong anti-imperialist current in the student movement which will be capable of leading students in the fight against repression but ongall other issues , such as the oppression of women, inadequate education system, which arise from imperialist domination of SEAN MARMION The crocodile tears shed over the graves of the young Stardust victims by those very politicians who have done nothing in the last ten years to improve standards and who even now, are attempting to restrict the terms of reference of the enquiry, brought to mind the film, The Towering Inferno.

The film showed how the instinct for profits led to the use of the cheapest building materials and to a lack of emergency equipment. Only when the fire in the film had ended with many deaths did the profiteer-proprietor tell the audience that "it would never happen again". Our clear fecling was that it was a bit