Armagh

movement for Civil Rights began in 1968. They are the girls who went to school to the sound of marching feet, the tread of British Army tanks, the whine of bullets, the crimp of bombs".

These are women protesting prisoners ond anti-unionist women of the 6 counties described by Nell McCofferty in her remarkable book, "The Armagh Women"... Remorkable, because despite its limitations and length it successfully portrays the day -to-day realities of life for working class women in the 6 co.'s Ordinary women, mothers, wives, daughters, thrown into a masssive upheaval, the social and political struggle which resulted from the antiunionist minority's fight for Civil Rights in the partitioned orange state - a fight that turned into mass resistonce against British Army occupation of the 6 counties, Westminster's answer to civil rights for the anti-unionist minority!

WOMEN LED THE RESISTANCE It was a resistance that took the form not only of mass street protests, but of civil disobedience, resistance that ran From street to street, from house to house It was often led, As we read the book, we see the women protesting prisoners in Armagh gaol as part of this social struggle -women that travelled that same rood of resistance to British rule. A road which led those young working class girls to the fouled cells of Armagh gaol. Women like -- Sadie McGilloway, from Creggan, Derry, aged 23, began prison life at 14 years of age. Her brother was the first man to be interned in Magilligon camp, Derry, in August 1971. Currently serving 7 years.

- Anne Bateson from South Derry. 14 years old when her brother was killed in an explosion in 1971, Arrested ond charged in 1976 - sentenced to life imprisonment.

-Jean Hamilton, from ArdoyneAged 18 when arrested in June 1977, 2 months pregnont. Serving 14 years CONDITIONS IN ARMAGH The conditions in Armagh are graphically described as is the background to the no-wash protest - the attack on the women by male warders on Feb 7th 1980, after which they were denied toilet facilities.

Through the eyes of Liz Lagrua -one of the Armagh 11 who reiused * ‘ to pay a £10 Fine for ‘disorderly’ behaviour and served 2 months we get a vivid insight into how the women cope with the no-wash protext, and their spirit of resistance and determination to carry on the struggle inside the gaol. We learn of their survival routine, central to which wos entertainment; "On the Ist night there be general knowledge quizzes, based on books and records, next night ‘we'd play bingo, the 3rd night we'd have a sing-song and the 4th night there'd be a debate”.

EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE GHETTOES It is to Nell's credit that she was not content to arouse her readers’ sympathies by simply dwelling on tne Price £1.65 (South), £1.50 (North), iages torn apart by the pressures of the ‘troubles’, having to cope with children alone, of grinding poverty in the face of inadequate social security and the Payment for Debts Act, of despair and loneliness. And yet each of these three women describe the exhiliaration of realising you can cope on your own, of fight— ing back and getting involved, of becoming aware of the need to fight both as a womon and.as an ontiimperialist, despite personal hardship ond sometimes tragedy .

THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT The role of the women political prisoners and the women leading the RAC's answers the first half of the question. And yet the women's movement has been slow to understond the implications of this for their own struggle ond many of them remain suspicious of feminist involvement in the national struggle.

Despite this, the nnti-imperialist feminist current, led for a whole period by Women Against Imperial -ism, had a profound impact on the women's movement and the anti imperialist movement, This effect is most clearly shown by Sinn Fein's newly adopted policies on women

gr THE PEOPLES DEMOCRACY bases itself on the following points:

We agree that the central political question for the Irish people is the political, economic and military domination of Ireland by imperialism and that the central task for the the Irish revolution is the solutia of the national question through the ending of partition and-échievement of political and economic independence. .

We are united in our rejection of the claim that any lasting solution to the oppression of the Irish people can be found within a 6 county framework, and in our rejection of any "right" of the Loyalist mincrity to continue partition, AS Marxists we believe that the capitalist state must be smashed and replaced by a workers! state and that only the organised working class can provide the motive force for doing this.

We believe that a crucial area of capitalist oppression is women, and this is especially so in Ireland, given the history of clerical power here, Women are oppressed as a sex and even a successful revolution will not automatically guarantee the elimination of this oppression. For this reason, we unconditionally support the right of women to organise independently to fight for their emancipation, As Marxists, we believe that the working class has the ability to successfully challenge and defeat imperialism. It produces the wealth of society without being able to control or distribute it. It is potentially stronger than any other class because of its ability to organise on amass base, combining its economic strength and SOCIALIST REPUBLIC its strength of numbers.

We accept that workers have the right to defend themselves against imperialism. However, we donot accept the ideology of militarism -the belief that armed groups can substitute themselves ‘am the masses and win freedom for them, We believe in the building of an organised and experienced leadership, in a Marxist party based on the Leninist theory of party organisation: the central feature of which is democratic centralism.

The organisation is internationalist. It commits itself to holding an organised discussion with representatives of the Fourth International on the question of affiliation to the Fl. Members of the organisation may hold individual membership of the Fl.

British Lions saw and heard to their discomfort last year.

No changes have really occurred in South African rugby. The wellfinanced and orchestrated SA 'govemment propaganda saying ot herwise is o blatant lie. South Africa is racist ond proud of it. Rugby, like all forms of social activity, reflects that racism. The SA government has made it crystal clear that it will not alter apartheid and will fight to maintain it. Even as rugby officials were coming to Ireland to debate on RTE (who paid for that,?) SA commandos were invading a sovereign state to murder fourteen innocent civilians who disagreed with being categorized as animals.

Rugby is an integral part of white South Africa. Boycotts do have an effect. They stimulate the morale of the oppressed and insure that no aspect of South African life can Unionists the North ing for Confusion reigns everywhere when efforts are made to assess last December's meeting between C. J. Haughey, Margaret Thatcher and senior cabinet ministers of the Leinster House and Westminister governments. Haughey dubbed it as "historic", Thatcher dismissed it as a “routine meeting", and Ian Paisley denounced it as evidence of a new Sunningdale.

Despite the certainty of these comments we still know little about what was discussed. The official communique issued afterwards contained nothing beyond banal phrases such as "a unique relationship", plus one point of concrete information about proposed joint Anglo-Irish studies.

This in itself should alert us. The majority of the population in the South, and many antiin are lookto Haughey results in achieving British withdrawel and Irish Unity. He has deliberately set himself this task in public, continuously stating, quite correctly that "the Northern Said od = swelling revolt at home and abroad against Britain's barbarous treatment of the Republican political prisoners, victims of partition. The underlying reason for the success of this public campaign has been the growing awareness that the H-Blocks and Armagh would not exist but for the crisis in the hort’

Any real believer in Irish Unity faced with this, would not have dirtied their hands in an exercise like the Dublin Summit. Haughey never supported the prisoner'’s demands: he spoke of his "concern", but glorified the prisoner's persecutors. He called these talks "historic". There is nothing "historic" about covering up for British atrocities in Ireland. Various Irish parliamentary "leaders" have tried it from Daniel O'Connell through Johm Redmond and Arthur Griffith ti he present day. t is cal led collaboration and it never did us any good whatsoever.

Sooner or later the contradictions in Haughey"s policy will be