Questions Answered

—To most people in Britain, Heath seems to be making a serious effort to bring about peace in the Six Counties. He has the support of the Labour Party and the SDLP, if not of the Protestants. Will direct rule satisfy the Catholics?

As we explained in the last issue of The /rish Citizen, Heath only made his initiative when he was advised by the British Army of its inability to smash the IRA.

The Heath initiatives are meant to bring the peace of Pax Britannica to Ireland—the peace of the graveyard.

The initiatives do not alter the fundamentals of the Irish problem. He proposes to alter the Superstructure of Northern Ireland— the State _ will remain, and the Ulster Catholics will remain prisoners inside this basically artificial _ apparatus. What Heath proposes is an amelioration of the conditions of the prisoners in"Side this state, not the freeing of the prisoners. _ For this reason, direct rule will not satisfy any _ but a minute section of the Ulster Catholics.

_ —Has Heath’s proposals led to split in the _ Gatholic ghettoes? Is there, as the press sug: many women who now want peace? _ Ef case any supporters of the Irish struggle a have been taken in by the great story re IRA and their gangster molls, a against the intimidatory round information on the Women up will not come amiss .. . billedin the British press DI for the Irish Cathoown is an Englishwoman ass area of the Malone Road. ing class Andersons2. Women Together is in receipt of a financial grant from the Stormont Ministry of Community Relations. 3. Women Together has a grand total of four (4) members in the Andersonstown area. Two of them come from the privately owned fringe of Andersonstown.

4. Among Mrs. Patterson’s ardent supporters at the disrupted meeting were what the pro-Unionist Guardian described as Lambskincoated ladies, strung with pearls, from as far afield as Lisburn, and Portadown.

One such supporter, who travelled all the way from Donaghadee, was a Mrs. Patricia Fisher. Mrs. Fisher is best known in Belfast as Patricia McLaughlin, daughter of a former Tory-Unionist M.P., who herself is a former Tory Unionist M.P. She is at the moment married to Mr. Nigel Fisher, Tory M.P. for Surbiton.

McLaughlin changed her name to Fishe: at about the same time as British Board of Trade investigators were fishing into the affairs of a limited Company with whom she was, to put no finer point on it, intimately connected. On the other hand, Mrs. Maire Drumm, who led the local women’s intervention against this meeting, lives in the heart of Andersonstown. Her husband is at present serving his third term of imprisonment for opposing British imperialism in Ireland. Maire herself has recently completed a term of imprisonment for having pointed out the self-evident fact that the only good British soldier in Ireland is a dead one.

—Now that the institutions of Orangism have been torn from the machinery of central government in the Six Counties, what options are open to the unionists in attempting to retain their control of the State?

Before answering this question, the fundamentals of Irish Unionism must be appreciated. They are:— the two fundamentals? the most important.

hope to maintain both. sequences be? issue Of The Irish Citizen. 1. To maintain the Orange ascendancy. 2. To maintain the Union with Britain.

Generally these two principles have not been inconsistent with each other, but now we are in a period (not the first) where there are irreconciliable contradictions between the two.

British imperialism, in order to maintain the Union, is willing to sacrifice the Orange ascendancy. This poses the dilemma for Ulster Unionism:— Which is the more important of Moderate Unionists, Paisley, the Alliance Party and the Northern Ireland Labour Party represent the section which sees the maintenance of the Union as the most important. Craig and his Vanguard organisation see the maintenance of the Orange ascendancy as Faulkner represents those sections which stil!

With this dilemma in mind, it is too early to say in what direction the Unionists will move, except to say this much: there is no possibility for a successful UDI. As the then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland said to Craig on television in 1969, drawing an analogy between the Rhodesian and Northern Ireland situations, “Where is the Ulster airforce?” This was a recognition of the fact that the balance of forces in Northern Ireland excludes a UDI.

—Paisley and the SDLP both appear to be trying to win moderate opinion on either side of the sectarian line. What are the chances of their succeeding, and what would the conFor an answer to this question, we would recommend that you read Chapter 7. of “Ireland Unfree” by Bob Purdie, (IMG Publications, 182, Pentonville Road, London N.1, price 30 p), which was reviewed in the last are asking people to hold public meetings everywhere and get prominent people to speak at these meetings. We would also like to bombard Maudling with letters, telegrams and phone calls to make him realise that the Tory government’t latest piece of repression is all wrong.

The conditions here are atrocious, but we don't want a campaign to get them improved; the campaign’s sole aim is to end internment now. If you want any more information on the campaign and on how you can help write to the C.C.

D.C. office, 39 Falls Rd., Belfast, and to me here at Long Kesh. Remember, pressure by Stormont on Westminster helped to introduce internment; pressure by you can and will end it. Join us to SMASH INTERNMENT NOW.

Yours, IRISH CITIZEN EDITOR: Gery Lawless Editorial: 22, Duncan Terrace, London N.1 DISTRIBUTION: Gill Galvin, 37, Gordon Mansions, Torrington Place, London WC1 Design: Steve Smith Published by:

Irish Solidarity Campaign, Printed by:

F.I. Litho (T.U.) Ltd, 182, Pentonville Road, London N.1 01-837 9987

WHY THE BRITISH PRESS & TV SUPPORTS THEIR ARMY

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