says Adams GERRY Adams, MP for West Belfast and President of Sinn Fein spelt out a strategy for decolonising Ireland at a public meeting at Hornsey Town Hall, North London, on 10 February attended by 800 people. He went on to call upon Irish voters in Britain to only support parliamentary to British withdrawal from the North of Ireland in the coming general election. REDMOND O'NEILL reports.
ADAMS began the inctilg saylllg the with the secretary Section, pealed to: 'Irish people what mon The more the have Adams pointed out that: O ne Ha British parties' decolonisaAnglo-Irish Accord was merely attempt to 'this reality nt realu. Hillsborough does not change Adams which OVER women representing a wide range women's and Hevenen partipated in this year's delegation from Britain to picket Maghaberry women's prison organised by Women 21101 network. Women WI' groups, the labour Committee on (LCI), Labour Women for Ireland (L.WI), CLPs, and the Campaign aralD Strip-Searching made up this year's delegation. added its voice to the protest against the inhuman practice of strip-searching used as a weapon against І ОНА НАНОСОЖ no After artving on TriAfter arriving on day ed by Sima being greeted by Fein, we went to stay with supportive families in nationalist communities Beltast.
Women on the delegation participated on Saturday in a day of workshops.
The workshops, organised jointly by Sinn in one parliament candidates committed the peaccIu] inFein's such conne of the of ure are •UD EU British that Is no Kingdom that the British Vulv Lalac withdrawal.
within the withdrawal. Adams went afterwards. But the buL DUSCo the public neconao benmeen all the IL.
ON 8 MARCH 1979 an International Women's Day picket of Armagh women's prison was viciously attacked by the RUC. Every year since then on Interinternational women's picket in solidarity with imprisoned republican women and all Irish women struggling for their freedom. This year was no exception. ANNE KANE reports from the delegation.
Feinn department and Irish feminist groups, covered strip-searching, military represSOlA sexuanly, the trade unions, culture women in sinn rein.
Speakers at the opening sessions reflected the intertwining of the strugIrish fight for the liberation of women in Ireland. Chaired cluded ex-Armagh prisoner, Brenda Downes Emma Groves from the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets Helen Manonv trom the Dubln based Defend the Clinics Campaign.
The strongest theme to emerge day was the way in which sexuality has been used as a weapon against them in their struggle - both in the north, in fight against direct British occupation, and in the south. stitutional, social alrangements for a new Irish state loyalist firm OLiel guarantees their 'An CULtatives people rangements, government woUIC open to significant 01 Donuca. opinion in toral this ovem mena suslem.
SuI alEyy regardless able to peaceful, jority British people welcome altte also doubt, the British government clusion.
"The thing
steps are taken.
Helen Mahony 0 E0tested against the clam «МАЛОС ЗІЗ AОIMOD government, since JanLaly. against even intormation being given Wallail about abortion Tacmles In brilain. sne ex plained that 'along with strıp searchung lauc this denial of information counselling about aliu pregnancy is a basic viola tion of the dignity of Irish women'.
The focus of the weekend's protest, was the humiliating and degrading practice of strip-searching.
November 1982, OvelI serreres had been carried out ArCalNE wUllcu magh. At Maghaberry strip searching is being syscarried on against women prisoners.
Amongst Tane republican women held Lice sone mave beet sual searched literally hundreds Those who are In Adams support tion British withdrawal.
consultative Conc cuce ucranu the lifetime ment, the Cenlr strategy change by follows the Irish Section, National oludenls, _LA•OU of 1986 favour of strip most, LEOJEI tried.
As the ex-Armagh prisoner presented the explained:
al c SLIID• searched returning th, when ton prison in London were strip-searched of times simply tactic to women GUW NI It • LUC vul die violation woman's body. first time.
As correctly taken these ODeI the the British communcul The of Adams' was make ite ano anl .the coming Ne Or for the strategy justified on the despicable record view of Irish freedom independOn Sunday :8 March, Day itself, 500 women attended the picket Maghaberry ONSOH Speeches Mairhead Farrell, exhilal Disunci. women from Sinn Fein, the Irish movement, ano ATTISO solidarity organisations echoed the call for action against the policy of strip searching.
Opposition to strip Britain. The Larour Part) women's organisation opposes it. The Labour Party itself has a position on paper against it. growing. .opposition in the trade unions. But still strip searching is going on.
The women who returned to Britain on 9 March were newly detèrmined to bulld awareness, and most importantly асtion, to highlight and stop strip searching. THERE is a serious shift of power taking place within creasingly power is being diverted from the rank and file, from conference, and from the national executive, and into the shifted decisively away from the NEC. or its presentation. No of tation of the policies of the Alliance. the Alliance are saying.
as British Telecom and British Gas?
culladi. general election not because like the SDP then people will the Inaway hands of the parliamentary leadership. ERIC HEFFER MP explains what's going on.
THE transfer of power in the party into the hands of the parlamentary leadership is able to takı place because nobody wants to be held responsible for rocking the electoral boat or be accused of helping the enemy remain in government. For ex ample, the policy-making committees of the NEC are now joint committees with the shadow cabinet. Control over policy and its implementation has There have recently been iwo dramatic examples of where this leads. The NEC was allowed neither to see nor to discuss the defence campaign which the party launched last December More recently, Labour's job creation programme document, which was drawn up by the leaders's office, was distributed to the NEC and collected back at allowed to propose any amendments to the policy real discussion of these policies and their presentation took place at the naIn the case of the defence campaign there has been a clear shift of emphasis away from contowards a situation where the leadership of the party not only decides policy but also how it will be And look at the results. By-election candidates are increasingly being 'packaged" by headquarters In my view that is why the demand that the leadership must appoint by-election candidates is now coming forward. Of course, those who are pressing for that realise they cannot win the position right away. But it is part of a longer-term strategy We are moving closer to American-style campaigning where the candidates, not party policies, style of presentation that the SDP goes in for. In wherever Rosie Barnes wei ner were smiles all round — but there was little presenwelcome that. They don't want Labour to concentrate on its policies — and especially on its class politics and on socialism. Take housing. There are plenty of people living in terrible conditions of overcrowded and substandard accommodation Labour's job is to get them into better homes. Bu we are hearing a lot of talk about 'choice'. Instead of concentrating on the need to improve the housing conditions of those people who simply have no choice oun leadershipis concentrating on people's Labour is saying much the same as the Tories and There are many other examples. Will Labour take back into public ownership the services such Labour government do to improve the health service dramatically run down under the Thatcher government? What about the deregulation of public Labour can only rebuild its electoral support if we are prepared to make clear statements about what we intend to do. That means emphasising our Alliance — just what Labour failed to do in Greenstood, but because there was a breakaway from by the right wing, and because in the course of the election spokespeople for the party The lesson of Greenwich is that if we appear 'there's not much difference'. Labour should be saying we are the only alternative to the Thatcher government. The Alliance is simply the other side of the Thatcher coin. It is the second Tory Party in
TWO INCOMPATIBLE forces are today tearing the soft left apart. The first is the deepening offensive of the right - the demands it is placing on the soft left. The second, intersecting with the first, is the process of political recomposition taking place on the hard/Campaign left of the party.
The immediate development which has precipitated the crisis of the soft left is the offensive of the right after Greenwich. The 'soft left' as opposed to the nign, could originally be delined as that section of the party which wanted to try to retain the gains of 1979-81 above all the democratic retorms in the and the adoption unlateral nuclear disarmament tried not to go beyond that.
The soft left tied this to support of Neil Kinnock — who was in a bloc with the right wing. This right wing/soft left bloc has run the party since the election of Neil Kinnock as party leader in 1983.
Nigel Stanley, in his Tribune makes it quite clear that he is Socialist Action 19 March 1987 increasing the working class Left of - but left vocating.
of such a article The only way to success for the party is to break up this right wing/soft left bloc and embark on a policy of radically restructuring the labour movement to bring it into line with the new reality of refounding' the Labour Party as Tony Benn has put it.
The only united left which would take the party forward is one which defends party democracy against witch hunts, detends accountability of MPs as won in 1979-81, grants the demands of the Labour Women's Action Committee and the Labour Party Black Section, turns to defending, not attacking, rights, attacking capital, not defending it, and in short, adopts essentially the programme the wing of the party is now adThe logical organisational outcome policy would be the split of the soft left/LCC, with one part going over to the right wing and another part joining with the left of the party. The choices now tearing the LCC apart - DOLE QUEUES BY MILLION Adrian Has on the budget - pace three Why the Left must stay reafigned - Nigel Standey of coutre pages Ken Livingstone
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