LITTLE STANDING
The Irish Labour Party is certainly holding the line for secularism. Whether it is Eamonn Gilmore telling the Vatican to get lost or Pat Rabbitte blowing off Cardinal Sean Brady’s proposal that the Church would lobby the government on the abortion issue, the lines have certainly been drawn. Priestcraft has little purchase with the Labour Party and society is all the better for that, even if there are grounds to suspect that because it has failed miserably to hold the line for socialism its push against Church encroachment is solely down to the secular providing the one space where the party can wax radical.
Guest writer Nuala Perry with a letter on behalf of Clonard Commemoration Committee.
On Sunday the 2nd of September Clonard Commemoration Committee will hold a short remembrance ceremony for the seventieth anniversary of C Company Volunteers Gerard O Callaghan and Tom Williams.
This event is totally non-party political and is designed with nothing other in mind than a short dedication to both these young men's lives.
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| Gerard O Callaghan |
This event is totally non-party political and is designed with nothing other in mind than a short dedication to both these young men's lives.
Boston College Case - Papers Filed For En Banc Hearing
Press Statement From Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre
August 20th, 2012
Eamonn Dornan and James J Cotter, attorneys for Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre, have today filed papers in the First Circuit Court of Appeal seeking a rehearing en banc* of a July 6th decision by a First Circuit panel affirming a lower court’s decision ordering Boston College to hand over archived interviews with former IRA activists on foot of subpoenas from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), facilitated by the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between the United States and the United Kingdom.
The court also refused Moloney and McIntyre permission to intervene in the case, thereby preventing them from presenting evidence objecting to the decision by the US Attorney-General, Eric Holder to issue the MLAT subpoenas.
The application is based on a number of issues of great public interest and constitutional importance, not least that one effect of the First Circuit decision is to give foreign law enforcement agencies greater power over US citizens in respect of subpoenas than could ever be exercised by domestic agencies.
The First Circuit decision effectively precludes the assertion of U.S. constitutional rights guaranteed in the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. In the case of the Boston College archives the Constitution guarantees, prior to the enforcement of the subpoena, the consideration of the free flow of historical documents to the American public and the protection of Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre - and their interviewees - against the deprivation of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre’s lawyers are arguing that the MLAT bestows upon the PSNI greater powers in relation to the serving of subpoenas in the United States than could be exercised by, for instance, the FBI. U.S. citizens could challenge a subpoena served by the FBI on First and Fifth Amendment grounds but are precluded from doing so in the case of subpoenas served by foreign powers under an MLAT. Sixty-two countries have signed MLAT’s with the U.S., some of which have poor human rights records.**
Their lawyers will also argue, inter alia, that the First Circuit panel conflicts with Supreme Court rulings in the landmark judgement, Branzburg v. Hayes in as much as that case permitted journalists to seek First Amendment protection against subpoena powers in order to demonstrate bad faith on the part of the requesting authority.
In this case the plaintiffs, Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre have been prevented by the First Circuit decision from arguing that the PSNI action is politically motivated and that the material requested by the PSNI was available in Northern Ireland. Their lawyers argue that Moloney and McIntyre have been denied their constitutional and statutory rights and protections and suffer violations of constitutional rights if the subpoenas are enforced by the Attorney-General.
Eamonn Dornan and James J Cotter also argue that because this is a case of first impression, as the First Circuit panel recognized, a re-hearing is warranted.
Appellant Petition for Panel Hearing or Rehearing En Banc
* An en banc hearing takes place in front of the full appeal court.
** Full list of countries which have signed MLAT’s with the US
Press Statement From Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre
August 20th, 2012
Eamonn Dornan and James J Cotter, attorneys for Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre, have today filed papers in the First Circuit Court of Appeal seeking a rehearing en banc* of a July 6th decision by a First Circuit panel affirming a lower court’s decision ordering Boston College to hand over archived interviews with former IRA activists on foot of subpoenas from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), facilitated by the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between the United States and the United Kingdom.
The court also refused Moloney and McIntyre permission to intervene in the case, thereby preventing them from presenting evidence objecting to the decision by the US Attorney-General, Eric Holder to issue the MLAT subpoenas.
The application is based on a number of issues of great public interest and constitutional importance, not least that one effect of the First Circuit decision is to give foreign law enforcement agencies greater power over US citizens in respect of subpoenas than could ever be exercised by domestic agencies.
The First Circuit decision effectively precludes the assertion of U.S. constitutional rights guaranteed in the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. In the case of the Boston College archives the Constitution guarantees, prior to the enforcement of the subpoena, the consideration of the free flow of historical documents to the American public and the protection of Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre - and their interviewees - against the deprivation of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre’s lawyers are arguing that the MLAT bestows upon the PSNI greater powers in relation to the serving of subpoenas in the United States than could be exercised by, for instance, the FBI. U.S. citizens could challenge a subpoena served by the FBI on First and Fifth Amendment grounds but are precluded from doing so in the case of subpoenas served by foreign powers under an MLAT. Sixty-two countries have signed MLAT’s with the U.S., some of which have poor human rights records.**
Their lawyers will also argue, inter alia, that the First Circuit panel conflicts with Supreme Court rulings in the landmark judgement, Branzburg v. Hayes in as much as that case permitted journalists to seek First Amendment protection against subpoena powers in order to demonstrate bad faith on the part of the requesting authority.
In this case the plaintiffs, Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre have been prevented by the First Circuit decision from arguing that the PSNI action is politically motivated and that the material requested by the PSNI was available in Northern Ireland. Their lawyers argue that Moloney and McIntyre have been denied their constitutional and statutory rights and protections and suffer violations of constitutional rights if the subpoenas are enforced by the Attorney-General.
Eamonn Dornan and James J Cotter also argue that because this is a case of first impression, as the First Circuit panel recognized, a re-hearing is warranted.
Appellant Petition for Panel Hearing or Rehearing En Banc
* An en banc hearing takes place in front of the full appeal court.
** Full list of countries which have signed MLAT’s with the US
Sandy Boyer (SB) interviews via telephone from Belfast Marian Price's
husband, Jerry McGlinchey (JM) about his wife's health and ongoing
internment. Radio Free Éireann WBAI 99.5FM Pacifica Radio. New York City. Saturday 4 August 2012
SB: We're going to Belfast to speak to Jerry McGlinchey. His wife, Marian Price, has been in prison for over a year on the basis of secret evidence she can't see, her lawyers can't see (and) for most of that time she's been in solitary confinement. There have also been grave, ongoing concerns about her health. Jerry, thanks very much for being with us.
JM: Thanks very much for giving me the chance to be there, Sandy.
SB: And Jerry, as I was saying, it only seems to get worse for Marian.
JM: It's getting much worse at the moment. I was in hospital visiting her today. She has actually been moved to main hospital wing because she now has pneumonia on top of all else that's wrong with her. It's a canard. Months ago the family asked, when she was in Maghaberry still, that's how long ago we asked for x-rays to be taken because we believed then that she wasn't well, and needless to say the x-rays weren't taken and we believe that's when the actual infection started that has now shown itself as pneumonia. For your listeners maybe a word: In the late 70's when Marian was forced fed for over two hundred days the force feeding actually stopped when they put the feed tube into her lung instead of into her stomach and almost killed her by flooding the lung. The lung then collapsed leaving her with a weakness obviously. And that's been ongoing ever since then she's had a weak lung. And now as I say, with pneumonia, the family is very, very concerned about it, about the effect on her health.
SB: We're going to Belfast to speak to Jerry McGlinchey. His wife, Marian Price, has been in prison for over a year on the basis of secret evidence she can't see, her lawyers can't see (and) for most of that time she's been in solitary confinement. There have also been grave, ongoing concerns about her health. Jerry, thanks very much for being with us.
JM: Thanks very much for giving me the chance to be there, Sandy.
SB: And Jerry, as I was saying, it only seems to get worse for Marian.
JM: It's getting much worse at the moment. I was in hospital visiting her today. She has actually been moved to main hospital wing because she now has pneumonia on top of all else that's wrong with her. It's a canard. Months ago the family asked, when she was in Maghaberry still, that's how long ago we asked for x-rays to be taken because we believed then that she wasn't well, and needless to say the x-rays weren't taken and we believe that's when the actual infection started that has now shown itself as pneumonia. For your listeners maybe a word: In the late 70's when Marian was forced fed for over two hundred days the force feeding actually stopped when they put the feed tube into her lung instead of into her stomach and almost killed her by flooding the lung. The lung then collapsed leaving her with a weakness obviously. And that's been ongoing ever since then she's had a weak lung. And now as I say, with pneumonia, the family is very, very concerned about it, about the effect on her health.
Even by Russian standards, the trial has been roundly mocked as a farce, complete with barking dogs, a judge who feigned deafness when the defense objected, and denunciations of feminism as a “mortal sin" - New York Times
In a draconian act of cultural suppression the Russian state, keeping faith with a long standing Kremlin tradition, has sentenced to two years imprisonment three members of the punk rock band, Pussy Riot. Tsar Putin, like so many of the country’s autocrats that preceded him, whether in the Communist Party or outside of it, is not slow to take umbrage at dissent and is fond of cracking the whip in the hope of intimidating it into abeyance. Responding to the authoritarian sentiment of the country’s president its opposition leader claimed the women were jailed ‘because it is Putin's personal revenge. This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin.’
The charge for which the women were locked up is ‘hooliganism’, a typical criminal term that serves to denude their actions of any political content and thus strengthen the claims of the state to enhanced legitimacy.
In a draconian act of cultural suppression the Russian state, keeping faith with a long standing Kremlin tradition, has sentenced to two years imprisonment three members of the punk rock band, Pussy Riot. Tsar Putin, like so many of the country’s autocrats that preceded him, whether in the Communist Party or outside of it, is not slow to take umbrage at dissent and is fond of cracking the whip in the hope of intimidating it into abeyance. Responding to the authoritarian sentiment of the country’s president its opposition leader claimed the women were jailed ‘because it is Putin's personal revenge. This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin.’
The charge for which the women were locked up is ‘hooliganism’, a typical criminal term that serves to denude their actions of any political content and thus strengthen the claims of the state to enhanced legitimacy.
Guest Writer Mick Hall with a response to a recent piece in the Irish Independent by Mary Kenny.
Irish journalist Mary Kenny has never been slow to propagate reactionary drivel but she excelled herself in Monday's edition of the Irish Independent where she attempted to paint Che Guevara as a racist bigot when she wrote:
Irish journalist Mary Kenny has never been slow to propagate reactionary drivel but she excelled herself in Monday's edition of the Irish Independent where she attempted to paint Che Guevara as a racist bigot when she wrote:
Che had some of the social attitudes of his caste,* some would now be regarded as racist. He considered blacks as indolent and had a low opinion of Africa. He thought of Mexicans as little better than backward native Indians.
Harry Villegas with Che in Bolivia.
Ed Moloney from the Broken Elbow with a piece calling for support for a fellow journalist currently languishing in an Ethiopian prison
During the more than a year that myself and Anthony McIntyre have been fighting the ill-advised attempts by the PSNI and the Obama Justice Department to confiscate the Belfast oral history archive at Boston College, we have been lucky to have secured the support of many good people from all walks of life who have been outraged and disturbed by this effort to censor and silence truth and history-telling.
As a journalist, I have been particularly gratified at the support shown by fellow members of the media, many of whom have been generous with their time and advice. At times like this solidarity is really a great thing.
Now, it is my time to give a little bit back and ask people who read this column to give their support to a journalist whose fate makes our predicament seem like an afternoon picnic by a beautiful lakeside.
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