the interests of its backers - namely the ruling class.
Staged as a classic whodunit, the plot centres on nine Irishmen brought to justice by the heroic and dedicated forces of the British Six of these nine are charged with the murder of 21 people last November in Birmingham when a pub was blown up. The other three are charged with conspiracy to cause explosions. All nine have pleaded not guilty.
But on looking at this particular production a little more closely it becomes clear that the question of 'whodunit' is not the real centre of the plot. With lines written by the Department of Public Prosecutions, prompting from the Home Office, stage managed by the police and with special effects from a team of skilful 'experts', the closing scenes are a Toregone conclusion • Еле ппе асfendants will be found guilty. Those who have seen this sort of thing before will quickly recognise it as another episode in the 800-year old saga entitled 'Carry on Irish Oppression. For the past six weeks the State has been staging an elaborate costume drama at the Lancaster Crown Court. Dressed in the finest silk, wearing expensive wigs and surrounded by highly paid extras, the judge and the prosecution lawyers have the star parts. Their role is to ensure that this lavish production has a successful run and most importantly that it serves The aim of the producers is not simply to find nine Irishmen guilty of the Birmingham bombings, but to ensure that the audience is convinced that the IRA were responsible Using all the trappings of ruling class "justice and supported by weeks of critical acclaim in the bourgeois press, British imperialism is running a show trial to strengthen the anti-Irish feeling of its own working class.
DISCREDIT In this way they hope to demoralise the minority population of the North of Ireland from giving continuing support to the anti-imperialist forces there, and discredit the forces in Britain who are building a movement for the withdrawal of the troops and who support the right of the Irish people to self-determination.
In addition the 'necessity' for continuing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, under which hundreds of Irish people in this country are harassed, Zone ENDS on officers while on remand at Birhis knowledge.
story. Noel Mellkenny was threatened with a revolver by Detective Constable Woodwiss, who told him that the Home Office approved of his being shot' and that it would be explained that this was done while he was trying to escape. With this the policeman fired his gun at Mcanism which would be put right next time it did not go off.
that Mellkenny signed his 'confeswas in retaliation against BirmingHill suffered the same sort of thing at the hands of the police when in He was kicked and punched, beaten with a truncheon and revolver butt and burnt with cigarette ends.
With this aim, as part of the strategy of handing over to the Loyalists class is not fussy about the methods Lancaster emerges a story of intimidation, false statements and harassBRUTALITY On 25 November last year, when do court, they were in good health and lies and distortions. looked well. Three days later all of them had severe facial injuries, rangdefendants, William Power, was beaten up and kicked by police and prismingham, and his wife and children were threatened. He was not allowed to read his statement after he had made it, and has claimed that much of it was put in by the police without Other defendants tell a similar Ilkenny, but owing to a 'faulty mechIt was under duress of this kind sion claiming that the pub bombing ham' for the death of James McDade a member of the IRA killed in a bomb explosion in Coventry. Patrick custody at Morecambe Police Station.
Using techniques like this the Britted a series of 'confessions. Use of such methods has been reported to a limited extent in the British press without so much a liberal querry.
As far as the press is concerned all Irish people are fair game' and probably guilty just by being Irish. Nor has the press mentioned the consistent denials by all defendants that they have ever been members of the IRA. As always the press of the ruling class is doing the job it is paid to - feed the working class a diet of Little has been said, however, about the Loyalist murder gangs of the UDA and UVF who are at present standing in the wings waiting to take over the main role if British imThis American-made machine-pistol was found along with a book containing 51 photos of prominent Provisionals, car registration numbers, and a series of individual dossiers when a car driven by a member of the British Army in civilian clothes crashed in the Falls Road in Belfast last week. The machine-pistol, which is virtually a silent weapon and has no recoil, would be very useful for a provocateur engaged in sectarian assassinations. Furthermore, there would be no way of linking them with the Army since the weapon was not known to be stanrard Army issue. of weakening. As a result of their activities four Catholics have died for every Protestant over the last six months - while the Labour Government simply steps up its harassment of the Catholic minority.
Socialists and defenders of the Irish right to self-determination must fiercely combat the intentions behind the Lancaster trial. Our task is to cut across all the lies by explaining loudly and clearly to the labour movement that the Irish people, individually and collectively, have never and will never receive any justice at the hands of British imperialism. Ours is the task of assisting them to get the only form of justice possible - that which they seize with their own hands