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 On the morning of 23 September 1996 Diarmuid o’Neill was shot and killed by officers of the Metropolitan Police in Hammersmith. The trial of Brian McHugh and Patrick Kelly – arrested at the same address in Hammersmith – ended in December 1997. The disclosures and evidence presented at that trial exposed Diarmuid’s death as murder. … [Read more…]

 Two teenage boys from Guinea (Conakry) were found dead of exposure at Brussels ariport in Belgium on 2 August 1999 hidden in the undercarriage of a Sabena plane which had flown in from Guinea. The boys, Yaguine Koïta and Fodé Tounkara, were found to be carrying a message to the people of Europe appealing them … [Read more…]

 Heart disease killed some 300 in every 100,000 people aged 45-64 in Scotland and Northern Ireland and some 240 in every 100,000 of that age in England and Wales. The enormity of these figures can best be appreciated if it is understood that the figure for German is 180, Holland 140, Spain 120 and France … [Read more…]

  Protests erupted on Tehran University around 7 July. Students in 18 Iranian cities were protesting within a week. They shouted “Down with dictators”, “Death to despots”. They carried signs calling for “Freedom, independence and dignity”, slogans from the revolt which overthrew the bloody rule of the Shah in 1979.The United Students’ Front issued 14 demands. … [Read more…]

the spread of cancers and deformities since the Gulf WarBy Felicity Arbuthnot  Felicity Arbuthnot is a freelance journalist specialising in social and environmental issues with a special knowledge of Iraq. She is writing a book on the plight of those affected by the Gulf War.[This article is reproduced from theNew Internationalist(September 1999, issue devoted to the … [Read more…]

 From the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 until the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) prevented the transfer of power and the establishment of the institutions two weeks ago – a period of almost 16 months – the peace process has limped from one unionist induced crisis to another.This period of time could … [Read more…]

  by Katharine McGavigan, Vice-President of the SLP in Scotland. At our recent congress of the Socialist Labour Party in Scotland, the following motion was unanimously passed:“This congress condemns the decision by a Turkish Court in June this year, to sentence Kurdish workers party leader Abdullah Ocalan to death by hanging and notes that the scale of … [Read more…]

 The ‘Labour’ government, far from reducing the scope of privatisation introduced by Thatcher, is now busily engaged in expanding the policy even further. Specifically it has committed itself to privatisation of the building of schools and hospitals under a scheme known as the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). These proposals caused outbursts of helpless rage at … [Read more…]

 i) 59th Anniversary of Martyrdom of Shaheed Udham Singh On 13 March, 1940, the great Indian patriot Udham Singh challenged the imperial hegemony of the British Raj when he assassinated Sir Michael O’Dwyer, ex-lieutenant Governor of Punjab, at a public meeting at Caxton Hall, London. After a brief two-day trial, Udham Singh was sentenced to death. … [Read more…]

 by PAT O’ROURKEGiven the ‘spin’ placed on developments in Ireland, it is small wonder that the recent negotiations to save the Good Friday Agreement continue to cause confusion. Republicans, Unionists, the Blair government and the bourgeois press have all claimed victory and defeat, progress and set back, in almost equal measure. Every shade of opinion … [Read more…]