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   March 2004   No. 424                                                                                                                                           Subscribe to Fortnight

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Lord Falls - Diary of a slightly revolutionary constitutionalist

Mixer

Wednesday: G’day. One had a bonza time in Oz. The people are lovely, so trusting, so rich. Sold a good few books and had the chance to find out more about Ned Kelly. I have no doubt that Ned was a proto-Provo who would support Sinn Féin had he not been gunned down by the peelers. Have urged an inquiry into Brit collusion in his demise. Must write a piece for AP/RN about this.

Thursday: Fell out with Babs de Brun about the European election. ‘Bon jour’, says she. I lost the bap and said: ‘Stop that. You know my Gaelic is not as good as yours’.

Friday: I have had urgent discussions with Tony B regarding unemployment amongst ex-prisoners. I have demanded, as part of the review process of the GFA, that all ex-prisoners been given law degrees. After all, given the millions that people are making out of the Bloody Sunday Tribunal, it seems unfair that our ones should be excluded just because they didn’t go to university. Anyway, many of them know more about the law - and certain other events - than any of the lawyers present.

Will sell this new initiative not as further example of the party becoming bourgeois but rather as a new version of economic warfare; one in which we can seriously damage the British Exchequer while simultaneously getting a holiday home out of it.

Saturday: Very depressed today. It’s been ages since the Assembly election and I miss seeing myself on telly. Can’t wait for the European elections and the opportunity to strut my stuff on an All-Ireland basis. How do people manage without the sight of me day and daily?

Sunday: Am delighted to see that the Free State Traitor Media polls show that we are doing as well as Frere Rabbitte and his pseudo-leftie Labour Party. In a straight fight between a reactionary party and an incompetent party, the reactionary always wins. We’re quids in. Another Labour scalp soon to be added to my belt. James Connolly would be proud of us.

Monday: Wee bit of unpleasantness down the town regarding some fellows and a van. Have issued a directive that no one is to be seen dead in anything other than a BMW, Audi or Jag. Image is everything.

Tuesday: Sorry to read John Kelly’s critique of the party in the papers. It’s always sad when old comrades disagree, especially some one who has given a lifetime’s commitment to the cause. Have told the boys to go easy on him.

Tuesday: Am very excited about the boys’ efforts to have Long Kesh Concentration and Extermination Camp turned into a museum. Am particularly taken with the idea of a ‘peace park’ - though wonder if that shouldn’t be ‘pieces’ park; a piece of him; a piece of her... Anyway, I have asked for a wing in which to store my valuable manuscripts.
One of the boys, an ex-prisoner himself, said he would be honoured to store my writings up his hole, just like the good old days. I’m flabbergasted by such loyalty.



 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

P r e v i e w
Issue 424

Mischief making and cowardice – the betrayal of the Human Rights Commission
Having completed a five year term as a member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, I welcome this invitation to reflect on that experience.
by Harold Good

Spookaticci
This book has been long awaited. Since 1999 when allusions to a senior British agent operating in the highest echelons of the IRA began to filter into public discourse, unease mixed with fascination has permeated the psyche of the republican constituency. Many believed and some hoped that once Stakeknife was unmasked it would reveal a high profile politician.
by Anthony McIntyre

Tongue of my father
Do Liam, atá ag claoi lena dhúchas. For Liam, who is cleaving to his tradition. Do Liam, nach bhfuil eagla air níos mó. For Liam, who is no longer afraid. These are the book dedications that Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill writes for me after a recent reading. I have been talking to her in Irish for the first time, having spoken English at our previous encounters.
by Liam Carson

Iraq’s Mercenary Armies
Amongst all the bloodshed in Iraq, it is hardly surprising that the death of one South African and the wounding of five others in a bomb attack in Baghdad at the beginning of February should have attracted little international attention. Yet the story behind their presence in Iraq is an instructive one, with both chilling and poignant dimensions. The dead man was Frans Strydom, a former member of Koevoet, a notorious counter-insurgency unit that operated in Namibia in the 1980s.
by Adrian Guelke

Lord Falls - Diary of a slightly revolutionary constitutionalist
Wednesday: G’day. One had a bonza time in Oz. The people are lovely, so trusting, so rich. Sold a good few books and had the chance to find out more about Ned Kelly. I have no doubt that Ned was a proto-Provo who would support Sinn Féin had he not been gunned down by the peelers. Have urged an inquiry into Brit collusion in his demise. Must write a piece for AP/RN about this.

Mixer

 


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