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On 27th February, the Derry Women's Action Committee and the Northern Resistance Movement organised an "illegal" march through the Bogside to commemorate Bloody Sunday, when 13 unarmed civilians were shot down on the streets of the city. (This statement is, of course, "illegal' too, since any comment on the Derry massacre is "sub judice" until Widgery's tribunal makes public its findings!) 3,000 people joined the march, to protest against internment and Westminster's hastily contrived legislation to "legitimise" the British Army's poliey of repression in the Six Counties.
According to a report in the Times, one soldier was knocked unconscious when a crowd of 50 teenagers broke away from the main body of the march and started to stone troops at the William Street barricade, and the Army fired rubber bullets to disperse them. At the junction of William Street and Rossville Street, cannisters of CS gas were thrown, but the Army denied having fired them. "Youths attacking our barricades threw CS gas cannisters at soldiers," an Army spokesman said. He made no comment about the effects of the gas on his brave troopers, or the tact that tens of thousands of these cannister have been indiscriminately hurled at the nationalist minority, men, women and children allke. The bomb attack on the officers' mess at ALDERSHOT on 22nd February, for which responsibility has been accepted by the Official IRA, resulted in the tragic and inadvertent killing of five women canteen assistants. Although it was a technical error which led to the bomb exploding at the wrong time, the placing of the bomb was a deliberate act of the social conditions under which waitresses, women cleaners, or any other members of the working class have to live and work.
But the explosion at Aldershot must also be seen in the context of the kind of war which is being fought in Ireland. The nationalist minority is confronting the military might of halt the fighting strength of the British Army. The circumstances force the IRA-the minority's armed vanguard-to operate underground, to acquire arms and explosives where it can, and to use them in the most effective way possible. No doubt the IRA would be delighted to hand over half its home-made bombs in exchange for a few dozen helicopters and a few hundred automatic weapons, But meanwhile it is forced to use tactics which "outrage" the ruling class and its press, who admire megaton bombs dropped discreetly from fast planes. If you would like to join the frish Solidarity Campaign, which is building up a movement in Britain in support of self-determination for Ireland, and for victory to the IRA, write to: ISC, 22 Duncan Terrace, London N.1. Hilary Brazen On the weekend of April 29-30, ISC is holding a conference at Oxford to bring together all those organisations and groups which agree with its demands, though not necessarily with its analysis of the Irish struggle. Irish immigrants in Britain, trades unionists, radical women's groups, and students all have a central part to play in building a movement which can take the issue to the place where the ruling class least wants to see it: the factory floor. If you would like to attend the conference, and especially if you would like to help mobilise for it, please write at once to the address above. The current issue of the Irish Citizen contains a manifesto, outlining the stages of the struggle in Ireland and the reasons for ISC's demands, which will be presented at the conference, It is available from the same address at 3p.
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