MARANT
Mass demonstrations - such as this one in Dublin - shook Ireland in protest against the inhuman treatment of H-Block prisoners.
The struggle by the H-Block prisoners to gain political prisoner status is far from over. Last December, it seemed that the Tories - under pressure from the mass movement building up - had conceded all of their demands.
It is now clear, however, that they are reneging on the deal. Having defused the mass movement, they are now seeking to backtrack on the concessions they were forced to make.
ISSUE The fundamental issue of the H-Block protest was the prisoners refusa to wear convict uniforms. They rejected and demanded political prisoner status.
Because of their protest, they were forced to live naked in their cells and were subjected to inhuman treatment and harassment. Ine prisoners decision to launch a hunger strike was a desperate attempt to protest this treatment anism and the media and Ireland. Particoppression. own clothes, to refrain from work, to activities and to get full remission on their sentences.
BACK-DOWN
"common criminals"
were to be given their own clothing. not hard to fathom. The Tories were dished out to men whose only crime wa. fighting to rid their country of foreign on the British Embassy They demanded the right to wear their freely associate with other political prisoners, to organise their own educational Although the Tories pretended they RENEGING had not given an inch, Humphrey Atkins' statement on Dec. 17 clearly conceded most of these demands. According to Bernadette McAliskey, clean cells were to be prepared for the prisoners and they been turned away.
The reason for this about-face was frightened by the mass movement developing against the prisoners' inhuman treatment. In the weeks preceding the end of the fast, mass demonstrations from Ireland. Supporters from Socialist shook the country from Belfast to Dub. lin where, on Dec. 6, 40,000 marched The Tories realised that - if any prisoner died - it could unleash a mass explosion. It could bring masses onto the streets and fuel the fight for a united Ireland free from British rule. The concessions (though denied) were an attempt to defuse this situation.
Having defused the mass movement, however, the Tories are now clearly reneging on the deal they made with the prisoners. Relatives of some prisoners bringing civilian clothes to the jail have Moreover, prisoners have been told that they will have to wear prison uniform and obey prison regulations before they are removed to clean cells and allowed to wear their own clothes.
Such treachery has - as a statement not preclude working with forces, or taking part in actions, which did not by the H-Block/Armagh Cttee recently said - created growing "tensions and frustration.. in the prisons". It means that all the men on the "blanket" are still in protest and there is talk of even launching another hunger strike. MASS ACTION If the Tories think they can get away with reneging on the deal, however, they had better think again. Early in January, Bernadette McAliskey announced at a rally in Beifast that, if the Tories refused to keep their word, the protest would have to return to the streets.
This is exactly what is beginning to happen. The National H-Block/Armagh Cttee has called for a widening of the campaign. It is up to us in the British labour movement to give maximum support in that struggle. A first step will be building the Labour Committee on Ireland rally, February 21, which is highlighting the plight of H-Block prisoners.
10.
Par Socialist Action, PO Box 65, London SW 16 INN
----- pull-quotes -----
COYLE 15YR6
Socialist Action Pamphlets