BY DOUG COOPER AND TONY HUNT
DERRY, Northern Ireland-"Your demand is not about getting
an apology from the British. It is not about revenge. It is
about truth. It is about justice. It is about equality,"
Martin Ferris, a Sinn Fein leader from Kerry, in the south of
Ireland, told thousands of working people rallying at Free
Derry Corner in the Bogside neighborhood here January 31.
Ferris and others spoke at the end of the annual
demonstration, which commemorated the 27th anniversary of
Bloody Sunday - the Jan. 30, 1972, massacre of 14 unarmed
civil rights marchers by the British army.
While smaller than the previous two years, the march was more than 15,000 strong. Packing the streets of the working- class Catholic districts of Derry, the spirited march grew as it progressed to the rally point, close to the scene of the massacre.
Leading the way, 14 marchers carried crosses bearing the names of people killed that day; 14 others carried photos of them. Behind them, relatives and others carried photos of some of the more than 400 other Catholics and nationalists killed by British occupation forces. Uncovering the truth about these murders and winning justice for the families was a central theme of the march and a preceding day of discussion organized by the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign.
One of the many young marchers, Peter O'Neill, wanted to talk about the next steps in the fight for freedom in Ireland. "The RUC [the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the British- organized police force] has got to be disbanded," he said. O'Neill also spoke about the growing evidence of collaboration between British forces and loyalist death squads who have killed hundreds.
Last year the British government conceded a new inquiry - the Saville Inquiry - into the 1972 killings, but public hearings will not begin until at least September 1999. The fight to force London to tell the truth is "not over yet" emphasized Bloody Sunday relative Liam Way, who chaired the rally.
The British state "is not prepared to come clean and admit its part," said relative Tony Doherty. He had just returned from the January 30 march in London. Doherty stressed the inquiry was achieved by "you, the ordinary agitators of Ireland and elsewhere, returning to the streets year after year."
Alice O'Brien from Dublin, a leader of Justice for the Forgotten and the Dublin Monaghan Committee, also spoke. Her sister, brother-in-law, and their two children were killed in Dublin, in the May 17, 1974, Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Several media reports claimed that loyalists with the involvement of British police agencies planted the bombs, which killed 33 people and wounded more than 250 - the biggest loss of life in a single day in 30 years of the struggle in Ireland. O'Brien demanded that the Dublin government release Irish police files on the incident and a tribunal be established.
A large contingent from the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition from Portadown, who are waging a struggle against loyalist thugs, also marched. Their leader, Brendán Mac Cionnaith described to the Militant their continuing struggle against loyalist thugs. Gangs of up to 1,000 rightists gather nightly to intimidate and assault the small nationalist community there. The latest incident occurred February 2 when 250 loyalists, some armed with iron bars, staged a four-hour assault. Nationalists, however, were "quiet and determined. If they think they can break our community they are mistaken," Mac Cionnaith said.
In his speech, Mac Cionnaith explained the centrality of the struggle today at Portadown and at other nationalist communities such as on the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast. London's goal on Bloody Sunday, he said, was to crush the rising struggle for justice and equality, which had begun in Derry in 1968 and "struck a chord" among nationalists elsewhere. Having failed over 30 years to stifle this resistance, pro-British Unionist forces had turned their attention to isolated nationalist communities. "The future for justice and equality starts on the Garvaghy Road," Mac Cionnaith said, urging demonstrators to step up their support.
Doug Cooper is a member of the Maritime Union of Australia in Sydney. Julie Crawford, a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in Manchester, England, contributed to this article.
"From what I understand there has been no justice around it. The police get away with it always," said Teresa Kanneh, a student from Goldsmiths College who was participating in her first demonstration.
The march passed the prime minister's residence, where Tony Doherty from the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign and Sinn Fein Assembly member Gerard Kelly handed in a letter to British prime minister Anthony Blair. The letter insisted that there be no whitewash in the public inquiry, and that "other victims of state violence cannot be forgotten or ignored and each of these deaths needs to be looked at."
A small group of rightists waved the Union flag and shouted Loyalist slogans. Another group appeared from a side street and attempted to attack the march. Unlike in previous years, the police intervened to hold back the rightists, aware of the growing support for Irish freedom and campaigns against cop brutality and racist attacks.
More than 700 people crowded into the end-of-march rally, which was addressed Tony Doherty, whose father was killed on Bloody Sunday, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Kelly, and several other fighters for justice.
"No Black person can ever trust the police again after the Stephen Lawrence case," said Paul Phillippou, speaking from the Justice for Diarmuid O'Neill Campaign. Stephen Lawrence was killed by racist thugs in London for being Black and the police allowed the assailants to escape justice. Irish nationalist Diarmuid O'Neill was shot and left to bleed to death by police in London who knew he was unarmed.
Diane Hamill explained how her 25-year-old brother Robert was kicked to death by Loyalists in Northern Ireland in front of an RUC patrol who did nothing.
Also speaking on the platform were Sukhdev Reel, who is campaigning to find out the truth about the death of her son following a racial attack in October 1997, and Suresh Grover from Southall Monitoring Group, which plays a prominent role in the Stephen Lawrence Family campaign.
Pamela Holmes is a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union.