Rouge, the paper of our French sister organisation, the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire (LCR - French section of the Fourth International), is going daily from January. This is an import ant step forward not just for the LCR ano ine rourt internationa. it ove the whole of the revolutionary left an important new voice in the daily strug good. gles of the workers' movement.
To help build the campaign for the daily paper, the French comrades are organising a massive international festival in Paris on 18-19 October. Among the central political debates being organ- ine women s movement speakers un' clude women from Lip and Juliet - Marxism today (Lucio Colletti, Daniel Bensaid, Rossana Rossanda) - revolutionary oress reoresentauve:
from Liberation, Lotta Continua, lI Manifesto, Avanguardia Operaia)
Portugal (Portuguese revolutionary hebdomadaire d'action communiste espagne 10 CONDRNATIONS A MORT I!
The wave of bomb explosions over the last ten days in the Six Counties has led to a massive increase in activity by the British Army and the local security forces. This has included more road checks, screening operations and raids on houses in nationalist areas.
The Provisional IRA have claimed responsibility for the bombings and declared that they will continue. On 22 September alone, the first day of this campaign, there were 14 explosions throughout the length and breadth of the North of Ireland in Belfast, Portadown, Derry, Omagh and other centres. The explosions caused hundreds and thousands of pounds worth of damage to buildings; the targets included security posts as well as commercial buildings. Adequate warnings were given in all cases, thereby ensuring that no civilians would be hurt, and the only casualties were two RUC policemen who were serfously injured.
The Belfast Brigade of the Provisionals had in previous statements pointed out that retaliatory action would be taken if torture and harassment of the nationalist minority did not cease, and on 21 September issued a reminder that the RUC was not included in any ceasefire. Particular resentment is felt amongst the Catholic community at the torture inflicted by the RUC on over 30 young men at Castlereagh.
INTERROGATION
One of these was 18-year-old Joe Magee, and his experiences are typical of what is happening. He was taken by Paras to North Queen Street Army post at 5.00 am on Tuesday 16 September. There he was forced to stand against a wall in the "search' position for two hours threatened with a rifle.
Three hours later, Joe was handed over to the RUC at Castlereagh, where he was photographed and given a medical check. He was then interrogated for over eight hours by three policemen, and during that time he was slapped about the face and beaten in the stomach. He was given some food to eat, but was afraid to eat it as his attackers had warned he would be poisoned JOHN MAGEE reports from Belfast or drugged. Then the interrogation started afresh. Joe was made to stand with his back to the wall and his hands by his sides while he was abused and threatened that he would be shot, drowned or handed over to the UVF.
At this point Joe Magee was so terrified that he attempted suicide. He described what happened in a statement issued through one of the Provisional Sinn Fein Truce Incident Centres:
They make for me viciously. I can't take it any more. So I dash to the window and smash it and try to cut my wrists and end it all and have peace and no more beating. No-one could stand it.
BLEEDING
*The next I can remember they had pulled me out into the corridor and were trying to wash the blood off and stop the bleeding. do that? I said that I had done it because they were going to kill me slowly. They seemed frightened. A crowd of them had gathered.' The RUC naturally deny that Joe Magee was ill-treated or assaulted, yet they admit that he required treatment at Dundonald Hospital while in their custody, and photographs of Joe's injuries were published in a Sunday newspaper.
Despite these events, and the bombs of the past week, the Provisionals say that the truce still holds. They are determined that they will not be forced into ending it because of Loyalist and British Army demands that it should be broken by the Labour Government. Nevertheless, Loyalist pressure is mounting, and the action of the Army in stepping up its profile over the last few days indicates that Merlyn Rees is even now moving to appease those demands.
The real question, however, is not whether the truce lasts another few days or weeks or months, but rather — how should the anti-Unionist population prepare for when it does break? To this the Provisional bombing campaign of the last few days is no answer at red weekly 2 october 1975 charges. charged on these grounds. -you are advised to contact:
WETTe: 01-3527906 GROUNDS At Ease experience They kept saying, why did you military authorities.
peace literature available from:
London, W1. Tel: 01-437 7363. Open from 6pm (address above).
Sweden by:
The British Deserters as a TOUriST The trial began on Monday of 14 supporters of the British Withdrawal from Northern Ireland Campaign (BWNIC) on charges of conspiring to contravene the Incitement to Disaffection Act. In solidarity with the def endants, and along with a number of other left-wing papers, we print below the text of the leaflet whose distribution was the pretext for the This information has been compiled by supporters of the British Withdrawal from Northern Ireland Campaign who hope that it will be of some use to soldiers who have decided not to go to Northern Ireland. We are not recommending any particular course of action. There is no easy way out of the Army, but we hope that by one means or another you will avoid taking part in the killing in Northern Ireland IF YOU ARE A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR that is, if since joining up you have developed a religious or moral ob jection to taking part in any war, you have a legal right to be disThe Central Board for Conscientious Objectors, c/o Endsleigh Street, London, IF YOU INTEND TO APPLY FOR A DISCHARGE ON OTHER the following organisations may be able to help:
Gc/o Release, 1 Elgin Avenue, London, W9. 'At Ease' was recently opened to deal with enquiries about all legal ways of leaving the armed Torces. Counselors two include ex servicemen are available at this address every Thursday evening from 7.30 to 9.30pm. "At" Ease" also deals with enquiries by The National Council for Civil Liberties, 186 Kings Cross Road, London, WC1.
office hours. This organisation has considerable in giving legal advice to servicemen and representing them to IF YOU HOPE THE ARMY WILL DISCHARGE YOU -on political grounds, you may be interested in the wide selection of The Peace Centre, 18 Moor Street Ringway, Birmingham 4. Tel: 021-643 0996 nousmans booksnops, o Caledonian Hoad, London, Ni. Ter: 01-831 447 -on sexual grounds, you may wish to contact:
The Campaign for Homosexual Equality, National Office, 28 Kennedy Street For their London intormation centre, 2z Great windmill street Or phone Icebreakers, 01-274 9590 from 7.30pm to 10.30pm. -on health grounds, we would advise you not to mutilate yourself, feign mental illness or take dangerous drugs. Some soldiers are doing so in desperation. If you have a genuine health problem, contact 'At Ease"
IF YOU HAVE DECIDED TO GO ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE -to Sweden, you will be pleased to know that special arrangements have been made to welcome. British servicemen who go AWOL to Support Group, c/o Bok-Cafe Morianen, Box 16037, •Drottninggatan 19, 103 21 Stockholm 16, Sweden. Tel: Stockholm 106063, If you go to Sweden, you will need your passport, your military ID card and about E30 cash (you need this to get through Passport Control as a tourist). You are advised to enter via Stockholm and avoid Malmo and Goteborg, and to enter You will need to wait three weeks before going to register with the police as an applicant for political asylum. If you contact the British Deserters Support Group,
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SOME INFORMATION FOR DISCONTENTED SOLDIERS