Housing Meeting a Success

myself addressing housing meet.

another comrade addressing the meeting

On March 16th a public meeting was called on the issue of homelessness in Kitchener. The meeting was well attended and we were happy to see people from the Region there.

After discussing the problem we came up with some solutions including the building of a community center that will allow people in the downtown community access to resources that they need to survive as well as a space to discuss the problems that people are facing and come up with solutions. The community center will include units of low income housing as well as have a public nurse come in to deal with health issues that afflict the poor. This is the first of many consultations we will host.to move forward on finding solutions to the housing crisis through mobilizing the people.

32CSM statement IWD Montreal

32CSM marching under the Trans Flag IWD Montreal

The 32CSM sends revolutionary greetings to the people gathered here to commemorate international woman’s day. We of the 32CSM firmly believe that the liberation of woman in Ireland can only be achieved by total liberation from the occupation, the political and economic exploitation of woman by colonialist patriarchy and the liberation of woman from oppression in the household.
Partition has created a situation where in the north woman face daily harassment from the PSNI and the state, while in the south were forced to live under a patriarchal theocracy. The most recent mass graves found at Tuam clearly demonstrate the crimes of the freestate against woman and there body’s
for us our struggle for liberation of woman does not start and stop on this day but rather is something that must be continuous and must include woman of all strata s and ethnicity s
this can only be achieved by driving out the brits and creating the space where the woman of the Irish nation can then create a society where all are free
long live International Woman’s Day
A woman’s place is in the struggle

Statement of Ex POW Conal Corbett on his first strip search with statement from witness read at meeting in Montreal

Statement of witness on the forced strip search of Conal Corbett

Out for another wee spell, when I was on the way out an 18 year old Republican was coming back from court; a full riot team was waiting for him and he was directed straight into a holding cell to be sexually assaulted.

The cell they use for this torture is blocked up but I could see out of the one I was in. For the entire period that the riot team was at him, their ‘team leader’- a notorious bigot named in many previous IRPWA statements -was standing outside laughing with a Governor.

Two grown men laughing and sniggering at what they were doing to a teenager in the room opposite. Then a medic, a nurse who is supposed to be impartial joined in the laughter! After the deed was done; she went in to check if he had been harmed, how could he tell her if he was? She is one of them!

I never seen it from the other side of the door, but its even more disgusting watching them do it to someone else than having it done to yourself.

Up until Christmas 2014 they demanded to search people leaving the Gaol on paroles, then they abolished that proving its disproportionate and unnecessary use. Why would they have to put someone through it coming back from court when they have been in handcuffs and under guard all day?

Sick fucking dirty bastards, the whole lot of them – EVIL

The 18 year old is Conal Corbett

My First Forced Strip Search- Conal Corbett
It was a Saturday afternoon at around 1 pm; I had just arrived at Hydebank gaol after two sleepless nights at
Antrim interrogation centre. I entered the Reception area of Hydebank with my hands cuffed, ‘escorted’ by two
screws. Following the first part of the ‘processing’ procedure, that is — the taking of my details, I was placed in
a small holding cell. After a few minutes a screw came in and barked: “are you going to comply with a full
body search” (A full body search is a jail euphemism used for a forced strip search). I immediately refused,
stating that I was a Republican Political Prisoner. He responded that he would give me twenty minutes
“reflection time”. These twenty minutes to ‘reflect’, I have come to learn, has no purpose other than to cause
maximum discomfort and anxiousness, waiting on the inevitable. It worked.
After the twenty minutes, which seemed to drag, a gaol governor arrived and asked me “Are you going to
comply with the full body search?” I replied to him, in as brave a voice as I could muster: “I am a Republican
prisoner and I will neither comply nor resist”. He then gave me what he called a ‘direct order’ to comply with a
‘full body search’. I told him that my answer remained the same. Before leaving the room, and while sniggering,
he asked, “Do you think you are some sort of hero?” “Fuck you”, I thought, but said nothing.
Therefore, six riot squad screws entered, wearing black boiler suits and military-style boots. Two of them
immediately grabbed hold of each of my wrists, putting me in arm-locks and forcing me to my knees, and then
onto my chest. At this stage they changed the arm-locks to further restrict any possibility for movement. They
twisted until my wrists felt as though they were burning and would bend no further.
Another Riot Squad screw took hold of my two legs and pulled them out straight so that I was lying flat on my
front. He then removed my shoes and searched them, then the same with my socks, followed by my trousers
which were dragged off me. My boxers were then ripped from me and searched, with my lower half completely
exposed to the riot squad. As two of them each took hold of one of my legs, spreading them apart, the
inspecting of my genitals began for what was probably seconds, but felt like an uncomfortably long time.
Finally my shirt was removed, searched, and then thrown down on top of my back. One riot squad screw took
hold of my two arms as he ordered the other five to leave the room before following them out. I remained in the
search room and dressed myself, glad that the indignity had finally ended, for the time being at least.
This was an inhuman act of physical abuse and psychological violence, ordered and carried out to humiliate and
degrade me as a Republican Political Prisoner. This was a technique used by the jail in an attempt to break me;
something they did not and never will succeed in doing. “Fuck you”, I said out loud.
Conal Corbett (aged 18)
Ex Republican Political Prisoner.

myself reading 32CSM statement at meeting, as well as statement from ex POW Conal Corbett

32CSM speech read in Montreal at meeting on Filipino, Irish and Palestinian POWS and the occupation of those lands.

comrades and friends on behalf of the 32CSM I send revolutionary greeting to the Filipino and Palestinian comrades presenting here today as well as all in attendance whom have come to hear the truth about the political situation in Ireland. The 32CSM was founded for one reason and that reason is to stand up and defend Irish Sovereignty at a moment in time when the British and their collaborators started a political process to entrench the political and economic occupation of the Six Counties by the British, as well as normalize the repression of all those who choose to speak out in defense of sovereignty.

The 32CSM was founded on the republican principles that the solution to the conflict in Ireland can only be achieved by a total and complete withdrawal of the British allowing the diverse peoples who are part of the Irish Nation to determine their own destiny free from British interference which includes the threat of military intervention which the British used to impose both partition and the GFA which entrenches this partition.
The 32CSM believes that the cause of the conflict is the british occupation, an act of violence in and of itself and therefor the solution to the conflict is the end of the occupation since only by dealing with the root cause can we move forward.
The issue of the POWS can only be discussed in the context of what the Irish POWS are struggling for which is an end to the occupation and the creation of a 32 County Irish Republic.
and only by understanding what the occupation is about can we understand what the prisoners are fighting for.
The creation of Irish political prisoners is a very important part of the occupation since the most important goal of the british is to criminalize the very existence of Ireland as a nation.
and to achieve this objective the British use special military courts, secret evidence, lying witnesses and internment to crush not just the armed resistance against the British presence but also to make it a crime simply to speak about being free.
I bring up the case of Tony Taylor as an example. Tony Taylor was walking with his family over 300 days ago when crown forces kidnapped him and have held him in prison for over 300 days. Tony has not had a trial, nor were charges laid, nor was their any process. He is in jail like many before him simply for being known as an Irish Republican. His crime is not a crime that one commits but rather a thought crime, to think that Ireland should be free.
The case of The Craigavon 2 demonstrates that being in court does not mean that you will get justice. Despite the fact that during their trial and appeal no credible evidence emerged linking them to what crime they are accused of and so much evidence has emerged that they were framed
they were still convicted demonstrates the lack of justice that an Irish Republican will receive in a British court
These two cases are not coincidences but rather the norm at this time there are over 200 Irish Political prisoners in the north and the south being treated like criminals and denied political status which Bobby Sands died for. I will end my presentation by reading the experience of Conal Corbett a 18 year old youth who languished in a british jail simply for being a republican and end my talk by saying that we must not just fight for the prisoners but fight for ending the root cause of their imprisonment which is the illegal british occupation

myse4lf reading 32CSM statement at meeting.