Sunday 27 Roger and Me London socialist Film Co-op showing 1.30pm for 2pm Conway Hall Red Lion Square WC1 tickets £3.50/£2.00 Monday 28 Picket High Court on first day of McLibel trial 9.30am The Strand WC2 Wakefield protest at closure of old peoples' and childrens' homes NATHE week of action opens Save Guy's Hospital! mass campaign meeting 7.30pm Boetmund Centre 171 Abbey St SE1 details 071 703 Wednesday 2 Save Guy's Hospital! mass campaign meeting 7.30pm Millpond Hall Jamaica Dear Socialist Outlook, There have been a number of problems with the recent coverage of Ireland in Socialist Outlook.
Firstly we had Liam Mac Uaid's Sinn Fein Turns Right (no.54 Dec 11) which made the astounding claim that Sinn Fein were 'now willing to accept the unionist veto to a united Ireland', with no shred of evidence being offered.
It also implied that the tragic Shankill bomb was 'sectarian' without giving its context - an attempt to hit Loyalist death squad leaders in the wake of the most vicious UFF and UVF murder campaign since the seventies.
There were also throw-away lines about socialism, reformism etc, which deserve far more space than is possible here.
Secondly, David Coen's far more substantial Irish Struggle in Danger (no.55 Jan 15) on the Downing Street declaration. This article fails to understand that the 'pan-Nationalist alliance' is partially a reflection of the fact that the Irish nation as a whole is denied self-determination.
Oppressed
The Nationalist community in the North is an oppressed community whether they vote Sinn Fein or SDLP, a fact which is not altered by the bourgeois (and therefore treacherous) character of the main parties in the south or of the SDLP.
This article also dismisses as place the demand on the British 'additional sweetners' 'talk of government that they negotiate an amnesty and de-militarisa- with Sinn Fein (which we tion'. should as a matter of principle).
If this was to mean release of Republican prisoners and re- Finally, we can only suggest moval of troops from Nationalist that Socialist Outlook gives areas it would be a bit more than some space to the 'reformist sothat, and it reveals the pressures cialists' of Sinn Fein to speak on Dublin as well as the tension for themselves, and that combetween Dublin and London. rades read such publications as The 'enticement' of repeal of Republican News. Section 31 has happened, and The last issue of Troops Out Sinn Fein still refuses to endorse has an interview with Gerry Downing Street. Adams which explains the ReMoreover, the Republicans publican attitude to the unionist publicly accepted years ago that veto. it was 'impossible to force out In comradeship, the British militarily. Bernard Gibbons and If they are 'politically at their John Hughes. weakest for 10 years' why are • Socialist Outlook they now the largest Nationalist party on Belfast City Council? welcomes readers' Both articles point to real dan- letters. Send them to gers, as does the latest by Mac Uaid (no. 56 Feb 5), but actually PO Box 1109, London, offer no serious analysis of what N4 2UU. Letters over the tasks are of Socialists in Britain, apart form continuing to de- 400 words will be mand British withdrawal and the edited for space. implication that we should not
socialist aganst RACISM Saturday 19 March