Derry Massacre

Derry Massacre

British troops opened fire on a peaceful protest march in Derry (Ireland) Sunday last, leaving 13 dead and at least 16 others injured. While recoiling in horror from such an atrocity, it is well to recall the circumstances in which this massacre took place. In a demonstration organized by the Derry Civil Rights Association and the elected representatives of the people, 20,000 citizens of Derry were marching to show their complete and utter oposition to the Belfast and London governments, and particularly their policy of interning political dissidents without charge or trial.

During the past two years - and especially since the tration camps were opened last August - the British and Northern Ireland governments (effectively abetted by the American media) have conducted a vigorous campaign to make out that the conflict in Northern Ireland is between the "peace-keeping" British Army and I.R.A. "terrorists." This is not how the situation is seen in the ghettoes of Belfast and Derry. The internment of 1,000 men and its accompanying inhumanities - mass arrests (including school children), selective raids and house wrecking, torture of detainees, fatherless families, arbitrary beatings, harrassment of entire districts, cratering of Border roads by the Army and now mass murder - have totally alienated the entire Catholic community (and many Protestants) in Northern Ireland from the puppet government of arch-bigot Brian Faulkner and his British military and political bosses.

One of the most successful manifestations of this revolution is a widespread rent and tax strike, accompanied by total withdrawal from parliament, local government and public bodies. The minority in Northern Ireland are determined that this civil disobedience campaign will be escalated and continued until the land, mines, industries, streets, resources and destiny of Ireland are owned by the people of Ireland.

- Bernard Cullen