Archive for the ‘Censorship’ Category
SECOND FRONT OPENED IN LEGAL FIGHT TO SAVE BOSTON COLLEGE ARCHIVES
SECOND FRONT OPENED IN LEGAL FIGHT TO SAVE BOSTON COLLEGE ARCHIVES
Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre are pleased to announce that they are opening a second front in their fight to prevent the Police Service of Northern Ireland gaining access to the Belfast Archive at Boston College. In addition to the legal action currently ongoing in the federal appeals court in Boston, they have this week filed papers in the Belfast courts seeking a judicial review of the PSNI action alleging that the UK authorities are in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and the British Human RIghts Act of 1998. The Judicial Review asks that the British Home Office’s request of assistance from the United States be quashed, the subpoenas be declared unlawful, a discontinuation of the PSNI’s application for the material, and for an injunction stopping any material from Boston College being received by the PSNI. The two legal actions in Belfast and Boston emphasise our utter determination that the enormously valuable historical documents in the Boston College archive will never fall into the hands of anyone except those authorised by the terms of the solemn and unbreakable contracts we made with the interviewees. Ultimately these papers tell a part of Ireland’s recent troubled history and they should be used for no reason other than to educate and inform. Read the rest of this entry »
Boston College has undermined all researchers and journalists who rely on confidential sources – Liam Clarke Article
A huge amount has been written about the Boston College Saga – and there is plenty more to come – but Liam Clarke sums up the central issues very well
His full article is here :
We need full open and honest debate on the troubles – that cannot happen when the state uses its power to prosecute people for actions they took during the 1969-98 Northern Ireland war which ended with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
The state is biased and will never – taking the most blatant example – prosecute the people responsible for the murder of fourteen unarmed demonstrators in Derry on Bloody Sunday at the end of January 1972.
The Saville Inquiry Found British Paratroopers Guilty of Murdering 14 Innocent Civilians - Nobody Prosecuted
Ed Moloney offers the example of Patrick McCullough :
http://thebrokenelbow.com/2012/01/16/no-subpoenas-for-patrick-mccullough/
Was Liam Cosgrave’s 1973-77 Fine Gael-Labour Coalition the worst-ever Dublin Government?
On many occasions Gene Kerrigan has argued that the Bertie Ahern coalition elected in 2002 was the worst-ever Dublin Government.
Back in January 2006, this column argued in some detail that the then government, headed by Bertie Ahern, was the worst in the history of the State
Surely the Liam Cosgrave-led 1973-77 Coalition deserves this honour –
The record speaks for itself : Read the rest of this entry »
Tale of the tape pits law against history
Liam Clarke has written a very good article about the PSNI (six-county police) “attempt to gain access to Boston College’s Belfast Project Archive of the taped testimonies of IRA and loyalist figures.”
It can be read here on the excellent Newshound site :
http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Sunday_Times/arts2011/jun19_Tale_of_tapes_BC__LClarke.php
Tomás Ó Flatharta 