This pamphlet, promoting Irish Republicanism and seeking donations, was produced by the Irish Northern Aid association (NORAID) and distributed in the United States in 1982:

“ARMY AND POLICE SHOOT UP FUNERAL POLICE SMASH AND BURN FACE OF DEAD PRISONER

GRIEVING 72 YEAR-OLD FATHER BEATEN BY POLICE

EL SALVADOR? GUATEMALA? SOUTH AFRICA?

No. These events occurred last summer in the north of Ireland. The victims were Irish nationalists. The perpetrators were the British Army and their Loyalist police.

On May 5th 1981 Bobby Sands died after 66 days on hunger strike in protest against Britain’s attempt to brand Irish political prisoners as criminals. One week later, on May 12th, Francis Hughes died. The deaths of Ray McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara followed on May 21st. Almost seven weeks elapsed before the next death. Rather than use the seven weeks to resolve the conflict and defuse an explosive situation, the British toyed with the hunger strikers and their families and stalled and deceived the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace. And so, on July 8th 1981, Joe McDonnell died after 61 days on hunger strike. Over the next month Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom McElwee and Micky Devine died while Britain remained intransigent.

One year later we remember these deaths. We remember the courage of each man in the face of British oppression. We recall the appalling treatment of the hunger strikers and their families by the British… The British have always been portrayed as fair minded and civilised and they have spent millions of pounds on propaganda to insure that this image remains untarnished. Very few would believe that the British would attack a grieving people burying its dead. But it happened as it always has happened in Ireland: British brutality covered over with British lies.

Only recently have Americans become aware of the extent of the British hold over American politicians, a hold so strong as to prompt the frustrated U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. to remark: “Why not just disband the State Department and have the British Foreign Office make our policy?” If Britain has been able to manipulate the U.S. into a wholesale acceptance of its policies, you can imagine what the Irish people must overcome to tell the truth about the occupied six counties in the north of Ireland.

YOU CAN HELP.

When you read your newspaper, remember that most American reporters rely on the British Home Office or the British Information Services for the “facts” they report. Write to your elected representatives asking that they support a united and free Ireland by demanding the withdrawal of all British troops. Send donations to help us disseminate accurate information about the situation in the north of Ireland. Mid-Manhattan Unit. Irish Northern Aid, P.O.Box 472, Gracie Station East 85th Street, New York, 10028. Telephone (212) 420-0681.”