Time to realise the promise of the revolutionary generation

Posted by Jim on January 26, 2019

Last weekend, an official state commemoration of the First Dail took
place in the Mansion House in Dublin. Addressing the audience, Sinn Féin
President Mary Lou McDonald said that “the Ireland of today is not the
Ireland promised in the 1916 Proclamation. This is not the Dail of the
Democratic Programme.”

She said that “we have before us the opportunity to build a new and
united Ireland”. The following is the full prepared text of her address.

Go raibh maith agat a Ceann Comhairle.


Táim lán-sásta labhairt ag an ócáid stairiúil seo – comóradh céad bliain
An Chéad Dáil.

One hundred years ago – in this very room – revolutionary Ireland found
its voice.

TDs gather with a unity of purpose, in the cause of equality,
independence and freedom.

An eye witness to the day, Máire Comerford of Cumann na mBan said of An
Chéad Dáil, “never was the past so near, or the present so brave or the
future so full of hope”

It is an honour to follow in their footsteps.

To share this room with elected representatives from across this island
and, including the counties of partitioned Ulster – Antrim, Down, Derry,
Fermanagh, Armagh and Tyrone.

Today we are whole.

After so much hope, the vision of the Democratic Programme and the First
Dáil was lost to British repression, civil war, partition, conflict and
the establishment of two conservative states, north and south.

The Ireland of today is not the Ireland promised in the 1916
Proclamation.

This is not the Dáil of the Democratic Programme.

Ireland remains divided. Broken.

The tenements have gone, but tenants live in fear of eviction.

Children no longer go hungry in the streets but now in hotel rooms.

Unseen and forgotten.

The lockout bosses are gone, but workers’ rights are being eroded.

A job is no longer the route out of poverty.

There are those who believe that homelessness is acceptable, that
poverty is inevitable and that partition is permanent.

I do not accept that view.

Our forbearers one hundred years ago rejected that view.

The generation that entered this room and said to the British
government, your empire is ended.

This is our nation.

We come not to recriminate about what could have been; but to plan for
what can be.

Let me say; this is the time.

This is the time to realise the promise of the revolutionary generation.

We come not to genuflect to the past but to stand with all those who
came before us.

Is trí Ghaeilge a ritheadh imeachtaí na Chéad Dála céad bliain ó shin.

Tharla sé seo mar gur bhain chéad chruinniú na Dála le níos mó ná Stát a
bhunú – bhain sé leis an Náisiún.

Uirlis pholaitiúil leis an náisiún a chur chun cinn a bhí i Sinn Féin
agus chuaigh sé i bhfeidhm ar i bhfad níos mó ná a ballraíocht féin.

Bhí forbairt ag teacht thar ghluaiseacht na gceardchumann agus ar
ghluaiseacht chearta na mban ag an am sin.

Bhí An Cumann Lúthchleas Gael agus Conradh na Gaeilge ar thús
cadhnaíochta maidir le slánú agus caomhnú an Gaeilge.

Agus céad bliain ar aghaidh, tá an Ghaeilge faoi bhagairt fós.

Caithfimid níos mó daoine a spreagadh chun An Gaeilge a úsáid ina shaol,
ar fud an oileáin – ó thuaidh agus ó dheas.

Independence alone is not enough.

To paraphrase Connolly, it is not about changing the flag over Dublin
Castle.

Ireland, north and south, is changing.

We have before us the opportunity to build a new and united Ireland.

In which all can find a home.

In which the sick are cared for.

An Ireland of the safety net and of the helping hand.

An Ireland of equal rights, equal opportunity and shared prosperity.

A free and sovereign nation amongst the nations of the world.

Standing here one hundred years on, the past has never been so near, the
present crying out for bravery.

The future so filled with challenge and hope.

Let us not wait another one hundred years.

The government should convene an all-Ireland forum to build for unity
and to plan for unity.

We now have a peaceful and democratic pathway to a new and united
Ireland.

An opportunity that was not afforded the First Dáil or generations of
Irish Republications.

Now is the time to start the last leg of that journey.

To build a truly national democracy and a truly national parliament.

An Irish Republic, worthy of the name and the sacrifices of all those
who came before.

Tá bealach síochánta, daonlathach againn anois Éire aontaithe a bhaint
amach.

Deis nach raibh ar fáil do bhaill Na Chéad Dála ná do ghlúin eile
phoblachtánaigh.

Tá sé in am anois an tír a aontú agus ní mór dúinn reifreann ar aontacht
na hÉireann a bheith againn.

Caithfimid é sin a dhéanamh agus caithfimid Éire nua, aontaithe a bhaint
amach.

The march for justice

Posted by Jim on

The context for this years’s Bloody Sunday March. For more information
see bloodysundaymarch.org

The main focus of the 2019 Bloody Sunday march is on our demand for
“Sir” Michael Jackson to be jailed.

Yes, the paratroopers who fired the shots must be brought to book. But
the greater guilt lies with the top brass.

Jackson, in the Bogside as second-in-command on the day, should be
charged with murder and with perverting the law by procuring the
cover-up.

By the time he appeared before the second Bloody Sunday Inquiry, under
Lord Saville in 2003, Jackson had risen through the ranks to become
Chief of the General Staff, Britain’s top soldier. Following the
publication of the inquiry’s report in June 2010, Tory prime minister
David Cameron couldn’t have described the Derry massacre as “unjustified
and unjustifiable” if the finger of blame had been pointed at Jackson.

Saville damned rank-and-file paratroopers and let the upper echelons off
scot-free. The same old story.  We owe it to the victims not to let this
stand.

We place Bloody Sunday in the context of Ballymurphy, the Shankill,
Loughinisland, McGurk’s Bar etc. And we relate it, too, to State
assaults on citizens elsewhere: the collusion by cover-up in the killing
of Liverpool fans at Hillsborough; the relentless massacre of young
black people by police in the US; the continuing ethnic cleansing of
Palestinians by the Israeli state; the persecution of the Rohingya in
Myannmar; and the drowning in the Mediterranean of refugees fleeing
poverty and war.

The world is awash with blood. We march for the cleansing of war and
injustice from the earth.

The Bloody Sunday March is not party-political. Everyone is entitled to
their own perspective. We urge people of all persuasions to join with us
once again on Sunday, January 27th to signal that we won’t stop
campaigning until the families of all who have lost their lives to State
violence have truth and justice.

We want Jackson jailed, not for revenge or retaliation but because when
the State kills its citizens it must be held to account.

A CENTURY OF ARMED STRUGGLE

Posted by Jim on

A spectacular bomb attack at Derry courthouse last weekend followed by a
series of hoaxes appears designed to deliver a message about the
continuing ability of the ‘new IRA’ to carry on its armed campaign.

It was no coincidence that it came on the eve of the 100th anniversary
of the start of the War of Independence, and the centenary of the First
Dail, when Ireland formally proclaimed its independence.

A timeline of events on the night of Saturday showed that the bombing
had been carefully planned, with a telephoned warning issued just
moments after the device was driven to the courthouse. It detonated 45
minutes later, after the area had been cleared by the PSNI police.

It was followed by hoaxes and alerts across Derry. At the same time,
republicans came under assault by the PSNI, with the Creggan area
described as “saturated” by Crown Forces on Sunday. Seven young
activists were arrested in heavy-handed raids, but all of those were
subsequently released unconditionally.

The ‘new IRA’ evolved from a merger of the Real IRA with other breakaway
IRA groups in 2012 and Derry is their power base. The organisation has
not claimed responsibility for the attack, but most people believe that
it must be their work.

In their response to the events, Saoradh noted that the attack had taken
place against a ‘British institution’ almost exactly one hundred years
after the Soloheadbeg ambush, when most historians say that Ireland’s
War of Independence began.

But they said that media coverage wrongly misinterpreted their response
to the bombing, which noted the centenary, as providing justification
for it.

A spokesperson for the group said that “as long as imperialism remains
the dominant power there will be women and men willing to engage in
revolutionary armed struggle”.

Saoradh also denied having links to the new IRA and insisted that it is
an autonomous political party: “Saoradh does not or will not come under
the control or influence of any other organisation, armed or otherwise,”
they said.

The size of Saturday’s bombing has generated speculation that the new
IRA could mount a further escalation, and that renewed border
infrastructure associated with Brexit might present a target.

The attack also comes in the face of British moves to reinforce its
military and policing presence in the border area ahead of Brexit.

A convoy of British Army vehicles was seen heading for the Derry area
late last week. British forces have also increased their covert
activities in the border town of Newry, where unidentified and heavily
armed units were seen entering properties in the town under cover of
darkness.

As confidence in the Good Friday Agreement wanes, Britain’s Direct Ruler
in Ireland, Karen Bradley told MPs in London that the weekend bomb had
“absolutely nothing to do with Brexit”.

The DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds supported the statement, adding
that the attack was also “somewhat unrelated” to the collapse of the
political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.

For her part, Sinn Féin’s leader in the North, Michelle O’Neill insisted
that there was no support for armed actions within republican
communities.

She told an event marking the centenary of the first Dail that it was
“ironic” that the disruption in Derry had occurred on the anniversary of
the “quintessential expression of the democratic will of the Irish
people”.

She said support for a peaceful reunification of Ireland was growing.
“There is absolutely no justification for these actions. The Good Friday
Agreement provides a democratic and peaceful avenue to pursue political
change including the central republican objective of unifying our
country,” she said.

“This bombing is totally unacceptable and, ironically, comes at a time
when support for a peaceful democratic transition to a United Ireland as
set out in the GFA is at an all-time high.”

In a subsequent statement, Saoradh criticised Sinn Féin for what it said
were statements lending support to the police raids against its
activists.

“The policy put in place by former Republicans of criminalising those
who do not agree with the current political dimension hasn’t gone
unnoticed by those within our communities,” they said.

“Furthermore, as these raids continue to happen, those who have been
elected on the back of Republicanism sit in pro-establishment talking
shops and bury their proverbial heads in the sand as they watch our
communities being destroyed by an unwanted occupying force.”

In their response, the IRSP, which has links to the INLA (Irish National
Liberation Army), did not condemn the attack. It described the bomb at
Derry courthouse as “an expression of resistance that has characterised
legitimate opposition to British rule in Ireland for generations.

“While the IRSP do not believe that current conditions are conducive to
armed actions, we have no inclination or wish to pass judgment on others
who do, we have never condemned Republicans who express opposition to
British rule via armed struggle and we never will, the root cause of
armed actions remains our common enemy, British occupation itself.

“We understand that a wave of retaliatory raids and arrests have been
launched against republicans in the aftermath of Saturday’s action; our
thoughts are with those affected and we send them our best.”

Family Requests Donations to Lil’ Bravest

Posted by Jim on January 25, 2019

Bombing Derry

Posted by Jim on

Anthony McIntyre shares his thoughts on the weekend bomb attack in Derry. 

The online commentary from Derry citizens exudes a collective sigh of relief that their young people had the good fortune to escape being killed in a bomb attack on a public place by one of the armed republican militias in the city. That relief is fused with a palpable anger that the bombers targeted Derry streets in the first place. A flavour for the feeling is captured in the raw Twitter comment from Derry:

They represent no one, they are not patriots they are criminals. When your fight for freedom restricts the lives of the people you claim to fight for, its futile … Fuck every last one of you and your ’cause’.

Strong stuff, seemingly reflecting a much wider band of sentiment as well. There is no room for doubt that the people of Derry want to bury the republican physical force tradition, not their children.

The New IRA as it is colloquially known has been blamed although to date no republican body has been willing to come out and stand over the indefensible and reprehensible. Apart from some contextual mumblings and stale rhetoric from fraternal groups or individuals, there has been no admission of responsibility. The public of Derry, seemingly, is not permitted to know who is bombing it or why it is being bombed. The rule of Closed Material Proceedings appears to apply.

The PSNI have encouraged the perception of New IRA culpability through its arrest of several Saoradh activists. There is a common perception that both groups drink from the same well, with more than a few observers of the republican scene willing to see the relationship between Saoradh and the New IRA much like that which existed between Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA. Arrest Saoradh activists and by extension the New IRA is in the frame plus a legal political party is smeared in the process. A cop version of buy one get one free. It is sleight of hand. As the PSNI is so at ease with public lying, there is no particular reason to attach any weight to its justification for the arrests that “everything we do has to be lawful, proportional and necessary” when in fact much of what the force does is laughable, disproportionate and gratuitous. A more persuasive case has been made by solicitors acting on behalf of one of the arrested men:

There was never any question of charges in this case. This arrest was particularly cynical. Not a shred of incriminatory evidence was put to him in two days of interviews.

The independent political activist Emmet Doyle has reinforced scepticism towards the PSNI statement by saying:

despite all the whoha, four of the five people arrested by police are home, without charge. No doubt the fifth will follow so the question is why kick doors in and drag people to Musgrave for nothing?”

While the PSNI are simply unworthy of belief, they did not plant the bomb but took risks with their own lives shepherding the people of Derry to safety from a lethal device placed in Bishop Street by people who thus far have lacked both the moral and political conviction to stand over their actions.

21 years after the unmitigated and unpardonable atrocity inflicted by republicans on the civilian population of Omagh, it seems unfathomable that there remain republicans so divorced from the concept of rights other than their own, that they would still consider detonating a car bomb in a population centre. Whatever the purpose – we do not know because nobody from the militarist camp has told us – the discernible military effect was noise. Republicanism advanced not one solitary step either strategically or politically. The opposite in fact. Republicans of the armed sort have once again allowed themselves to be depicted as troglodytes who now and then emerge from tenebrous caverns to hurl spears at wider society. This, after having consulted some strange hieroglyphic drawings on the walls of their caves which they interpret as bestowing upon them the right to risk killing and maiming citizens. There is need for neither consultation nor approval, just the endorsement of the wall. Like some conceit-saturated British aristocrat from the film Braveheart claiming jus primae noctis.

It takes no leap of the imagination to conjure up the horrendous vista that the civilians of Derry were exposed to. The result of Saturday night’s attack could easily have been a homicidal catastrophe of Omagh scale proportion. Yet somebody still thought making a lot of noise was worth the risk. The video footage of a crowd of Derry youth being permitted by the bombers to walk past a primed bomb with absolutely no awareness of the danger they were placed in was nothing short of villainous negligence. When juxtaposed to the footage of one of the bombers running away from the scene to ensure his own safety, the image may yet become damningly defining for armed republicanism. The old pejorative of IRan Away that so stung and helped fuel the emergence and rise of the Provisional IRA, has acquired an added inflexion and will possibly endure.

Such injurious intonations add to the serious credibility problem that republican militias face. In the South, even if the persistent accusation against them is untrue – that they licence the criminal drug trade via taxation – and they have not therefore criminalised the physical force tradition by such arrantly criminal funding mechanisms, their warring with drugs cartels has caused people to regard them as something straight out of a Love/Hate set. The public see no 1916 type rebellion against the British, just street executions related to the drugs trade.

In Drogheda here, those who have commented about it discuss the Derry bombing as if it was an extension of the local bomb incidents that have plagued the town recently. Those occurrences are the result of an ongoing inter gang feud, and events in Derry are viewed in much the same light, just something that happens further up the road. When people invoke Nidge and Fran from Love/Hate in conversation to articulate their view of modern armed republicans, futility induced fatigue prevents me even attempting to disabuse them of their perception.

In the North, the current military prowess of armed republicanism has long been a standing joke amongst former Provisional IRA activists, for the most part seen as resembling the Provisionals’ civil administration teams, up to the task of beating the local hood, but little else. Many who took part in a serious guerrilla war are wary of dignifying the current posturing as a “war”, seeing the “revolutionary acts” as the make believe of pretenders performing a militaristic rain dance, put on for the purpose of headline grabbing. An oft quoted term to describe the leaders of the various grouplets is “egos”.

Even if such perceptions are false or exaggerated, their pervasive existence should alert any serious thinkers within armed republicanism to the impossibilist nature of the task they have undertaken and the incalculable damage being done to republicanism and its history. Since the Omagh bomb at least, the reputation of physical force republicanism has been in tatters.

Given that republicanism most certainly did not benefit in the slightest from the bombing of Derry, there is one very clear answer to the eternal political question of cui bono? British security services, eager to expand their security empire by exaggerating the threat posed by armed militias. Being beneficiaries is a far cry from the security services having any involvement. Still, various republican militias are legendary for their ineptitude and underachievement compared to the Provisional IRA. And as the latter’s competence in the field of internal security was nothing to write home about, it is easily conceivable that today’s militias, being even less competent are even more penetrated. We know from Omagh that the British security services are not easily absolved from blame or black operations.

The IRSP has taken to admonishing one of their members for stating publicly what others are speculating privately. Yet, if the hidden hand of the British was not involved in the bomb attack on Derry – there is no evidence thus far to show that it was – then we are left to conclude that some republican activists all on their own and without any nudging from the British are so rotten to the core that they would wilfully endanger the lives of Derry youth. A most sobering and shuddering thought.

As the author of an upcoming book on “dissident republicans”, Marisa McGlinchey, makes clear, there are many from that dissenting school of thought who simply would not countenance the Derry attack. That wider body of republican opinion needs to purge itself of this revolutionary arrogance which holds that the community of Derry has no right not to be bombed and that some masked militia has the right to bomb it. If republicans are insistent on freedom, then the right of a community to be free from republican violence must figure top of the agenda. Violence if ever resorted to has to be the last resort, never the first. It must also be strategically not traditionally driven. Republicans have no more right to bomb population centres in defence of republican doctrine than priests would have to burn people at the stake in defence of Catholic doctrine. In our current political climate where Ireland has rebelled against antiquated institutions and cultures which insist that their laws trump societal law, the republican physical force tradition now appears quasi fascist. Canon Law of the clerics or physical force law of the militarists can have no application to wider society.

Of course, this will be heresy to the heretic hunters. Evolution of ideas is invariably anathema to fundamentalists. As keepers of the flame with which they seek to burn others, without the flame they have nothing to keep, their raison d’etre extinguished with its final flicker. Nevertheless, their ahistorical view of a precept possessing a timeless immutable quality, unable to adapt to climate or circumstance, is ultimately pushed aside by the power of evolution.

The republican physical force tradition is not immune to that trend. Once an adjunct of republicanism, it is now an aberration. The popular working class nationalist mood has unquestionably shifted from one of Brits Out To Bombers Out. Republicanism, if it is not to belie itself, is ultimately a foil to absolutism of any hue, whether monarchical, political, military, clerical inter alia. As a creature of the Enlightenment it is bound by progress not regress, by the latitude of innovation rather than the deadweight of tradition. A gaggle of the self-appointed and the self-anointed is an apostolic succession better shunned by republicanism than deferred to. There is no intellectual or ethical basis for republican coexistence with absolutism. Dictatorships of army councils, like psalters of bishops, who seek to inflict their archaic and destructive doctrines on society should be told where to go.