Posted by Jim on April 8, 2013
On the occasion of the 97th anniversary of the 1916 Rising the Leadership of the Republican Movement sends greetings to all assembled at Irish patriot graves and at monuments to the memory of our Republican dead.
Once again we issue a reminder that the centenary of that momentous Easter Week is a bare three years away and we ask who has the credentials to honour that 100th commemoration? Surely not those who accept the British and Unionist Veto on the future of Ireland or those who collaborate with English rule in our country. Their political surrender to imperialism is a contradiction of the 1916 Proclamation and all that it stands for. Preparations for 2016 need to continue.
We accept the statement of the Continuity IRA that they abhor drug-dealing and gangsterism and that they have nothing to do with either. We acknowledge their declaration that they remain intact and that their objective is to drive out the British Occupation Forces from the Six Counties just as they were evicted from the 26 Counties by an earlier generation. In short that aim is to complete the work of 1916.
We respond to and reject the untrue claim made without contradiction on RTÉ radio recently that there were “no British soldiers in the North”. The insinuation is that English rule no longer obtains there. The reality is otherwise. And it is accepted widely that the politically biased policing of the so-called PSNI is nothing but a return to that of the pre-1968 RUC simply dressed up with new badges on their head-gear.
We note that the title of Republican Sinn Féin has been misappropriated from it by a tiny splinter group in Limerick. Politicians and a hostile media have given credence to this action by highlighting its misdeeds and then placing the blame on the true Republican Movement. We take advantage of this occasion to clear the air and assert once more Republican Sinn Féin’s integrity and good name.
Similarly, even the name of our country, Ireland, is denied in official circles. The 26 Counties are called “Ireland”, the Six Counties “Northern Ireland” and out native land is dubbed “the island”, thus denying the historic entity which has called forth such service and sacrifice down the years. In this way they seek to deny the very concept of Ireland as our people have known it. They would have us consent to partition and British rule for all time. We say “Never”.
Next year, 2014, will see local elections again in the 26 Counties. Republicans need to make ready and take advantage of openings in this regard. With the abolition of town councils as part of the present administration’s policy of centralisation, elections to Údarás na Gaeltachta were likewise terminated. Gaeltacht self-government was an integral part of our ÉIRE NUA proposals of 1971 making for much stronger local bodies in Irish-speaking areas. Republican Sinn Féin welcomed the limited devolution provided, however, and contested all elections to the Údarás. We see its abolition as a step backwards and deplore its passing.
Meanwhile, the new imperialism through a combination of the Euro currency and lack of regulation of banks has brought a seemingly-endless austerity to the ordinary people. The rich get richer and the poor poorer. This process must be resisted at all costs.
All the while Republican prisoners in Maghaberry, Co Antrim endure as they seek an end to controlled movement and to strip-searching. Following four months of protest, in August 2010 an agreement was reached. It was reneged on by the prison and resulted in another 15 months of a no-wash protest. Nonetheless pressure has continued on the prisoners and the official prisoner ombudsman has admitted publicly that the Republican wing in Maghaberry is the only drug-free wing in the prison. Internment has been reintroduced as Martin Corey of Lurgan, who had served 19 years and was released, was brought back and has been held again for three years without trial. He is still in Maghaberry jail.
At these Easter commemoration ceremonies we are mindful of the prisoners’ struggle and salute their sacrifice. An Phoblacht Abú! Long live the Irish Republic!
— Issued by the Leadership of the Republican Movement, Easter 2013
Posted by Jim on
Belfast has been a place of hope and inspiration in the story of Ireland since the days of the United Irishmen and Irishwomen who founded Irish republicanism in this city over 200 years ago.
Sinn Féin Dublin Central TD Mary Lou McDonald, was speaking at Milltown Cemetery after thousands of republicans including members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians from the United States paraded up the Falls Road. The party’s vice-president said the principles of Irish independence, anti-sectarianism, unity, equality, fraternity and liberty have endured through the years.
“They are still our inspiration as republicans today, a vision as constant as the sight of historic Cave Hill which overlooks this city,” she said. Speaking in Milltown Cemetery to thousands of republicans at the annual National Graves’ Association commemoration, Ms McDonald said countless republicans had given their lives in defence of those principles.
“Many of them are laid to rest here,” she added. “Many of their loved ones are with us at these gravesides today. We extend to them and to the families of all our patriot dead our continuing sympathy and solidarity.
“Half a century after the Proclamation, the Civil Rights movement stepped forward and was met with the same choice – resign yourselves to the reality of this one-party sectarian state or resist.
“They chose resistance. RUC brutality was resisted. Internment was resisted. The British Army was resisted. Criminalisation in the H-Blocks and Armagh was resisted. Collusion and censorship and the demonisation of whole communities was resisted.
“And do you know what? That resistance succeeded because our oppressors failed in their plan to crush us. They could not defeat a risen people.
“They could not defeat us and they had to come to terms with us. The peace process opened that new way forward and the Irish Republican Army, with the same courage they showed during every phase of the struggle, endorsed that new strategy, that new road to our objectives, and set aside armed actions for good.
“Armed conflict is in the past. It has no place in the present. No-one has the right to inflict it on our children’s future. The splinter groups who pursue armed actions today are acting out a travesty that too often has turned to tragedy. They should desist and desist immediately. To those who are sincerely republican and who do not agree with Sinn Féin’s strategy, we have made clear that we are open to dialogue and engagement, recognising the common goal of Irish unity and independence. The peace process and the republican peace strategy have helped to transform our country. They have opened up new possibilities and unlocked the huge potential of our island and its people. They are the essential starting point for the next phase of struggle – the move towards a united Ireland, a new republic.”
The Sinn Féin Vice-President said the party fully recognise that the majority within the unionist community do not share this aim, that many fear such a future and believe their identity will be subsumed and they will become “a discriminated-against minor- ity on this island”.
“Words alone from us will not convince them otherwise. That said, we must always reaffirm our opposition to sectarianism in all its forms, our commitment to equality and parity of esteem and our respect for people’s chosen identity, whether Irish or British.
“We believe that all who share this island have a place in a new republic.
“Because we believe that a united Ireland is essential and because we recognise that the agreement of a significant section of unionists is required, we are calling for a border poll. Such a poll is a threat to no-one. It is a logical step and by making this call we are demonstrating our firm resolve to end partition peacefully and to build a new democracy. A chairde, the New Republic of Ireland is ours to achieve.”
Posted by Jim on
Alec McCrory writes on the latest in a series of British state measures which are directed towards republicans and pose a significant threat to civil liberties. From the Pensive Quill.
When Damien McLaughlin returned from a visit with his wife and young children on Tuesday, he discovered a large folder sitting on his bed. A sixth sense alerted him to the possibility of bad news. Damien had not ruled out the revocation of his licence due to the weakness of the current charges against him. With a degree of foreboding he gingerly lifted the folder removing a larger brown envelope. Inside the envelope was a letter from the British Secretary of State informing him that his licence had indeed been revoked based on security reports. No other explanation was given for this decision.
Damien was previously convicted of possessing a weapon and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was on Roe House during the protest and was subjected to dozens of brutal strip searches. His personal account of the procedure, which appeared on TPQ last year, is the most graphic and disturbing to appear to date.
He was released last year having completed more than half of his sentence. Because he fell under the terms of ‘The Criminal Justice Order 2008’ – this effectively removed fifty-per cent remission – the remainder of his sentence was to be served on probation. The conditions of release required him to meet with a probation officer on a monthly basis, inform them of all changes in his personal circumstances, provide fingerprints when requested to by the police, and to seek permission to travel. Damien was also placed on a ‘terrorist’ register for an extended period of five years.
All of this reeks of a new policy of criminalisation which political prisoners are bound to resist to the better end.
Damien McLaughlin now finds himself one of a growing number of Republicans who have been interned by decree. This policy of creeping internment has been met with little opposition from the nationalist parties at Stormont. They prefer to approach the issue on the basis of the individual injustice rather than that of systemic abuse. To shout too loudly would run the risk of alerting people to the existence of serious anomalies within the criminal justice system.
Our appointed champions of the new political order want the people to remain ignorant to the old ways of British misrule. As long as those being jailed are a tiny minority there is no need to kick-up a fuss. And if asked what we are doing about Marian Price: we are working our backsides of behind the scenes. This has become the stock response of the political parties to any questions.
Martin Corey, Marian Price, Gerry McGeough (released), Brendan McConville, John Paul Wotton, Stephen Murney, Brian Shivers and Damien McLaughlin. All of these people have families and are well respected members of their communities. Slowly, these human rights abuses are leaking out into the public arena thanks to the efforts of political and human rights activists. Many campaigns have helped to raise awareness around these issues, so much so, that more questions are now being asked about the return of internment and other forms of injustice. The people are awaking from their slumber.
END INTERNMENT NOW!
Posted by admin on March 22, 2013
The revolutionary alternative?
Republican Network for Unity (RNU) has outlined its opposition to the Good Friday Agreement after announcing that it will field candidates in future local elections throughout Ireland.
At a media event in Belfast, the small republican socialist party launched a position paper on the peace process, entitled ‘Standing Outside the Peace Process’. The following is an abridged version of that paper.
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Where hope met history?
The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 was marketed to the Irish people as the Panacea between war and peace. Designed in the hangover of a long, vicious and bitter conflict between Republicanism and the British state, its advocates claimed it was the only alternative to a horrible war which had touched almost every family in the six counties and many beyond that.
The real and bitter suffering endured by so many as a result of that conflict – from actual loss of life and liberty, to the long list of other negative legacies which arise from a long war – made selling the GFA to the people much easier and in particular to the republican and nationalist community, in which there was little or no debate as to the long term political merits of the Agreement itself.
State directed Loyalist death squads such as the LVF and UFF still hovered menacingly over the Catholic community in the years during which the GFA was designed. This spectre of random sectarian murder reminded the Catholic community that a heavy price could be extracted from them, should republicans continue to pursue revolutionary goals in their name.
In practice, the threat from these state sponsored killer gangs along with the continued presence of the British army and RUC provided a deadly coercive influence which made acceptance of the GFA vitally important to the average Catholic/Nationalist voter in 1998.
When packaged as a vote for peace there was little doubt that the nationalist population would tick the box marked Yes , and following strong lobbying from both Sinn Fein and the SDLP, this is precisely what happened.
This same dynamic existed at the time of the Anglo Irish treaty in 1922, when Britain evoked the threat of immediate and terrible war in a bid to coerce the people into voting in a way they saw fit.
There was no option for Irish unity on the ballot papers, and if there had been it would hardly have mattered as the outcome of the northern vote [pre- Determined as it was by partition itself] held supreme, regardless of what the rest of the Island wished for.
In this way, the Good Friday Referenda were in reality a continuation of the old partitionist dynamics of the early 1920s, made possible by the same gerrymandered voting arrangements and the same threat of British/Loyalist violence, as had been practiced many decades earlier.
Irish history had merely came full circle and found itself back at square one, bar a series of reformist and cosmetic gestures designed to smooth the transition of the IRA into a constitutional movement, entirely absorbed into Sinn Fein structures.
Given that the [once revolutionary] Provisional leadership had by this stage, committed itself to constitutional politics alone, there was little to be gained by them from criticising the internal workings of the Agreement itself.
Furthermore, the failure of Republican negotiators to provide basic safeguards for former combatants and prisoners in the GFA raises questions as to just how far they were willing to turn their backs on activists amongst their own ranks, (not to mention future political
prisoners) in the pursuit of political ambition.
Good Friday even provided for the imprisonment of its own supporters, as was later seen in the case of Sinn Fein representative Gerry McGeough, who upon voicing disapproval at his former party s support for the PSNI found himself arrested and imprisoned for actions he undertook decades earlier in a time of war.
Many other former republican prisoners have had their release licences revoked in response to voicing or acting in a fashion critical of the Good Friday Agreement, and in effect hundreds of former POWs are today being held as hostages of their own conscience as a result, fearful of being returned to Gaol should they resume revolutionary politics.
And if Sinn Fein could get things so wrong on the welfare of Republican prisoners, then the question must be asked, did they get it wrong on the constitutional issue also?
The virtual internment of its political opponents today along with the coercion of the wider Nationalist population in 1998 shows just how counter revolutionary a settlement the GFA actually was.
However, it is its many other aspects and dynamics which also dispel utterly, claims that the Good Friday Agreement could be used as a vehicle to deliver credible republican aspirations, and which explain why true revolutionaries, Irish republican socialists can have no truck with it.
Inherently Sectarian, Inherently Partitionist, Inherently Capitalist
Despite being marketed as the key to ending sectarian conflict in Ireland, the GFA is in fact a sectarian settlement, with sectarian values at its heart and a guaranteed sectarian outcome if it remains the only vision for political progress in Ireland.
From its internal clauses regarding parity of esteem to the constitutional out workings and daily running of its Stormont executive, the entire world view of the GFA presumes and supports a view of Irish society in which Sectarian divisions are inevitable and even natural.
RNU, as revolutionary republican socialists, as followers of Tone and McCracken, reject this two communities vision, which the GFA enshrines as the cultural and social model around which we should base our future.
We reject the notion that historical discrimination practiced upon the Catholics of the north, can or should be crudely addressed by simply pointing to the lot of the protestant working class and demanding the same for our side , as is proposed by supporters of the GFA.
This eschewed view of equality creates only mistrust and deliberately lowers working class aspirations; it is exploited by the rich who take comfort in working class division and postpones the day when protestant & catholic workers unite in a true common struggle.
That is in the national and class struggle to secure for the working class of Ireland the ownership of Ireland and all its resources to be used for the common good.
In this sense we are truly anti-sectarian, we don t seek equality between two communities , we seek to destroy sectarian distinctions altogether in the course of struggle to achieve a New Ireland. This places us apart from the pro- GFA parties, whose values accept sectarian division and see them as inevitable, regardless of what they claim to profess.
We seek to create a united Irish working class, united not within a national or communal identity but in common purpose for progressive human gain. Stormont and British politicians, as well as the Capitalist business elite here, recognise the benefits of maintaining sectarian divisions within our communities.
They see that divisions within our ranks serve their financial and political interests, and they therefore place little importance on ending them.
We need only point to the example of the 1932 cross community outdoor relief riots to emphasise the revolutionary potential of protestant and catholic working class communities rising above the identity brackets assigned to them by church and state here.
And when we consider the potent results of this real example of class unity, then we can fully understand why the powers that be have little interest in allowing true unity happen today; why they allow sectarianism to continue, in the form of the Good Friday Agreement.
Politicians understand that it is much easier to implement Anti-Working class cuts, such as the Welfare Reform Bill or merely to deny workers basic rights and conditions, if the working class base sees itself as divided into two hostile factions incapable of uniting in common cause.
This dividing factor was used by the Orange boss class and the Catholic Church for hundreds of years here, and its negative influence continues today via the workings of the GFA.
We should all at this point ask ourselves the serious question, are we really committed to the Revolutionary Republican Socialist path?
Why stand outside the Peace Process ?
Although they are well meaning, some principled Republicans still campaign solely on the issue of Brits Out while being neutral on the economic question; others are unashamed advocates of Capitalism. This position is a non-starter as it is at best doomed to perpetuate failures of the past and at worst, take us to oblivion.
If some are not committed to the revolutionary path – and merely wish to return (solely) to the war politics of the past – then there is no reason to expect that the lure of the economic incentives mentioned above (which did compromise republican leaderships) could not take their toll on them too in future decades.
If that was to be the case, then they would be as well backing the Sinn Fein electoral strategy now instead of later, indeed that is point Sinn Fein spokespeople are making, when they mislead the public by asking RNU to debate with them.
Those of us who do stand Outside the Peace Process do so with good reason, yet we should be aware of those reasons, so as not be lured into similar processes in the future.
The Revolutionary Alternative?
Revolutionary Republicans stand by the belief that the struggle for National Liberation and Socialism should be practiced hand in hand, that the liberators of Ireland will be the working class and that it will be within a duel struggle for control of the National territory and the Means of production that a worthy freedom will eventually be achieved.
Such a process would take place on our terms (not Britain’s) but would require the challenging of both communal sectarian identities (green and
orange) as well as of capitalist economic priorities in Ireland, cross border though they may be.
In conclusion therefore; RNU view the so called Peace Process as in fact inherently sectarian, inherently partitionist and inherently capitalist, promoting ultimately communal division, a continuation of British rule and the dominance of a greedy capitalist class who care little for the economic wellbeing or welfare of the Irish people north or south.
We on the other hand, intend to propose a programme of Revolutionary Republicanism, the encouragement of the Irish working class to pursue a Free Socialist Republic, via all available means of struggle. Not for nationalist or emotional reasons, but for practical and humane reasons and as part of the progressive struggle for control of Irish resources, to be worked for the welfare and future integrity of all our people.
We believe such a path to be the true republican & non-sectarian path, the route towards healing our Nation, and freeing it from Imperial and colonial evils; from corruption, poverty and privilege, instead taking us towards true Irish freedom.
Posted by Jim on
There are renewed hopes for the undocumented Irish in the US after President Barack Obama made positive comments on the issue at the annual St Patrick’s Day shamrock ceremony in Washington.
Amid a new wave of Irish emigration, pressure has grown to allow an estimated 50,000 Irish in the US work and travel normally.
‘Illegal’ Irish emigrants are unable to visit family back in Ireland and live in fear of sudden deportation.
Speaking at Washington’s official St Patrick’s Day shamrock ceremony on Tuesday night, the president said the Irish were an example of why the US required a new immigration system that “works for families and businesses and our economy.”
He said that the achievement of the many Irish in America pointed to the need “to build an immigration system for the 21st century.”
26-County Taoiseach Enda Kenny gave the traditional gift of shamrock in a custom-made crystal bowl to the US president, Mr Obama’s fifth annual St Patrick’s Day reception.
Mr Kenny referred to Ireland’s economic troubles, a frequent theme in his public comments in the US. “We’ve still a long way to go,” said the Taoiseach.
Mr Obama praised the help shown by the Irish to help the residents of Breezy Point in New York, one of the worst areas hit by Hurricane Sandy last year.
“New York has been very good to the Irish; now the Irish are giving back to New York,” he said.
The event was attended by several hundred people, including the Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore, the North’s First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
A delegation from Sinn Fein earlier met new US Secretary of State John Kerry and senior State Department officials.
The Sinn Fein delegation included party leader Gerry Adams, deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein U.S. representative Rita O’Hare, and party press officer Richard McAuley.
“The meeting with Secretary Kerry was very positive and constructive,”
said Adams.
“The US Secretary of State has had a long involvement with the Irish peace process. Next month marks the 15th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
“This morning I raised with Secretary Kerry our concerns around outstanding issues arising from the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements, including a bill of rights for the North; Acht na Gaeilge and a border poll.
“We also discussed a range of other matters including the need for an economic dividend and the continued imprisonment of Marian Price and Martin Corey.
“Our conversation also included the recent violence around the flags issue and the serious problems posed by sectarianism and segregation.”