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Visca Irlanda: Acte Commeratiu de la vaga de fam al nord d'Irlanda
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per IRSP |
26 mai 2009
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Acte Commeratiu de la vaga de fam al nord d'Irlanda
(aquest és el comunicat llegit a l'acte pel Gerard Murray de l'IRSP)
Friends And Comrades, It is indeed a great honour and privilege to be standing here today to commemorate our friends and comrades who died in Long Kesh 28 years ago. We also remember with equal pride the volunteers of the Irish National Liberation Army from Counties Derry and Tyrone who have also given the utmost sacrifice in pursuit of the political ideals of Republican Socialism and all those other countless volunteers from across Ireland who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom against Britain’s ongoing occupation of Ireland.
Friends, today is a commemoration for remembering our comrades and I don’t want to get bogged down in the details of the ongoing debate about whether deals were offered by the British in the middle of the hunger strike. What I will say though is that the families of the hunger strikers deserve to know the truth. They deserve full disclosure and I want to use this opportunity today to call for those who hold information relating to that period to reveal fully to the families exactly what happened during the negotiations at that time. That is the very least that they deserve.
The men who we are here to commemorate were the most principled and courageous that this country has ever produced. They were willing to put their lives on the line in a war with Britain. Men such as Brendan Convery, a young republican from Maghera in South Derry who brazenly attacked an RUC post in Dungannon during an INLA operation and was killed whilst disengaging from the area or Michael Devine who died on hunger strike rather than accept the tag of common criminal or Alex Patterson from Strabane who was ambushed and killed by the SAS in Tyrone whilst involved in an INLA operation against the British occupation forces. These men’s names are inscribed on this monument. Are these the men that were referred to recently by Martin McGuinness when he alluded to the fact that there were no INLA names on the republican memorial below us? He was clearly implying that the three men who I have just referred to and the others that they are representative of, were somehow not worthy of recognition and were not on a level par with the provisional IRA volunteers who gave their lives in similar ways.
Well we say loudly from this platform today that these men, and all those who fell in battle against the British, whether they were Official IRA, Provisional IRA, Real IRA or INLA are worthy of the highest honour that our communities can bestow upon them. Martin McGuinness has blatantly disregarded the sacrifice of these volunteers and his recent outbursts show just how far removed he has become from the republican grass roots.
Comrades, the 1981 hunger strikers were not just fighting against Britain’s criminalisation policy. They went to prison on charges as a result of their revolutionary actions against the British state and Britain’s occupation of this part of Ireland. They fought with courage and honour.
But there was a strong political current running through their minds that strengthened their resolve and carried them through to the end. Writing shortly before the hunger strike began, Patsy O’Hara declared; ‘We stand for the freedom of the Irish nation so that future generations will enjoy the prosperity they rightly deserve, free from foreign interference, oppression and exploitation. The real criminals are the British imperialists who have thrived on the blood and sweat of generations of Irish men. They have maintained control of Ireland through force of arms and there is only one way to end it. I would rather de than rot in this concrete tomb for years to come’.
Sadly comrades, 28 years on, we seem to be further from these goals than ever before. Britain still rules over us, albeit with a distinct charm offensive that has elevated some within our communities to the upper echelons of Stormont, while at the same time working class communities are ravaged by growing unemployment and growing poverty.
What positive benefits has the Good Friday Agreement brought to working class communities, whether Protestant or Catholic? Very few and with that the RUC/PSNI, with the connivance and support of some within our communities, continue to target republicans. The recent stealth internments of people like Terry McCafferty and Colin Duffy highlight the lengths that these people will go to, to remove political opponents from the scene. It has been well documented recently how this new policing service has planted evidence on some and has attempted to plant evidence on others.
The reality is that whilst the British army have retreated back to barracks, there remains a standing army of between 8 and 10 thousand garrisoned within the six counties. What I am saying is that whilst all looks normal at a cursory glance, when the situation is examined in more detail the reality soon hits home. Britain remains in Ireland, stronger than ever with a copper fastened political agreement that will secure their presence for years to come.
With all that said the IRSP and the Republican Socialist community advocate dialogue. There has been an upsurge in sectarian rioting recently and we would call on the young people involved from the Bogside and Fountain to consider the potentially very serious consequences of their actions. We call on them to immediately stop their attacks on each other and we also say that if grievances exist then these can be sorted out without attacking innocent working class family homes.
Politically things are no better south of the border, Maura Harrington, one of the main campaigners against Shell’s ecologically disastrous plans in Mayo, the Corrib gas pipeline, was arrested last Monday and sent to Mountjoy prison for non payment of fines. How many Shell executives have been arrested over the years as a result of their wanton pollution, vandalism or corruption? How many senior politicians have went to prison? The answer is none because in the corrupt capitalist system that operates on these islands the poor are punished whilst the wealthy hand out brown envelopes to the policy makers so that they are given a free hand to strip our nations natural resources in much the same way that Nigeria has been stripped of it’s natural resources by the big oil and gas companies whilst the poor live in the worst poverty imaginable.
We need a new political system that caters for the needs of the poor, we need to marry the national and social aspects of the struggle and unite them in one common struggle. James Connolly’s brand of socialism comrades is the way forward. He attempted to build that movement before the Easter Rising of 1916 and it is up to us, his followers in the 21st century, to continue his work and continue to build a movement of the working class - for the working class. A movement that will become capable of destroying the corrupt system on this island and replace it with a system that meets the needs of the people.
Comrades obviously there remains a massive amount of work to be done to achieve even a small fraction of this but all journeys begin with a first step and I would urge all those interested in helping us build to get involved in the continuing struggle and be part of building the Irish revolution.
Recently it was said that the hunger strikers would in all likelihood have supported the Good Friday Agreement. We cannot speak for the hunger strikers but we do know the political philosophy that they followed in 1981. They joined the Republican and Republican Socialist Movements in order to end British rule and establish a 32 county Socialist Republic. That is what drove them on. They were not young naïve men. They were mature committed revolutionaries and we can only base our beliefs on what their stated position was before they died. Let us not forget what these prisoners went through day after day. They were locked up 24 Hours a day in a tiny cell, unwashed and unshaven. They were constantly hosed down with cold water, naked except for a blanket, cold food, often with maggots in it, freezing in the winter months and the constant threat of the screws opening the cell door to deliver their customary brutality. These are the things that should never be forgotten. Margaret Thatcher knew all this but she did nothing to stop it. To her the prisoners in Long Kesh meant nothing.
So that is why it is important to educate the young people of today about that period and the ultimate sacrifice the ten brave men gave in that prison all those years ago. They made strong decisions and stood by them to the death and so it became world wide news. There are streets named after them, songs written about them, books dedicated to them and their names are known internationally. Even today in distant far off shores people know about that hunger strike.
Others can change their views, which is their prerogative but we have not. The hunger strike in Long Kesh was 28 years ago, yet it remains vivid in most people’s minds. We must not lose focus on who the real enemy was and remains so to this day. Whilst differences have come to the fore within republicanism recently as a result of the political settlement, at the end of the day what we in the IRSP are after is a united approach that encompasses all those political activists from within Republicanism and within the left. Only unity can achieve real social change and that is the stated objective of the IRSP and we must focus on the real enemy and that is Britain and the failed two state solution in Ireland.
Today also we see Irish political prisoners being denied the status that the hunger strikers gave their lives for. In a single stroke of a pen political status was signed away. If we supported the prisoners in 1981 for those just demands, then by extension we must support the prisoners of today in their quest for the restoration of political status. It is indeed an honour to be sharing this platform with a broad spectrum of republicans from the various organisations represented here today, in a similar manner to the way the republicans of 1981 stood together in the face of adversity. We in the IRSP are very happy to support and be part of the Forum for Unity within Republicanism. We stand by those who continue to oppose Britain’s interference in our country, in fact that it is a noble and correct position to take. It is only through the unity of the Irish people shall be achieve true freedom and justice.
Thank you |
 Visca Irlanda: Acte Commeratiu de la vaga de fam al no rd d'Irlanda |
més fotos:
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Mira també:
http://www.irsm.org/irsp
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This work is in the public domain |
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Re: Visca Irlanda: Acte Commeratiu de la vaga de fam al nord d'Irlanda
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per C.L. |
26 mai 2009
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visca irlanda lliure!
Visca Catalunya!
podem estar ocupats, pero mai ens venceran!
NO SURRENDER! |
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Re: Visca Irlanda: Acte Commeratiu de la vaga de fam al nord d'Irlanda
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per X |
27 mai 2009
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"No Surrender" és un lema emprat pels unionistes.
Millor: Tiochfaid'ar'la! |
