Easter Statements – Comunicati e discorsi per celebrazione Pasqua 2009

I comunicati stampa ed i discorsi pronunciati in occasione delle celebrazioni per l'annivesario dell'Easter Rising dalle varie componenti del Movimento Repubblicano irlandese, pronti da scaricare in formato pdf. Qualora Les Enfants Terribles avesse dimenticato di inserire un testo, inserite il link al discorso o al comunicato nella casella dei commenti e provvederemo ad inserirlo nel pdf e a caricarlo nuovamente online. I testi riguardano i seguenti movimenti e gruppi politici: Óglaigh na hÉireann 32 County Sovereignty Movement Republican Sinn Féin Irish Republican Socialist Movement Republican Socialist Youth Movement Republican Socialist POWs, Portlaoise [dm]89[/dm] Óglaigh na hÉireann Easter Statement The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann send fraternal greetings to our friends and comrades at home and overseas, especially to those incarcerated by the enemy here in Ireland and further afield. Special mention must be made of the families of our POWs. Their resilience in the face of adversity inspires us all. We would remind republicans that, at this time of commemoration, we have a special duty to all POWs and their dependents. We send solidarity greetings to all those revolutionaries fighting to defend the sovereignty of their nations. History has shown us that compromise with the British on the issue of national sovereignty has always resulted in those who have compromised condemning those who continue to uphold and defend Irish sovereignty. Our struggle is against the British occupation forces and the administrative arm of the British government in Ireland – be they in the RUC/PSNI, the NIO [Northern Ireland Office], or the quislings in Stormont [the DUP-Sinn Féin Executive]. The same has happened in Iraq and Afghanistan: those who assist the occupier always condemn the occupied. However, seldom in such blatant or hysterical terms as we have witnessed recently. A former comrade [Martin McGuinness] has come full circle and, with a knight of the British realm [Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde] at his shoulder, he has labelled our gallant volunteers as traitors to justify his Redmondite stance and home rule politics. Let us remind our former comrade of the nature and the actions of a traitor. Treachery is collaborating with the enemy, treachery is betraying your country. Let us give our one-time comrade an example. Denis Donaldson was a traitor and the leadership of the Provisional movement, under guidance from the British government, made provision for Donaldson to escape republican justice in the same manner as Freddie Scappaticci. It fell to the volunteers of Óglaigh na hÉireann to carry out the sentence and punishment demanded in our Army Orders and by the wider republican family. No traitor will escape justice regardless of time, rank or past actions. The republican movement has a long memory. Recent years have seen the reorganisation and restructuring of Óglaigh na hÉireann. This is continuing and is constantly evolving and being refined to keep abreast of enemy developments in technology and modes of war. It is vital that volunteers educate themselves in such developments and take the necessary steps to safeguard themselves and their comrades. Actions by volunteers of Óglaigh na hÉireann in the last year have proved that the tactical use of armed struggle can, and does, bring results. As was witnessed in Antrim, British soldiers and the colonial police will continue to lose their lives as long as the issue of national sovereignty remains unresolved. Óglaigh na hÉireann will continue to strike at the British occupation forces wherever and whenever we decide. We also reserve the right to execute anyone providing services, in any shape or form, to the enemy. Those who assist the occupiers have placed themselves in harm’s way. They know what they need to do to extricate themselves from a situation of their own making. There will be no further warnings. The same goes for the RUC/PSNI. Let us be clear so there is no further ambiguity on the matter: any young person fool enough to join the colonial police in the belief that the leadership of the Provisional movement will protect them, or give them cover, is sadly mistaken. The RUC/PSNI are a British police force, just like the old RIC [Royal Irish Constabulary]. Like the RIC, some in their ranks portray themselves as Irish and there to protect and serve their communities. In reality, they are the first line of defence for the British government. They are being used to spy, arrest, interrogate, brutalise and uphold foreign laws against fellow Irishmen. By such actions, they forfeit any right to call themselves Irish. Once you don the uniform of your British paymaster, you become its instrument. He who pays the piper calls the tune. The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann urges republicans to be vigilant in the time ahead. We have no doubt that the British Army and colonial police will seek to once again spill republican blood for recent attacks on their ranks. The republican movement is prepared for this. The British political, military and security establishment, along with local allies, will redouble their efforts in the dirty tricks department and their campaign of criminalisation. They will seek to sow mistrust and divisions among republicans and will use counter-revolutionaries to do so. These people will one day be forced to answer for their actions. Finally, we reject the assertions of the pro-establishment media that Óglaigh na hÉireann is fractionalised or engaged in criminality. Óglaigh na hÉireann is a unified body committed to the cause of Irish sovereign national self-determination and an end to British rule in Ireland. Our recent actions speak louder than a thousand establishment lies. Beir Bua. Victory to the IRA!” 32CSM Easter Oration 2009 A chairde, there are those who would say we are traitors gathered here to commemorate the actions of traitors. Pearse and Connolly were deemed to be traitors because the British trenches in the Somme were filled with Irishmen deceived into thinking that fighting in the imperial slaughter of the First World War would lead to Home Rule. Pearse and Connolly said it wouldn’t, and they were right, but still they were vilified and executed. Ninety three years later republicans once again state that the Home Rule strategy will not deliver Irish freedom. Calling us traitors for saying so from the steps of Stormont, flanked by Britain’s head policeman in Ireland, proves we are also right. We are immensely proud to share the views of Pearse and Connolly. Once again British soldiers are being killed on Irish soil. Once again British soldiers are using Irish soil to train to kill in foreign wars. Once again establishment nationalists have moved to support the British regime in Ireland. Nothing has changed. Claiming that unity will be achieved by 2016 is similar to the deception employed to lure men to their deaths in the fields of Flanders in the lost hope of securing Home Rule. Nothing has changed here either. The men and women of 19a16 fought for fundamental change. They were not reformists, but Irish separatists who articulated the basic republican message that our sovereignty is inalienable and indefeasable. This year also marks the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the First Dail Eireann. The First Dail was the Proclamation in action. It was an Irish parliament of, by and for the Irish people. It declared our independence to the world and set about a radical social programme to cherish all of the children equally. It remains our blueprint for the future of our country and our people. Our history is one of conflict because too often our history has been repeated. Political arrangements which usurp Irish sovereignty cannot lead to peace or freedom. Inherent in these arrangements is the attempted suppression of those who seek to defend our sovereignty. They murder us. They hang us. They intern us. They intimidate us. They malign us. It represents that familiar colonial chorus, ever desperate to maintain itself. Trading civil rights in return for recognition of foreign rule condemns our children to fight for that most basic of rights, their own freedom. The men and women of 1916 were not fooled or bought by the trappings of Home Rule nor intimidated by the forces of Westminster and her Irish lackeys. For them democracy meant more than an opinion poll rating or a gerrymandered election. The voice of the people can only be heard if it is freely expressed. And this is the message which republicans need to articulate today. As republicans we need to put before the people our framework from within which Irish democracy can function without external impediment. We need to set our case against British occupation in a way which is relevant to our people’s needs today. Our aims cannot be solely the product of the past nor can they be a slave to that past. British reasons for remaining in Ireland will change according to modern British interests and republican strategies opposing these interests must adapt accordingly. But in doing so we cannot repeat the failures of history by compromising the legitimacy of our position for the appearance of short term gain. The British have no right to be here and our right to resist them is a matter for us to determine and not them. We are constantly asked; what is your alternative? The answer depends on who is asking the question. To those who call us traitors we say; any alternative but yours. To those who call us anti democratic we say; let us negotiate without pre conditions. To those republicans who genuinely seek an alternative we say; let us construct one together. We must be clear that the Good Friday Agreement represents a significant defeat for republicanism. And in the face of this we need to be pragmatic and not reactionary. Recrimination is not an alternative. Working constructively together is. Along with other republican comrades the 32 County Sovereignty Movement has engaged in an initiative to forge a way forward from a unified republican position. The ideology behind it is the ideology of necessity. All republican banners are welcome because all republican banners are needed. How we engage with the Irish people is as important as what we engage them on. From the outset the truth of what we say will be judged by the strength by which we say it. Eloquence and emotion are no substitutes to a unified voice. The politics of conflict resolution requires clarity to ensure that any resolution is just and democratic. Armed conflict is in existence because such a resolution has not been entered into. Neither republicans nor the British government can invoke the existence of armed conflict as an excuse not to engage in a process to find a final democratic resolution to the Anglo Irish conflict. We have to deal with reality as it is and not how we wish it to be. Standing here in commemoration of 1916 let us invoke the clarity of the Proclamation as we now address the British government today. You must leave Ireland. If, as you say, you have no selfish, strategic or economic reasons for remaining in Ireland then there is no excuse for you not to leave. There is no problem in Ireland which demands your presence that the Irish people themselves cannot resolve. If you require a framework to allow you to disengage from our country we will construct one for you. But for this to happen you must go before the international community and renounce your claim to sovereignty over the Six Counties. A claim of sovereignty represents the bedrock of any strategic interest so let this be the basic test of your intentions. We call on all republicans to realign ourselves around the securing of achievable aims. We have set forth a programme to rebuild the republican movement through political advancement. We have proposed that commemorating 1916 should be the annual barometer by which we measure our success especially in the run up to its centenary in 2016. Irish republicanism must be in a position on the occasion of this centenary to tell the Irish people that concrete political gains have been made toward making national reunification an unstoppable reality. The Proclamation is too important a document to condemn it to perpetual aspiration. The Unity Initiative is the only realistic way forward. Armed struggle is a reality in our midst. We must address it for what it is, a symptom of the unwillingness of the British government to engage on the core cause of conflict, namely, its illegal claim to sovereignty over part of our country. For those who want armed struggle to cease they must come forward with proposals to address its cause. The politics of condemnation is a failed irrelevancy just as British micro Ministers are sitting in Stormont. The 32 County Sovereignty Movement have endeavoured since its formation to put such proposals into the public domain. We sought a peaceful alternative through the auspices of the United Nations only to have that route disbarred to us when the US authorities, acting on influence from London and Dublin, banned our organisation from travelling there. But we are not deterred by this and efforts are underway to petition the Obama administration to reverse this policy. Because contrary to previous declarations made there, Ireland is not at peace. We have sought dialogue with both governments, unionist and nationalist parties in an attempt to seek a peaceful way forward but these offers have been largely ignored. We thank all those who worked toward achieving this. And we say it again now; if you truly believe our position is so flawed come and tell us how, rather than grandstanding on media soap boxes. Our door remains open and we will not stop knocking on yours. Comrades, the template of 1916 remains supremely relevant for us today. It was republican unity which drafted the Proclamation and allowed for the accommodation of its diverse views so magnificently. It was republican disunity which led to that fateful confusion on that day. They have given us the benefit of their foresight and the lessons of their errors. Let us leave here today all the wiser for both. Beir Bua. Republican Sinn Féin Easter Statement On the occasion of the 93rd anniversary of the historic Easter Rising of 1916, the Leadership of the Republican Movement extends greetings to Irish people throughout Ireland and in exile around the world who are gathered today at the graves of the patriot dead or at monuments in their honour. In particular we salute our Republican prisoners in Portlaoise and in Maghaberry, Co Antrim and assure them of our full support. They are not forgotten and we take this opportunity to endorse the recent action of the Maghaberry prisoners in clearing their wing of non-political prisoners. This move was never more necessary in view of the circulation of garbled media messages which we believe to be British-inspired. We cherish our reputation and repudiate the smear spread about by the Provo leadership that we are criminal and not political and that it is permissible to inform the British forces about us. We condemn criminality inside and outside the prisons and deplore the misuse of our name by those who collaborate with the British and urge young people to join the enemy’s occupation forces in Ireland. We uphold as equal partners and comrades “the Felons of Our Land” in the various prisons. In the year since last Easter the war has been carried to the English enemy. Nobody should be surprised at this development by the Continuity IRA. As long as British occupation forces remain in Ireland that will be the inevitable result of their presence here. The lessons of history are working out again in our time. In the past year also the Lisbon Treaty which seeks to elevate the EU into a United States of Europe was defeated by popular vote with Republican Sinn Féin to the fore. As was the case with other results not to their liking, the outcome was not acceptable to the politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels and Dublin. We must prepare and work to give them another resounding reverse. The global financial and economic system is now in crisis and Ireland is not immune from the effects of this. The greed which drives the capitalist system has enriched a small group and now leaves millions of ordinary people impoverished. The Irish Republican Movement has always upheld the sovereignty of the Irish people and the rights of the people against all who would oppress or exploit them for selfish gain. We reassert this sovereignty here today as we honour the sacred memory of those men and women who died to uphold that sovereignty. Cowardly, craven governments may bow down to the might of private capital, often accepting pay-offs and “dig-outs” themselves, but the Irish Republican Movement, as long as it remains true to its principles, will not abandon the common people of Ireland and will seek to lead them to build a democratic socialist system based on justice for all. Arising from the present crises and in the coming year opportunities may present themselves to seize the initiative. The SAOL NUA document charts a way forward and we must be always ready to act on it. A type of “two-nation” mentality is being forced on us by the media. Ireland, we are told, is the 26-County State and the Six Occupied Counties make up another place altogether. Together both entities are, according to the official line, “the island of Ireland”. All Ireland is replaced by “all island”. We reject such misleading descriptions of our historic country and pledge our allegiance once more to our one and only Ireland. Even as we prepared for our Easter ceremonies, internment without trial was re-introduced by the British government in our Six Occupied Counties in the form of 28-day detention. We must be on guard and bend ourselves to our great task. Irish Republican Socialist Movement Easter Statement Comrades We send greetings first of all to the families and friend of our dead INLA volunteers and our dead comrades from the IRSP killed for their political beliefs. We send greetings and solidarity to all our comrades currently imprisoned for their political activities. We remember all those who in the latest phase of the struggle for liberation from the yolk of imperialism fell in the struggle. And we salute the memory of all republicans of whatever hue who died in the struggle for the self-determination of the Irish people. Easter is a time, when all over Ireland and in parts abroad, Irish republicans gather to pay homage to our dead and to renew our resistance. It is also a time to take stock, to re-evaluate where we stand and to ask where stands the struggle for an independent Irish Republic? Comrades if truth be told the struggle has suffered a severe set back over these last years. Consider the enemies who face us. A foreign power, a native government of appeasers in the South and in the North a puppet administration in cahoots with MI5, the PSNI and supporting the most repressive laws we have ever seen. Those, who sold the Good Friday Agreement as an advance for Irish republicanism, sold a lie. It was a defeat. However it would be a mistake to simply jump up and down and bemoan the mistakes of the past or dwell on what others did or did not do. Do we, the Republican Socialist Movement learn from our past? Do we the Republican Socialist Movement have a strategy and a determined path to follow? Yes we do! We have clearly set out our position on the type of resistance we believe should be followed by Republicans in this day and age. That is why we have worked for Republican political unity with other organisations. The IRSP is part of the Republican Forum for Unity. We encourage all republican socialists to give their full support to the activities of the Forum. Where we can work on issues together we will. That does not in any way hinder or stop the building of our own Party. We encourage all those who want to change the system join the organisation that that consistently and persistently opposed both imperialism and capitalism. We say as we have been saying for years that the road forward is the political road. We do not mean the road to Stormont and the pleasures of administering power for the British. We do not mean the path to the Dail and the pleasures of administering power on the behest of the native bourgeoisie and foreign capital. We mean the political road of revolution, of the transformation of the two states in Ireland the seizing of power from the capitalist elites, the taking back from the robber barons the land resources, the economic resources and wealth that rightly belongs to the whole of the people on the island. We recognise that the continuation of partition is a block to the well being of all citizens on the isle. It perpetuates sectarian bitterness turning neighbour against neighbour, stifles our economic well-being and allows the continued social and economic exploitation of the working class regardless of religion or race. No body should be happy to see peace walls in Belfast City or else where dividing neighbour from neighbour. Those walls are a clear indictment of the failure of British rule. They are an indictment of Stormont rule. They shout loudly that the Northern state is a failed state. No one should be in the least surprise therefore that the continued existence of a failed state perpetuates a violent reaction. There will always be republicans who are prepared to take up arms to resist. That should surprise no one. It is entirely predictable. Generations have come and gone and seen violence, communal strife, repression discrimination unemployment, emigration and poverty. History worldwide shows that these things breed the conditions for armed resistance. But simply wishing it away will not change that. Nor will it be changed by righteous anger, by emotion or by the trusted and tried and failed methods of the past. Irish republicanism needs a new direction. All around we see the proliferation of splinter groups evolving from what used to be the Provisional Republican Movement. We do not rejoice in division. That is why we advocate and support a broad front policy of –co-operation with others. Renewed republicanism is in the overall interests of the vast majority of the people on the isle. But renewed republicanism must take into account the wishes and needs of the people In a time of severe attacks on the living standards of the working people throughout the island Republicanism cannot stand aside and think only of a pure Republic unrelated to the existing social and economic conditions. We believe that the best way forward for Irish republicanism is to totally embrace the socialist ideal and for Irish republicans to throw themselves fully into the day-to-day struggles of the people. The building of a mass movement of working people to change the world we live in is our best chance of success. And it needs to be side loud and clear from this and all republican platforms that the political struggle for a Socialist Republic holds no threat to those who see themselves as coming from different traditions. Part of our task is to convince and reach out to those who we have failed to persuade as to the validity of our beliefs. That is why we in the republican socialist movement will take all opportunities to reach out and influence sections of the protestant working class of the validity of our socialist ideas. We applaud the tremendous work carried out by our members and ex-prisoners in Teach na Failte in the work they do in working class areas bring working people of differing backgrounds together. That is real republicanism. That’s what Tone, Mitchell, Connolly Mellows and Costello stood for. That is the Republicanism to take away with you today from these hallowed grounds. We are resolutely opposed to Imperialism. We are resolutely opposed to Capitalism. But, we are resolutely for working class unity and against sectarianism. Comrades, we have, as a movement faced death. Comrades, we have as a movement faced imprisonment. Comrades, we have as a movement faced slander lies and informers and traitors. Comrades we have as a movement faced the might of Imperialism and we have not flinched. Nor will we flinch no matter what they throw at us. We stand today at these graves unbowed and as determined today as when we were formed, to stand by the Socialist Republic. Victory to the Working class On to the Republic Republican Socialist Youth Movement Easter Statement On behalf of the Republican Socialist Youth Movement we welcome all who attend here today and thank the IRSP for this opportunity to speak as we pay homage to the men and women of Easter 1916 who so gallantly met the invading forces of imperialism in Ireland with unwavering bravery and purpose. We would also like to take this opportunity to send our solidarity to the Political Prisoners who languish here in Ireland and elsewhere as well as to the people of Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan, who like the people of Ireland have suffered so greatly at the hands of a bloody Imperialist war machine. Nearly a century has passed since 1916 and not much has changed for Irish revolutionaries, our class is still subjected to the will of a corrupt minority, but what better way to set about our task of building a mass revolutionary movement than to meet head on our foreign persecutors and their native accomplices with similar dedication to that shown by the rebels of Easter Week, 1916. Ultimately, the most sincere tribute to those who fought in 1916 will be to take on their aspirations and goals as our own and to set about making them not just a romantic dream, but a reality. That is what we are in the business of, a 32 County Socialist Republic and nothing short of it. In recent times we have set about the re-organization of our movement, with great strides being made by the dedicated young activists within our ranks. Our movement is growing and our political ideals have never been more relevant, it is now time to push on. Through the Irish Republican Forum for Unity the mechanisms have been put in place to create a broad front capable of harnessing the obvious discontent felt by our class with the political, economic and social status quo. It is only through such initiatives that real change can be brought about. The republican socialist voice has been fragmented for too long, it is unity that will bring our politics to the forefront of the political landscape, it is through unity that real inroads will be made towards our goal. James Connolly, the 1916 leader, once said that the working class are the incorruptible inheritors of the Irish fight for freedom. It is with this in mind we must progress our politics and overall strategy, immersing ourselves in the struggles of our class and aiding them in their own emancipation. We can never abandon our class, doing well to remember that without the workers themselves there will be no revolution. We here in the RSYM continue to strive to achieve what James Connolly and Seamus Costello seen as there aim. On this a day, a day where we salute the participants of the 1916 rebellion and the fallen comrades of our own movement, we recall the glorious failures of the past and seek to find a successful way forward. The only way forward is to unite our class to smash the institutions that seek to divide and exploit us, with the establishment of a democratic socialist republic our ultimate aim. Republican Socialist POWs Easter Statement Comrades, Supporters, Families and Friends, we the Republican Socialist POW’s here in Portlaoise Gaol send each of you our heartfelt comradeship. Easter is a sad time for us, but it is also a time of reflection where we pledge to redouble our efforts in rebuilding and strengthening the Republican Socialist Movement. As we mark the 93rd anniversary of the 1916 Rising, we recall with great Honour and Pride, the courage of our comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for a 32 county Socialist Republic. As you will know, our Movement has come under vicious attack from the forces of Capitalism in both the 6 and the 26 counties. They will not break us. They tried to break us inside these walls. They segregated us from each other, abused our families, turned them away from the Prison and tried to take away our Political Status. They failed. They could not break our spirit. They will try again and they will fail again. The comradeship on our landing is so strong that we feel we are unbreakable and we are driven by your support and the memory of our fallen comrades from the INLA and the IRSP. The POW’s wish to take this opportunity to salute the leadership and the Volunteers of the noblest Army of the people, the INLA! We salute the Ard Comhairle of the IRSP and its activists and we send solidarity greetings to all our friends, our Families and our Comrades. Victory to Irish Working Class! O/C INLA POWs Portlaoise Prison

Easter Statements – Comunicati e discorsi per celebrazione Pasqua 2009

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