‘Little has changed since 1981’ – IRSP
Little progress towards a socialist republic has been made since 1981, the crowd at the IRSP hunger strike commemoration were told on Sunday.
The event involved a march from the Rosemount factory to the republican socialist plot in the City Cemetery, where a commemoration was held. The march was led by a colour party as it made its way from Rosemount to the City Cemetery. Representatives of other republican groups also took part in the event.
The commemoration was held to co-incide with the anniversaries of Derry hunger striker, Patsy O’Hara, and also that of Raymond McCreesh, which took place yesterday. Peggy O’Hara, mother of Patsy, was among those who took part in the commemoration.
In the main oration, Michael McLaughlin of the IRSP described the 1981 hunger strike as “among the most heroic battles in the course of recent struggles for national liberation in Ireland”.
Mr McLaughlin also said that nothing has changed since the hunger strike.
“When we look at the present political situation in Ireland today and attempt to analyse where we are and where the struggle is going we cannot help but see that fundamentally nothing has changed.
“Ireland is still partitioned, sectarianism is rife, we are still ruled by capitalists and the working class is still being exploited day in day out.”
He continued; “We haven’t made much progress since 1981. The capitalist class still retains and strengthened its iron grip on the levers of power north and south.”
