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JOSEPHINE HAYDEN SPEECH

General Post Office – Dublin

EASTER 2004

Easter is a time when Irish Republicans all over the country gather

at graves, monuments and memorials to reiterate their commitment to

the Irish Republic and pay their respects to those who gave their

lives for the freedom of our country, not just in 1916 but at various

times throughout our history, right up to the present day. Their aim

was a united independent Ireland free from all domination, both

foreign and domestic. The Proclamation that you have heard read out

here today is the very same Proclamation that was read out by Padraig

Pearse on the steps of this building 88 years ago. It was drawn up by

the men and women who planned and led the Rising some of whom marched

out from Liberty Hall that day to this building behind us – the GPO.

Robert Emmet too in his Proclamation in 1803 declared `that our

object is to establish a free and independent Republic in Ireland…’

Wolfe Tone’s aim `to break the connection with England’, the United

Irishmen and before them The Fenians, they all declared their right

of the Irish people sovereign independence and they used all and

every means at their disposal. And they never decommissioned their

weapons.

Part of the 1918 Manifesto of Sinn Féin reads “… [Sinn Féin] stands

by the Proclamation of the Provisional Government of Easter, 1916,

reasserting the inalienable right of the Irish Nation to sovereign

independence, reaffirming the determination of the Irish people to

achieve it, and guaranteeing within the independent nation equal

rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens”. It also

states “The right of a nation to sovereign independence rests upon

immutable natural law and cannot be made the subject of a

compromise”. That was part of the manifesto put to the people in the

first All-Ireland referendum in which the people voted for an Irish

Republic. From this election the Dáil was established. This is the

Dáil we recognise not the current partitionist administration in

Leinster House today which bears no resemblance to that of the First

and Second Dáil.

Unfortunately up to the present day a minority have attempted to

subvert the Republic declared by our patriots. The Free State

administrators down the years paid lip service to the ideal of a

united Ireland, while colluding with the British to ensure it never

happened.

Over the last few years the Free State, the Brits and their new found

pals the Provos, have made attempts to `normalize’ the British

presence in Ireland and all that comes with it: e.g., the acceptance

of oaths to a foreign state; the acceptance of a British police

force, the RUC; the acceptance of the right of the British to rule in

our country (Stormont); the acceptance of a substantial salary to

implement that British rule in six of Ulster’s 9 counties, the

acceptance of partition. Weapons that had been procured for the

establishment of the All-Ireland Republic were decommissioned. This

is the ultimate betrayal because while England holds one inch of

Irish soil those weapons should be available to those who are willing

to use them in the defence of that All-Ireland Republic. Those native

traitors have sold out and betrayed the ideals and principles of the

Republican Movement; they have accepted the partitioning of our

country and have sold out our patriot dead. They have criminalized

those who fought and died for a free Ireland by accepting the status

quo in the two constructed states.

The `normalization’ policy being followed by all shade of politicians

is also attempting to criminalize our POWs. POW status was won only

by enduring harsh jail conditions and hunger strikes – from Thomas

Ashe’s death in 1917 in Mountjoy from forced feeding while on hunger

strike right up to the hunger strikes in 1980/81 culminating in the

deaths of Bobby Sands and his 9 comrades in the H-Blocks of Long

Kesh. The status that Bobby and his comrades won was signed away in

the Stormont agreement – any Republican convicted after April 1998

was to be treated as a criminal. So once again we find that the

prisoners in Maghaberry have to fight for political recognition. They

have won partial segregation but there is a long way to go. Visits,

education facilities etc are still problem areas. There is new

legislation in place to facilitate the transfer of POWs in jails in

the 6 Occupied Counties to England, Scotland and Wales should the

Brits deem it necessary. This must be resisted at all costs – this

must not be allowed to happen. I would also like to send greetings to

the POWs in Portlaoise prison. Conditions there are far from ideal

too. They are not forgotten and never will be forgotten.

The `normalization’ of the RUC is well underway too. It has a new

uniform and new name but underneath it is still the same bigoted

sectarian force it always was and will never be acceptable to

Republicans. The RUC are still British Police in the pay of the

British Government and they implement British rule at the point of a

gun. Their collusion with loyalist death squads is by now well

documented. But they learned from their paymasters – the collusion

went all the way to the top, to the British Government. It is plain

from the Corry report (the part we are allowed to see) that the

British government, using the British Army and the RUC, was involved

in the training, arming and directing the loyalist death squads.

The RUC now has it own GAA Club and British Army personnel are

welcome to join it. It is aptly named the British Combined Services

Club. Shame on the teams within the GAA who have welcomed them into

the Free State for matches in Dublin and Kildare while their guns are

still pointed at the nationalist people in the 6 Occupied Counties.

Attempts by us to clarify the position re recognition/affiliation by

and to the GAA have so far failed. While the British establishment is

in control of any part of our country this is unacceptable. Though

things may appear different on the surface in the 6 Occupied

Counties, underneath things are still the same. The British still

control the situation, make the decisions and with the connivance of

the turn-coats, implement their rule.

The normalization of American involvement in Irish affairs is also

well established. The monetary gain seems to outweigh all right and

reason. The continued use of the civilian airport at Shannon, for the

transportation of troops and munitions, including tons of class A

explosives, cruise missiles etc. is, to put it mildly, highly

irresponsible. On one plane alone were ’28 patriot missiles, over

2,000kg of high explosives plus 14,000kg of rocket fuel’, it is even

possible that radioactive depleted uranium has been transported. The

American military are using our air and ground space at will with the

blessing of the Free State administration – regardless of the

concerns of the 100,000 people that `spoke with their feet’ in

February last year. Many of those protestors lost heart when they saw

the negative response from Leinster House, Shannon continues to be

used.

The daily bombings of Afghanistan cannot be forgotten either.

Thousands have been killed without hardly a whisper of protest. By

publicly stating his support for Bush, and making available our air

and ground space for the illegal war on and occupation of Iraq,

Bertie Ahern and his cohorts have placed Ireland in the high-risk

category. The invitation he issued to Bush should be rescinded.

Should the visit go ahead Bush should receive a massive `NOT WELCOME’

reception. Every man woman and child in the country should protest at

his presence here along with his huge contingent of armed bodyguards –

who will shoot on sight if they think Bush’s life is in danger. Such

an occurrence would not be tolerated in any other country in the

world. But Bush is part of Corporate America and the writ of

Corporate America runs even here. And we must not forget you know

that Bush was not actually democratically elected as President of the

United States. In his book Stupid White Men, Michael Moore calls him

the Thief-in-Chief and explains how almost just over 181,000 voters

in Florida, on the ground that all were convicted felons, were

removed from the voters register to ensure his election.

Our politicians on this side of the Atlantic are not much better and

certainly are not a crowd to be proud of. The cuts in services

continue unabated – Mary Coughlan’s withdrawal on the cuts to

widows/ers had more to do with political expediency than concern for

the widows/ers – while more and more sleaze is emerging from the

Tribunals. While the Free State administration is `in denial’ about

corruption, and has the whole country talking about the smoking ban

to take their mind off more serious matters, the collective politicos

are pushing through legislation which is moving the country ever

closer to a police state. Soon our civil and legal rights will be no

more, they are being eroded by stealth – and by the policies of the

EU. However the laws do not apply equally to the rich and poor. Very

occasionally a `symbolic’ sacrifice is seen to be handed up – this is

supposedly to keep the plebs happy. But the plebs are becoming more

and more disenchanted with the way the state discriminates against

them. The examples set by the ruling class has been abysmal. They see

that the rich are protected by their own – the rich face a Tribunal

of Inquire while the poor face a court of law. Instead of tackling

the problem of social exclusion the state’s answer to problems in

society is to build more and more prisons – a new `super prison’ is

being planned for Spike Island based on the US model. I wonder how

many of the `white collar’ variety will spend time in Spike Island,

including the police for committing perjury in the courts?

`Lock `em up and throw away the key’ is not the answer to all our

social problems. Acknowledging, targeting and addressing the genuine

grievances of the disempowered in this greedy materialistic world we

now live in is. This is why education is so important. People must be

educated to have a sense of self-worth, a sound set of values, and a

pride in their country, their language and their culture. They must

also realise that as citizens they have certain rights but that

rights also brings responsibilities. SAOL NUA is the Social and

Economic programme of Republican Sinn Féin. It is our alternative to

the existing capitalist system, a system which shows very little

sense of responsibility towards a certain section of society. We have

to stand up and be counted and refuse to be coerced into silence. The

two tier system that exists in all areas must be eliminated.

The harassment of Republicans by the Gardai and RUC continues

unabated. House raids, arrests, seizure of property continues on an

almost daily basis. At this stage the peelers could hold an auction

in mobile phones they have seized that many. Seems a person can now

be arrested and brought to a barracks for questioning if he/she is in

possession of two mobile phones. Brings a whole new meaning to the

phrase `found in possession of’.

In this area also we must resist attempts to be coerced into silence.

Too many people have given too much for us to stay silent now.

Republicans have, down through the years, paid a terrible price for

their Republican stand. Some are household names others only known to

a few. We salute them all, the men and women children who refused to

bend the knee.

Alongside our social and economic policy SAOL NUA is ÉIRE NUA our

political policy. Copies of both are available here today.

Republicans will never accept British rule in any part of this island

and I will finish in the words of Liam Lynch over 80 years ago, “If I

were to stand alone I will not voluntarily accept being part of the

British Empire. We have declared for an Irish Republic and will not

live under any other law”.

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