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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