An address to the Celtic League
50th Anniversary AGM held in Falkirk, Scotland
on Saturday
October 29 from the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des
Dalton.
For 50 years the Celtic League has been a tireless champion of
the political, cultural, social, economic and environmental
rights of the Celtic nations. Our Patron Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is a
long-standing member of the Celtic League and he joins with me
in extending greetings and Celtic solidarity to you all on
behalf of Republican Sinn Féin.
As Irish Republicans we view Ireland’s long struggle for
national freedom as part of the international struggle against
imperialism. In keeping with this position Republican Sinn
Féin’s foreign policy – first put forward in 1976 – calls for
action in three concentric circles: (A) With the other Celtic
countries toward a Celtic League on the lines of the Nordic
Council or the Arab League; (B) with the stateless nationalities
of Europe and the working class movements in Europe toward “a
free federation of free peoples” (which was James Connolly’s
goal); and (C) with the formerly colonized nations and the
people still struggling against colonialism such as Palestine.
The world of today presents us with huge challenges and threats.
In Ireland we are being squeezed between the old and new
imperialisms. On the one hand the old imperialism of British
Rule is still a reality in the Six Occupied Counties in the
northeastern corner of our country. Arbitrary arrest, house
raids and harassment remain the stock-in-trade of the British
Colonial Police in Ireland.
The past year has seen a concerted effort by the British State
to silence Republican Sinn Féin. In May of this year –just days
before the Queen of England’s unwelcome visit to the 26-County
State – two of our members Cait Trainor from Co Armagh - a
member of our Ard Chomhairle (National Executive) - and Sean
Maloney also from Co Armagh -a former Republican Prisoner - were
arrested and charged as a result of political views they
expressed in an interview with Channel Four News in September of
last year. The charge is being taken under the draconian
‘Terrorism Act’ of 2006. The arrests and charges are an attack
on the basic right to hold and express a political opinion and
are reminiscent of the kind of draconian legislation used by the
Spanish State in the Basque Country. We are calling on the
Celtic League to highlight this case internationally,
In July of this year the President and Vice President of
Republican Sinn Féin, Des Dalton and Fergal Moore were arrested
in Lurgan Co Armagh and charged with participating in an
‘illegal’ march in Lurgan on January 23. The protest march in
question was held to call for the release of veteran Republican
Martin Corey who has been interned without trial in Maghaberry
prison since April 2010. Again this is a deliberate attempt to
put Republicans off the streets of the Six Counties. And we must
also note that this year as Irish Republicans marked the 30th
anniversary of the 1981 hunger strikes in the H Blocks of Long
Kesh young Irish Republican prisoners are locked in a struggle
for the same right to political status in Maghaberry Prison.
All of this shows that the nature of British occupation in
Ireland has not changed. The British policy of “divisions
carefully fostered by an alien government” created and ustained
the Six-County State. It was a state built on sectarianism,
discrimination, inequality and repression. The Stormont
Agreement merely institutionalised sectarianism with a resultant
increase in the polarisation of the two communities. Provisional
Sinn Féin on the one side and the DUP on the other are more than
happy to base their political supremacy on this sectarian
divide. Posing as the political face of their respective
‘tribes’.
In the 26 Counties we face the new imperialism of the IMF/ECB
and IMF.The most vulnerable and marginalised in society are in
the sights of this political and economic elite not just in
Ireland but also across Europe. In Greece the people have been
told they must pay the debts of the financial elite at the cost
of the ownership of the very land
beneath their feet. In Ireland the old, the young, the
unemployed and those with special needs are to be the fodder
used to bolster a failed currency and the failed political
project that is the EU. The political and economic reality is
that the 26-County Administration are merely managers of a
programme that has been set out for them by the EU/ECB and
IMF. It is time to cast off the shackles of the old imperialism
of London – in occupation of part of our country - and the new
imperialism of the EU/ECB/IMF.
The way forward for the Celtic peoples is to build an alliance
of free peoples. In this regard we applaud Scotland’s progress
towards independence. The Scots, Welsh, Cornish and even English
nationalities or nationalisms are asserting themselves once
more. The ties which bind the “Union” are fraying, a certain
momentum is building up and we all
need to be planning for a better future. We also salute the
ongoing struggle of our comrades in Brittany for nationhood. The
old order is being questioned more and more, people are
receptive to new ideas and the circumstances are opportune
again. What better basis on which to build a free, united,
federal Ireland of over six million people?
In Ireland we believe that our programme for a Federal Ireland
Éire Nua holds the key to building a New Ireland for all of the
Irish people and replacing the two failed partitionist states.
Republicans have never advocated the achievement of a united
Ireland by adding the Six Counties to the 26, under either the
1922 or the 1937 Free State Constitutions.
We have never proposed or recommended a 32-County Free State.
We have never accepted either state but seek to restore the
All-Ireland Republic which was overthrown in 1922.
The central thrust of Éire Nua is the maximum devolution of
power from national to provincial, regional, right down to local
or community level. The Provincial Parliaments will be elected
by the people of each province according to a system of
proportional representation.
Unionists and Nationalist, within a nine county Ulster would
have a real and meaningful input and control over the political,
social, economic and cultural life of their province, regions
and communities. Unlike the institutions set up under the
‘Stormont’ and St Andrews Agreements, the governmental
structures set out in Éire Nua, would be accountable only to the
people who elected them. Under Éire Nua the sovereignty of the
Irish people is paramount.
Éire Nua offers a framework within which all sections of the
Irish people are the decision makers on the vital issues for
their communities, their regions and their nation. “Apart from
providing a solution to the Ulster situation, these proposals
would bring power
nearer to the people and help to correct east-west economic
imbalance nationally. Republicans submit that such structures
will be necessary to ensure justice for all, including the 18%
of the national population who have supported the unionist
position.”
Our social and economic programme Saol Nua – A New Way of Life -
represents a vision of Ireland based on Republican, Socialist,
and Self-reliance and Ecological principles; it identifies the
obstacles to be overcome and the goals to be reached if we are
to build an All-Ireland Federal Democratic Socialist Republic.
And so comrades and friends let us go forward together advancing
the goal of a community of free Celtic Nations. I leave you with
the words of the father of Irish Republicanism Theobald Wolfe
Tone: “Let the nations go abreast. Let the interchange of
sentiments among mankind concerning the Rights of Man be as
immediate as possible”.
Críoch/Ends.
rsf.ie
Republican Sinn Fein