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GUIDING
PRINCIPLES
Two hundred years ago,
Wolfe Tone, the father of Irish Republicanism gave us the following principles
upon which we base our position regarding the reunification of Ireland:
to
unite the whole people of Ireland regardless of religious conviction.
to
break the connection with England, the never ending source of all political evil
The National Irish Freedom
Committee views the 1798 uprising led by Tone as no mere rebellion, but the
beginning of an ongoing struggle for Irish freedom and unity that continues to
this day. The subsequent uprisings of 1803, 1867 and 1916, the 1916 Proclamation
of an Irish Republic, and the War of Independence, all historic events,
nevertheless, were part of the same struggle. In each succeeding generation
Irish men and women remaining true to Tone's principles continued to struggle,
and many gave their lives, as did the men who died on hunger strike in 1981. We
believe that the determination of the Irish people to be free will eventually
overcome Britain's insistence on maintaining their colonial rule in Ireland.
The National Irish Freedom
Committee considers the British presence in Ireland and their colonial policy of
divide and rule to be the root cause of the never-ending source of
political evil that continues to plague Ireland. The success of this policy is
due to the greed of collaborators in Ireland and elsewhere who are rewarded with
power and privilege for their cooperation. The establishment of the so-called
"College Green Parliament" of Gratton and Parsons was a prime example of how
this policy was implemented. This parliament, which was created and used by the
British to legitimize the infamous Act of Union of 1803, left Ireland
vulnerable, defenseless and deeper in the colonial web.
During the War of
Independence when freedom and sovereignty was within reach, the British once
more used the divide and rule policy to frustrate the will of the
Irish people. In concert with their collaborators in Ireland, the British
government enacted the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and engineered the
Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, for the sole purpose of maintaining its
control in Ireland. Instead of independence and freedom for Ireland, these
infamous political maneuvers partitioned Ireland into two parts, the 26-county
Irish Fee State and the 6-county Northern Ireland State. The southern 26-county
southern state was controlled from Leinster House in Dublin and the 6-county
northern state was controlled from Stormont in Belfast. These British initiated
arrangements led to a civil war between pro-treaty collaborators and Irish
republicans who opposed the treaty and in so doing remained true to Tone's
principles
After the collapse of the
Northern Ireland State in 1972 caused by the renewed armed conflict, the British
moved to impede any progress towards unification. This time they invoked the
support of the authorities in Dublin, first through provisions of the failed
Sunningdale Agreement of 1974 and subsequently through the Hillsborough
Agreement of 1986, which also failed and finally through the 1998 Good
Friday Agreement. Apart from legitimizing British rule in Ireland, these
agreements provided for coordinated British and Irish military and police
actions, extradition of Irish citizens to Britain and the use of other draconian
measures designed to defeat Republicans in their quest for Irish unity.
The National Irish Freedom
Committee in defining its position recognizes the mandate of the First Dail
Eireann (1919) as its justification to pursue and promote a united and
free Ireland. This all-Ireland parliament was convened as a result of the only
all-Ireland general election in 1918, which was won by Republicans invoking the
principles of Tone and the 1916 Declaration of an Irish Republic.
For the stated reasons the
National Irish Freedom Committee will direct its energies and resources to
further the cause of Irish reunification in accordance with traditional Irish
Republican values and principles as defined by Wolfe Tone in 1798.
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PROGRAM OUTLINE
The NIFC Program
The NIFC program ‘Our
Irish-American Cultural Heritage - Linking the Past, Present and
Future’ has been established for the purpose of preserving our
Irish-American cultural heritage and the Fenian traditions
passed on to us by our exiled Irish forebears. Our forebears who
came to America to escape oppression, poverty, persecution,
freedom of expression, censorship etc., contributed enormously
to America’s freedom, culture and prosperity. They and their
descendants fought in the War of Independence, Civil War and in
every war since then when America’s interests were threatened.
The NIFC will commemorate and honor their contributions and will
carry on their tradition of helping their former homeland in its
struggle for freedom, independence and reunification. The
following campaigns seek to fulfill this undertaking.
Our Exiled Forebears
Awareness Campaign
The National Irish Freedom
Committee (NIFC) engages in cultural related activities for the
purpose of providing a medium to raise the cultural and historical level of awareness amongst those of
Irish heritage to ensure that our cultural heritage, values, and
Fenian traditions are preserved for future generations of
Irish-Americans.
Down through the centuries Ireland
has produced some of the world's greatest scholars, writers,
poets, and artists. Because of prejudice and intolerance many of
these talented individuals left Ireland to practice their art
elsewhere. Many others who left Ireland because of political
activism, famine or lack of opportunity became in their own
right renowned statesmen, politicians, judges, doctors,
businessmen and women in their adopted countries. All of these
individuals make us proud of our Irish roots and we cherish
their contributions to our proud heritage.
The NIFC will support other
Irish-American organizations engaged in promoting our cultural
heritage. In addition, the NIFC will pursue its own initiative
to raise the level of awareness of Irelands' struggle for its
independence in a reunited sovereign nation free to determine
and charter its own destiny.
The Irish Republican
Activists Support Campaign
The NIFC supports the dependants of
Irish Republican political activists, through Cabhair in
Ireland, who are harassed and prosecuted by British and Irish
authorities for promoting Eire Nua. This undertaking is an
obligation inherent in the NIFC’s founding principles as
espoused by Wolfe Tone i.e. 1) to unite the whole people of
Ireland regardless of religious conviction and 2) to break the
connection with England, the never-ending source of all
political evil.
As a result of constant police
harassment at homes and places of employment, political
activists and family members are being ostracized and
marginalized in their own communities. As an added burden,
political activists appearing before non-jury courts are
subjected to arbitrary bail conditions that inflict severe
hardships on their dependants. These arbitrary bail conditions
are tantamount to a virtual state of imprisonment. All of these
malicious tactics are designed to silence the voice of Eire Nua
proponents, who are viewed by the ruling elite in both states as
a threat to the status quo; hence, a threat to their own
privileged lifestyles. The NIFC will continue highlight their
plight.
The Eire Nua Awareness
Campaign
The NIFC will engage in
informational related activities to increase the level of
awareness in the U.S of the Irish authored Eire Nua political
program and the proposals contained therein to achieve a just
and lasting peace in Ireland
Eire Nua (New Ireland) is a
comprehensive Irish authored political program designed to
achieve a just and lasting peace in Ireland in the context of a
British withdrawal. Initially proposed by the Republican
movement in 1972, Eire Nua would reunite the British occupied
six counties of Ireland with the rest of Ireland in an
all-Ireland federation comprised of the four historic provinces
of Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht. The principle on
which Eire Nua is based, envisions a system of government in
which all creeds and traditions would be represented and all
citizens could exercise real power, without any one group
infringing on the right of others.
This comprehensive and far-reaching
program is in stark contrast to British imposed arrangements
such as the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Sunningdale,
Hillsborough and the faltering Good Friday Agreement, all
calculated to copper-fasten and legitimize British control over
the occupied six counties of Ireland.
The NIFC will also endeavor to
engage political leaders, the media and the American public in
bringing pressure to bear on the U.S. government to reverse its
selective visa denial policy
directed at Eire Nua proponents.
Eire Nua is a comprehensive Irish formula for a just and lasting
peace in Ireland in the context of a British withdrawal. More
importantly Eire Nua is an Irish alternative to the faltering
British-initiated Good Friday Agreement, an arrangement that
after many years in existence is still ineffective.
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