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Easter 2007, Address from Republican POWs Maghaberry Gaol.
A Chairde agus a camaradai
It is a great honour that I have the opportunity to address
you today on this the 91st anniversary of the historic
Easter rebellion. We the Republican POWs send revolutionary
and Easter greetings to all true and faithful republicans at
home and abroad and to those of you who have gathered here
today at the graves and monuments of Ireland's patriot dead.
You have remained true and faithful to the All-Ireland
Republic envisaged by Tone and proclaimed by Pearse on the
steps of the GPO in Dublin 1916. Since that very day a vast
amount of ground has been covered, a lot of sacrifices have
been made and a lot of men, women and children have gone to
their graves, all in the name of Irish republicanism. It
grieves me to say that in recent years these very graves
have been desecrated by the actions of our former comrades
in the provisionals, none more sorely then their recent
actions of recognizing, accepting and backing the British
paramilitary force, the RUC.
They think that by a name change and a uniform change that
they can then tell us that this is not the same force, the
same force that sent so many of our people to the prisons
and to the graveyards, that same force which has and always
will work hand in hand with the loyalist death squads. They
have told us that by signing up to this anti-republican
ragbag that they can make the so-called police more
accountable to all. Well we say yet again the Provo's are
wrong, a leopard never changes its spots. We will recognize
no
police force other than that established by the 32 county
all-Ireland republic. The recruitment drive is in full swing
for the new Broy Harriers, to help bolster Stormont, home of
the British occupiers and the power base of the
British/loyalist domination of the 6 northeastern counties
of our country. Republicans were right in 1986 and their
concerns at that time are now statements of unfolding facts.
Those of us imprisoned at home and abroad have been so, for
our ideological beliefs. Our belief in the Proclamation of
1916 and all that it entails is steadfast and will remain
so. Here in Magaberry Gaol we are denied the right to
political status and whereas in 1972 and 1976 it was the
British who refused it, we now have the British and their
ally's in the Provisionals denying to us something for which
10 brave Irishmen laid down their lives for. The Stormont
agreement seeks to criminalise us, this they will NEVER
succeed in doing. From Thomas Ashe in 1917 to Bobby Sands in
1981 they have tried and failed. We are political POWs and
that we will remain. We want most of all for the British to
set a date for disengagement from our country, we will never
accept the continuation of the occupation of our country and
we remain committed to our objectives, whilst the brits
remain in Ireland.
We send solidarity greetings to the leadership of Oglaigh na
hEireann and we wish to state that we have full faith in our
leadership and comrades in arms to continue the struggle for
Irish freedom. To our comrades in Portlaoise we also send
solidarity greetings and thanks for your acts of solidarity
during our present phase of prison protest.
We pay tribute to all of you who have sent us letters and
cards of support; they are a source of strength and great
encouragement to us. We say a special thanks to RPAG and
CABHAIR for all their great support and aid.
Finally last but by no means least, we salute and
congratulate all candidates who took a stand in the recent
elections on an
abstentionist/political status platform. We pay tribute to
all who campaigned for the candidates and to those who voted
for them. The republican voice must be heard now and in the
future.
Victory to the Continuity Irish Republican Army
Victory to the POW's
AN Phoblacht Abu
O/C Republican Pows
Maghaberry Gaol
Easter 2007
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