RSF New Year statement

national | miscellaneous | press release Wednesday January 09, 2008 18:16 by Des Dalton - Republican Sinn Fein saoirse at iol dot ie 223 Parnell St Dublin 1 01 8729747

A New Year statement out some of the key issues which Republican Sinn Fein will be campaigning on in 2008.

As a new year dawns all who believe in Ireland’s right to national freedom must be prepared to take on the issues which 2008 brings. Approaching the end of the first decade of the 21st Century the cause of a free Ireland has seldom faced bigger threats. The threats are twofold, the old imperialism of London in the form of continued British occupation of the Six-Counties and the new imperialism of Brussels and the ongoing attempt to construct a militarised EU super-state.

2008 will see the campaign to normalise British rule in Ireland intensify. Over the past year we witnessed the staging of an England rugby game in Croke Park and the playing of the English national anthem. We also saw visits by the head of the British colonial Police Hugh Orde to former strongholds of resistance in Ballymurphy and South Armagh, at the invitation of the Provisionals, now signed up to support and administer English, law, courts and police in Ireland.

Speaking on RTÉ radio on Christmas Eve the leader of the 26-County administration Bertie Ahern said that a visit by the Queen of England to the 26-Counties was now “inevitable”. In a statement the Vice-President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton pointed out: “Republican Sinn Féin will be to the forefront in opposing such a visit as we are in opposing the ongoing campaign to normalise English rule in Ireland.”

Such a visit would be the culmination of the entire process of normalising the partition and British occupation of Ireland. All the efforts and resources of the British government and the 26-County administration, with the support of the EU and US are directed towards bedding down the institutions of British rule in Ireland and such a visit would be an attempt signify to the world that British rule in Ireland had been finally accepted by the Irish people.

No such line can be drawn under Irish history, the centuries long resistance of the Irish people to English occupation will go on, and the lesson of our history is that English rule will always be actively resisted. This message was spelled out at the annual Dáithí Ó Conaill commemoration on New Year’s Day by Josephine Hayden, Ard Rúnaí of Republican Sinn Féin: “The group of people who set up a caretaker executive in the West County Hotel, Dublin in 1986 pledged to uphold the Republican position enshrined in the Sinn Féin constitution - they never had, and never will have, any intention of selling out those who gave their lives for Ireland. They never had, or will have, any intention of implementing British rule in Ireland; of accepting partition or recognising the RUC as a legitimate police force in Ireland. They will not welcome the Commander in Chief of the British Forces, Queen Elizabeth of England, to our shores while her subjects in the British Army and police walk the streets of Occupied Ireland, raid homes, arrest, charge and imprison Republicans and innocent civilians”

This year will also see a 26-County referendum on the EU constitution. Since 1972 RSF have been to the forefront in opposing the creation of an EU super-state viewing it as merely a substitution of the old imperialism of London with the new imperialism of Brussels. Republican Sinn Féin reiterates its determination to spearhead the campaign for a No Vote in the coming referendum: “The EU Constitution, despite the cynical attempt to fool people by calling it a treaty, marks one of the final steps in the creation of an undemocratic, militarised super-state
“The comments of EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy on December 3 that the Irish people would be the laughing stock of Europe if they reject the EU constitution exposes the arrogance and patronising attitude to the Irish people of the political elite. Neither the French or Dutch people were so described when they rejected the EU constitution in 2004.
“By rejecting the EU constitution, the people of the 26-Counties far from being a laughing stock would be giving a lead as well as representing the views of people throughout the EU who are being denied an opportunity to voice their opposition to the creation of an EU super state. In the case of the French and Dutch people their views as expressed in their respective referenda in 2004 are being ignored. This is not unique to France and Holland; the democratically expressed views of the people of the 26-Counties were ignored in 2001 when they rejected the Nice Treaty.
“Republican Sinn Féin is calling on people who are serious about building a society based on real economic and political democracy, workers rights and equitable distribution of wealth, who believe in national democracy, who support neutrality and oppose involvement in imperialist wars, to join the campaign to reject the EU constitution.”
Republican Sinn Féin will also using the coming year to mobilize and prepare for the 26-County local elections due in 2009.
Republican Sinn Féin is the only political organisation which provides an unambiguous Republican platform for all those who wish to work for a free Ireland. RSF gives clear and principled leadership to those who cannot be neither purchased nor intimidated into accepting the writ the English Crown in Ireland.

Ends.