Lasair Dhearg New Year Statement – 2020
At the inception of another decade, Ireland’s place within the global imperialist structure is solidified. US equipment and troops continue to transit through Irish airports as they ferry their way to various war zones across the globe. Finance capital transfers funds in the other direction; Ireland is now a global postcode for a complicated accounting system which offers a simple method to legally wash cash through various checks and balances without the need to pay any meaningful amount of tax. This, and more, happens with the continued blessing of various 26 County governments.
Ireland’s Six occupied counties remain firmly within Britain’s grasp, with thousands of armed personnel, associated military equipment and apparatus scattered across scores of military bases and ‘police’ barracks within the territory – all lavishly supported by a multi-billion pound military budget.
This new year beckons with the supposed hope that a Six County government can be revived through Stormont power sharing mechanisms. Such hope is presented mostly by a compliant media, whose focus is oftentimes regurgitated by an ever more consenting populace.
Mainstream political parties post Good Friday, specifically Sinn Féin and the SDLP, have had now more than two decades to bring about their stated aims of Irish unity. These years have been peppered with elections, each we were told, more important than the last; the basis of which was the reduction of previously stated Republican aims and objectives to the fight for ‘rights’ within the context of the Six County state. Such rights have been largely unattainable through the mechanism that has been advocated to achieve those rights; Stormont.
More recently, the unseating of arch-Unionist Nigel Dodds from his Westminster seat in North Belfast by Sinn Féin’s John Finucane, has been lauded as a huge success for Republicanism. In reality, it served merely to paper over the cracks in the foundations of the Sinn Féin electoral machine as they continue to rake in huge losses in voter numbers across the island, more notably perhaps in Derry.
Rents continue to rise alongside homelessness. Poverty statistics increase in correlation with austerity measures implemented through Westminster and with the blessing of Stormont political parties.
In the absence of a clear strategy, mainstream Republicanism has been reduced to achieving its aims in name only, absent of any qualitative change. A border poll offers hope to mainstream political groups like Sinn Féin of achieving a 32 county ‘Republic’, albeit one stripped of all the vestiges of Republican aims and objectives; an empty vessel, stripped of genuine content. Sinn Féin et al. would do well to acknowledge the failure of Brexit from a British point of view. They demanded an exit from the EU without knowing what it really was or what the outcome would be. The absence of a true definition had the resultant effect of purging it of all content beyond that which it was; an exit from the EU. The outcome was years of turmoil and division, as yet unresolved, as political groups jostle to give it definition.
Ireland, particularly the Six Counties, faces a similar outcome if those advocating a border poll do not guarantee what that ‘new Ireland’ will be; a guarantee which cannot be given, absent of any mechanism to secure it in advance of any possible vote; a vote only granted at the whim of a foreign ‘Secretary of State’.
This, and more, is the context within which Republicanism now finds itself. There is no doubt that we exist in a period of disarray. The Irish people could be forgiven for suggesting that we have little to offer, little of course except hope and aspiration for genuine change. When faced with disappointment, disharmony and disarray, we have no other option but to organise.
Change must happen, not just on a geographic scale, but on an economic level as well.
Lasair Dhearg was formed more than two years ago with this in mind. This last year, our focus was on creating solid foundations upon which a growing political movement could be created. Aspirations exist for that movement to be island wide, with branches spanning Ireland’s thirty two counties. With this in mind our membership implemented new political structures in the latter part of the last year. With a new executive body and branch structure, Lasair Dhearg endorsed an updated constitution as the framework within which this movement will be constructed. This internal reorganisation gave life to a new supporters’ network, Clann Lasrach Deirge, which in its initial days had a growing membership in the US, Australia, Scotland, England and continental Europe.
We remain fervently Socialist Republican; our vision is that which was expounded by Connolly, and further endorsed by Mellows, Sands, Farrell and more. We seek nothing less than the full re-conquest of our nation; geographic, economic, linguistic & cultural. We are focused on a new strategic direction; believing that the building of a mass movement can create the conditions within which the Irish working class can set about the seizure of the state apparatus beginning at a local level; the initial stages of which will be the control of various economic processes within the community.
If 2019 was the year of creating solid foundations for Lasair Dhearg, then 2020 will be our year of activism; to further build upon the firm footing we have laid. Political activism is the food that nourishes all political movements. In the year ahead we will be organising against all aspects of imperialism in Ireland; wherever its tentacles reach, our activists will plan to cut them off.
We invite you to join us on this journey. “Opportunities are for those who seize them,” said James Connolly, “the coming year may be as bright as we choose to make it.”
ENDS
