Ógra Shinn Féin
Those of you, who attended the Derry Republican Youth weekend, would have met 3 Basque guys who had spent the week travelling through Ireland, visiting key historical sites such as Kilmainham Gaol and Croke Park.
The guys had chosen the dates to come over, to coincide with the weekend held in Derry, and the national Hunger Strike commemoration march held on the Sunday. They visited Milltown Cemetery and stood at the foot of the grave of one of the most internationally known revolutionaries, Bobby Sands.
They could tell me all about Bobby, yet they didn’t know who James Connolly was when we visited Kilmainham.
They had never seen a copy of the Proclamation, and did not know the significance of the GPO in republican history. They were unaware of the brutal internment of IRA leaders in prison camps across Britain after the rising was put down. They vaguely knew that a rising had taken place on Easter Monday 1916.
As members of the republican struggle, it is only right that we remember those men and women who gave their lives in the struggle for Irish freedom, but we sometimes forget the context in which they fought. Our comrades were educated on the sectarian state, and the struggle of the Provisional IRA, by Coiste and by a 1983 escapee, yet the education of 1916 was extremely vague.
Every Easter we march to remember those who went out on that morning to proclaim the Irish Republic, and we read aloud the words of the proclamation, that Pearse read on that Easter morn. We remember them through verse, through song and through marching. Yet we do not internationalise the 1916 rising in the same manner as we do, our most recent phase of struggle.
I do not wish, for one moment, to devalue the immense contribution the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann, made to our struggle, and to the developments we have today.
Yet we must remember the inspiration that made Kieran Nugent refuse to wear prisoner’s uniform, for our 10 H Block martyrs to starve themselves to death for political status, and for our women in Armagh to suffer degrading, humiliating treatment, to support their comrades in Long Kesh.
The 1916 proclamation declared all citizens of Ireland equal, regardless of religion, race or gender. It is the first international document to recognise the immense role that females have to play in achieving our goals.
When I think of the proclamation, I remember with pride, those valiant men and women who fought for the principles enshrined in that visionary document.
Recent flag-waving by Fianna Fáil, and the establishment parties, in an attempt to appear radical to Ireland’s young voters, has only served to spit on the grave of those who were executed by the best friends of the Dublin government.
They abandoned the ideals of an Ireland of equals long before they celebrated the 50th anniversary of the rising with aplomb.
Where were they when their fellow Irish were being burned off the streets of Belfast and Derry, and being subjected to second class citizenship?! Jack Lynch declared public support for Northern nationalists, yet acted to strengthen the artificial border imposed by the British state. This is why, my comrades, we need to internationally publicise 1916, in the way we publicise 1981. It is not enough for a young republican to wear an Easter lily and march on Easter Sunday. A young republican must cherish the 1916 proclamation! It should be o the bedroom walls of ALL Ógra members.
Every single last Ógra member must actively pursue the ideals enshrined in the document, and endorse it at every single meeting they attend, reminding our older members of the sacrifices made for the freedom that we are working towards.
Pádraig Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas Clarke, JM Plunkett, Eamonn Ceannt, Séan MacDiarmada and Thomas MacDonagh should be enshrined in our hearts, just as Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Ray McCreesh, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom McElwee and Mickey Devine. Remember those brave martyrs cé a fuair bás ar son saoirse na hÉireann.
Tiocfaidh ár lá!
1 comment:
The Basque National day takes place every Easter Sunday in Euskal Herria.
They had taken their inspiration from the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland and commemorate their national day on Easter Sunday, which continues to this very day!
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