Pretension and Discrimination alive and well in Trinity

le Seachranaidhe agus an Síog

“You can’t say that here. That’s racist and it incites hatred.” This was the claim made by certain students in Trinity College Dublin during fresher’s week just gone. Despite the fact that Ógra went into numerous colleges and third-level institutes, collecting unprecedented numbers of applicants, the west-Brits in Trinity felt that the poster roused up anti-British feeling towards students from the ‘United Kingdom’ in the college. Personally we believed it was common knowledge that BRITS out was an acronym for ‘British Regiments, Informers, Troops and Soldiers’ out. However this was obviously not the case as the Trinity authorities promptly made their way to the ÓSF stall demanding the removal of the quasi-fascist material. Trinity College a cold-house for Republicans? Hardly.

To be fair to the Blueshirts, and plastic Fianna Fáil republicans, in UCD, at least having made their miraculous discovery of the ‘offensive’ term on the Ógra leaflet, they scampered back to their buddies at their respective stalls to congratulate each other on how witty and intellectually astute they were without creating a stir. How any Irishwoman or man can claim that ‘BRITS out’ is offensive is far beyond these writers’ collective comprehension. British occupational and imperialist forces have imposed their will on this land for well over 800 years, to ask them to kindly remove themselves does not seem to be an over-ambitious, or are we missing something?

The treatment of the Ógra activists who freely gave up their time to recruit young people to ÓSF last week was absolutely reprehensible. The accusations of racism and discrimination towards leveled at Ógra activists could well have been thrown back in the face of the college authorities. While ÓFF, YFG and the PD’s were allowed to recruit with no disruption whatsoever, Republicans who wanted to expose the lies of the neo-liberals both inside and outside government were muzzled with a great deal of prejudice.

The reaction from Trinity during the week begs some serious questions about the lingering existence of a pro-British psyche within the confines of Trinity. It also poses questions about the priorities of the Irish populous in today’s society. We know the point has already been made but the British occupied this country for 800 years, and still occupies six counties in the North-East. They subjected our descendants to poverty and destitution, raped and pillaged our lands, and made slaves and serfs of the people of this country.

Yet still the apologists of the British establishment try to tell us to let go of the past, embrace the present. This activity is not confined as some think to the six occupied counties, but an inherent facet of the 26 county establishment also. While the supporters of the British establishment in the six counties continually try to stagnate our cultural and constitutional development, their counterparts in the 26 maintain the pro-British conservative agenda feeding the fires of the two-tier system. Possessing a seemingly unquenchable desire to privatise any remaining public bodies, increase the tax burden of the poor, and eradicate any taxation on the wealthy few: they proudly carry the banner of old-school British conservatism.

The Republican alternative is the only option if we want to circumvent the revisionist agenda of the lingering Anglo-Irish oligarchy here. Ógra as the radical, cutting-edge of the Republican revolution must face this challenge head on. So it is with great pride that we affirm our allegiance to the ideals of 1916, and with greater resolve that we tell the authorities in Trinity, and any other copy-cat institutions, that they can shove their Butcher's Apron up their…