(Forwarded)
The Irish Republican Socialist Party will hold its annual hunger strike
commemoration this Sunday, the 20th of
August 2000, at the Republican Socialist plot in Derry City, in Ireland's
occupied six counties.
IRSCNA: Hunger Strike Commemoration Statement
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 1980 hunger strike, and we are
all already mobilizing for commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the
1981 hunger strike next year. For many of us in the North American support
organisation of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement the struggle of the
Republican Socialist Prisoners of War has particular significance. As in
my own case, who was drawn to Irish political activism by the 1980 hunger
strike and joined the IRSP at the end of the 1981 hunger strike, many of
the movement's supporters in North America first awoke to the fight raging
in Ireland through becoming aware of the heroic struggle waged by the
prisoners.
It is for that reason that we are proud to lend our voices to those
speaking today in commemoration of the 1981 hunger strike and the ten brave
volunteers who gave their lives in defense of their principles. The fight
they waged was grueling; their sacrifice severe; their cause just and noble.
Throughout the world, the Irish hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981 seized the
imagination of all those engaged in conflict against capitalism,
imperialism, and other forms of oppression. I recall hearing a woman
representing the FMLN of El Salvador speak at a memorial mass for Bobby
Sands. She called him "a modern Christ." The FMLN had a sense of immediate
connection with those who suffered and died on hunger strike; recognising
in their struggle the same essence of their own war for national liberation
and social justice.
I recall posters printed and distributed by the People's Mojahedin of Iran,
which drew upon the inspiration of the hunger strikers and made the
connection between their fight and the fight against US imperialism in
Iran. I recall how they joined us to march repeatedly in front of the
British Consul's residence, until the insistence of Irish Northern Aid in
carrying the American flag at these pickets forced them to politely advise
us that they could not in good conscience continue to march behind the
banner of the nation they were locked in combat with . . . and realised
that neither could we.
I remember how German revolutionaries adopted the name of Patsy O Hara for
their cell that year, and paid homage to our fallen martyr through their
own fight. How the French and Breton Leftists working at the ferry
departure ports stuffed informational literature expressing their
solidarity with the hunger strikers into the luggage of those embarking for
England or Ireland. Around the globe, the hunger strikers were a source of
inspiration to all those in struggle.
These ten martyred volunteers, and for us, especially our comrades, INLA
volunteers Patsy O Hara, Kevin Lynch, and Michael Devine, remain a profound
source of inspiration to us. As we reflect on their sacrifice, however, we
are deeply saddened by the recognition that today there remain Republican
Socialist Prisoners of War in Maghaberry and Magilligan who have been
stripped of the very things the hunger strikers of 1980 and 1981 fought and
died to win. We are mindful that in the nearly empty confines of Long Kesh
concentration camp, there remain three of our comrades, held still for
being prepared to defend their community and their class from fascist
attacks.
We cannot miss the bitter irony that as we commemorate the ultimate
sacrifice of O Hara, Lynch, Devine and their seven IRA comrades, we do so
amidst the hollow "peace" negotiated by self-appointed representatives of
the nationalist people with the British Government who have no right to
negotiate over the sovereignty of a nation that is not their own and the
Irish Government which has since its inception acted as the surrogate of
their colonial masters and the world's imperialists. A "peace" marked by
rampant triumphalism displayed by the unionists who insist that the
nationalist people demonstrate the surrender they believe they've won and
by renewed attacks by loyalist thugs bent on ethnic cleansing.
With the Irish working class weary of war, however, we recognise that
simple militarism cannot move the national liberation struggle forward at
present. Rather we know that the only way forward to genuine national
liberation --the liberation of the vast majority of the people of this
island, the working class people of Ireland--is through a war of a
different kind. Certainly it will not be won by denying 'term time'
education workers in the six counties fair compensation for their
labour. It is not through joining in the administration of the pathetic,
gerrymandered six-county statelet created by imperialism. It is through
the class war alone that the conditions for a just and lasting peace can be
obtained.
Such a war requires something more than skill with a weapon; it requires
the transformation of the consciousness of the workers of Ireland. It
requires that they come to understand that they have interests, distinct
and opposed to those of the foreign imperialists and native capitalists
growing fat off their labour in the so called 'Celtic tiger' economy of the
26 counties; and that those interests can only be served by taking power
into their own hands; by taking into their hands the means of production
through which they are robbed of the value they produce and others are
enriched. To accomplish that great task, it requires a revolutionary
socialist party to show the way forward. In Ireland today, that party is
the Irish Republican Socialist Party.
And so today, as we join you in memory of the hunger strikers' great
sacrifice, we also join you in the struggle to awake the sleeping working
class of Ireland. We pledge our continued support to you in the monumental
fight ahead.
The movement erect these impressive monuments to the memory of our fallen
comrades this past year, but we know that only one truly worthy monument
can be built to those who have died in the ranks of the Irish Republican
Socialist Movement. That monument will be the creation of a 32-County
Irish Workers' Republic, the cause for which our comrades died and for
which we continue to struggle. We will support you because we know you
will not abandon that goal. Rather you and we will, in the words of Patsy
O Hara,
Let the Fight Go On!
Peter Urban
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
