3.10.03
2 October 2003
Address From Imprisoned Members of the 32CSM Outgoing National
Executive.
Friends and comrades,
As members of the outgoing national executive, currently interned onremand in Maghaberry gaol, we wish to address our fellow members of the32CSM.
It is with a mixture of sadness and relief that we speak to you today.Sadness to be parted from our friends and comrades on the outside, and relief to be finally with our comrades on the inside. A small victory has been won with the granting of segregation but we are mindful that the much larger prize of political status has yet to be decided. A spirit of extraordinary revolutionary comradeship exists in this British prison and we are confident that it is this same comradeship that will see us through whatever is ahead of us. In order to build on this spirit, it is our intention to form a branch of the Sovereignty Movement in the gaol, it will undoubtedly be difficult and many obstacles will be put in our way but debate is the only way forward and can only strengthen the wider movement.
If we can organise here, then we urge all of you to leave today and rededicate yourselves to the cause of Irish freedom and reinvigorate this movement. The 32 County Sovereignty Movement is the only open, honest, broad based and non-elitist organisation defending national sovereignty in Ireland today. The concept of Irish Sovereignty and indeed the existence of the Irish nation have rarely, if ever been under
such a threat as they are at present. Britain, America, the Free State, the clergy, the media and the business classes are all hostile to the Sovereignty argument and all are instrumental in portraying our movement as at best, misguided and at worst psychopathic. In response to this we
must be able to counter their black propaganda effectively and develop our own analysis of what sovereignty means, remember Irish sovereignty is not just being attacked by British helicopters in South Armagh but by American warplanes in Shannon and multi-nationals all overthe country.
It is also imperative that we re-engage with comrades in the 26 counties and begin to repair some of the damage that the movement has sustained in the past couple of years.
2003 sees the anniversary of two major events, the ending of the civil war and the subsequent driving underground of the republic and the execution of Robert Emmett. It has been said that Irish history is continually repeating itself, this appears to be so. 80 years ago pro-agreement forces won a victory over anti-agreement forces and drove the republic underground. Former republicans were at the fore front of imprisoning and torturing republican colleagues and engaged in a vicious campaign of harassment and slander to portray the republican cause as illegitimate, little has changed it would seem.
200 years ago, a young Irishman stood in the dock waiting to be executed by the British for his part in a seemingly futile attack, the attack was obviously not that futile as we still remember Robert Emmett today. Emmett faced the wrath of a government that could not believe the insolence of a man who would dare challenge its legitimacy, after the act of union 1801, they assumed 'the Irish problem' was put to bed.
Today men who have challenged the legitimacy of the latest solution to the Irish problem are imprisoned in Ireland and in England. Guilt or innocence appear to play little part in our imprisonment, unable to hang us like Emmett, they are content to hang conspiracy charges and other non-sense charges on us and continue to intern us on remand. As we have seen on many occasions this year alone, the special criminal court in which Emmett was tried is still tasked with crushing republican resistance, it will fail. Now is time to break the cycle of history and organise for victory however remote it may seem.
The republic, as has already been mentioned, is under an unprecedented threat. We are at a critical juncture in History, now is not the time to go home, close the door and dream about what might have been, now is the time for action, time to go into the communities and onto the streets and win the argument. If we sit back now then the republic is lost and Emmett’s epitaph will never be written.
Remember we don't just have a right to defend Irish sovereignty; we have a duty to defend it,
BEIR BUA.
Signed,
Ciaran Cunningham
Carl Reilly
Address From Imprisoned Members of the 32CSM Outgoing National
Executive.
Friends and comrades,
As members of the outgoing national executive, currently interned onremand in Maghaberry gaol, we wish to address our fellow members of the32CSM.
It is with a mixture of sadness and relief that we speak to you today.Sadness to be parted from our friends and comrades on the outside, and relief to be finally with our comrades on the inside. A small victory has been won with the granting of segregation but we are mindful that the much larger prize of political status has yet to be decided. A spirit of extraordinary revolutionary comradeship exists in this British prison and we are confident that it is this same comradeship that will see us through whatever is ahead of us. In order to build on this spirit, it is our intention to form a branch of the Sovereignty Movement in the gaol, it will undoubtedly be difficult and many obstacles will be put in our way but debate is the only way forward and can only strengthen the wider movement.
If we can organise here, then we urge all of you to leave today and rededicate yourselves to the cause of Irish freedom and reinvigorate this movement. The 32 County Sovereignty Movement is the only open, honest, broad based and non-elitist organisation defending national sovereignty in Ireland today. The concept of Irish Sovereignty and indeed the existence of the Irish nation have rarely, if ever been under
such a threat as they are at present. Britain, America, the Free State, the clergy, the media and the business classes are all hostile to the Sovereignty argument and all are instrumental in portraying our movement as at best, misguided and at worst psychopathic. In response to this we
must be able to counter their black propaganda effectively and develop our own analysis of what sovereignty means, remember Irish sovereignty is not just being attacked by British helicopters in South Armagh but by American warplanes in Shannon and multi-nationals all overthe country.
It is also imperative that we re-engage with comrades in the 26 counties and begin to repair some of the damage that the movement has sustained in the past couple of years.
2003 sees the anniversary of two major events, the ending of the civil war and the subsequent driving underground of the republic and the execution of Robert Emmett. It has been said that Irish history is continually repeating itself, this appears to be so. 80 years ago pro-agreement forces won a victory over anti-agreement forces and drove the republic underground. Former republicans were at the fore front of imprisoning and torturing republican colleagues and engaged in a vicious campaign of harassment and slander to portray the republican cause as illegitimate, little has changed it would seem.
200 years ago, a young Irishman stood in the dock waiting to be executed by the British for his part in a seemingly futile attack, the attack was obviously not that futile as we still remember Robert Emmett today. Emmett faced the wrath of a government that could not believe the insolence of a man who would dare challenge its legitimacy, after the act of union 1801, they assumed 'the Irish problem' was put to bed.
Today men who have challenged the legitimacy of the latest solution to the Irish problem are imprisoned in Ireland and in England. Guilt or innocence appear to play little part in our imprisonment, unable to hang us like Emmett, they are content to hang conspiracy charges and other non-sense charges on us and continue to intern us on remand. As we have seen on many occasions this year alone, the special criminal court in which Emmett was tried is still tasked with crushing republican resistance, it will fail. Now is time to break the cycle of history and organise for victory however remote it may seem.
The republic, as has already been mentioned, is under an unprecedented threat. We are at a critical juncture in History, now is not the time to go home, close the door and dream about what might have been, now is the time for action, time to go into the communities and onto the streets and win the argument. If we sit back now then the republic is lost and Emmett’s epitaph will never be written.
Remember we don't just have a right to defend Irish sovereignty; we have a duty to defend it,
BEIR BUA.
Signed,
Ciaran Cunningham
Carl Reilly
