Protest Greets Colombian Vice-President Garzón

30/01/2012

On Tuesday [January 24], trade unionists and members of the Irish Colombia Solidarity group Grupo Raíces/Grúpa Fréamhacha, including members of éirígí, held a protest outside Leinster House to coincide with the visit to Ireland of Colombian Vice-President Angelino Garzón.

As the protesters displayed a banner with the words ‘Gilmore: Don’t back human rights abuse in Colombia – Demand a ceasefire and talks’ on the street outside, inside Leinster House Garzón held talks with members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Apart from the obligatory ‘war on terror’... ‘evil FARC’... ‘give peace a chance’ etc. etc. etc. propaganda that the Colombian Government passes off for a considered update on the political situation in that country, the real motivation for this meeting is that Garzón is currently lobbying for the position as head of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Although there are no Irish votes in the election to determine who becomes director-general of the ILO, Garzón is keenly aware of the not inconsequential influence that Irish trade unions have at times been able to exercise with regard to Irish diplomacy vis-a-vis Colombia. Garzón’s real interest here is in trying to exert subtle influence on the perception of Colombia at an EU/European level.

The notion that a representative of the Colombian state might assume a position of such importance to debates on the condition of labour internationally would be laughable if the situation for trade unionists in Colombia wasn’t so critical. Humour however is not something that trade unionists in Colombia can afford – Colombia is the most dangerous country on the planet in which to be a trade unionist. Violence and death are an everyday reality for those who are involved in the struggle for workers’ rights in that country.

In the Colombia section of its 2009 ‘Freedom at Work’ global review the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) paints a grim picture of the conditions experienced by workers, trade unions and union activists in Colombia when it the states that“roughly 4,000 Colombian trade unionists have been murdered in the past 20 years, more than 2,000 of them since 1991.... 2008 saw a disturbing 25% rise in cases of anti-union violence due to increased paramilitary activity. A total of 49 trade unionists were assassinated in 2008 and 2009 has seen a similar labor homicide rate.”

With regard to the complicit role of big business, right-wing paramilitaries and the Colombian State and its legal system the ILRF report continues that “U.S. corporations such as Coca-Cola, Chiquita, Dole, Nestle and the Drummond mining company have been complicit in such egregious union rights violations. The International Rights Advocates (comprised of ILRF’s former lawyers now part of Conrad and Scherer law firm) have brought a number of lawsuits against these companies. The lawsuits charge that companies’ practices of hiring right-wing paramilitary groups to kill and intimidate union leaders is a violation of the Alien Torts Claims Act, a law meant to hold U.S. corporations accountable for human rights violations abroad...

“Workers are also intimidated through the use of death threats, attacks, disappearances, black lists, arrests, dismissals for organizing and widespread contract labor arrangements which limit collective bargaining rights. Only 1.2% of workers in Colombia are covered by a collective bargaining agreement and the rate has been declining over the years as workers see the danger in organizing. Paramilitary groups such as the AUC (United Self Defense Forces of Colombia), which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, are responsible for the majority of the violence targeting trade unions. There is also a pervasive culture of impunity for crimes targeting unions. The ITUC estimates that over 99 percent of the cases were unpunished and/or not investigated and not a single person/organization to order a labor homicide has ever been convicted”.

The words of Tarciscio Mora, director of Colombia’s Confederation of Workers, might help explain the reality that trade unionists experience in the Colombia of 2012 for those who might be tempted to suggest that times have changed and that the new Santos’ administration of which Garzón is a senior member is qualitatively different from the previous administration of ex-President and right-wing paramilitary associate Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

Mora is categorical in his assertion that today in Colombia “trade unionists are still being killed” and therefore the candidature of Garzón for ILO director-general is inappropriate. Indeed the latest trade unionist to be murdered in Colombia died on Thursday January 19th. Mauricio Arrendondo of the USO petroleum workers’ trade union and his wife, Janeth Ordoñez Carlosama, were murdered at home by two gunmen. Their murders followed on from deaths threats issued against USO activists in December by right-wing paramilitary death squads.

In a statement released by the USO in the aftermath of the murders the union stated: “We blame this on Colombian State and Ecopetrol for their negligence and slow action in preventing aggression and attempts against our union. We are asking human rights organizations and trade unions both national and international to reject these crimes, and we ask the national government and Ecopetrol to answer for the security of USO members.”

Speaking at the protest éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac an Mháistir said, “The fact of the matter is that the Colombian economic and political system is anathema to the rights of the overwhelming majority of Colombians. The wholesale, relentless and unimpeded slaughter of those who would seek to organise in defence of the rights of the Colombian working class bears testament to the nature of the Colombian state.

“For Angelino Garzón to be elected head of the ILO would be to profane the memory of the thousands of dead trade unionists whose blood has flowed in the streets of Colombia for no reason other than that of securing the continued accumulation of profits and power for that country’s oligarchy, of which Garzón is a member. On behalf of éirígí I would like to take this opportunity to extend solidarity to the workers and trade unionists of Colombia, and in particular to the families of Mauricio Arrendondo and Janeth Ordoñez Carlosama at this time of great sorrow for them.”

Campaign Against the Austerity Treaty Launched in Dublin

27/01/2012

A press conference to launch the Campaign for a Social Europe’s ‘Campaign against the Austerity Treaty’ was held in Dublin’s Mont Clare Hotel on Tuesday [January 24]. The Campaign for a Social Europe is the successor organisation to the Campaign against the European Union Constitution (CAEUC) group that campaigned for a No vote in both Lisbon Treaty referendums.

The proposed Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union is the latest initiative of the European Union elite to the end of furthering their ultimate goal of economic, political and monetary union.

Speaking at the event éirígí Councillor Louise Minihan said:

“The proposed treaty on ‘Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union’ is in reality an Austerity Treaty. The goal of those who are pushing this treaty is to force the further erosion of our national and economic sovereignty. Their aim is to remove our hard fought for democratic rights. Ireland is now in a position of total colonial occupation. We are a colony. British Imperialism continues to illegally occupy the Six Counties. In the Twenty-Six Counties we are once again under the rule of European imperialism in the guise of the EU/ECB/ IMF troika. The terms of the proposed treaty would see the 26-County State become nothing more than an economic province of Europe, a far cry from the vision of sovereignty and independence as envisioned in the 1916 Proclamation.

“As a republican I believe in ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’. The terms of this austerity treaty are anathema to this notion; this treaty will see democratic decisions on Ireland’s future taken out of the hands of the Irish people and placed into the hands of faceless unaccountable bureaucrats who serve the agenda of the powerful and wealthy.

eirigi councillor Louise Minihan

“The terms of the treaty will see high levels of unemployment persist for decades to come as well as social welfare provision driven further down. Combined with ongoing cuts to health and education, acceptance of this treaty will drive many Irish families further into poverty. We all remember how we were promised the Lisbon Treaty would ensure jobs for our unemployed yet since that treaty was been signed the dole queues have continued to grow.

“In the interest of democracy, the Fine Gael/Labour Government must put the terms of this treaty to the people by way of referendum. Not to do so would be to grossly insult the people. The consequences for all of our futures arising out of the terms of the proposed treaty are too great to be made by political parties, particularly by parties who have shown they do not have the interests of the Irish people at heart.

“We are demanding a referendum on this issue and will not settle for anything less. We will campaign for a No vote in that referendum. A No vote is a vote against austerity. It is a vote against the cutbacks which have inflicted widespread hardship on families up and down the country; it is a vote against the anti-worker policies that have been pursued by successive governments for too long.”

Ahmad Sa’adat – Ten Years a Hostage

16/01/2012

Yesterday, January 15, marked the tenth anniversary of the abduction and imprisonment of Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Below we carry a statement by the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat marking the anniversary and giving advice on how to support the struggle for Sa’adat’s release.

January 15, 2012 is the 10th anniversary of the abduction of Palestinian political leader Ahmad Sa’adat by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah at the hands of the PA intelligence services headed by Tawfiq Tirawi. Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been imprisoned for ten years – first by PA security, then under US and British guard in a PA prison in Jericho, and now, for the past six years, inside Israeli jails alongside thousands of other Palestinian political prisoners after a siege on Jericho and the kidnapping of Sa’adat and his comrades in 2006.

The kidnapping of Ahmad Sa’adat on January 15, 2002, was emblematic of the deep damage of the crime of “security cooperation” to the Palestinian people and their national cause. “Security cooperation” has meant nothing but attacks on the Palestinian resistance at the behest of Israel, committed by Palestinian Authority hands. The abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat, and his imprisonment – and that of his comrades – in the PA prison in Jericho, under U.S. and British guard, was a clear example of the PA’s status as fundamentally beholden to the interests of Israel, the U.S. and other international powers, at the expense of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance.

The abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat has come to symbolize the thousands of Palestinians who have gone through the jails of the PA because of their loyalty to the Palestinian people, cause and resistance, and the impunity of PA officials – like Tawfiq Tirawi – who continue to find lucrative and influential positions within the Authority despite their shameless acts of betrayal, imprisoning, and abducting Palestinian leaders and activists.

This complicity with Israeli demands for the subjugation and suppression of the Palestinian people led directly to the Israeli assault on Jericho prison in 2006, where Ahmad Sa’adat and his comrades were immobilized in the face of Israeli occupation aggression. Sa’adat had never been charged with a crime throughout his four years in PA prison; his release had been ordered by the PA’s highest court. Yet the PA refused to release Sa’adat, respecting the dictates of Israel, the US and Britain above Palestinian legitimacy; it claimed that it “could not guarantee his safety” outside the prison. Yet it simultaneously guaranteed that he and his comrades could not be safe from Israeli aggression, their locations known at all times by Israel and under the watchful eyes of U.S. and British guards, directly in collusion with Israel. (It should be noted that, forewarned of the attack, the U.S. and British guards absented Jericho prison at the request of the Israeli occupation army.)

Since his second kidnapping, from a PA prison to the heart of the occupation’s jails, Ahmad Sa’adat has remained a leader of the prisoners’ movement. Today, he has spent nearly three full years in isolation at the hands of the occupation. He was an inspiration - and his release from isolation a key demand of the prisoners’ hunger strike that galvanized the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the prisoners’ cause in October 2011.

Just as Sa’adat’s kidnapping is a symbol of the crime of security cooperation, Sa’adat’s imprisonment in the hands of the occupation is a symbol of the steadfastness of the nearly 5,000 prisoners inside the jails of the occupation – like his fellow prisoners, resisting isolation, refusing rights violations, and not allowing their will and strength to be broken by the actions of the occupation jailers.

Ten years after the abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat, this anniversary is a reminder that we must continue to organize, act, and demand the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners, and expose the complicity of the U.S., British, Canadian and other international governments in the enforcement of “security cooperation” and the abuse and mass imprisonment of Palestinian political leaders and activists by the Israeli occupation. While the Quartet pushes the Palestinian Authority to return to bogus negotiations with the occupation (while the occupation continues settlement expansion, ethnic cleansing, land confiscation, home demolitions, isolation, solitary confinement, and mass imprisonment), it is urgent that we form an international popular basis of support for the Palestinian people and their activists and leaders inside the jails of the occupation, rather than those complicit with the occupation at the table of negotiations.

One in Five Children Live in Poverty

11/01/2012

Over 80,000 children in the Six Counties are living in poverty, according to a new report published yesterday [January 10].

The report, produced by the Campaign to End Child Poverty, found that over 1 in 5 children in the statelet live below the poverty line – the point at which families struggle to pay for basic necessities such as food, heating and clothing.

That figure rises to over 2 in 5 in West Belfast (where 46 per cent of children live in poverty) and North Belfast (41 per cent), with Derry close behind at 36 per cent.

The report also reveals that there are now more children in households without work, and in households where only some of the adults have jobs.

Commenting on the report, éirígí representative John McCusker condemned the dire situation in which more and more families are finding themselves.

He said, “It’s disgraceful that families are being forced to choose between feeding themselves or heating their homes, and it’s a situation that’s more common than many people are willing to admit.

“In my local area in West Belfast, the figures for child poverty given in the report are appallingly high – 64 per cent in Whiterock, 63 per cent in Falls, 56 in Clonard and 53 in the Upper Springfield.

“This already intolerable situation will only worsen as our communities feel the bite of the Tory cuts agenda. People in work are having their pay frozen or reduced and, and people in receipt of benefits are finding these slashed. Add to this that more people are finding that their income cannot keep up with inflation and it’s clear that many families are struggling to afford even the basics.

“The cabinet of millionaires in Westminster will not have to face these circumstances, neither will the Stormont politicians who are just getting by on their £43,000-a-year ‘poverty’ pay.”

John concluded, “The most vulnerable are suffering the most from the regressive economic policies of the Tories. This sorry state of affairs will continue only as long as people allow it. Workers are facing further attacks on pay and conditions, and people on benefits and tax credits will see all of these schemes cut as the British government and its Stormont administration continue with their austerity economics. Now is the time to say ‘No more’ so we don’t condemn yet another generation of children to a poverty-ridden existence.”

Ráiteas Athbhliana 2012 éirígí

(english version follows)

02/01/2012

Tapaíonn éirígí deis na hAthbhliana chun aitheantas agus ómós a thabhairt dóibh siúd go léir a thacaaigh leis an streachailt ar son Éire shaor in 2011. Agus an Bhliain Úr linn, ba mhian le éirígí a dtiomantas a athmhaíomh do shárú fhorghabháil na Breataine ar na Sé Chondae agus an chórais shoch-eacnamaíochta chaipitligh atá ar dhá thaobh na teorann.

Do na milliúin daoine ar fud na hÉireann, cuimhneofar ar Éirinn 2011 mar bhliain de chiorruithe, déine, dífhostaíocht, eisimirce, bochtanas agus éadóchas. Agus an ghéarchéim chaipitleach dhomhanda ag dul in olcas, thromaigh an lucht ceannais sa dá stát a n-ionsaí ar na daoine is laige sa tsochaí, ag cinneadh go n-íocfadh an mórán as saint an bheagáin.

Chuir pleidhcí fonnmhara i dTeach Laighean agus Stormont orduithe frith-shóisialta de chuid a máistrí i mBeirlín, Washington agus Londain i bhfeidhm go sona. Lena mbeart tá éagóir déanta ag na riaracháin sa dá stáitín teipthe ar mhuintir na hÉireann; ag ualú na glúine seo agus glún le teacht le díobháil agus fiacha gan áireamh. Ar mhaithe le scothaicme ceannais na n-airgeadaithe, forbróirí réadmhaoine, baincéirí agus polaiteoirí.

Rinne stát na Breataine iarracht a chumhacht mhailíseach a mhéadaú in Éirinn in 2011. Sna Sé Chondae lean póilíneacht pharaimíleata na Breataine lena feachtas ciaptha agus imeaglaithe ar an phobal náisiúnach go ginearálta agus ar ghníomhaithe poblachtacha go háirithe. Baineadh úsáid as sciuirdeanna tí, stad agus cuardach, baitíní agus piléir phlaisteacha chun imeaglú agus ionsaí a dheánamh ar dhaoine atá go fóill ag cur i gcoinne na forghabhála. Thug na gníomhaíochtaí seo de chuid an PSNI tuilleadh fianaise ar nádúr doleasaithe phóilíniú na Breataine in Éirinn. Glaonn éirígí orthu siúd a dúirt go raibh a leithéid de leasú indéanta glacadh le réaltacht an scéil agus a dtacaíocht a aistharraingt ó phóilíneacht pharailmíleata na Breataine agus córas dlí na Breataine.

Sa bhliain ina dearnadh cuimhne ar an tríochadú bliain ó chinn Stailc Ocrais 1981 ar fud na cruinne, lean rialtas na Breataine ag iarraidh caitheamh le cimí polaitiúla poblachtacha mar choirpigh, a raibh an agóid intuartha agus inchosanta ag na cimí céanna mar thoradh air. Athdhearbhaíonn éirígí a dtacaíocht leis na cimí ar agóid i bPríosún Mhaigh gCabraí in 2012 agus éilíonn ar na riaracháin i Stormont agus Westminster stádas polaitiúil iomlán a thabhairt dóibh gan mhoill.

Sna Sé Chondae Fichead bhí éirígí ar thús cadhnaíochta ag eagrú chur i gcoinne do chuairt stáit Elizabeth Windsor. Bhrúigh an cur i gcoinne sin rialtas Átha Cliath chun an obráid shlándála is mó le linn cuimhne a chur i bhfeidhm, ina measc bhí cur faoi ghlas chuid mhaith de Bhaile Átha Cliath ar feadh seachtaine. D’ainneoin áibhéil na meán chorparáideach agus an stáit, dhaingnigh máirseáil Windsor trí chathair bhán nádúr mínormálta an chaidrimh idir an Bhreatain agus Éire. Lean na daoine bhí páirteach sna hagóidí sráide agus i bhfeachtas leathan an chur i gcoinne do chuairt Windsor coiscéim Connolly agus Markievicz, a bhí i mbun cur i gcoinne don chuairt dheireanach chuig Baile Átha Cliath ag monarc Briotanach. Moltar iad as a gcalmacht agus a smacht in aghaidh neart saighdte.

Go hidirnáisúnta thug an streachailt in éadan tíorántacht an impiriúlachais, na margaí agus an nua-liobrálachais talamh leis le bliain anuas. Bhuail na milliúin daoine ar fud na cruinne na sráideanna le dúshlán a thabhairt dá scothaicmí ceannais, ag solathár fíordhóchas do fhéidearthacht na haistroda domhanda. Sna Stáit Aontaithe, san Eoraip, sa MheánOirthear agus eile thug oll-léirsithe agus gníomh stailce spléachadh de na féidearthachtaí ar féidir le hollghluaiseacht dhomhanda ar son ceartais a tháirgeadh. Ag aithint an ghá le freagra sóisialach domhanda ar fhadhb chaipitleach dhomhanda, tapaíonn éirígí an deis le beannachtaí dlúthpháirtíochta na hAthbhliana a chur chucu siúd go léir atá ag troid in éadan éadulaingthe, leithcheala agus dúshaothraithe.

Leis an Bhreatain i gceannas ar na Sé Chondae agus an IMF/EU/ECB i gceannas ar na Sé Chondae Fichead tá Éire trína chéile anois faoi fhorghabháil eachtrannach den chéad uair le beagnach céad bliain. An rud nár féidir a bhaint amach le tancanna agus gunnaí, tá sé déanta anois le conraí agus tarrthálacha. Ta clár na gcomh-fhorghabhálacha seo soiléir – cruthú ord polaitiúil, sóisialta agus eacnamaíochta nualiobrálach atá éagórach – ord ina mbeidh líon síorardaithe cumhachta agus maoine cruinnithe i láimhe líon síorlaghdaithe daoine.

Agus 2012 ag tosnú is mó an gá le gluaiseacht phoblachtach réabhlóideach Éireannach athspreagtha. Tá na smaointe ag croí an phoblachtachais Éireannaigh chomh ábhartha inniu agus a bhí siad nuair a tháinig siad chun cinn den chéad uair sna 1790s. Tá codarsnacht shuntasach idir fís Éire shaor rialaithe ag na daoine ar mhaithe leis na daoine agus Éire éagothrom, ghafa agus críochdheighilte an lae inniu. Is í Poblacht Shóisialach Dhaonlathach uile-Éireann nua an t-aon mhalairt inmharthana agus inbhuanaithe ar an deighilt, bhochtanas agus anord atá déanta ag an chóras reatha.

Tá tógáil gluaiseachta coiteanna a chuirfeas a leithéid de phoblacht nua faoi seoil cheana. Sa bhliain le teacht tá sé de rún ag éirígí an tógáil sin a luasú, trína bhfeachtais chur i gcoinne gníomhach do fhorghabhálacha na Breataine agus an IMF/EU/EBC a threisiú.

Molann éirígí do na poblachtóirí sin a chúlaigh ó streachailt ghníomhach chun athmhachnamh a dhéanamh ar a seasamh agus bliain úr ag tosnú. Is annamh a raibh dhúshláin ní ba mhó os comhair mhuintir na hÉireann ná na cinn atá ann faoi láthair. Tá géarghá le bhur scileanna, taithí agus croí sa tréimhse seo inár stair. Agus dóibhsean nach raibh riamh gníomhach i streachailt tugann éirígí cuireadh le bheith linn in seasamh a ghlacadh in éadan fhorghabhála agus éagóra. Le chéile is féidir linn gluaiseacht phoblachtach réabhlóideach a thógáil a bheas ábalta stát uile-Éireann nua a chruthú – ceann a ráthós i ndáiríre cearta polaitíochta, sóisialta agus eacnamaíochta chách, neamhaireach ar a n-inscne, a gcreideamh ná a gcine.

éirígí New Year Statement 2012

02/01/2012

éirígí takes the opportunity of the New Year to recognise and pay tribute to all those who supported the struggle for a free Ireland in 2011. As the New Year dawns, éirígí also wishes to restate its commitment to the overthrow of the British occupation of the Six Counties and the capitalist socio-economic system which exists on both sides the border.

For millions of people across Ireland 2011 will be remembered as a year of cutbacks, austerity, unemployment, emigration, poverty and despair. As the global capitalist crisis deepened the ruling class in both states intensified their attacks upon the weakest in society, determining that the many should pay for the greed of the few.

Willing fools in Leinster House and Stormont happily implemented the anti-social dictates of their respective masters in Berlin, Washington and London. By their actions the administrations in both failed statelets have committed a great wrong against the people of Ireland; burdening this and future generations with untold debts and deprivation. And all in order to protect the ruling elite of financiers, property developers, bankers and politicians.

2011 saw the British state attempt to further increase its malign influence in Ireland. In the Six Counties Britain’s paramilitary police continued with their campaign of harassment and intimidation of the nationalist community in general and republican activists in particular. House raids, stop and search, batons and plastic bullets were all used to intimidate and attack those who continue to resist the occupation. These activities by the PSNI provided yet more proof of the irreformable nature of British policing in Ireland. éirígí again calls on those who claimed that such reform was possible to accept the reality of the situation and withdraw their support for Britain’s paramilitary police and Britain’s legal system.

In a year that saw the thirtieth anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike remembered across the world the British government continued to attempt to treat republican political prisoners as criminals, resulting in an entirely predictable and justified protest by those same prisoners. éirígí reaffirms its support for the protesting prisoners in Maghaberrry Jail in 2012 and calls upon the administrations in Stormont and Westminster to grant them full political status immediately.

In the Twenty-Six Counties éirígí was to the fore of organising opposition to the state visit of Elizabeth Windsor. That opposition forced the Dublin government to mount the largest security operation in living memory, including the lock-down of much of Dublin city for up to a week. Despite the hype of the state and corporate media, the parading of Windsor through a sterile ghost city did little but reinforce the very abnormal nature of relations between Britain and Ireland. Those who joined the street protests and wider campaign of opposition to the Windsor visit followed in the footsteps of Connolly and Markievicz, who in their time led opposition to the last visit to Dublin by a British monarch. For their bravery and discipline in the face of ample provocation they are to be commended.

Internationally the struggle against the tyranny of imperialism, the markets and neo-liberalism gained much ground over the last twelve months. Countless millions across the globe took to the streets to challenge their respective ruling elites, providing real hope for the possibility of a global fight back. In the United States, Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere mass demonstrations and industrial action gave a glimpse of the possibilities that a global mass movement for justice could produce. Recognising the need for a global socialist solution to a global capitalist problem, éirígí takes the opportunity to send New Year’s solidarity greetings to all of those who fight against intolerance, discrimination and exploitation.

With Britain in control of the Six Counties and the IMF/EU/ECB in control of the Twenty-Six Counties all of Ireland is now under an effective foreign occupation for the first time in almost a century. What could not be achieved with tanks and guns has now been realised with treaties and bailouts. The agenda of these joint occupations is clear – the creation of a deeply unjust neo-liberal political, social and economic order – an order which will see an ever increasing amount of power and wealth concentrated into the hands of an ever decreasing number of people.

As 2012 begins the need for a reinvigorated Irish revolutionary republican movement has never been greater. The ideas at the core of Irish republicanism are as relevant today as they were when they first emerged in the 1790s. The vision of a free Ireland governed by the people for the people stands in stark contrast to the partitioned, occupied and deeply unequal Ireland of today. A new all-Ireland Democratic Socialist Republic represents the only viable and sustainable alternative to the division, poverty and chaos that the current system has produced.

The building of a popular movement that will deliver such a new republic is already underway. Over the coming twelve months éirígí intends to accelerate that build, by increasing its campaigns of active opposition to the British and IMF/EU/ECB occupations.

éirígí encourages those republicans who have withdrawn from active struggle to reconsider their position as a new year begins. The Irish people have rarely faced greater challenges than those that currently confront them. Your skills, experience and heart are badly needed at this juncture in our history. And to those who have never been active in struggle éirígí extends an invite to join with us in taking a stand against occupation and injustice. Together we can build a revolutionary republican movement capable of creating a new all-Ireland state – one which will genuinely guarantee the political, social and economic rights of all, regardless of their gender, religion or race.