éirígí Tir Chonaill

Cameron the Little Imperialist

10/10/10

Rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith has said the comments of British prime minister David Cameron at his party’s annual conference are proof of Britain’s continuing imperialist role in Ireland.

In his main address earlier this week, Cameron said: “When I say I am prime minister of the United Kingdom, I really mean it. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland – we're weaker apart, stronger together, so together is the way we must always stay.”

Mac Cionnaith responded: “The comments of many senior British politicians in recent times have made a mockery of the previous claim that Britain has no selfish or strategic interest in Ireland.

“Cameron’s comments are reminiscent of former British foreign secretary Jack Straw’s assertion that the Britain must remain in Ireland in order to maintain its prominent status in bodies such as NATO, the EU and the UN.

“Cameron’s arrogant claim that ‘together is the way we must always stay’ is a powerful demonstration on the part of the British government that it continues to reject the right of the Irish people to decide their own destiny, freely and as one people.”

Mac Cionnaith continued: “Yet again, it falls to Irish republicans to point out that Britain has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland and never can have any right in Ireland. All the posturing in the world by British prime ministers cannot change that fact.

“éirígí will continue to actively challenge the British government’s illegal and illegitimate claim on the North of Ireland, while campaigning in tandem against the right-wing cuts it plans to impose on working class people in the Six Counties.

“It is only by effecting a British withdrawal from Ireland and defeating the disastrous social and economic policies that Britain and its proxies administer to the Irish people that a truly new society can be built. éirígí is calling on all republicans and socialists to begin building a mass opposition to these twin evils.”