Conghaileach
24th May 2003, 18:56
African Liberation Day 2003 Statement From the Irish Republican Socialist Party
This is the 19th year that representatives of the Irish Republican
Socialist Party have joined with the sisters and brothers of the
All-African People's Revolutionary Party to commemorate African Liberation
Day. The relationship that has been developed between our two
organisations has broadened over the years so that in recent times we have
joined in celebrating the struggle to liberate Africa with the AAPRP from
Sacramento, California to Washington, DC; from Chicago, Illinois to
Houston, Texas; and from London, England to Los Angeles, California. Over
the years we have built strong ties of solidarity and we have formed
personal friendships. We have offered our support when it has been needed
and we have received support when we needed it. It is both an honour and a
pleasure for us to share our solidarity once again with the revolutionary
movements of African people throughout the world.
Many times when we have spoken at African Liberation Day some individuals
have been confused by our presence. They note that we are undeniably
European and in many minds European and imperialist are synonymous. That
leading light of the contemporary struggle for the liberation of the masses
of the people of Africa, Kwame Ture, however, was never confused on this
subject. The various times that I had the pleasure of hearing Brother
Kwame Ture speak, he not once failed to mention the inspiration he drew
from the liberation struggle of the Irish people. Kwame recognised that
before Europeans attempted settler colonialism in North America or Southern
Africa, they first tried out the tactic in Ireland. Kwame knew that before
Europeans carried out the kidnapping and forced bondage of millions of
Africans in the Western Hemisphere, they first abducted and transported the
Irish to work as slaves in the sugar fields of Barbados. He recognised
that before the partition of Palestine came the partition of Ireland. He
understood that before the apartheid legislation was framed in Azania or
the Zionists in Palestine adopted the repressive legislation, they looked
to the model of Ireland's six counties and the Special Powers Act adopted
there. He saw that before neo-colonial regimes sprang like mushrooms on
the African continent, a neo-colonial regime in Dublin was selling
Ireland's sovereignty even more effectively than had their colonial
predecessors.
Ireland has been the testing ground for colonialism and imperialism for
almost 850 years. We know a thing or two about oppression and
exploitation. It is for that reason that the world's third republican
revolution, after the American colonies and France and just before Haiti,
took place in Ireland. It is for that reason that Lenin had cause to refer
to the Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly and Jim Larkin as "the first
red army in Europe". It is for that reason that the Irish have given to
the vocabularies of the world the word "boycott", why the Irish have given
to the world the tactic of the hunger strike and the weapon of the car
bomb. We know a thing or two about struggle.
Because we know something about oppression and about liberation struggle
that we recognise the struggles being waged or the liberation of Africa as
a kindred struggle. Because we are familiar with invasion and occupation
as well as resistance and the fight for freedom, we embrace the
revolutionaries of Palestine, such as the PFLP, as comrades. Because we
have experienced exploitation as well as revolutionary upsurge, in the
redistribution of land ongoing in Zimbabwe we recognise justice.
Sisters and brothers, comrades and friends, the Irish Republican Socialist
Party applauds the sacrifice and heroism of the African people striving for
their own liberation. We offer our sincere and profound solidarity to all
those engaged in just struggle for national liberation and socialism in
Africa and in the Arab Nation. We in the Irish Republican Socialist
Movement have had our comrades see action side-by-side with revolutionaries
in Palestine. Members of our movement fought along side the MPLA in the
struggle in Angola. Members of our movement have visited the Libyan
Jamahiriya to demonstrate our solidarity with the revolutionary
accomplishments there. We are confident in the victory of the many
struggles being waged against imperialism and for socialism, just as we are
confident that we too shall see victory. No one need wonder why the Irish
Republican Socialist Party is represented here today; we are at home
here. It is where we belong.
In closing, given the difficult and frightening times in which we presently
find ourselves, I would like to offer a quote which gave heart to the great
Irish socialist leader James Connolly and was often repeated by him, so
that it might strengthen us as we face the challenges of our present
struggle.
THE GREAT ONLY APPEAR GREAT
BECAUSE WE ARE ON OUR KNEES . . .
LET US ARISE!
International Department
Irish Republican Socialist Party
24 May 2003
This is the 19th year that representatives of the Irish Republican
Socialist Party have joined with the sisters and brothers of the
All-African People's Revolutionary Party to commemorate African Liberation
Day. The relationship that has been developed between our two
organisations has broadened over the years so that in recent times we have
joined in celebrating the struggle to liberate Africa with the AAPRP from
Sacramento, California to Washington, DC; from Chicago, Illinois to
Houston, Texas; and from London, England to Los Angeles, California. Over
the years we have built strong ties of solidarity and we have formed
personal friendships. We have offered our support when it has been needed
and we have received support when we needed it. It is both an honour and a
pleasure for us to share our solidarity once again with the revolutionary
movements of African people throughout the world.
Many times when we have spoken at African Liberation Day some individuals
have been confused by our presence. They note that we are undeniably
European and in many minds European and imperialist are synonymous. That
leading light of the contemporary struggle for the liberation of the masses
of the people of Africa, Kwame Ture, however, was never confused on this
subject. The various times that I had the pleasure of hearing Brother
Kwame Ture speak, he not once failed to mention the inspiration he drew
from the liberation struggle of the Irish people. Kwame recognised that
before Europeans attempted settler colonialism in North America or Southern
Africa, they first tried out the tactic in Ireland. Kwame knew that before
Europeans carried out the kidnapping and forced bondage of millions of
Africans in the Western Hemisphere, they first abducted and transported the
Irish to work as slaves in the sugar fields of Barbados. He recognised
that before the partition of Palestine came the partition of Ireland. He
understood that before the apartheid legislation was framed in Azania or
the Zionists in Palestine adopted the repressive legislation, they looked
to the model of Ireland's six counties and the Special Powers Act adopted
there. He saw that before neo-colonial regimes sprang like mushrooms on
the African continent, a neo-colonial regime in Dublin was selling
Ireland's sovereignty even more effectively than had their colonial
predecessors.
Ireland has been the testing ground for colonialism and imperialism for
almost 850 years. We know a thing or two about oppression and
exploitation. It is for that reason that the world's third republican
revolution, after the American colonies and France and just before Haiti,
took place in Ireland. It is for that reason that Lenin had cause to refer
to the Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly and Jim Larkin as "the first
red army in Europe". It is for that reason that the Irish have given to
the vocabularies of the world the word "boycott", why the Irish have given
to the world the tactic of the hunger strike and the weapon of the car
bomb. We know a thing or two about struggle.
Because we know something about oppression and about liberation struggle
that we recognise the struggles being waged or the liberation of Africa as
a kindred struggle. Because we are familiar with invasion and occupation
as well as resistance and the fight for freedom, we embrace the
revolutionaries of Palestine, such as the PFLP, as comrades. Because we
have experienced exploitation as well as revolutionary upsurge, in the
redistribution of land ongoing in Zimbabwe we recognise justice.
Sisters and brothers, comrades and friends, the Irish Republican Socialist
Party applauds the sacrifice and heroism of the African people striving for
their own liberation. We offer our sincere and profound solidarity to all
those engaged in just struggle for national liberation and socialism in
Africa and in the Arab Nation. We in the Irish Republican Socialist
Movement have had our comrades see action side-by-side with revolutionaries
in Palestine. Members of our movement fought along side the MPLA in the
struggle in Angola. Members of our movement have visited the Libyan
Jamahiriya to demonstrate our solidarity with the revolutionary
accomplishments there. We are confident in the victory of the many
struggles being waged against imperialism and for socialism, just as we are
confident that we too shall see victory. No one need wonder why the Irish
Republican Socialist Party is represented here today; we are at home
here. It is where we belong.
In closing, given the difficult and frightening times in which we presently
find ourselves, I would like to offer a quote which gave heart to the great
Irish socialist leader James Connolly and was often repeated by him, so
that it might strengthen us as we face the challenges of our present
struggle.
THE GREAT ONLY APPEAR GREAT
BECAUSE WE ARE ON OUR KNEES . . .
LET US ARISE!
International Department
Irish Republican Socialist Party
24 May 2003