Derry British army recruitement exposed

[réabhlóideach]

Derry British army recruitement exposed
http://www.rsym.org/derryrecruitment.jpg

Republican Socialist Youth Movement
Derry City cumann.
7/2/06

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

The Republican Socialist Youth Movement have again uncovered the attempts of the British army to recruit young Irish nationalist youth into the ranks of their imperialist army with the view of normalising their rule on these shores and spreading their misery to those of other sovereign nations. Material recruiting for the British Royal Air Force and Army has been distributed in a number of Derry schools, including those in nationalist working class areas.

Derry Republican Socialist Youth Movement spokesperson Ciaran Boyle commented “The fact that British army are recruiting at St. Peter’s school in the Creggan speaks volumes of the process of normalisation of British occupation occurring in our country.

“The British army, who have fallen short of their recruitment targets are eager to recruit nationalist working class youth here into their army to fill the void created in their own country. They cannot change the nature of their occupation of Ireland, which has always been to hold the natives down.

“We are calling upon all schools to remove this material and to cease acting as mercenaries and collaborators for an alien and foreign government. We intend to raise the issue with the six county Commissioner for Children and Young People to see how the issue can be advanced in the constitutional regard.”


www.rsym.org

[Whitten]

Why's this remarkable? Th British army recruit all over the UK, apparently now in Derry. If they're really nationalist youth then they wont want to join the army anyway. Whats the problem?

[réabhlóideach]

They are citizens of the Irish Republic, loyal to the Republic proclamed in 1916, ratified in the 1918 general election and in January 1919 by our government, Dáil Éireann through our Declaration of Independence. Until that all-Ireland parliament sits again, there can be no compromises. The British have no right to be in Ireland, they have no right to use Irish working class youth to normalise their rule here and fight on foreign shores when the greatest war of all is at home.

The statement can be no clearer - “We are calling upon all schools to remove this material and to cease acting as mercenaries and collaborators for an alien and foreign government."

[Whitten]

If they consider themselves loyal to the Irish republic and truly nationalist as you claim, then the recruitment campaign by the British army will have no effect on them. You would only have cause to fear if they dont all conform to your catholic nationalist principles. Give the kids a right to decide for themselves.

[PRC-UTE]

Originally posted by [email protected] 08, 2007 12:46 pm
If they consider themselves loyal to the Irish republic and truly nationalist as you claim, then the recruitment campaign by the British army will have no effect on them. You would only have cause to fear if they dont all conform to your catholic nationalist principles. Give the kids a right to decide for themselves.
He's not espousing Catholic Nationalism.

[PRC-UTE]

Originally posted by [email protected] 07, 2007 01:08 pm
Why's this remarkable? Th British army recruit all over the UK, apparently now in Derry. If they're really nationalist youth then they wont want to join the army anyway. Whats the problem?
What's wrong with joining an imperialist army indeed.

Who cares that this same army very recently armed, fed intel to and trained Loyalist reactionaries to murder nationalists who asked (peacefully) for equal treatment...

[Redmau5]

Originally posted by réabhló[email protected] 08, 2007 10:44 am
They are citizens of the Irish Republic, loyal to the Republic proclamed in 1916, ratified in the 1918 general election and in January 1919 by our government, Dáil Éireann through our Declaration of Independence. Until that all-Ireland parliament sits again, there can be no compromises. The British have no right to be in Ireland, they have no right to use Irish working class youth to normalise their rule here and fight on foreign shores when the greatest war of all is at home.

The statement can be no clearer - “We are calling upon all schools to remove this material and to cease acting as mercenaries and collaborators for an alien and foreign government."
So what about Irish army recruitment campaigns? I've seen quite a few in Belfast, yet there is never any fuss.

[PRC-UTE]

Originally posted by PRC-UTE+February 08, 2007 11:48 pm--> (PRC-UTE @ February 08, 2007 11:48 pm)
[email protected] 08, 2007 12:46 pm
If they consider themselves loyal to the Irish republic and truly nationalist as you claim, then the recruitment campaign by the British army will have no effect on them. You would only have cause to fear if they dont all conform to your catholic nationalist principles. Give the kids a right to decide for themselves.
He's not espousing Catholic Nationalism. [/b]
I was waiting for a responce. I hope that our comrade can respond at some point.

How can an anti-imperialist movement opposed by both the Church and the Nationalist bourgeoisie be Catholic Nationalist?

[Whitten]

Originally posted by PRC-UTE+February 08, 2007 11:52 pm--> (PRC-UTE @ February 08, 2007 11:52 pm)
[email protected] 07, 2007 01:08 pm
Why's this remarkable? Th British army recruit all over the UK, apparently now in Derry. If they're really nationalist youth then they wont want to join the army anyway. Whats the problem?
What's wrong with joining an imperialist army indeed.

Who cares that this same army very recently armed, fed intel to and trained Loyalist reactionaries to murder nationalists who asked (peacefully) for equal treatment... [/b]
This isnt about whether or not its right to join the army, its about whether its right fro the british army to try to recruit young people from catholic nationalist areas.

If those who are being targeted with recruitment are truly Irish nationalists and anti-british as he suggested then the recruitment attempts wont have any success. The only reason for him to fear would be if these youth really arnt nationalist, in which case he's trying to force his nationalism on everyone else.


I was waiting for a responce. I hope that our comrade can respond at some point.

How can an anti-imperialist movement opposed by both the Church and the Nationalist bourgeoisie be Catholic Nationalist?

They are nationalists by there founding principles and own admission. And they are Catholic. I fail to see how or why these things can be disputed.

[bolshevik butcher]

Of course we should oppose recruitment of young working class people into imperialist armies wherever this may be. I don't thinkt he fact that this is in a catholic area should change our approach to this situation, it should still be a class one. Working class people are recruited into imperialist armies to fight and die for interestests contrary to there own, for the interests of the ruling class. In school recently I have noticed the military trying to recruit people, an intecified effort in light of lower numbers of people signing up in recent times. I recnetly wrote this on it (which I will remove if IRSP comrades see this as hijacking there thread.)

Military Recruitment in Schools

“If you’re between 14 and 15 years 9months old, there’s a special place for you with the RAF. By joining our altitude club, you can find out about an organisation where you can follow your dreams.”

So reads the nice glossy leaflet with a picture of a shiny plane and the famous Royal Air Force badge on it that I recently found in school. I found out afterwards that the RAF had been in school speaking to first years to try and get them to sign up for this “altitude club”. Better-read “recruitment club”, also on the leaflet is several quotes from members of the RAF encouraging people to join, one of them by a member of the RAF who as a result has joined the bobsleigh team, for after all most members of the RAF spend most of their time enjoying extreme winter sports and trying to compete for medals in the winter Olympics.

This seems to be a new swipe of desperation, in light of launching into an Imperialist war in Iraq the ruling class is clearly finding it’s forces in a dire situation. The army relies on young working class people signing up for the army; unsurprisingly they have not been coming forth in large numbers after seeing so many others killed fighting the riches war in Iraq. For this is the dynamic of imperialism, it is not enough for the capitalists in Britain to wage a war against another country, plunder its wealth and oppress its people. It is not down to them to actually do the dirty work of killing and suppressing the Iraqis, not to mention possibly dying in the process. No, this comes down to the working class of this nation. It is down to us to kill Iraqi working class people so that the rich in Britain and America can gain access to Iraqi markets and resources, namely oil.

In light of this desperation, military recruitment has hit new highs, as well as this leaflet we have been exposed to other propaganda. When we went to see a film with the school the only advert on before hand was a five minute long short film with the aim of recruiting for the Royal Navy. It was typical of military recruitment, with the usual images of well-trained people bravely taking on the enemy in full on Ramboesque mach bravado, bravely laying down their lives for their country! Also, in recent weeks in our school I have noticed more military posters appearing trying to link the work done by the military with that done in schools, for example how physics is used in the military. This is a dangerous two-pronged attack when combined with the offer of free education, as this leaflet boasts
“Thanks to an RAF bursary I went to the university of my choice!”
This is a disgusting abuse of the circumstances of working class people, because of the counter-reforms of Thatcherism and Blarism students no longer receive grants to go to university, working class people often struggle to finance there way through it. As a result of this the military has cynically moved in on this territory and used it to attract working class people who aim to go onto higher education.

If we do not fight back against military propaganda then we face a future of military recruitment in schools similar to what we see in America today. Where in schools in poor working class areas the military has recruiters in schools all day everyday. We must take the fight to them and organised counter recruitment, and raise the arguments of who fights this war, who the war is fought and what do we get out of it. As well as seeing scores of Iraqi and British and American working class people dying, we also see money wasted on the war project that could be spent on things that we need; a decent health and education system, reasonable housing etc.

We must follow the example of an American school and chase the military recruiters out of our schools!

[Andy Bowden]

First of all, the RSYM is Republican, not nationalist. Theres a difference in terms of outlook and methodology. Secondly, you don't know if they are Catholic? - and even if they were it's irrelevant, Socialist Republicanism does not have it's politics informed by Catholicism.

In terms of "forcing nationalism" on people, why should Socialists even bother to argue our ideas then. Were just forcing Socialism on working people.

I mean, if Capitalism is so bad no one is going to vote for any of the parties that espouse it right?

[PRC-UTE]

Originally posted by Whitten+February 09, 2007 04:38 pm--> (Whitten @ February 09, 2007 04:38 pm)
Originally posted by PRC-[email protected] 08, 2007 11:52 pm

[email protected] 07, 2007 01:08 pm
Why's this remarkable? Th British army recruit all over the UK, apparently now in Derry. If they're really nationalist youth then they wont want to join the army anyway. Whats the problem?
What's wrong with joining an imperialist army indeed.

Who cares that this same army very recently armed, fed intel to and trained Loyalist reactionaries to murder nationalists who asked (peacefully) for equal treatment...
This isnt about whether or not its right to join the army, its about whether its right fro the british army to try to recruit young people from catholic nationalist areas.

If those who are being targeted with recruitment are truly Irish nationalists and anti-british as he suggested then the recruitment attempts wont have any success. The only reason for him to fear would be if these youth really arnt nationalist, in which case he's trying to force his nationalism on everyone else.
[/b]
This analysis is basically liberal, because you're ignoring how class comes into it. If young people are facing unemployment (nationalists facing this worse than unionists/loyliasts) than they can be lured into the military for a good career in murdering other workers.

So of course we're going to oppose this...




I was waiting for a responce. I hope that our comrade can respond at some point.

How can an anti-imperialist movement opposed by both the Church and the Nationalist bourgeoisie be Catholic Nationalist?

They are nationalists by there founding principles and own admission. And they are Catholic. I fail to see how or why these things can be disputed.

Some of our comrades are Catholic, some are Protestant, many are atheist.

We're not Nationalist, as Comrade Andy has already explained. Irish Republicanism is an ideology that came from the progressive, Protestant section of the Irish bourgeoisie several centuries ago. Today it's nearly exclusively a working class ideology. Nationalism and republicanism are currents that may overlap at times but arise from different origins have different methodologies and analyses.