New Year Statements 2022

A round-up of the statements issued by republican organisations to mark the New Year.

Saoradh

Guíonn Saoradh Athbhliain réabhlóideach ar ár gcuid ball agus ar ár lucht tacaíochta. Ba mhaith linn ár mbeannachtaí a chur chuig ár gcomrádaithe atá i ngéibheann timpeall na tíre agus a dteaghlaigh uilig ag an t-am seo freisin.

Saoradh would like to wish all our supporters and members a Revolutionary New Year. We would also like to send all our imprisoned comrades held in captivity in gaols across the country, and their loved ones, Revolutionary New Year greetings.

2021 was another challenging year for the working class around the world as the Covid-19 Pandemic has continued to hit the poorest communities hardest. The vaccine roll-out around the world has highlighted the obvious failures of capitalism and has seen wealthy nations starve the developing world of vaccines. By the end of November 2021, around 54% of the global population had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. For low-income countries, however, the rate was just 5%. These stark figures show the inequality that thrives under the predatory capitalist system which Irish revolutionary republican party Saoradh believes cannot be tolerated and must be destroyed.

Like 2020 before it, 2021 has seen British intelligence services direct political policing in the Occupied Six Counties, with several party members reporting approaches by shady agents of MI5 and scores more being detained on spurious charges. Listening devices have been found in Republican communities, placed no doubt by these same MI5 spooks. In the Free State, the willing lackeys of the Special Detective Unit have continued their harassment, surveillance and intimidation. The stop and searches against our members have continued unabated and the daily harassment at the hands of both the Crown Forces and Gardai has continued.

In October Saoradh were able to hold our first national event since the Covid-19 pandemic began, with a national hunger strike commemoration taking place in Bellaghy, Co. Derry. This event was extremely well attended and was the first opportunity for the party to publicly show that the arrest of most of our National Executive in 2020 had not affected our ability to draw large crowds onto the streets. It was a fitting commemoration to honour the 40th anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike and an event which brought Republicans together from the length and breadth of Ireland.

Following on from this, in November Saoradh held our 2021 Ard Fheis in Newry. Party delegates attended from across Ireland, Scotland and Italy. In his outgoing speech the Saoradh chairperson Brian Kenna pointed to the empty seats at the top table, seats belonging to imprisoned National Executive members Mandy Duffy, Kevin Barry Murphy, Davy and Sharon Jordan. It was a poignant moment for party members and served as a reminder of our comrades in gaols throughout Ireland. While those empty seats have now been filled with new, fresh and energetic faces we can’t help but miss the input from our committed and dedicated comrades. It’s our duty to push forward in the face of such adversity and with a new National Executive in place we can do so with renewed vigour and determination. Dozens of motions were passed focusing on strategy, education, youth, Republican Prisoners, socialist ideology, extradition, culture, equality, activism, homelessness, slum landlords, Anti-Fascism and international fraternity and solidarity.

The struggle inside the occupier’s gaols has continued in 2021. Recently some have regrettably chosen to walk away and disavow from the Republican Movement in the hopes of getting more favorable treatment from British courts, unfortunately they have fallen for the age old tactics of divide and conquer. These have been isolated incidents however and the vast majority of the Republican Prisoners remain steadfast behind the Republican Movement and the Republican Movement in return supports them. In Maghaberry and Hydebank Gaols prisoners find themselves denied basic human rights, the right to fair access to their families and full legal access to their legal defence teams. The MI5 controlled regimes in both these prisons have used Covid as a cover to create boxed visits. Saoradh demand the restoration of full visits for these prisoners coming into 2022.

Extradition has once again become a key issue for Republicans this year, with two Dublin Republicans handed over to the MI5 led Maghaberry Gaol. More recently, a Cork based Republican has been remanded on the back of a Trade and Co-Operation Agreement (TCA) warrant at the behest of the British State and MI5 in relation to the so called Operation Arbacia case and likewise faces a battle against extradition. Saoradh will not be silent on the issue of extradition and we will continue to oppose any Republican being handed over in 2022. Extradition was wrong in the past and remains wrong today.

Internationally Saoradh have strengthened ties with allies and comrades around the world and in 2021 we continued to build solidarity with many anti-imperialist and left-wing groups here at home and further afield. This was evident by the solidarity messages from around the world which were sent to our Ard Fheis and our attendance at a huge anti-fascist march in Paris which saw thousands of anti-fascists from across Europe rally against police violence in November.

In terms of publicity, Saoradh’s new website has been a huge success and has given the party the ability to get our own news and statements out, free from the censorship that we have experienced on various social media sites. Countless members personal pages and party pages were removed and banned in 2021, in a clear attempt to silence our politics. This has not and will not work, and Saoradh continue to spread our message of the Unfinished Revolution on a range of platforms.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, we have continued to grow our party membership with new craobhacha established in both South Leinster and Dundalk. Clearly our revolutionary message is resonating with many across Ireland and we will continue to grow across the island. Through the pandemic Saoradh has managed to retain its shape, and continued to make a significant social impact across the country in hard pressed communities. We have continued to involve ourselves in relevant community groups, sporting organisations, residents associations, Irish language groups, and cultural bodies. We have been to the fore in resisting the far-right across the island. We have supported workers on strike and those facing eviction. We have supported communities in standing up to anti-community behaviour. We have commemorated our Republican dead. We have highlighted extradition and supported Republican Prisoners and we have campaigned against the Special Courts.

All of our continued activism in grassroots communities means that the establishment fears us and fears what we can achieve. We are a Revolutionary Republican Socialist party, dedicated to the establishment of a Socialist Republic and for that we make no apologies. The Free State, British and as we have seen in 2021, even the international capitalist establishment will continue their campaigns against us. They will stop at nothing to disrupt our activists and hinder our legitimate political activities. We know that they will not be successful. We are here to stay. In 2022 join us in the Unfinished Revolution.

Irish Republican Socialist Movement

As we enter 2022 we wish to send fraternal revolutionary greetings to all our friends and supporters throughout the world. We offer solidarity to all those involved in anti-imperialist struggles whether in prisons or on the streets. As the year turns we reflect on the year just passed and look to the coming year and assess where we are in regards to our stated goals and objectives.

The Irish Republican Socialist Movement have remained focused on our objectives despite the problems laid before us as a result of the global pandemic. Our members have continually stepped in and helped beleaguered communities and services when the state proved unable to. We have continued to support front line organisations in a practical way. We salute those who have dedicated their lives to helping those people without food or shelter at this time. We have seen first hand what these groups and individuals have been doing for people left behind by the state. The IRSP will continue to support these initiatives in the coming year.

2021 was a difficult year for front line health and social care staff across Ireland, the doctors, nurses and paramedics, it was a difficult year for teachers, carers and people working in essential logistics and transport as well as those workers who manned the tills of shops to make sure people had access to food and other essentials. These workers are the backbone of our communities, these are the unsung heros and we offer them our solidarity and support in 2022.

The IRSP has continued to grow in 2021 carrying on the trend from the previous year. We take great heart from the fact that ordinary people across Ireland are choosing the politics of Republican Socialism and the party of Connolly and Costello as the party most able to achieve their collective goals in the years ahead.

A new political paradigm has emerged over the last number of years and as revolutionaries we are duty bound to continually review and adapt. Brexit has provided opportunities for Ireland and we intend to take advantage of each and every opportunity that arises in order to take us further along the path to Irish freedom, always mindful that socialism is to the forefront in any debates around the establishment of a future 32 county state in Ireland.

We continually demand and work towards a full British withdrawal from Ireland. The 100 year anniversary of the establishment of the northern state was a mitigated disaster and highlighted the fact that the 6 counties has served those of British heritage or allegiance only, whilst having political and religious discrimination at it’s heart. Reflecting on the 100 years of the state, we can only conclude that this rotten state must go. And that it’s institutions must go with it aswell. The Yes For Unity campaign will continue into 2022 and beyond. Our goal remains the destruction the northern state and we have no doubt it’s on it’s last legs.

We are not alone in assessing the situation. Others with more nefarious intentions are also analysing and hoping to take advantage of vulnerable working class communities. Private landlords are always looking for opportunities and we wont allow them to take advantage of any more working class families. The IRSP has been centrally involved in highlighting the activities of greedy landlords across the island. With a particular focus on West Belfast due to the lack of social housing our activists have been targeting those private landlords who have gone out of their way to fleece vulnerable members of the working class in the district. We have landlords on the run.

The silence of local mainstream nationalist politicians in the face of our campaign has been deafening. Working class people will make up their own minds as to why and the IRSP will not stop until the rents are dropped.

Both the ongoing compliance in 2021, of mainstream nationalism in the face of slum landlordism, austerity and benefits cuts, and the failure of elected leftist parties to step up to the mark in relation to any of these issues, suggests what has been evident to many on the ground for some time.

We have exposed their nefarious activities and we will continue to do so until the very last of them ceases to rob the most vulnerable in our areas. The housing executive must put in place safeguards so that landlords cannot continue to steal from the poorest in our society. Either way we will be there making sure that the landlords will not work unopposed as they go about their activities in 2022.

We will continue to grow and develop in the coming years. The Republican Socialist Movement has never been found wanting when it comes to fighting for and on behalf of working class communities, the communities from which we come. We will challenge those in power to better look after the needs of working class people and if that means going toe to toe with them the so-called mainstream political parties that is what we will be doing. We have never shied away from any challenge, in fact we are building a party capable of representing the interests of the working class in every forum or chamber in the country.

We would look forward to new challenges. We know that the ever changing political climate 2022 will provide opportunities and challenges. Either way we are prepared and ready.

Our activists across Ireland are organised and equipped to promote the Republican Socialist ideology and activism in defence of the Irish Working Class.

Let the fight go on!

Lasair Dhearg

Lasair Dhearg sends revolutionary greetings to our members and supporters across Ireland and internationally. We send solidarity to the exploited peoples of the world and those who suffer at the hands of capitalism and imperialism. We extend solidarity to those who fight injustice in the pursuit of a better world and those who are incarcerated for doing so.

Reflecting upon the past year and the months lying ahead, we take this opportunity to extend our thanks to those working within the health systems in both failed states in Ireland as they continue fighting around the clock with minimal resources to guide us through the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It is not governments that have guided us through the last few years but those on the front line fighting tooth and nail for our survival. We owe them a debt that can never be repaid.

Since the inception of Lasair Dhearg in August 2017, and the opening up for new members in late 2019, we have experienced continued successes, and we continue to build a network of supporters in Ireland and abroad. So far, we have achieved our yearly strategic objectives in the building of a viable and creditable Socialist Republican alternative across Ireland, one that we hope will be capable of meeting the expected challenges of the future.

As we close 2021, a year we defined as one for ‘national growth’, with plans to grow beyond our mostly Belfast-based membership, we reflect upon the successes of these previous twelve months. With our sights set firmly on the cities of Dublin and Derry, we have now evolved over that period to having an established presence in all three cities. This has been accompanied by a growing supporters network across Ireland and internationally, all contributing to our continued development.

Indeed, 2021 witnessed the first Lasair Dhearg events in both Dublin and Derry, alongside commemorations, days of action, presence at protests and more. It is our intention to formalise branch structures in these cities in the near future, as we continue the transition to a new all-island Socialist Republican Movement.

In Belfast, we continued with our campaigns to highlight important issues and drive forward that Socialist Republican message. Utilising effective propaganda techniques, our relatively small organisation has been able to push our message to a much larger audience on the streets and via social media.

Whether it was the unchanged nature of the PSNI or the supply of Israeli produce in local stores; gender based violence, racism or homophobia; the lack of adequate and appropriate housing or the targeting of multinational corporations complicit in imperialism; or indeed the inauguration of war criminals such as Hillary Clinton as chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, Lasair Dhearg has constantly and consistently pushed boundaries in order to get our message out there. For this, our activists should be proud of the work and the time that they have committed in recent months. Activism is the foundation upon which Lasair Dhearg was founded and upon which it continues to exist, and we ask those who support that activism and believe in our message not just to ‘join us’, but to take collective ownership of the project that we continue to develop in the fight for a Socialist Republic.

To manage growth, Lasair Dhearg will be repurposing and relaunching its supporters network in the coming months; we hope that a realignment will allow for the more effective utilisation of this network in terms of broadening our base and continued activism.

2021 was a year of anniversaries; 20 years since the rebranding of the RUC and the ‘birth’ of the PSNI; the 40th anniversary of the 1981 Hungerstrike, 50th anniversary of internment and 100 years of partition. Throughout the year Lasair Dhearg continually challenged the state narrative and combatted the normalisation of the PSNI in republican areas, whilst marking notable dates in a fitting manner.

In January we set out to ensure that the ten men who died on the Hungerstrike 40 years ago would be remembered and celebrated alongside the women and men who struggled with them in the H-Blocks and Armagh Gaol; to this end, we launched ‘Stailc ‘81’.

Engaging with comrades old and new to ensure that the legacy of the Hungerstrikers continued to inspire future generations, the anniversary of each of the ten men who died was marked at their grave-side. Online events recounting memories from the prison struggle and of those who died went out to thousands on social media. The Bobby Sands Creative Writing contest was supported by scores of contributors with poetry, short stories, art, photographs and more; culminating in the publication of ‘Dóchas: An anthology from the Bobby Sands Creative Writing Contest’, a 38 page booklet celebrating the struggle of those in and out of the prisons during that period of history. Hundreds of the free booklets were distributed across Ireland.

As hundreds gathered for the launch of a new mural dedicated to the ten Hungerstrikers during their 40th anniversary year, Stailc ‘81 ensured that alongside other events, committees and more, those who struggled and gave their all during that period of history would not be forgotten.

40 years on since that Hungerstrike, and indeed 50 years on from internment in 1971, Lasair Dhearg reiterates its position that republican prisoners in Ireland today are political prisoners and that those women and men currently held in British and Free State Gaol’s should be ensured their human rights and the right to political status.

2021 was a year that will cast long shadows into the future of Republicanism in Ireland. One of those shadows was cast by Sinn Féin’s decision to declare their support for the Free State ‘Special Criminal Court’. Condemned by Republicans and human rights activists for generations, the Special Criminal Court is utilised by the Twenty Six County state to intern and convict Republicans in the absence of a jury and has, in the past, sentenced them to death. This is why Sinn Féin opposed the SCC up until their about-face in October of 2021 and it is why Lasair Dhearg and other right-thinking activists continue to oppose it today.

The roots of the current occupation of Ireland’s Six Counties were marked in 2021 with the centenary of partition; a full 100 years since imperialists and counter-revolutionaries split our country in two. Those generations forced to exist within that rotten little Six County statelet, have suffered state-imposed sectarianism, jobs and housing discrimination, pogroms, internment, imprisonment, collusion and state brutality, torture and state-sponsored Unionist death squads, special powers, denial of language rights, denial of their rights as women, denial of their rights as members of the LGBT+ community and more.

Our campaign ‘100 Years of Oppression’ stated that 100 years of Orange supremacy was nothing to be celebrated, and we brought this message to the grounds of Stormont and the walls of Free Derry; it found its way into the bus stop advertisements in Belfast City Centre and to the distribution of articles and content to over 80,000 people on social media and countless others on the streets of those occupied Six Counties.

These past 12 months we have proudly stood in solidarity and with workers on picket lines in Belfast, Dublin and Derry including dockers, QUB staff, Dublin Fire Brigade, NHS staff and Glen Dimplex workers. We have celebrated the role of women in the liberation struggle, organising events to remember Margaret Skinnider in Dublin, Ireland, and Coatbridge, Scotland; as well as Winifred Carney and Mary Ann McCracken in Belfast. Alongside the marking of International Women’s Day in 2021, we have actively championed the rights of women by tackling issues such as bodily autonomy, misogyny and revenge porn.

As internationalists, Lasair Dhearg organised and attended events throughout the year in solidarity with other peoples across the globe. From Cuba to Palestine, and from Haiti to Nicaragua, this solidarity included direct action against Citibank in Ireland in support of the Anishinaabe people and their fight against the Line3 oil pipeline being forced through indigenous lands.

The world is fast approaching climate catastrophe as the greed of imperialists and finance capital reigns supreme. A system that moves away from fossil fuels and reverses the rampant commodification of the planet’s resources for profit is what is desperately required – this is what socialism can deliver.

This commodification extends beyond natural resources and into every aspect of our lives, its effects are there to see in the respective housing systems in both failed states in Ireland. Whether it is the crumbling homes of the MICA block housing disaster, or the crumbling damp-ridden portfolios of the rich and powerful north and south.

At present, there are more empty homes across both states than there are families in need of a home; Ireland’s housing issues could be solved at the stroke of a pen if only those in government had the political will. That is why only a Socialist Republic could solve the housing crisis, and it would do so by seizing all empty housing and utilising it for the common good; provision, not profit. The right to a home is an inalienable right, and is essential to a full and healthy life.

The coming years are important not just for Irish Socialist Republicanism but for the nation as a whole. At some point in the near future, the people of Ireland, held down by the weight of our chains, will decide to no longer exist on our knees but to stand tall, and to cast off those chains as we march forward into a new 32 County Socialist Republic. We must be ready.

“…beware Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people, Who shall take what ye would not give.”

Bígí Linn – Join Us.

32 County Sovereignty Movement

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement sends fraternal new year greetings to all republican and socialist comrades throughout Ireland and stand in solidarity with imprisoned republicans in British and Free State gaols. We also send revolutionary greetings to all peoples struggling for liberation and justice throughout the world.

As we face into a new year where the Covid pandemic still looms large in our communities we reiterate our stance that community solidarity and common sense offers the best rebuttal to the effects of the pandemic.

Irish republicans must use the forthcoming year to fundamentally re-evaluate the political and strategic direction of Irish republicanism. As we stand now that political and strategic direction is moribund.

The mantle of Irish republicanism can only be inherited by those who have ideas to advance it. There is a clear deficit from all republican groups for such ideas which means simply advocating a group name is a meaningless political act. Predictable repetition is not a revolutionary activity.

Irish republicans have a revolutionary obligation to provide the youth of Ireland with a credible platform for resistance. The enthusiasm of youth is the vigor of any nation; its misuse for ill-conceived exploits represents a serious breach of trust.

Serious questions continue to be posed concerning the current use of armed actions and the negative repercussions, not only on the broader republican struggle, but on the struggle of individual families who have members imprisoned. The right to use disciplined armed struggle is not in question; its irresponsible use is and that is a nettle which republicans need to grasp if other forms of effective resistance are to emerge.

In essence what we face now is a watershed moment that the Republican Movement faced after the ending of the Border Campaign. In an act of political and military competence a ‘Dump Arms’ order was issued, and stock taken of the political status quo.

The Republican analysis is not in the national narrative and we only have ourselves to blame for that. As we straddle the centenaries of our revolutionary period our voice should be the most relevant of all. Instead, Irish sovereignty is at the mercy of a British controlled Border Poll with no political appetite in the Irish body politic for constitutional change.

2022 must be the year that Irish republicans address and resolve the fundamental internal problems that are proving a major stumbling block to the republican struggle. We cannot leave it any longer!

Beir bua.

Éirígí For A New Republic

As 2022 dawns, Éirígí For A New Republic thanks its members and supporters at home and abroad for their ongoing contribution to the struggle for a new all-Ireland Republic. Your activism over the last twelve months has advanced the cause of Irish freedom and prepared the ground for further advances in 2022 and beyond.

The coming year will see Ireland enter the final phase of a decade of centenaries which began with the centenary anniversary of the 1913 Lockout in 2013. This final phase will be dominated by the 100th anniversary of the start of the Irish counter-revolution, an event that is routinely and less accurately referred to as the Irish civil war.

The impact of the Irish counter-revolution on the development of modern Ireland cannot be over-stated. Indeed, it is impossible to understand the Ireland of 2022 without first understanding the nature of the counter-revolution that began in 1922.

The forces behind that counter-revolution began to come together in the aftermath of the signing of the 1921 Treaty. Ultimately its ranks included the most conservative, wealthy and powerful elements of Irish society in the Twenty-Tix County area, including the landed gentry, the indigenous Irish capitalist class and the Catholic Church.

These long-standing anti-republican elements aligned themselves with the minority of active republicans who supported the 1921 Treaty as part of a successful strategy to shatter the Irish revolutionary movement and to ensure that the newly emergent Twenty-Six County state would offer no threat to their respective wealth, power or status.

Supported and armed by the British government, the counter-revolution went on an all-out offensive against the Irish republican movement in June 1922. Within twelve months, the counter-revolution had secured a definitive military victory over those who had remained loyal to the Republic of 1916.

The counter-revolution, however, did not end in May 1923. In the years and decades that followed the conservative forces that supported the 1921 Treaty were rewarded for their loyalty. The Twenty-Six County state did not only protect their interests, it enshrined the protection of those interests into the laws, constitution, institutions and modus operandi of the state - a reality that remains true to this day.

The radical, confident vision of the 1916 Proclamation and the 1919 Democratic Programme -- of public ownership, of the common good, of economic democracy -- were abandoned and replaced by something closer to a pro-capitalist theocracy than a true Republic.

In the Six Counties too, a dystopian state designed to protect the interests of capital and the status quo emerged. Like its southern counterpart it used religion and sectarianism as a means of social manipulation and political control.

Despite all of the promises that were made by both sides during the Treaty debates, the nationalist community in the Six Counties was completely abandoned by the Twenty-Six County political establishment -- left to endure exclusion and privation in an apartheid statelet in their own country.

In the late 1960s that oppressed nationalist community began to campaign for the most basic of civil rights, a campaign that was initially met with the batons of the RUC and ultimately with the bullets of the British Army.

January 31st, 2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday Massacre, when British paratroopers murdered 14 civil rights protesters and injured many more on the streets of Derry -- a pivotal moment in Irish history that cannot be separated from partition, the counter-revolution or the abandonment of the nationalist community by the southern political establishment.

Éirígí stands with the victims of the Bloody Sunday Massacre and with all others who died or were injured at the hands of Britain’s official forces or unofficial death squads.

The British government’s proposed amnesty for all former British combatants is just the latest attempt to cover up Britain’s dirty war in Ireland. It cannot and will not succeed in airbrushing Britain’s crimes from the pages of history.

All frontline workers deserve decent wages and working conditions and not just rounds of applause

Much of 2021 was again defined by the battle against the Covid-19 virus. Despite the opportunistic, confused and often contradictory ‘leadership’ emanating from Leinster House, Stormont and Westminster, frontline workers have continued to provide healthcare and other vital services throughout the pandemic.

Éirígí takes the opportunity of our New Years Statement to again thank these frontline workers, many of whom are low-paid, for the work that they do. Like them we note that the rounds of applause of the early phases of the pandemic were not followed by deserved pay rises and improved conditions of employment.

The pandemic continues to highlight the devastating impact of decades-long under-funding of public health services by successive Dublin and London governments. In the Twenty-Six Counties the chronic shortage of critical care capacity, in particular, has shaped the state’s entire response to Covid-19, leading to greater levels of restrictions and counter-measures than might otherwise have been required.

Despite all that has happened since March 2020, the Dublin government disgracefully continues to block meaningful change to the healthcare system, a fact borne out by the mass resignations from the Sláintecare advisory council earlier this year.

The pandemic has also brought the role and influence of private pharmaceutical corporations into sharp focus. While right-thinking people saw Covid-19 as a catastrophe for humanity, Big Pharma saw it as an opportunity to generate super-profits from vaccines and treatments.

The case for a transnational not-for-profit approach to the research and production of pharmaceuticals for not only Covid-19, but all illness and medical conditions, has never been stronger.

In 2022 and beyond, Éirígí will continue to advocate for the creation of a single-tier, publicly-funded, not-for-profit, all-Ireland healthcare system, understanding that it alone can deliver efficient, high-quality healthcare for all.

The legacy of the counter-revolution of a century ago continues to manifest itself today in many forms, perhaps most dramatically so in the state’s response, or lack of response, to the current housing crisis.

A state and political system that was created to protect the interests of the men of property has neither the interest or ability to challenge the mastery of the land speculators, property developers banker, landlords, estate agents and other assorted parasites who have accumulated vast wealth from the current approach to housing.

That challenge will have to come from outside of the state, outside of the political establishment, outside of the official opposition and outside of Leinster House and Stormont. The challenge will have to come directly from the people of no property, organised in an effective housing justice movement.

Since 2016 Éirígí has championed the call for a new system of Universal Public Housing, knowing it alone has the potential to not only end the housing crisis, but also end the nefarious reign of the housing parasites and the gombeen politicians that facilitate them.

The legacy of the counter-revolution is also clear to be seen in how the political establishment is approaching the twin challenges of climate change and energy security. As with virtually every other area of public life, they have turned to the private sector for solutions, gifting Big Energy access to Ireland’s vast wind energy potential. This approach is doomed to failure and will not deliver a low-carbon economy, energy security or low-cost energy.

Through our ‘Power To The People’ campaign, Éirigí is calling for a radically different approach that would see the state taking direct control of Ireland’s renewable energy resources and infrastructure. In 2022 we intend to intensify that campaign and the fight for a just transition to a low-carbon future.

In April 2021, Éirígí celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the party’s foundation in 2006. Over that time Éirígí has established itself as a permanent fixture on the Irish political landscape, consistently delivering a coherent socialist republican analysis of the challenges facing Irish society and putting forward credible solutions to those challenges.

And beyond that theoretical contribution, Éirígí activists have delivered on practical real-world campaigns in their communities and at a national level for more than fifteen years.

From defending Ireland’s natural gas, water and wind resources to fighting for reproductive rights for women - from supporting the Irish language to pushing back against austerity - from opposing British royal visits to supporting workers in struggle - from highlighting the vulture takeover of housing to building support for UP Housing - from promoting a deeper understanding of Irish history to building support for Irish reunification - from demonstrating international solidarity to defending vital public services, Éirígí activists have been imbedded in virtually every progressive campaign since 2006.

All of this has been achieved without any major financial support from the state or other sources and in the face of overwhelming hostility from the state and private corporate media.

The need for a disciplined, revolutionary Irish republican party is as great now as it has been at any point in Irish history. Éirígí has shown itself to be resilient, adaptable and capable of continuous recruitment over a significant period of time - all prerequisites for the building of the type of revolutionary party that Ireland needs.

Today, as a new year begins, we invite those who share our analysis and values to give serious consideration to joining Éirígí For A New Republic.

If you’re ready to join the fight for a New Republic you can do so here.

Republican Network for Unity

Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh, Republican Network for Unity thanks every member for the commitment and dedication they have shown throughout the last year in progressing and building our movement. We have made tremendous strides in the last 12 months, including our instrumental role, spearheading a number of mental health projects across the North. We have been debating across the country with various institutions and groups regarding the serious social and economic deprivation within our communities, certain projects have been successful in helping those most vulnerable but we still have a great gap to cover. Food parcels, voucher schemes, winter heating and electric schemes are just some of the initiatives we have run this year. We took stock and made concerted efforts to speak with people on the front lines of our community, for example, community workers, teachers, health and care staff, we did this to gauge where our activism is best focused and the findings ranged between serious food shortages and general poverty to what was forecast before winter as a dangerous level of fuel poverty among the most vulnerable in our communities across the nation.

While we develop our community first strategy which includes community care alongside support moving into community empowerment and eventually reclaiming of our communities from the establishment. People are becoming more aware of how the mainstream establishment parties have been operating, dictating from the pulpit in their ivory tower, a great degree of them granting themselves scandalous amounts of money for the meagre work they do, and the work they do never seems to filter down to the local communities, it’s time to realise that these people are no better than Tories, who amass personal wealth, squander funding initiatives and support capitalist culture, creating a larger and more evident gap of poverty than has been seen for some time. Alternatively, we have shown that, anything we have been given or raised on our own we have contributed 100% of that back into our communities and will continue to do so. Vital to our approach in the community is our engagement with the youth, have and will continue to create opportunities for their betterment, including community pride initiatives, education and most importantly engaging and listening to what they think and how they see things moving forward.

As our vision for development is successfully unfolding, we would like to take this opportunity to extend an open invitation to, groups or individuals within the Republican community to sit down and have conversations regarding the future of Irish Republicanism.

Then we would ask those who are currently engaged in armed struggle to sit down internally with your membership and have a realistic debate about how things are going, we fully accept that the Irish people have a right to engage in armed struggle to liberate themselves, however, having the right and the ability to engage are two entirely different things. We made this call during the centenary year of the Easter Rising in 2016, we have been consistent in voicing this opinion and will continue to do so.

During Easter 2016 Republican Network for Unity shared an analysis of the current trajectory of the Republican struggle in Ireland. We called on people to exam both strengths and weaknesses and to ensure we were not involved in a continuous loop that was hindering rather than progressing. In January 2017 the leadership of ONH announced a cessation of military operations, they said they did so after an internal period of debate. We in Republican Network for Unity fully support that announcement and are still of the belief the decision taken, was both honourable and courageous in allowing space for Republicans to explore alternatives to British occupation. On January 21st this year the cessation will be 4 years old, in that time ONH has remained rigid to their commitment however the British establishment and state forces have not grasped the opportunity to progress transition. Steve Martin who was the former district commander for the PSNI in Derry, stated that if groups stopped using violence, then there would be a change to the policing model, the cessation still holds, yet stop and searches, harassment, MI5 targeting still remain active and daily occurrence particularly for our membership. Anyone who believes that this corrupt institution will honour their word is sadly deluded, we will continue to challenge them and their existence as political policing remains a key instrument in their strategy.

It is fast approaching the centenary of what is termed the Irish Civil war, this is a period defined by the Free State forces arresting, executing and outright murdering Irish revolutionaries at the behest of the British government. One side betrayed the Irish people by succumbing to British rule and then there was the Irish Republican Army who fought to create a sovereign and independent Ireland. Let us all remember the crimes of the Free Staters 100 years on and how they have continuously bowed and curtsied for their paymasters in Westminster ever since their creation.

We still have a lot of work to do, as the year’s tick by the prospect of the “border pollers” becomes more desperate and unfulfilled. We are charting a new course, one which will hopefully create strong self-sufficient communities that are eager for liberation. With that said we are open to debating anything that moves us all forward in the most productive manner, we no longer hold periods of internal debate, those debates are now continuous and fluid with our strategy. We wish everyone in our nation a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Pobail-Saoirse-Flaitheas

IRA (New IRA)

The leadership of the Irish Republican Army sends New Year greetings to all our Volunteers, imprisoned comrades and supporters across the world. We also salute all anti-imperialist revolutionaries who continue to struggle for freedom from occupation and tyranny, particularly our Palestinian comrades.

Once again, 2021 seen the occupier step up their propaganda war against the IRA in its attempts to alienate us from you, the people. A battle of hearts and minds combined with dirty tricks, the targeting of families and young people while holding communities to ransom through career criminals and informers has added further to the conditions for armed struggle.

Despite the war-weariness myth perpetrated by the occupier, the IRA has not been defeated. We have one again proved that while Ireland remains under occupation, we will continue to resist; just as we have done in every generation when the struggle has ebbed and flowed, today is no different. The leadership of the Irish Republican Army wish to make it clear, while others might disavow or abandon the struggle and their comrades, we are far from beaten.

Our intake of Volunteers continues to increase steadily and new recruits find themselves joining an army of well disciplined, organised and fearless women and men. We are confident of victory and can assure you we will not be beaten by anything the occupier can throw at us.

We are capable of striking anywhere at any time, however our attacks are carefully calculated in an effort to reduce the risk to the civilian population. Numerous occasions through 2021 seen opportunities to strike at British military targets, however our volunteers withdrew due to the risk of civilian casualties.

The Irish Republican Army will embrace 2022 with continued resistance. We are positive that you, the people, will stand with us as you continue to give us the support you always have. Remember, there can only be one result, a true 32 County Socialist Republic.

T O’Neill.

Urgent Appeal