‘We can do it if we stand together’

The 2nd Annual Independent Dublin Republicans ‘Remember the Hunger Strikers 1917-1981’ Commemoration took place last Saturday, August 24. The main oration was given by former PoW Frank Quinn of the 1916 Societies. Below is the full text of his oration.

Firstly, I’d like to remember our comrades and the people of Palestine who are being slaughtered as we speak here today. Comrades, your struggle is our struggle. We stand with you, we grieve with you, for your family and friends. Occupation no more - freedom for Ireland, freedom for Palestine.

In the long struggle for freedom, sovereignty and a 32-county Socialist Republic, there have been many memorable and prominent occurrences; none so much as the 1981 hunger strikes by Irish Republicans who were held in the most inhumane conditions in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh prison camp, near Belfast in the still occupied 6 counties of this country.

Hunger strike is deeply ingrained in the Irish psyche, stretching as far back as the genocide carried out on the Irish people in 1846/7. People lay at the door of the landlord and starved to death. 22 of our comrades we commemorate here today made this ultimate sacrifice. True revolutionaries. While incarcerated in prisons all across Ireland and England, our comrades took this drastic but extremely courageous step. The weapon in prison, comrades, is your own free will. To withdraw this and stand firm and give your life for your fellow country people and for oppressed people all across the world…the greed of imperialism can never understand what would make a person do such a thing. But we know, comrades, we know, and we understand. These are revolutionaries – soldiers with a just cause – freedom, independence and our 32 county Socialist Republic.

The conditions in the H-Blocks were described by independent visitors as worse than the slums of Calcutta, India. These men were forcibly strip searched, beaten, tortured and sexually abused by sadistic loyalist thugs who had carte blanche to carry out whatever punishment they wished. This was all in the interests of the establishment who sought to crush the resistance movement by aiming to ensure that these captured revolutionaries would be broken.

But they made the crucial mistake, as all colonisers do. These were committed soldiers of the Republic who would rather lay down their lives than be treated as criminals. And that, a chairde, is exactly what they did.

So we are here to commemorate these brave men and the actions they took to maintain our political credibility, both nationally and internationally - as freedom fighters, as soldiers of the Irish revolution, as soldiers of the Republic.

These very streets were thronged with the good, sound people of Dublin and further afield. Marching, screaming for the lives of our comrades to be spared. They marched on the British embassy and they proudly marched through O’Connell Street past the GPO, where our soldiers fought the British and were executed by them for the audacity to challenge the right of the British to remain in Ireland. To quote one of these brave and courageous Volunteers, “The British government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland and never can have any right in Ireland.”

So, my message is simple - GET OUT AND GET OUT NOW.

The people of Ireland want to live in peace with their neighbours across the water, but this can, and will only happen, when you withdraw every aspect of your occupation, remove your falsely created border and allow us, the Irish people, to govern our own country and express our culture, speak our language, and to share our rich musical, poetic and literary skills, renowned throughout the whole world, freely, at home and abroad. All of these elements which have been distorted by the British negative influence on our country.

The comrades we commemorate here today, knew their sacrifice would have reverberations across the world, then, and now. Their selfless act has inspired millions - across the globe, workers downed tools in support of the 5 demands and streets were named after our comrade Bobby Sands, from Paris to Tehran, and from New York to Nantes, all in the face of Western imperialism and its apparatus. Their act allowed people to stand up and support the resistance that these brave comrades displayed. And despite the best efforts of the imperialists, they won. Yes, they won. Theirs, and our struggle, was, and is, recognised as a legitimate struggle against British imperialism and the criminalisation of a whole people, a whole nation. The people, the Irish people, stood firm and demanded these men would not be labelled or treated as common criminals. Sadly, we lost 10 brave comrades on this most recent hunger strike. And another 12 on others throughout our struggle. We will never forget them, we will never deny them, and we will always hold them in the highest esteem. While others grovel for crumbs from their imperialist masters’ table, we stand proud and 100 percent committed to that for which these brave men died, and that, comrades, is a 32 county Socialist Republic.

We have thugs masquerading as Republicans, from Dublin and other parts of our country; right-wing fascists and criminals disrespecting our flag, disrespecting our ideology and being used by MI5 and other security services. Comrades, open your eyes - these are being led by establishment touts, Tommy Robinson, far-right ex British soldiers and loyalist murderers. Is this what you idiots consider Republican?? Well let me tell you, it is not. This will not be allowed to continue and will be challenged at every step. These people are not Republicans, and their bile and hatred does not represent Irish Republicanism. The proclamation states “Cherish all of the children equally”. And that is what we will do.

The teachings of Tone, Mellows, Connolly, and our own Bobby Sands, are that we are internationalist, we are inclusive, and we are Socialist. Do not be fooled by this outrageous gang of thugs who are out to do the work of the agent provocateur. We are better than this. We are stronger than this. IT is the government that people need to be protesting. Years of corruption, mismanagement, backhanders and brown envelopes. And the next crowd will be no different.

There are legitimate concerns, of course there are, but that lies at the feet of the government in power, not a poor refugee fleeing war, conflict and persecution by the very people who create these unjust wars.

Protest! Everyone come together like during the fantastic water charge protests, where the working-class people of Dublin stood up and said ‘enough is enough’! March on the house of so-called democracy. March on the people who are tasked with the governance of Ireland. They will do anything to hold on to their power, and comrades, that is what this is about - power and money. Corruption and greed.

Where to, now? Are we to wait on change or are we to wait on destruction? Are we to follow like lemmings over the edge?

Well comrades, I say no! Fight back, organise, agitate, educate, and liberate! We can do it if we stand together. The vast majority of people are working class - without us, they can’t even turn on a light. Unite the working class against the establishment and achieve the dreams of Tone, Mellows, Connolly and Sands – that is freedom and our 32-county Socialist Republic.

I will conclude with a poem by the forward thinking and revolutionary soldier Bobby Sands. The poem is called Modern times.

MODERN TIMES
It is said we live in modern times
In the civilized year of seventy-nine
But when I look around, all I see
Is modern torture, pain and hypocrisy.

In modern times little children die
They starve to death, but who dares ask why?
And little girls without attire
Run screaming, napalmed through the night air.

And while fat dictators sit upon their thrones
Young children bury their parents' bones
And secret police in the dead of night
Electrocute the naked woman out of sight.

In the gutter lies black man, dead
And where the oil flows blackest, the street runs red.
And there was he who was born and came to be
But lived and died without liberty.

As the bureaucrats, speculators and presidents alike
Pin on their dirty, stinking, happy smiles tonight
The lonely prisoner will cry out from within his tomb
And tomorrow's wretch will leave its mother's womb.

From the river to the sea and from the plough to the stars, Ireland and Palestine will be free!

Urgent Appeal