éirígí Ard-Fheis 2011

Solidarity Messages

• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
• Cuba
• Workers Party of New Zealand
• Izquierda Castellana
• Latin American Solidarity Centre
• Peace and Neutrality Alliance

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Comrades,

In the name of the revolution we greet you; we greet you in the name of our founder Dr. George Habash, our slain General Secretary Abu Ali Mustapha, our imprisoned General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat. On their behalf and on the behalf of the Palestinian masses, we the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine congratulate our Irish Republican comrades of Eirigi on your annual Ard Fheis. The illumination of Eirigi international solidarity has progressively battled its way through the dark skies of imperialism to cast its determined light on, amongst other areas and causes battling oppression, the colonized land of Palestine. We believe that the assembly and success of the Ard Fheis will not only have a vital effect on the national, political and social aspects of the Irish working class in particular and the Irish people in general. But it is also a step towards the strengthening of an international progressive front of defiance in the struggle against imperialism and oppression.

The bombing and shelling of Gaza has not stopped since the vicious attack on the Strip, killing Palestinians on a daily basis. In Jerusalem, and as a part of the systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians there, homes are being demolished on a regular basis. In the West Bank, 6 Palestinians have been shot and killed by Zionist soldiers while trying to cross military checkpoints on Palestinian roads since the beginning of this year. Not to mention the apartheid wall, the construction and expansion of Zionist colonies, nonstop house raids and uninterrupted arrests.

There are over 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners currently continuing the struggle in Zionists jails. Amongst them is our General Secretary, comrade Ahmat Sa’adat whose unshaken steadfastness has been challenging the occupier for over 500 days from behind the bars of solitary confinement and 9 years of imprisonment.

In response to the brutal Zionist policies, the PFLP firmly believes that resistance, in all its forms, is the only means to deal with the occupier. We are committed to the popular and armed struggle of our proud people against the oppressive forces of Zionism and imperialism.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine strongly condemns both direct and indirect negotiations with the occupying power and refuses to rely on American solutions. The Front constantly warns of the danger of American involvement in Palestinian affairs. We will continue on the revolutionary path of armed struggle against the occupation until victory is achieved.

The Popular Front recognizes the importance of national unity and calls upon the leadership of Fateh and Hamas to seriously review their responsibilities in ending the internal dispute, which gravely weakens the Palestinian struggle.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine perceives itself as a part of the Arab and global liberation movements and will continue the struggle against capitalism, globalization and tyranny. The PFLP stresses the significance of International solidarity between the progressive movements as a vital component in combating capitalism, imperialism, occupation. A victory for any oppressed people is a victory to the anti-imperialist forces worldwide. On that note we applaud the Tunisian people on their revolution against imperialism and on the ousting of a dictatorship.

Long Live the Resistance
Freedom for Political Prisoners
Loyalty to the Martyrs

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

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Cuba

Message to the National Conference of éirígí

Dear delegates and friends,

Comradely greetings and best wishes of success in the holding of this Conference and in the implementation of its decisions.

I would like to convey sincere thanks to your members and activists for the support and solidarity with the Cuban Revolution which you have shown in strong terms through various actions and initiatives.

This month we have just marked the 52nd Anniversary of the triumph of our Revolution, the First Socialist Revolution in the Western Hemisphere, which against all odds, has not only survived the test of time, but has shown its legitimacy and its continuous capacity for renovation without giving up one single principle.

A Revolution is not only an historical event that takes place at a given date and is celebrated at every anniversary. A Revolution is a permanent process of change and renewal; the revolutionary, as Che Guevara wisely stated, cannot afford the luxury of getting tired. For a revolutionary there is always an unfulfilled task that needs to be improved, there can’t be any level of complacency with what has been achieved, no matter how remarkable that can be.

The Cuban Revolution has achieved a lot in the last 52 years, under unprecedented difficult conditions, characterized primarily by the permanently aggressive policy of the US, in all of its aspects, from the illegal economic blockade to terrorism and media campaigns aimed at destroying the example of an alternative system that places man at its centre.

This year will be highly significant in the history of our Revolution because of the political processes that will take place. This is the year of the 50th Anniversary, on 19th April, of the Playa Giron invasion by mercenaries armed, trained and financed by the US. Their defeat in just 72 hours is recorded as the first defeat suffered by the US in Latin America and proved what a small country and its people are capable of when committed to the defence of their sovereignty, independence and right to self determination.

This is also the year of the 50th Anniversary of our Literacy campaign, in December, another outstanding victory of the infant Revolution, which again showed the strength of unity and purpose in achieving such important goals as to grant our people their legitimate right to read and write, thus paving the way for their personal improvement and their full political participation in the process.

But above all, in April of this year, the Communist Party of Cuba will celebrate its 6th Congress, which will concentrate on approving the guidelines for updating our economic model to the current domestic and international situation, within our socialist principles in which planning instead of market forces will be the key element.

The proposed changes contained in the guidelines are the result of serious and open discussions with the broadest sectors of Cuban society about the problems and difficulties we need to overcome and the challenges ahead.

Debate and consultation has been a sacred principle of the Cuban political system, and once again, the guidelines to be put to the Party Congress are undergoing a profound process of debate as we speak. From December to the end of February every worker, housewife, student and pensioner in Cuba will have the space to express opinions on the document, propose amendments and enrich it with new ideas before it is debated by the Congress.

That is the meaning of true democracy in which we believe, based on people’s participation, which needs permanent improvement, in the revolutionary spirit of never being satisfied.

Cuba and Ireland have many historical similarities and our peoples share a common spirit of resistance in our struggles that have been a source of inspiration to each other at difficult times. This spirit has also been present in the solidarity you have lent to Cuba, which is important and unforgettable.

In that same spirit and in the shared vision for a better future for our peoples and the rest of the world, I reiterate our thanks and wish you success in the works of this Conference.

Teresita Trujillo
Cuban Ambassador

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Workers Party of New Zealand

To the comrades of éirígí

A chairde,

Warmest greetings to your ard fheis from the Workers Party of New Zealand.

We regret that we are not able to send an official representative to this ard fhéis, however we look forward to being able to attend future ard fhéiseanna and, likewise, on receiving comrades from éirígí at future conferences of ours here in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Bonds of solidarity have existed between those resisting oppression in Ireland and those resisting it here going all the way back to Maori resistance to British colonialism in the 1800s and the identification of some Maori leaders of that time with the Irish struggle and vice versa. New Zealand was also a significant destination for Irish emigrants, seeking to escape poverty, oppression and under-development in British-ruled Ireland. Sections of Irish migrants brought their Fenianism with them, and in the 1860s there were companies of Fenians drilling on the West Coast here. There was active solidarity with the Irish republican struggle of Easter Week and afterwards. In 1922 Bishop Liston of Auckland was tried for sedition for making a speech praising the rebels of Easter Week, saying they were murdered by "foreign troops" and opposing the "Anglo-Irish Treaty". The Bishop was found innocent by an all-Protestant jury, an indication that sectarian divides are the creation of the rich and powerful and not some sort of natural human condition.

At the time of the 1981 hunger strikes, a new movement in solidarity with the Irish struggle for freedom began and continued until the later 1990s. That group, NZ Information on Ireland and its newspaper ('Saoirse/NZ-Irish Post'), disbanded in the later 1990s, as there was no longer a struggle in Ireland with which to be in solidarity. Once again, a revolutionary movement in Ireland was blunted and then, in large part, incorporated into the renewed structures of British rule in the north and neo-colonialism in the south.

In the context of that latest betrayal, we have watched with great interest - and been inspired by - the formation and development of éirígí and the way you have set about combining the Irish national question and class politics.

Our conditions in New Zealand are different in several important ways. For instance, while Ireland is an oppressed nation, New Zealand is an imperialist country whose rulers pursue their own imperialist interests globally and especially in the Pacific. Class consciousness here is relatively low and we are still in a period of protracted political downturn since the betrayal and defeat of the last big national workers' struggle in 1991. Although attacks on the working class continue, NZ capitalism has so far largely escaped the kind of crisis evident in Ireland, Portugal and Greece - thus the intensity of attacks on workers here is currently much less than in Ireland.

Despite some important differences in the material conditions of our two countries, however, our goal is the shared one of a socialist republic, a society in which those who produce the wealth rule rather than a handful of exploiters. We also share a commitment to anti-imperialism - like you, for instance, we are partisans not only of the Palestinian struggle for liberation but also of the PFLP. As revolutionaries in the imperialist world, we believe that our organisation has a particular obligation to support anti-imperialist struggles and, to the extent our very small means allow, to provide material assistance to the revolutionary and socialist elements in those struggles, such as the PFLP.

We wish éirígí well in all its work, especially in your political campaign of resistance to continuing British rule in the occupied six counties and in resisting the 'blood budget' and the entire array of attacks on the working class as the meltdown of the 'Celtic Tiger' continues at the expense of our class. We look forward to keeping up with your activities and progress.

We would also like to extend an invitation to éirígí to our own hui (ard fhéis) in Auckland, the first weekend of June this year. We would be happy to have you speak on developments in Ireland.

Beir bua,

Daphna Whitmore,
national secretary

Philip Ferguson,
national organiser

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Izquierda Castellana to éirígí Ard Fhéis

Dear Éirigi Comrades,

Internationalist and revolutionary greetings from Izquierda Castellana. We are most grateful for your invitation to your Ard Fhéis; however we regret not to be able to attend it. We wish the conference every success, and we also wish that our organizations stay in contact, as internationalist solidarity is an essential tool to oppose the series of aggressions we suffer.

Currently we are immersed in a serious structural crisis that is not only economical but political, social and ecological.

We are, more than ever, a society at the service of economy, of an economy that serves the bankers and the big corporations, which are far from the control of people, in a similar way to what Latin America experienced in the 1980s and ‘90s. It’s a change of the established powers towards more brutal new policies, towards a new model.

Under the sub-imperialistic European model, Ireland and the Spanish State, Castileincluded, have a few peculiar characteristics that will make the crisis more profound. We are, together with Greece and Portugal, the PIGS.

Both Ireland and Castile, more than other countries in our European environment, share some common similarities:

• Less industrialization
• Lower social public expenditure
• Higher unemployment
• Higher levels of social inequality
• High levels of public debt
• The support for the building sector in the times of "expansion", linked to speculative models and corruption
• Low tax on capital
• Dismantlement and privatization of public services
• Financing of the Catholic Church and influence of the church in politics
• More precarious employment markets
• Rescue of the banks and state budgets in the service of financial and speculative capital

In our case, other shameful statistics should be added, such as the high rates of school failure, the consumption of drugs, level work-related accidents, female prostitution and the serious problems in rural Castile: the aging population, depopulation, juvenile unemployment, emigration, lack of future for farming and agriculture.

Not to forget the non-existence of Castile as a differentiated political entity: we aren’t recognized as a nation and are dispersed several separate autonomous communities as a consequence of the Spanish State’s territorial and administrative organization.

The foreseen reform of collective bargaining should be emphasised as another attack on the working class, an attempt to weaken and limit our organizational methods.

All this is nothing but obedience to the measures of the ECB and the IMF … that is driving us to the loss of our sovereignty and to the adoption by our governments of anti-social measures, transferring what is public to the private sectors. It is not the Working Class who is responsible for the crisis, so why should we have to pay for it?

And what about the “help” to Ireland? It is no help but a ‘poisoned chalice’, which will result in the loss of sovereignty and the consolidation of the neo-liberal model, further submerging the Irish working class and trying to perpetuate British control.

The economic powers are deciding our future. We are facing a dictatorship of the speculative capital: Barbarism.

But there is another way out of the crisis. It is time to build alternatives. A fair solution to the crisis from the social, economic and political point of view is possible and absolutely necessary: To oppose Barbarism, we need Socialism.

Mobilization, struggle, commitment are the only ways, to accumulate strength that will allow a political and economic change. General strikes are not enough, it is necessary to give the struggle a political approach. Let's make this moment an opportunity!

Within this building of alternatives, solidarity and the reinforcement of international relations are basic aspects. Obviously, the first and indispensable step is the construction of a popular movement each in our own nations.

In Castile’s case, the relationship with other nations that nowadays exist within the Spanish State is of great importance, as we share the same jurisdiction. Relations with the left wing of the Peoples in Europe and thirdly with the left wing in Latin America (with whom there is a special relationship for historical reasons) are also important. In this respect this contact with Ireland and Éirigí, is a joy and a step forward in this building of alternatives favourable to our peoples.

No to British and Spanish oppression, no to the Europe of the Capital!

The creation of new alliance frameworks by the peoples’ left wings is essential.

Let's raise the flag of Ireland, that of Castile and the Red Flag!

Internationalist greetings - we shall win! Venceremos!

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Latin American Solidarity Centre

A chairde,

The Latin American Solidarity Centre sends its warmest greetings to the éirígí Ard Fhéis.

We are sure that this is an important step for your movement and we are keen to follow its development.

We live in exciting times, where the dogmas of neo-liberalism have collapsed miserably, and where those who have systematically asserted the need for a more democratic and just society, have been vindicated. With its neo-liberal dogmas, the international system has entered a crisis whose burden, as usual, the powerful seek to place on the shoulders of the poor. The difference this time is that we are not talking only of Africa, Asia and Latin America: the need to openly plunder workers in order to keep the temple of financial capital from collapsing is coming to the doorsteps of Europe, with the IMF and its Structural Adjustment programmes intervening wholesale in the affairs of the Eurozone states. When we warned about the dangers of the so-called Celtic Tiger model and what it would inevitably lead to, we were told that economic and financial crisis was a thing of the past. Yet, this is exactly what is happening.

The current crisis has had many effects: the total impoverishment of workers in Europe and globally, the collapse of States, and the exacerbation of competition for markets with all the potential to lead to war. The depth of this crisis makes the lessons of Latin America more relevant than ever. We know what it is like to have the IMF and the mandarins of finance capital intervene in our lives. We know too how to fight them. And we know how to win. This is why Latin America is probably the region that is fairing best of all regions in the current crisis; the people of Latin America have put reins on the neo-liberal project. The people - workers, peasants, indigenous, Afros, women, dared to reclaim power, to contest it, to confront it and radically re-shape it. The answer to today's crisis lies with the ordinary people of Europe, not with the establishment politicians and the suit-wearing technocrats of the IMF. We know this from the Latin American experience, where indigenous leaders and workers have risen up to confront and defeat the poverty created by Harvard and Chicago ‘free market’ economists.

We have learned lessons from our experiences and we are eager to share them. Whilst ultimately understanding that situations vary from place to place and that you cannot copy mechanically someone else's experiences, you can however take an idea, an experience, and draw inspiration. You will have your own experiences, and we are also eager to learn from these. Our journey in Latin America is far from over - we still need to travel a long distance to get where we want to go. In this regard we want to learn from you as well.

Our centre is a small, humble space at the service of all those in Ireland who carry the dream of a new world in their hearts. Our humble mission is to serve as a bridge between those who struggle in Ireland and those who struggle in Latin America. We want nothing more than this, but nothing less - a bridge between two worlds with common dreams. We are at your service.

Saludos

Latin American Solidarity Centre

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Peace and Neutrality Alliance

Statement of Solidarity to éirígí Ard Fhéis

The Peace & Neutrality Alliance congratulats éirígí on holding its Ard Fhéis.

PANA was founded in 1996 to advocate the establishment of a United Independent Democratic Irish Republic with its own Independent Irish Foreign Policy and, therefore, is totally opposed to the neo-liberal militarist agenda of the political elite throughout the 32 counties. Britain with soldiers from throughout Ireland sought to conquer Afghanistan in the 1830s and in the 21st century there are still soldiers from throughout Ireland trying to conquer Afghanistan.

PANA seeks the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ireland, Afghanistan and all other countries that struggle for their independence and national democratic rights and looks forward to building the resistance together with éirígí in the decade to come.

Roger Cole
Chair
Peace & Neutrality Alliance