Campaigns // Imperialists Out Of Ireland |
Imperialists Out of Ireland!End Irish Complicity in Murder
The people of Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and Lebanon have most recently felt the full force of twenty-first century Imperialism. To the shame of the Irish people the two primary partners in "the coalition of the willing", Britain and the United states, receive not only political but also logistical support from an Irish establishment who hope to be rewarded with "inward" investment. Never has there been a clearer trade-off of blood for money.
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British and US Troops Out of Ireland Not only is Britain allowed to unquestioningly maintain its illegal occupation of part of Ireland, but the United States war machine is now also being facilitated with free-access to Irish airports and airspace. Over 500,000 US soldiers have passed through Shannon since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.The same airport has also been used as a stop-over for "rendition" flights carrying prisoners to illegal torture camps such as Guantanamo Bay.
Blood On Our Hands? Profiting from Death Irish complicity in imperialist aggression and war-crimes is not
only restricted to support from the twenty-six county government
and political establishment. This complicity also manifests itself
in a less public dimension in private industry in both the six and
twenty-six counties where the suffering of the victims of these
weapons is put ahead of the profits to be made by their manufacture.
Irish involvement in the arms trade is not a new phenomenon. As
far back as 1996, the Links Report, commissioned by AFRI (ActionFrom Ireland), identified over a dozen Irish companies that were
involved in the arms trade. By 2003 the number of companies We in éirígí are calling for an end to all Irish involvement in the support of the Imperial war machine, whether directly or indirectly and are calling on the Irish people to become involved in an effective anti-imperialist movement.
Some of the most prominent companies based in Ireland involved in the production of weapons, or weapons components, include:
Rise
Up Against Imperialism and Oppression! When the political class fail to represent the views of the people then it falls to the people to make their views heard through other means. The Irish people have an international duty to show solidarity with the peoples of the countries now under attack and to make Ireland an Imperialist-free zone. So what can be done?
Organise! ~ Bobby Sands
Understanding
Imperialism ~ James Connolly, In Praise of the Empire, 1915
Imperialism
The exploitative nature of imperialism is also taking its toll on the environment. De-forestation of the rain forests, the melting of the polar ice caps, the rapid consumption of non-renewable energy resources, and the high levels of pollution are all by-products of a system driven by greed and selfishness. By their actions, those who contribute to the destruction of the environment are jeopardising the very survival of humanity.
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The
world we know today has been largely shaped by the effects of Imperialist
policies, both past and present. The countries of the world can be largely
divided into two camps; those who built Empire and those who suffered
Empire. The latter, constituting the vast majority of the world's nations,
have a shared history of Invasion, Repression, Exploitation, Poverty and
most importantly of all, Resistance. For centuries, the Irish people have
defiantly opposed British imperialist policy in Ireland, each generation
following the one before in proudly pursuing the right of the Irish people
to self-determination. Today, however, instead of pride we have shame as our
political class choose to align themselves, and by extension the Irish
people, with those same Imperialist policies which have cost the lives of
millions of Irish people over the last eight centuries.
In the occupied six-counties, Britain's war-machine maintains a force numerically greater than that which has been deployed in Iraq (British troops in Ireland est.8,500. British Troops in Iraq est. 7,500). The British military actively recruit and train in Ireland for their imperial endeavours elsewhere in the world. Irish complicity in imperialist aggression and war-crimes needs to be both highlighted and opposed. The Political class needs to be made aware that the people of Ireland do not want the blood of the middle-eastern people, or any other people, on their hands and that we are no longer willing to allow Ireland to be used as a staging-post for Imperialist wars. 
Three years after the US/British led invasion of Iraq and three
years after tens of thousands of Irish citizens demonstrated against
Irish complicity in that same war it is abundantly clear that the
political establishment, with a few noticeable and honourable exceptions,
are content with Ireland being used as a staging-post for Imperial
wars. 
These words, written by James Connolly more than ninety years ago, reveal the nature of the propaganda and lies used by the architects of imperialist wars to justify their actions. Many wars have been fought in the name of freedom, yet the only freedom the imperialist understands is the freedom to manipulate people and nations, and exploit them for their own ends. Connolly summed this up when he wrote "Every war now is a capitalist move for new markets, and it is a move capitalism must make or perish". Thus, imperialists do not engage in war to protect the interests of a particular country, but rather so that that particular country can serve the interests of the imperialist.
By benefiting a minority at the expense of the majority, the capitalist systemdestroys the social fabric of society, creatingdivisions, pitting race against race and individual against individual. Indeed, racism is central to the survival of this system. By alienating people from eachother, by de-humanising the "enemy", the suffering of other human beings is of little consequence to those who reap the benefits of imperial expansion. For centuries the people of Ireland, Africa, Latin America and the Middle-East have suffered the effects of imperialism's racist manifestations. These have taken many forms including the destruction of ancient cultures, war crimes, theft of land and natural resources, starvation, creation of inhuman living conditions, and exploitation of workers. All of these actions have been carried out in the name of freedom and civilisation.
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