“What The Proclamation
Means To Me”
By Daithí Mac An
Mhaistír (éirígí spokesperson)
“O wise men, riddle me this: what if the
dream come true?”
The Proclamation of the Irish Republic has had an enduring and guiding
influence on my political orientation and activism as a socialist republican
ever since I first consciously read it as a teenager. The proclamation is a
document which reflects a radical social philosophy not merely in the
context of the political theory of 90 years ago but in today’s political
context also. It is a document pregnant with a revolutionary intent that has
yet to be realised. It is a document that spoke and speaks not only to the
people of Ireland but to all peoples throughout the world; it spoke and
speaks to all those who were, are, or ever would be subject to foreign
military & political occupation and all of the crimes against cultural,
economic and social progress and human solidarity that that experience
entails. It is a document that set out not only the right of the people of
Ireland to national freedom but to the “ownership” of Ireland. In this
context it very firmly attests to the necessity for the extension of
sovereignty and freedom to the realms of the social and economic life of the
nation also.
The revolutionary forces of the day, who, through the Proclamation of the
Irish Republic addressed their radical vision of a socially just society to
the people of Ireland and backed that vision up with deeds when they rose
against British occupation on the 24th April 1916, have left a legacy of
struggle that all those who say they believe in justice should seek to
emulate by working to make the conditions for true national and social
freedom a reality.
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