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Rab Jackson address, 13/03/09

A Chairde agus a chomrádaithe, fáilte romhaibh uilig. Go raibh maith agaibh as an tacaíocht anocht agus i rith na bliana.

I want to thank all of you for coming tonight and for the support you have shown éirígí to date.

This year is the 90th anniversary of the Democratic Programme of 1919.

Other speakers have talked about how the revolutionary vision of the Democratic Programme has been neglected in the 90 years since it was launched.

As we compare the programme of work for the first Irish independent parliament to the Ireland of today, it is difficult not to become disheartened, disgusted and angry. We still live in a country undemocratically divided - both economically, between rich and poor, and politically because of British occupation.

We have all the modern manifestations of what these revolutionaries sought to abolish – poverty, inequality, exploitation and, at the source of it all, occupation.

Just this week, we have seen all the forces of conservative Ireland rally behind Britain in what is a dangerous precursor to a major assault on any form of republicanism not in line with British policy, which makes your presence here and support over recent months all the more commendable.

We know that organising a radical alternative to British rule in Ireland at present is not an easy task. Conditions are not what they once were and we must all recognise that if we are to progress in any meaningful way.

We have political enemies, not only from the traditional quarters within the corridors of power in London and Dublin, but within our own communities.

There are 5,000 regular British troops, an unknown amount of so-called special forces, hundreds of MI5 operatives and thousands of rebranded RUC bolstering a British agenda – and more on the way. This is neither a normal or demilitarised society.

We have people who use the vestige of community leadership to introduce by stealth the erosion of what were once the strongest, proudest and most radical areas of this country.

Landlordism, privatisation, money lending, poverty, exploitation, exclusion, young people in despair, older people in fear – none of this can be allayed without organised and empowered communities.

All of the conditions which the Democratic Programme outlined as cancers in Irish society are still with us and becoming more apparent.

We must be strong enough to recognise these things and not glaze over them if we are to challenge and change the conditions under which we live and work.

So what better place to organise for eírígí than in Belfast, where republican political wards remain the most impoverished and underprivileged in this corrupt state, where republicanism itself was born and where battles have been fought for over 200 years, at great cost to everyone, to see the Republic realised.

We remain second class citizens despite the glitz and glamour attached to the high wire acts ongoing at Stormont, Downing Street or Leinster House – and these conditions are set to worsen as the global system which created them implodes and working class people are punished for the criminality of bankers, politicians and big business.

Despite what some may say, there is no constitutional power base in this country with either the power or the will to change any of this – no government, parliament nor assembly. We must do it for ourselves.

When éirígí was established in Dublin with only six people, it shared Fintan Lalor’s belief that somewhere, somehow and by someone a beginning must be made. Almost three years later, we are still just at the beginning.

We will not be delivering a United Ireland in 2016, nor do we have all the answers as to how it can be achieved. It is, however, our solid belief that by organising and radicalising in every community in Ireland we can build a social movement similar to that which created the conditions for an independent Irish government 90-years-ago. No matter how long it takes, or how many setbacks are along the way, that belief has remained constant in republican thinking for decades and will until we are victorious.

Since our inception we have maintained that it is only by reclaiming piece by piece and day by day our communities and wider society that we can reclaim the Republic.

Over 90-years-ago, Irish republicans began reclaiming their identity, their culture, their country and their lives. In trade unions, in cultural and language movements, within the GAA - politically, socially and culturally - in many different strands of life, the popular idea of a free and independent Ireland took hold and forced a period of revolutionary potential that this country has not seen before or since.

In 1918, the people of Ireland voted for independence. Not in isolation, but as the pinnacle of a revival which had lasted over 20 years. This is the nature of real struggle and change. But because it is a long road that does not mean it is not a rewarding road. For centuries, we have been clawing back that which is rightfully ours – think of the examples of the United Irishmen, the Young Irelanders, Fenians, Land Leagues, Irish Citizen Army, civil rights movements, or the Anti H-Block campaigns. How many times have we successfully organised massive forces? We must do this again.

Although we should not seek to repeat the past we must definitely learn from our successes and failures. Those who relied solely on constitutional politics within a British framework 90-years-ago were doomed to failure. The same is true today.

We as republicans, as Irish people have achieved great things. We have forced changes on this island. We in éirígí believe that small groups of committed people can inspire great change. We don’t claim to have the only way forward. There are progressive forces all over this island, in unions, in political parties, in community organisations and residents’ groups, in sporting associations and many other fields. It is only with the participation of all these forces and more that the Republic will be delivered.

It must be all of our ambitions to compliment and support all that is progressive in Ireland and to constantly expose and oppose all that is regressive. As ever, it is the British government, its Stormont apparatus and Leinster House which represent the greatest hurdles we must overcome. We must build our strength first and where we do that is in all of the areas that have for decades, if not centuries, been in a constant state of conflict with the powers that be.

If we look around our own community here in Belfast there are hundreds of activists in many fields of work doing their best in dire conditions. We need to organise as activists and create a genuine grassroots movement with not six or 600 or 6,000 people, but hundreds of thousands, chipping away constantly at all the vestiges of the old order and the status quo in this country. No one can predict how the state, north and south, will react. No one can say never when talking about tactics for revolution. But one thing is certain. Like never before we have to build as a people.

éirígí does not covet the leadership of republicanism – in fact, the concept is anathema to our beliefs. No one owns Irish socialist republicanism, it is the ideological, cultural and historical property of all of the people of this country and we wish to play our part and are dedicated to seeing the ideals of 90-years-ago become a reality.

In the short time that éirígí has been active in Belfast, we have organised successfully in opposition to the Lisbon Treaty, in remembrance of the Hunger Strikers, in opposition to the presence in our country of the war criminals Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and George Bush. We have protested and agitated on the issues of Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and the occupation of our own country with the mobilisation in opposition to the RIR parade last November.

We are a new political party. We are fresh. Yet, we inherit the collective experience of years of struggle.

Militant socialist republicanism is here to stay. We are dedicated, willing, organised and preparing for the challenges ahead, whatever they may be.

So, tonight we should enjoy ourselves. Share stories and ideas with comrades and friends. But get up tomorrow with one thing in your head – the achievement of an Irish republic and go about making it a reality.

Go raibh maith agaibh uilig, ar aghaidh linn le chéile.

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