Arrests Condemned

Kerry/ Limerick 32csm Condemn the Arrests Of Activists

Joint Statement On Arrests Of 32CSM Activists In Kerry

The North Kerry and Limerick Cumainn of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement jointly condemn the arrest of two of their members on the evening of March 5th following a successful No Queen protest in Tralee earlier that day.

Special Branch followed three members of the Limerick Cumann on their way back home until they stopped in Listowel to get something to eat. There they met with a member of the North Kerry Cumann who had just finished work and wanted to know how the protest went.

The two younger members of the Limerick Cumann went outside the premises for a cigarette. While outside, they were confronted by six special branch detectives who proceeded to continue the harassment and intimidation they had plagued the members with earlier at the protest. Upon seeing this, the third Limerick member and the North Kerry member went outside to ask what was going on. Before they had time to ‘finish their sentence’ the special branch called for back-up who were already waiting up the street. 14 Gardaí arrived on the scene, including a people carrier. The Gardaí produced handcuffs and informed the two men that they were under arrest.

The North Kerry man was bent over a car. When the handcuffs were being put on him his left hand was bent up so far it touched his head. The Garda attempted the same with the man’s right hand but ‘it physically could not go up’. The Garda then told him to stop resisting arrest; five more Gardaí helped him finish the job and threw him into the back of the people carrier. The Limerick man was arrested similarly.

They were questioned at the station until morning, all the while Gardaí refusing to inform them of what they had been arrested for. The North Kerry member was released with a caution for refusing to heed the word of a detective. The Limerick man was released with a charge of loitering. Both men still had marks from the handcuffs the following day.

This cowardly act will not deter the North Kerry and Limerick Cumainn 32csm from arranging further protests.

Queen Not Welcome

Kerry 32csm held a successfull protest recently against the British Queen and to raise awareness of the phlight of our POWs in Maghaberry gaol. Once again the special Branch were out in force harrassing and trying to intimidate Republicans who were holding a peaceful protest. This will not deter us from holding further protests in the county it will actually make us more determined.

32CSM 2011 New Year Statement

32 County Sovereignty Movement
New Years Statement
2011

We commend our activists for their diligence and hard work in attempting to secure the integrity of our national sovereignty. We applaud the efforts of others who struggle likewise under their own chosen banner. We send New Year greetings to republican POW’s and their families and rededicate ourselves to their service.

2010 was a year which laid bare the harsh realities of our struggle. In protest against the degradation of strip searching and its vindictive use republican POW’s embarked on a series of actions in protest against the Stormont’s regime deliberate policy of attacking republican prisoners. Matched on the outside by regular vigils and marches the political opposition which was generated forced the authorities into negotiations.

With the use of agreed independent arbiters an agreement was reached to the satisfaction of all. However the authorities have resumed their original policy of using strip searching to degrade the prisoners. This was a political decision which has implications for all republicans. An attack on one prisoner is an attack on all prisoners and demands a unified response from all republican organisations. Our resolve must at least match that of the prisoners if we are to successfully confront Stormont’s prison policy.

The recent disclosure of State papers clearly shows that the issue of republican prisoners was a cornerstone in British strategy to undermine our struggle. They clearly show how Dublin also collaborated to achieve the same end. This collaboration now has an added dimension in that former comrades are now part of the British establishment in Ireland. That establishment takes it for granted that its members collaborate in the wider British interest. We openly call on the PSF leadership to come clean and to stop talking out of both sides of their mouths. It is your regime which is inflicting this degradation on republican prisoners. Is this your so called peaceful alternative to Irish unity? It is your actions that define you not your words, overt or otherwise.



2010 also witnessed seismic events in economic terms. Fianna Fáil’s self serving economics led the State to bankruptcy. It bailed out bankers and developers and levied the bill on ordinary citizens. They privatised profits and socialised losses. They surrendered their so called sovereignty to the International Monetary Fund all the while denying it in drunken interviews to the people. But the real issue for republicans and socialists is that our protests failed to impact on events. The crisis in capitalism, which should have opened up so many opportunities for our cause, was duly addressed by capitalism itself. This is the reality we must face and we must face it pragmatically.

2011 must be a year of introspection and innovation. We must look at ourselves and address our failings. What went before has reached its zenith. We need to explore and devise new ways of getting our message across. We need to be more innovative in our protests. We can no longer be satisfied that our protests simply happen: they must also have meaningful effect.

We address young republicans everywhere; this is your time, it is your era, your society, your technological age, you need to lead the way on this front. Irish society has evolved a new language in which it communicates with itself and we need to learn it. Republicanism needs your ideas to advance.

The continued violation of our national sovereignty has led to the inevitable consequence of armed struggle. Those who are engaging in military operations against British occupation have every right to do so, as they always had throughout our history. The function of the Sovereignty Movement is not to question this right nor question the merits of invoking it but to address the cause which makes it inevitable. This we will continue to do in whatever way we deem to be progressive. Treating the Irish Republican Army as a militia is a deeply flawed approach.

Charlie Kerins Remembered.

Eddie Carmody Commemoration

Eddie Carmody Commemoration
Oration
Ballylongford 2010
Marion Price


A chairde, when Collins was negotiating the partition of our country Lloyd George told him that the Six County Statelet would be an economically unviable region. What a massive irony it is that we now see the Twenty Six County region falling under this description. The vindication of those who opposed the 1922 Treaty is complete. The vindication of those who opposed the creation of Fianna Fáil and its direction is also complete.

This State has betrayed its own people. It has betrayed the Irish nation. It has betrayed our patriot dead. And it has betrayed even those who once viewed this state as a stepping stone to independence. This state took the lives of Irish people in defence of what it called its sovereign legitimacy. It used British guns and British hangmen against Irish people to preserve its existence. It imprisoned thousands more who argued that self determination was a right for all the people of Ireland. And now, as a result of greed, corruption and incompetence it now cedes this so called sovereignty to the highest foreign bidder. Indeed even Westminster has placed a bid to buy back the treaty it imposed under threat of violence. The state is now under the control of foreign financiers.

It gives us no pleasure in standing at the grave of Eddie Carmody and reciting these facts. Even the graves of those who upheld the treaty are sullied by these actions. Every ideal, every principle, every act of resistance has been set aside to facilitate this grotesque state of affairs. They have lied in the face of overwhelming exposure to the truth. They have misled the people again and again to cover for their misdeeds. And now that their legacy is laid bare the task remains to undo the damage left in their wake.

Comrades, Irish sovereignty is not for sale. Irish sovereignty does not stop at the border. The restoration of Irish sovereignty is the only viable starting point in rebuilding the Irish nation. This is the argument republicans must bring to our people. The Free State is dead, 88 years too late.




We need to bring a new vision to our people. Only republicans working together can realise this effectively. This is not a time for self imposed isolation or factionalism. It is a time to grasp the nettles of reality as to the immensity of our task. Our arguments are solid. Our perspective is rational. The current calamity vindicates what we have being saying all along. The real problem we face is that our voice is not strong enough to be heard. We must change this.

At our recent Ard Fheis the issue of the republican goal and the labour movement was addressed. We are not asking labour to wait but we are asking labour to act in a concise manner. We are reminding them of Connolly’s assertion that the cause of labour is the cause of Ireland. This is even more evident today. We now call on the labour movement to address the issue of Irish national sovereignty and the ending of its violation. We put it to them that the interests of the workers you represent can only be fully realised in a 32 County Sovereign Ireland. That sovereignty represents the returning of ownership and control to the people.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions will be organising a series of protests in the coming weeks. We welcome this. But we also state it clearly; if you do not protest for fundamental change you are protesting for nothing. You cannot say to the workers of Ireland, thus far and no further, leaving them enslaved as before. You cannot call on Irish workers to protest for a better arrangement with the financial elite. You must lead them against partition, against the mindsets that partition engendered, against the outside forces that care more for balance sheets than they do the welfare of people.

Every county in Ireland holds patriot graves. These should be the focal point of our protests. We should assemble at these hallowed spots and march in protest for what they gave their lives for. We need to bring their sacrifice into the heart of where this country now finds itself. These are the people we need to turn to for guidance and inspiration. It is from graves such as Eddie Carmody that a new national narrative must emerge.

The Proclamation and Declaration of Independence must now replace the failed treaties which kept this state on life support. These are the words that the labour movement must now embrace. No more double talk. No more seeking petty arrangements with the status quo. No more looking after sectional interests. It is time for national thinking. It is time to realise the republic Eddie Carmody gave his life for.

Kerry says No To Royal Visit

32CSM Bodenstown 2010

As we predicted the Dublin Government has extended an invitation to the British Queen to visit the Twenty Six County State. Brian Cowen declared that no obstacles remain preventing the British royal from an official visit. What he failed to explain was that the obstacle as far as London were concerned was Dublin’s territorial claim over what the Queen determines to be sovereign British territory. Now that that claim is relinquished, and the Irish are back in their place, Her Majesty can descend amongst us.

There will be those who will welcome this development. There are those who will feign indifference but will secretly welcome it. And there are those who will maintain a strategic low profile lest their hypocrisy is exposed by what they signed up for.

This visit is not merely symbolic but an affirmation of political intent. This State is declaring to both our history and our future that the issue of British sovereignty in Ireland is finally settled. This is how they will celebrate the centenary of the Easter Rising. For these people the abandonment of the Proclamation is not an obstacle. The continuation of partition is not an obstacle. The abuse of our people by British police officers is not an obstacle. The deliberate and systematic abuse of republican prisoners is not an obstacle. The enslavement of future generations to financial institutions is not an obstacle.

The only obstacles to stand in their way are republican separatists. And our ability to be effective at this depends on our ability to work together. This visit must be strenuously opposed by all republicans and it must be done so publicly and on the streets. The terms under which this visit is taking place screams to the world that Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet, Thomas Davis, Padraig Pearse, James Connolly and all our great patriot dead were wrong. Our country remains occupied by an army of which this Queen is Commander in Chief.

She held this position whilst her army slaughtered our people on Irish streets for thirty years. Her Secret Service detonated car bombs in Irish cities and towns to ensure repressive legislation was introduced against those who fought to remove her army. She pinned medals on the perpetrators of these acts and stood over the lies of these soldiers when the world demanded the truth. She imprisoned thousands in her gaols and allowed brutality and murder to be committed in her name. We cannot welcome her. We cannot move on until she and her Parliament move out. This is the connection which Wolfe Tone sought to break. This was the starting point through which our people could be truly unified. And this commemoration is a fitting venue to once again rededicate ourselves to Tone’s ideal.

As National Chairperson of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement I am placing all our activists on notice: our preparations for opposing this visit begin now. As an Irish republican I am putting all other republicans on notice: go back to your organisations and prepare likewise. If we fail to make an impact on this visit we have no right to march to the GPO in 2016. These are how high the stakes are.

Our immediate attention is once again drawn to Her Majesty’s Prison at Maghaberry. Without question political direction from Westminster is behind the brutality against republican POW’s. It’s not a case of rogue officers or random occurrences but a systematic and strategic assault on the prisoners.

We must match the prisoners resolve when we campaign on their behalf. There is a momentum gathering around this issue as can be seen by the size, frequency and diverse areas where protests are held. We need to do more.

The prisoners are engaged in a dirty protest. They are demanding an end to strip searches, free association and an end to controlled movement.. But they are acting in the capacity of political prisoners and the resolution to the dispute must begin with the recognition of their political status. We welcome all assistance but we make it clear that concessions in return for acceptance of criminalisation is a non starter. Just as we refused to horse trade our sovereignty for a better partition we also refuse to horse trade on our prisoner’s political status for short term gain.

The momentum that is growing behind the prisoner’s struggle will attract attention from various quarters; some friendly, some hostile and some that will attempt to neutralise this momentum as a political force. This is why we must make it absolutely clear that political status is the starting point. The first question we must ask of them is where do you stand on this central issue?

There are many protests planned for the future and I urge all republicans to both attend these protests and to organise similar protests in their own areas. All ideas for advancing political status are welcome. Raise it in the media, at work, on the internet; raise it where ever people gather. The prisoners resolve will be our strength and the justice of their cause our motivation.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement welcomes the Saville Report in so far as it vindicates the victims of Bloody Sunday. But it remains fundamentally a British Inquiry into British war crimes in Ireland. Its provenance stems from the horse trading which led to the Good Friday Agreement. This establishes its credentials not as an independent inquiry into events in 1972 but rather as part of a wider political agenda. Even on the day of its publication those who gathered in Derry were described as supporters of the so called peace process. This is the drum which establishment nationalists were permitted to beat. Its din was designed to drown out the fact that these same drumbeaters were recognising the Parachute Regiment as the legitimate armed forces in the Six Counties. The British Prime Minister’s apology exacted a heavy price.

Now there are calls for inquiries into other similar events. Our political analysis tells us that Saville is as far as London is prepared to go. Their absolute refusal to cooperate with the inquiry into the Dublin Monaghan Bombings is very telling. The British establishment will only engage in such matters if there is a political benefit for them. They will not countenance an international dimension because as far as they are concerned such issues are internal matters to be dealt with internally.

In truth the only relevant inquiry should be one which examines the British presence in our country. The Sovereignty Movement set out our stall with our submission to the United Nations. True closure for the victims of our long conflict must surely be the final resolution of that conflict. Our legacy to them must be a sovereign Irish Republic, free to determine its own future and free to deal with its own past. We struggle for that republic. We struggle for closure.