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Celebrating the Easter Rising
Last Sunday Irish republicans across Ireland and
globally commemorated and celebrated the men and women who rose up against the
British Empire and in favour of an Irish Republic, at Easter time 1916. A
century later their extraordinary courage is often passed over by some, particularly
in the political establishment in Dublin, who occasionally pay lip service to
their sacrifice. A few even dismiss it as foolish and a mistake.
But to understand the risks they were taking and
the immensity of the challenge they faced it is important to remember that at
that time the British Empire was the largest in world history. It was the
global super power of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Twenty three
per cent of the world’s population was held in bondage and it occupied or
controlled almost one quarter of the total land mass of the world. It was
hugely wealthy through its ruthless exploitation of other people, their land
and resources. It had a monarchy, a government, a political and economic
establishment that believed it was their destiny to rule. Maps of the world
were covered in the red of Empire. By 1918 it had four million men under arms
to enforce its will.
Against this imperial colossus stood women and men
from the four corners of Ireland – nationalists, republicans, socialists, trade
unionists, gaelgeoirí, feminists –the women of the Cumann na mBan, the Irish
Republican Brotherhood, the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers and others.
Out of that emerged the Irish Republican Army. Poorly armed with out of date
rifles and insufficient munitions they dared to dream and hope and to fight for
a better Ireland – free from the divisions imposed by Westminster.0
The Proclamation they wrote for that Easter 1916 is
not just a piece of polemic to hang on a wall. It is a manifesto of intent for
real and lasting change. For a rights’ based society. For a new Ireland.
In a few hundred words and in language that still
inspires today it addressed Irishmen and Irishwomen. No distinction. Equals in
the struggle for freedom. It asserts the right of the Irish people to national
sovereignty and independence. It guarantees “religious and civil liberty, equal
rights and equal opportunities” to all. Its objective is the happiness and
prosperity of every citizen and the creation of a new society that will cherish
all citizens equally. These core values are as relevant today in the upcoming
Assembly election as they were a century ago.
So, last Sunday we remembered all of those heroes
who marched out that Easter. We remembered too those who fought in previous and
later phases of the struggle for freedom. Including in our own time. Their
focus was on the future. Making a better life for all our people and especially
our children. To give them the best possible chance to fulfil their
potential and to live happy, full and contented lives.
We believe that this can best be achieved through
the establishment of an independent and sovereign Ireland – a united Ireland –
a new and shared Ireland. A modern, progressive and fair Ireland fit for all
who live here.
This Easter thankfully there is
now a peaceful way to achieve this. Let’s redouble our efforts to make this
happen. Freedom in our time.
The Process of change is unstoppable
24 years ago on Good Friday 10 April 1998 a 5pm
plenary session of the talks in Castle Building brought to an end months of
intense, daily negotiations. The parties present affirmed their support for the
agreement that became for many forever linked to the day that was in it – the
Good Friday Agreement.
It was a remarkable, historic moment after decades
of conflict. The DUP had absented themselves when Sinn Féin joined the
negotiations the previous September and just hours earlier Jeffrey Donaldson
and Arlene Foster had stormed out of the Ulster Unionist Party rooms when the
final shape of the Agreement became clear.
What is often forgotten is that the Agreement was
achieved without the Ulster Unionist party ever engaging with Sinn Féin. The
Loyalist parties had no such inhibitions but David Trimble had only ever said
two words to me directly. We met in the toilet one day. There was no one
else there.
‘We can’t keep meeting like this,’ I said to him in
an effort to break the ice.
‘Grow up,’ he said.
Of course we met many, many times after that. I
like to think we got some useful work done and that we got some sense of each
other, not just as opponents but as people.
The Good Friday Agreement was a site of struggle
for republicans. The Sinn Féin leadership understood this. We also knew, as
George Mitchell later remarked to myself and Martin McGuinness that getting the
agreement was the easy bit, implementing the Agreement was another days
work. We knew that too.
In the years since there have been many more high
wire negotiations. Significant elements of the Agreement have still not been
implemented by the British and Irish governments, including a Bill of
Rights for the north; an all-island Charter of Rights and the
introduction of Acht na Gaeilge. The British government has also failed to
honour its Weston Park commitment to hold an independent inquiry into the
killing of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane. At the same time the Johnson
government is intent on introducing legacy legislation to protect British state
agencies from further exposure of wrong doing while denying victims access to
truth.
Brexit too has caused huge problems. The UVF is now
openly opposed to the Agreement, as is the TUV. The DUP is threatening to
withdraw entirely from the power sharing process unless the Irish government,
the European Union, the US administration and all of those parties North and
South that support the Protocol acquiesce to their blackmail.
Despite all of these difficulties a new political
landscape has been created. The Agreement has created new opportunities.
Not least of these is the fact that for the first time there is a peaceful,
democratic route to bring about constitutional change.
It is now “for the people of the island of
Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without
external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis
of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a
united Ireland, if that is their wish, accepting that this right must be achieved
and exercised with and subject to the agreement and consent of a majority of
the people of Northern Ireland’
It is now for those who believe in the union with
Britain to present the merits of their case. For those of us who believe in
Irish unity to present the arguments in support of that. And for the people
North and South in referendums to vote in favour of either choice. As the
debate on this issue expands and as more and more people are being drawn into
it the onus on the Irish government to establish a Citizens’ Assembly also
grows.
Next year the Good Friday Agreement will be a
quarter of a century old. It might seem a long time but in the continuum of
history it is a blink of an eye. The Agreement is part of a process. It has
already brought about much positive change. If we who are change makers keep at
it I believe that that process of change is unstoppable.
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