Post by RedFlag32 on Dec 29, 2007 13:40:12 GMT
éirígí
No welcome for the British Queen
The recent suggestion by Mary McAleese of a possible state visit to the
twenty-six counties by English Queen Elizabeth Windsor should be viewed with
concern by socialists, republicans and democrats alike. When McAleese stated
that the circumstances for such a visit "are probably now getting to the point
where they are as close to right as they have ever been", she was simply
further confirming the success of the long, British-inspired, policy of
political 'normalisation' in Ireland - where that 'normalisation' is based upon
protection of the constitutional status quo.
éirígí is opposed to the British head of state visiting any part of Ireland
for as long as that same state continues its occupation of the six counties.
While visits by the English royals to occupied Ireland are, unfortunately, all
too common the prospect of a full state visit of the English Queen to the
twenty six counties represents a major challenge to all progressive people on
the island of Ireland, but most particularly for those resident in that state.
éirígí is actively campaigning against the issuing of an invitation to
Windsor to visit the twenty six counties and will, if such an invite is issued,
actively oppose that same visit.
For the English Queen to visit the twenty-six counties on the back of the
'successful' implementation of the Good Friday Agreement will be portrayed by
Britain's apologists in Ireland as final confirmation that the people of
Ireland have 'matured', and 'come to terms' with their historical sense of
'inferiority' with regard to Britain.
This type of political obfuscation and subterfuge, on the part of the
establishment in Ireland and Britain, is integral to the creation of an
atmosphere where it becomes possible to create and maintain the illusion that
the cause of conflict in Ireland no longer exists. British imperialism, Irish
national self-determination, independence & sovereignty are thus reduced to
issues for consignment to the dustbin of history. In this regard, political
life in 21st century Ireland gives renewed veracity to the Connolly maxim that,
"ruling by fooling is a great British art with great Irish fools to practice
on".
The British queen is head of the occupation forcesThe simple fact is that were
this visit to go ahead the English Queen would be coming to the twenty-six
counties as the head of a British state, including its armed forces, which
continues to illegally occupy six Irish counties.
Of this fact there is no dispute. Such a visit would represent, in a way that
only displays of Royal pomp can, the victory of modernised 21st century British
colonialism and imperialism over Irish democracy.
The six-counties, unfortunately, remains a part of the 'United Kingdom' and will
remain so as long as the 'Unionist veto' is upheld and as long as the people of
Ireland acquiesce to Britain's continued colonial and imperial ambitions
towards Ireland.
A state visit to the twenty-six counties by the Enlgish Queen would not be on
the basis of equality and respect for the independence and sovereignty of the
host country, as would be the norm for such visits.
Instead, such a visit would constitute the final acceptance by the twenty-six
county establishment of the permanence of partition and British rule in
Ireland. It would metaphorically represent the ultimate act of tipping of the
cap to the old master.
The reality is that there can be no welcome in Ireland for any British leader,
of government or of state, for as long as the occupation of the six counties
continues. It is incumbent upon all those who profess to uphold the principles
of the right to national self-determination and freedom from military and
political occupation to ensure that no such welcome is forthcoming, in either
the six or twenty-six counties.
If the Dublin government do indeed invite the English Queen to the twenty-six
counties it will no doubt be welcomed by the great and the good in the media,
the political establishment and the churches. It will then fall to the people
of the twenty-six counties themselves to reject both the visit and the
political philosophy behind it.
In this there is ample historical precedent. In 1911, when British King George V
proposed a visit to Dublin, James Connolly's Socialist Party produced the
following leaflet setting out the reasons why Republicans, Socialists and
Democrats, should be implacably opposed to any such proposition. Almost
one-hundred years later, have the reasons for implacable opposition to British
royalty on the part of Irish democrats changed?
"Fellow-Workers,
"As you are aware from reading the daily and weekly newspapers, we are about to
be blessed with a visit from King George V.
"Knowing from previous experience of Royal Visits, as well as from the
Coronation orgies of the past few weeks, that the occasion will be utilised to
make propaganda on behalf of royalty and aristocracy against the oncoming
forces of democracy and National freedom, we desire to place before you some
few reasons why you should unanimously refuse to countenance this visit, or to
recognise it by your presence at its attendant processions or demonstrations.
We appeal to you as workers, speaking to workers, whether your work be that of
the brain or of the hand - manual or mental toil - it is of you and your
children we are thinking; it is your cause we wish to safeguard and foster.
"The future of the working class requires that all political and social
positions should be open to all men and women; that all privileges of birth or
wealth be abolished, and that every man or woman born into this land should
have an equal opportunity to attain to the proudest position in the land. The
Socialist demands that the only birthright necessary to qualify for public
office should be the birthright of our common humanity.
"Believing as we do that there is nothing on earth more sacred than humanity, we
deny all allegiance to this institution of royalty, and hence we can only regard
the visit of the King as adding fresh fuel to the fire of hatred with which we
regard the plundering institutions of which he is the representative. Let the
capitalist and landlord class flock to exalt him; he is theirs; in him they see
embodied the idea of caste and class; they glorify him and exalt his importance
that they might familiarise the public mind with the conception of political
inequality, knowing well that a people mentally poisoned by the adulation of
royalty can never attain to that spirit of self-reliant democracy necessary for
the attainment of social freedom. The mind accustomed to political kings can
easily be reconciled to social kings - capitalist kings of the workshop, the
mill, the railway, the ships and the docks. Thus coronation and king's visits
are by our astute never-sleeping masters made into huge Imperialist
propagandist campaigns in favour of political and social schemes against
democracy. But if our masters and rulers are sleepless in their schemes against
us, so we, rebels against their rule, must never sleep in our appeal to our
fellows to maintain as publicly our belief in the dignity of our class - in the
ultimate sovereignty of those who labour.
"What is monarchy? From whence does it derive its sanction? What has been its
gift to humanity? Monarchy is a survival of the tyranny imposed by the hand of
greed and treachery upon the human race in the darkest and most ignorant days
of our history. It derives its only sanction from the sword of the marauder,
and the helplessness of the producer, and its gifts to humanity are unknown,
save as they can be measured in the pernicious examples of triumphant and
shameless iniquities.
"Every class in society save royalty, and especially British royalty, has
through some of its members contributed something to the elevation of the race.
But neither in science, nor in art, nor in literature, nor in exploration, nor
in mechanical invention, nor in humanising of laws, nor in any sphere of human
activity has a representative of British royalty helped forward the moral,
intellectual or material improvement of mankind. But that royal family has
opposed every forward move, fought every reform, persecuted every patriot, and
intrigued against every good cause. Slandering every friend of the people, it
has befriended every oppressor. Eulogised today by misguided clerics, it has
been notorious in history for the revolting nature of its crimes. Murder,
treachery, adultery, incest, theft, perjury - every crime known to man has been
committed by some one or other of the race of monarchs from whom King George is
proud to trace his descent.
"We will not blame him for the crimes of his ancestors if he relinquishes the
royal rights of his ancestors; but as long as he claims their rights, by virtue
of descent, then, by virtue of descent, he must shoulder the responsibility for
their crimes.
"Fellow-workers, stand by the dignity of your class. All these parading
royalties, all this insolent aristocracy, all these grovelling, dirt-eating
capitalist traitors, all these are but signs of disease in any social state -
diseases which a royal visit brings to a head and spews in all its nastiness
before our horrified eyes. But as the recognition of the disease is the first
stage towards its cure, so that we may rid our social state of its political
and social diseases, we must recognise the elements of corruption. Hence, in
bringing them all together and exposing their unity, even a royal visit may
help us to understand and understanding, help us to know how to destroy the
royal, aristocratic and capitalistic classes who live upon our labour. Their
workshops, their lands, their mills, their factories, their ships, their
railways must be voted into our hands who alone use them, public ownership must
take the place of capitalist ownership, social democracy replace political and
social inequality, the sovereignty of labour must supersede and destroy the
sovereignty of birth and the monarchy of capitalism.
"Ours be the task to enlighten the ignorant among our class, to dissipate and
destroy the political and social superstitions of the enslaved masses and to
hasten the coming day when, in the words of Joseph Brenan, the fearless patriot
of '48, all the world will maintain:
'The Right Divine of Labour
To be first of earthly things;
That the Thinker and the Worker
Are Manhood's only Kings.'
No welcome for the British Queen
The recent suggestion by Mary McAleese of a possible state visit to the
twenty-six counties by English Queen Elizabeth Windsor should be viewed with
concern by socialists, republicans and democrats alike. When McAleese stated
that the circumstances for such a visit "are probably now getting to the point
where they are as close to right as they have ever been", she was simply
further confirming the success of the long, British-inspired, policy of
political 'normalisation' in Ireland - where that 'normalisation' is based upon
protection of the constitutional status quo.
éirígí is opposed to the British head of state visiting any part of Ireland
for as long as that same state continues its occupation of the six counties.
While visits by the English royals to occupied Ireland are, unfortunately, all
too common the prospect of a full state visit of the English Queen to the
twenty six counties represents a major challenge to all progressive people on
the island of Ireland, but most particularly for those resident in that state.
éirígí is actively campaigning against the issuing of an invitation to
Windsor to visit the twenty six counties and will, if such an invite is issued,
actively oppose that same visit.
For the English Queen to visit the twenty-six counties on the back of the
'successful' implementation of the Good Friday Agreement will be portrayed by
Britain's apologists in Ireland as final confirmation that the people of
Ireland have 'matured', and 'come to terms' with their historical sense of
'inferiority' with regard to Britain.
This type of political obfuscation and subterfuge, on the part of the
establishment in Ireland and Britain, is integral to the creation of an
atmosphere where it becomes possible to create and maintain the illusion that
the cause of conflict in Ireland no longer exists. British imperialism, Irish
national self-determination, independence & sovereignty are thus reduced to
issues for consignment to the dustbin of history. In this regard, political
life in 21st century Ireland gives renewed veracity to the Connolly maxim that,
"ruling by fooling is a great British art with great Irish fools to practice
on".
The British queen is head of the occupation forcesThe simple fact is that were
this visit to go ahead the English Queen would be coming to the twenty-six
counties as the head of a British state, including its armed forces, which
continues to illegally occupy six Irish counties.
Of this fact there is no dispute. Such a visit would represent, in a way that
only displays of Royal pomp can, the victory of modernised 21st century British
colonialism and imperialism over Irish democracy.
The six-counties, unfortunately, remains a part of the 'United Kingdom' and will
remain so as long as the 'Unionist veto' is upheld and as long as the people of
Ireland acquiesce to Britain's continued colonial and imperial ambitions
towards Ireland.
A state visit to the twenty-six counties by the Enlgish Queen would not be on
the basis of equality and respect for the independence and sovereignty of the
host country, as would be the norm for such visits.
Instead, such a visit would constitute the final acceptance by the twenty-six
county establishment of the permanence of partition and British rule in
Ireland. It would metaphorically represent the ultimate act of tipping of the
cap to the old master.
The reality is that there can be no welcome in Ireland for any British leader,
of government or of state, for as long as the occupation of the six counties
continues. It is incumbent upon all those who profess to uphold the principles
of the right to national self-determination and freedom from military and
political occupation to ensure that no such welcome is forthcoming, in either
the six or twenty-six counties.
If the Dublin government do indeed invite the English Queen to the twenty-six
counties it will no doubt be welcomed by the great and the good in the media,
the political establishment and the churches. It will then fall to the people
of the twenty-six counties themselves to reject both the visit and the
political philosophy behind it.
In this there is ample historical precedent. In 1911, when British King George V
proposed a visit to Dublin, James Connolly's Socialist Party produced the
following leaflet setting out the reasons why Republicans, Socialists and
Democrats, should be implacably opposed to any such proposition. Almost
one-hundred years later, have the reasons for implacable opposition to British
royalty on the part of Irish democrats changed?
"Fellow-Workers,
"As you are aware from reading the daily and weekly newspapers, we are about to
be blessed with a visit from King George V.
"Knowing from previous experience of Royal Visits, as well as from the
Coronation orgies of the past few weeks, that the occasion will be utilised to
make propaganda on behalf of royalty and aristocracy against the oncoming
forces of democracy and National freedom, we desire to place before you some
few reasons why you should unanimously refuse to countenance this visit, or to
recognise it by your presence at its attendant processions or demonstrations.
We appeal to you as workers, speaking to workers, whether your work be that of
the brain or of the hand - manual or mental toil - it is of you and your
children we are thinking; it is your cause we wish to safeguard and foster.
"The future of the working class requires that all political and social
positions should be open to all men and women; that all privileges of birth or
wealth be abolished, and that every man or woman born into this land should
have an equal opportunity to attain to the proudest position in the land. The
Socialist demands that the only birthright necessary to qualify for public
office should be the birthright of our common humanity.
"Believing as we do that there is nothing on earth more sacred than humanity, we
deny all allegiance to this institution of royalty, and hence we can only regard
the visit of the King as adding fresh fuel to the fire of hatred with which we
regard the plundering institutions of which he is the representative. Let the
capitalist and landlord class flock to exalt him; he is theirs; in him they see
embodied the idea of caste and class; they glorify him and exalt his importance
that they might familiarise the public mind with the conception of political
inequality, knowing well that a people mentally poisoned by the adulation of
royalty can never attain to that spirit of self-reliant democracy necessary for
the attainment of social freedom. The mind accustomed to political kings can
easily be reconciled to social kings - capitalist kings of the workshop, the
mill, the railway, the ships and the docks. Thus coronation and king's visits
are by our astute never-sleeping masters made into huge Imperialist
propagandist campaigns in favour of political and social schemes against
democracy. But if our masters and rulers are sleepless in their schemes against
us, so we, rebels against their rule, must never sleep in our appeal to our
fellows to maintain as publicly our belief in the dignity of our class - in the
ultimate sovereignty of those who labour.
"What is monarchy? From whence does it derive its sanction? What has been its
gift to humanity? Monarchy is a survival of the tyranny imposed by the hand of
greed and treachery upon the human race in the darkest and most ignorant days
of our history. It derives its only sanction from the sword of the marauder,
and the helplessness of the producer, and its gifts to humanity are unknown,
save as they can be measured in the pernicious examples of triumphant and
shameless iniquities.
"Every class in society save royalty, and especially British royalty, has
through some of its members contributed something to the elevation of the race.
But neither in science, nor in art, nor in literature, nor in exploration, nor
in mechanical invention, nor in humanising of laws, nor in any sphere of human
activity has a representative of British royalty helped forward the moral,
intellectual or material improvement of mankind. But that royal family has
opposed every forward move, fought every reform, persecuted every patriot, and
intrigued against every good cause. Slandering every friend of the people, it
has befriended every oppressor. Eulogised today by misguided clerics, it has
been notorious in history for the revolting nature of its crimes. Murder,
treachery, adultery, incest, theft, perjury - every crime known to man has been
committed by some one or other of the race of monarchs from whom King George is
proud to trace his descent.
"We will not blame him for the crimes of his ancestors if he relinquishes the
royal rights of his ancestors; but as long as he claims their rights, by virtue
of descent, then, by virtue of descent, he must shoulder the responsibility for
their crimes.
"Fellow-workers, stand by the dignity of your class. All these parading
royalties, all this insolent aristocracy, all these grovelling, dirt-eating
capitalist traitors, all these are but signs of disease in any social state -
diseases which a royal visit brings to a head and spews in all its nastiness
before our horrified eyes. But as the recognition of the disease is the first
stage towards its cure, so that we may rid our social state of its political
and social diseases, we must recognise the elements of corruption. Hence, in
bringing them all together and exposing their unity, even a royal visit may
help us to understand and understanding, help us to know how to destroy the
royal, aristocratic and capitalistic classes who live upon our labour. Their
workshops, their lands, their mills, their factories, their ships, their
railways must be voted into our hands who alone use them, public ownership must
take the place of capitalist ownership, social democracy replace political and
social inequality, the sovereignty of labour must supersede and destroy the
sovereignty of birth and the monarchy of capitalism.
"Ours be the task to enlighten the ignorant among our class, to dissipate and
destroy the political and social superstitions of the enslaved masses and to
hasten the coming day when, in the words of Joseph Brenan, the fearless patriot
of '48, all the world will maintain:
'The Right Divine of Labour
To be first of earthly things;
That the Thinker and the Worker
Are Manhood's only Kings.'