Post by Stallit 2 de Halfo on Jun 11, 2008 22:23:19 GMT
Seamus Costello
On the 25th anniversary of Seamus Costello's assassination, Sean Doyle, one of his former comrades writes the following appreciation.
What Seamus Costello meant and still means to the people of Co. Wicklow would take volumes. This short account will have to suffice. For a man of average height and appearance, to us, the people of Wicklow, he was a tower of strength and determination, our hope, our guidance, and our inspiration for the future. He explained our age-old desire for freedom and showed us the path to take to achieve it.
From his secondary education in the 50's border campaign to his bachelor's degree in freedom fighting, which he obtained in the Curragh University, he took up the practice throughout the 32 counties of Ireland. Graduates from the Curragh realised that in order to achieve national freedom, the class struggle and the national question went together, in other words, that national liberation and socialism were the same struggle. By freeing the beaches of Brittas Bay, he liberated all the beaches in the 26 counties, thus proving what a small group of determined people can achieve against powerful capitalist opposition. Once elected to the Bray Urban Council and Wicklow County Council, he organised the people to organise themselves, from housing action groups to unemployment, to small hill farmers, to Northern civil rights and the military campaign. Seamus was there in the thick of the peoples' struggle right up to his assassination.
First and foremost, Seamus was a man of the people whose task in life was to make us masters of our own destiny. He was not one of those smooth talking, respectable politicians of the established parties, or should I say established parasites, who exploit the electorate for personal gain, i.e. Joe Soap going to his T.D. or councillor with his cap in his hand begging for his rights, such as tap water, flush toilets and what not.
Seamus from the outset was a believer in equality, the rights of man, and liberty - the three basic beliefs of all true republican socialists. Seamus spent his time with the underdogs, the working classes, the poor, the exploited, and he taught them. He taught them their rights as human beings. He explained to the people the evils of the British class system and pointed out how the native Irish gombeen class could take over from the British and keep the British class system alive to the detriment of the people. He explained why certain classes live in luxury and these classes hold on to the wealth and power they stole from their fellow citizens. He explained to us the evils of capitalism - the profit motive. How and why fellow workers become monsters after they extort profit from their own class, for, to succeed in the capitalist class system, one must be callous to the extreme.
He explained how the class with the stolen wealth, the rich and powerful, set themselves up as the guardians of the people. The rich make the laws, not to protect the poor but to protect and cover up their own crimes and fortunes. He explained how workers, starved for jobs, are manipulated into the forces of law and order. Let's face it - if we had social justice, there would be no need for force to implement law and order. So pity your fellow worker in the Gardai and Free State Army - protecting the rich and harassing the poor.
It comes back to capitalism and the class system every time. So long as the present system remains we will never know justice. He explained that justice, freedom and the brotherhood of man can only come about in a classless society - in effect, a 32 county socialist republic. Seamus was not an armchair revolutionary intellectual. This is precisely why he did not fit in with the decor of Gardiner Place. His vision - his passion for social justice, his ability to communicate on bread and butter issues and without beating any bushes - enabled him to link bread and butter issues directly to the class struggle, to capitalism, to the national problem and to British imperialism. He saw in Co. Wicklow the same problems that beset the whole country.
He looked on Ireland as one unit - a whole Irish Ireland. Seamus could see the Northern loyalist or Unionist fulfilling the same British role as the Southern Finna Fail and Fine Gael nationalists. Both regimes - North and South - continue to uphold British imperialism. Because of his vision and his organising ability he became a tower of strength to the people of Wicklow and Ireland. He showed them the light. He showed them the road to liberation. Without doubt he was the greatest threat to the capitalist establishment since James Connolly. His life - short as it was - was not in vain. It exploded with purpose, not for himself but for his fellow men.
In conclusion Seamus Costello was a man of the people. He got his degree in working class involvement, on the streets with his own people, campaigning with them for justice.
www.fourthwrite.ie/issue11alt14.html
On the 25th anniversary of Seamus Costello's assassination, Sean Doyle, one of his former comrades writes the following appreciation.
What Seamus Costello meant and still means to the people of Co. Wicklow would take volumes. This short account will have to suffice. For a man of average height and appearance, to us, the people of Wicklow, he was a tower of strength and determination, our hope, our guidance, and our inspiration for the future. He explained our age-old desire for freedom and showed us the path to take to achieve it.
From his secondary education in the 50's border campaign to his bachelor's degree in freedom fighting, which he obtained in the Curragh University, he took up the practice throughout the 32 counties of Ireland. Graduates from the Curragh realised that in order to achieve national freedom, the class struggle and the national question went together, in other words, that national liberation and socialism were the same struggle. By freeing the beaches of Brittas Bay, he liberated all the beaches in the 26 counties, thus proving what a small group of determined people can achieve against powerful capitalist opposition. Once elected to the Bray Urban Council and Wicklow County Council, he organised the people to organise themselves, from housing action groups to unemployment, to small hill farmers, to Northern civil rights and the military campaign. Seamus was there in the thick of the peoples' struggle right up to his assassination.
First and foremost, Seamus was a man of the people whose task in life was to make us masters of our own destiny. He was not one of those smooth talking, respectable politicians of the established parties, or should I say established parasites, who exploit the electorate for personal gain, i.e. Joe Soap going to his T.D. or councillor with his cap in his hand begging for his rights, such as tap water, flush toilets and what not.
Seamus from the outset was a believer in equality, the rights of man, and liberty - the three basic beliefs of all true republican socialists. Seamus spent his time with the underdogs, the working classes, the poor, the exploited, and he taught them. He taught them their rights as human beings. He explained to the people the evils of the British class system and pointed out how the native Irish gombeen class could take over from the British and keep the British class system alive to the detriment of the people. He explained why certain classes live in luxury and these classes hold on to the wealth and power they stole from their fellow citizens. He explained to us the evils of capitalism - the profit motive. How and why fellow workers become monsters after they extort profit from their own class, for, to succeed in the capitalist class system, one must be callous to the extreme.
He explained how the class with the stolen wealth, the rich and powerful, set themselves up as the guardians of the people. The rich make the laws, not to protect the poor but to protect and cover up their own crimes and fortunes. He explained how workers, starved for jobs, are manipulated into the forces of law and order. Let's face it - if we had social justice, there would be no need for force to implement law and order. So pity your fellow worker in the Gardai and Free State Army - protecting the rich and harassing the poor.
It comes back to capitalism and the class system every time. So long as the present system remains we will never know justice. He explained that justice, freedom and the brotherhood of man can only come about in a classless society - in effect, a 32 county socialist republic. Seamus was not an armchair revolutionary intellectual. This is precisely why he did not fit in with the decor of Gardiner Place. His vision - his passion for social justice, his ability to communicate on bread and butter issues and without beating any bushes - enabled him to link bread and butter issues directly to the class struggle, to capitalism, to the national problem and to British imperialism. He saw in Co. Wicklow the same problems that beset the whole country.
He looked on Ireland as one unit - a whole Irish Ireland. Seamus could see the Northern loyalist or Unionist fulfilling the same British role as the Southern Finna Fail and Fine Gael nationalists. Both regimes - North and South - continue to uphold British imperialism. Because of his vision and his organising ability he became a tower of strength to the people of Wicklow and Ireland. He showed them the light. He showed them the road to liberation. Without doubt he was the greatest threat to the capitalist establishment since James Connolly. His life - short as it was - was not in vain. It exploded with purpose, not for himself but for his fellow men.
In conclusion Seamus Costello was a man of the people. He got his degree in working class involvement, on the streets with his own people, campaigning with them for justice.
www.fourthwrite.ie/issue11alt14.html
