FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
31 March 2013
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Easter Commemoration Statement 2013
[Statement read at the Irish Republican Socialist Movement's National
1916 Easter Rising Commemoration in Belfast]
Comrades, at this Eastertime, the Irish Republican Socialist
Committees of North America send solidarity greetings to our comrades
and fellow members of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement in the
Irish Republican Socialist Party, Irish National Liberation Army,
Republican Socialist Youth Movement, and Teach na Failte. We are
particularly mindful of our imprisoned comrades in Portlaoise Prison.
On this day, the 97th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, we
remember with pride all those who have given their lives for an Irish
Workers’ Republic. We pay homage to the brave volunteers and
activists of the INLA and IRSP who made the ultimate sacrifice.
At this time, the IRSCNA would like to highlight the ongoing illegal
interment of Irish Republicans: Marian Price, who has been held for
over 680 days and is in deteriorating health; Martin Corey, who has
been in custody for over 1,000 days without trial and without a
reason given for his arrest; and Stephen Murney, who has been held
since November on trumped up charges. Who knows who could be targeted
next. This is the reality for Republicans 15 years after the signing
of the Good Friday Agreement.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Dublin Lock-out of 1913,
when 20,000 workers were locked out by 300 employers over the issue
of the right of workers to organize in unions. In the century that
has since passed, the Irish working class is no closer to enjoying
true freedom. As long as capitalism and British imperialism exist on
the island of Ireland, the Irish working class shall be in chains. We
in the IRSM, the true inheritors of the ideals of James Connolly,
rightfully recognize that national liberation is not enough. We need
to achieve class emancipation, both in Ireland and internationally.
As Connolly himself said: “If you remove the English army tomorrow
and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the
organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain.
England would still rule you. She would rule you through her
capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through
the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has
planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and
the blood of our martyrs.”
As this Easter dawns, we stand in the proud tradition of generations
of Irish revolutionaries, struggling to liberate the working class
from the shackles of capitalism and imperialism.
Onward to victory, comrades! Our only allegiance is to the working
class!
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
19 November 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Transgender Day of Remembrance Statement
The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America issue the
following statement to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance, held
annually on November 20th.
The first Transgender Day of Remembrance was a candlelight vigil held
in San Francisco, California in 1999 in memory of Rita Hester, a
transgender woman who was murdered a year earlier. Her murder remains
unsolved. Since then, the Transgender Day of Remembrance has grown, and
is now observed in over 185 cities throughout more than 20 countries.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance exists to raise awareness of hate
crimes against transgender and gender non-conforming people, publicly
mourn and honor their lives, memorializing those who have died due to
transphobic violence, and reminds non-transgender people that
transgender and gender non-conforming people are their children,
parents, friends, and partners.
The guiding principles of the Transgender Day of Remembrance: “Those
who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it” (Santayana);
All who die due to anti-transgender violence are to be remembered; It
is up to us to remember these people, as their killers, law
enforcement, and the media often seek to erase their existence;
Transgender lives are affirmed to have value; We can make a
difference: by being visible and speaking out about anti-transgender
violence, we can effect change.
Every year, there are many transgender and gender non-conforming
people who are assaulted and murdered because of who they are. Often,
these victims of violence are also members of other oppressed groups.
Transgender and gender non-conforming people of color are especially
likely to experience physical violence.
The Irish Republican Socialist Party became the first political party
in Ireland to support equality for transgender people in a motion
passed at its 2000 convention, which stated, “The IRSP affirms its
commitment to full equality for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and
transgender people.”
As the North American representatives of the IRSP, the IRSCNA has
long championed equality for transgender people, and has had and
continues to have transgender members, and we call on our members and
supporters to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance and to work
toward a safe world for transgender and gender non-conforming people.
As revolutionary socialists, we recognize that this requires more
than just reform, it also requires a revolutionary change in society.
Full sexual and gender liberation for all people can only happen if
existing social institutions are abolished and the archaic values
they represent are swept aside with them. While working toward that
goal, we must also do what we can to make the world safer for
transgender and gender non-conforming people now.
We demand an end to violence and discrimination against transgender
and gender non-conforming people, and we demand an end to transphobia
from some gays, lesbians, and certain feminist tendencies.
We demand that the medical and psychiatric establishments stop
enforcing sex/gender apartheid through the creation of false diseases
and the denial of medical care. We oppose so-called “reparative
therapies” which propose to “cure” sexual and gender diversity,
seeing them as another form of violence against LGBT people.
Further, we believe that the social pressures placed on people to
conform to narrowly defined gender roles must be combated and
eliminated, to advance the liberation of all people.
We believe each human being has an inherent right to define their
gender and to make decisions about their bodies based on those
definitions.
In conclusion, the IRSCNA stand in solidarity with transgender and
gender non-conforming people on the Transgender Day of Remembrance,
and we mourn the loss of so many lives to violence perpetrated in the
name of hatred and bigotry.
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
19 November 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
IRSCNA Condemn Israeli Attacks on Gaza
On behalf of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, the Irish
Republican Socialist Committees of North America strongly condemn
Israel’s military attacks on Gaza and the deaths of Palestinians.
The latest attacks on Gaza have left dozens, mostly civilians, dead
from Israeli aerial bombardments, and the possibility of Israel
sending in ground troops remains open. In recent days, the Israeli
government has approved plans to call up 110,000 soldiers, which
suggests a larger Israeli military offensive is coming. The
conditions in Gaza have become even worse for those living there, and
will deteriorate even further should Israel send in ground troops.
More Palestinians will be killed. The infrastructure of Gaza will be
further damaged.
Israel continues to portray itself as an innocent victim and claims
to be acting in self-defense. After six decades of occupation and
ethnic cleansing, and decades of turning two small areas of land into
virtual prison camps for Palestinians in their own land, Israel can’t
play the victim card when they come under fire by rockets launched
from Gaza by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. If anyone can invoke
the right of self-defense, it’s the Palestinian people.
We support the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people to the
terror and occupation of the Zionist military forces. We condemn
Israel for its occupation and for unleashing new terror on
Palestinians, and we condemn the United States government for
allowing its Middle Eastern attack dog to further shed the blood of
Palestinians.
We reiterate our long-standing support for the Palestinian national
liberation struggle in general, and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine in particular, as well as for a single non-
sectarian state covering all of historic Palestine. We see a
two-state solution as one that is pro-imperialist in that it allows
an illegal occupation to continue on Palestinian land.
End Zionist violence against the Palestinian people! End Zionist
occupation of Palestine!
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
24 October 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Our Position on the US Presidential Election
As the 2012 presidential election in the United States approaches, we
in the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America wish to
state our position for the record.
Simply put, the presidential election, like all bourgeois elections,
is a sham. Workers are asked to vote on which representative of the
ruling class should lead the capitalist state’s government for the
next four years. No matter which major party candidate wins, the
ruling class wins, while the working class, our class, continues to
lose.
It’s certainly true that there are policy differences between Mitt
Romney and incumbent Barack Obama, but both candidates are part of
the capitalist status quo and fully endorse that status quo. Neither
man is a friend to the working class, no matter how much they may
pander to sections of it.
We certainly understand why some workers choose to vote for the least
conservative of the major candidates, if only because they think that
candidate will be slightly less harmful and may enact some reforms,
or even just to keep the most conservative one out of office. We
can’t condemn any member of the working class who votes on that
basis, but we think it would be better to protest the capitalist
status quo by voting for an alternative candidate and then trying to
create real change through class struggle.
If there’s a revolutionary socialist candidate on the ballot in your
state, vote for them instead of the “least conservative” major party
candidate, and if there isn’t, write one in. While socialism won’t be
built through bourgeois elections, we think a vote for a
revolutionary socialist alternative is a worthy one. It demonstrates
that we don’t want the status quo and that we do have an alternative
vision.
In particular, if you live in one of the eleven states where their
campaign is on the ballot, we suggest voting for the Party for
Socialism and Liberation ticket of Peta Lindsay and Yari Osorio for
President and Vice-President of the United States. The revolutionary
politics of working class women and men like Lindsay and Osorio
represent a real alternative to the status quo.
Their campaign website with further information can be found here:
http://www.votepsl.org/
However, ultimately it’s the working class organizing and exercising
our collective will through solidarity and mass struggle that will
transform society.
The fundamental cause of working class misery is the ownership of the
means of production, distribution, and exchange concentrated in the
hands of the capitalist class, a tiny minority. As long as the
working class, including the higher paid members of the class who
falsely see themselves as a middle class, are forced to sell their
labor power to a small, parasitical class, it will continue to
suffer.
As the ongoing financial crisis once again proves, capitalism is an
inherently unstable system that places private profit above the
public good. The stock market is a casino for capitalists and
aspiring capitalists, where an entire economy can be destroyed in the
pursuit of profit. Capitalism cannot be reformed. Reformists have
been trying to do so for over two hundred years without success
because reformism cannot address the root cause of exploitation and
alienation, which is the existence of the capitalist system itself.
Only the working class can put an end to the exploitation and
alienation caused by capitalism by organizing and fighting for the
alternative of socialism, where the working class will own the means
of production, distribution, and exchange, administered
democratically through new institutions created by the working class
for its own purposes.
Socialism cannot be built by a minority, no matter how class
conscious it may be. It can only be built by the masses as they
liberate themselves from capitalist ideology, an ideology that is
promoted on a daily basis through educational institutions and the
mass media. We view Peta Lindsay and Yari Osorio as comrades in the
struggle to build a revolutionary socialist alternative to
capitalism, both in the United States and worldwide.
Since 1984, the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North
America have existed to support the revolutionary, anti-imperialist
Irish Republican Socialist Party in its struggle to liberate Ireland
from capitalism and imperialist occupation, and as North Americans
we also support socialist revolutions in our own countries.
The power to bring about real change resides in the hearts and minds
of every working class man or woman. We have the power. Don’t give
away your power by voting for a capitalist politician. We can create
real change. In fighting for a better future for our class, we must
take every opportunity to support fellow revolutionaries. It’s long
past time to build a revolutionary workers’ movement right in the
heart of world imperialism.
Onward to victory!
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
23 October 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Support Same Sex Marriage Ballot Measures
The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America support
ballot measures in the states of Maine, Maryland, and Washington
in the November election which, if passed, would authorize same sex
marriage in those states.
In the state of Minnesota, a measure to amend the state constitution
to ban same sex marriage will be on the ballot. The IRSCNA oppose
this measure.
We call upon our supporters and all who believe in equality to
support same sex marriage, and if they live in those states to vote
in favor of the measures or vote against the constitutional
amendment.
The IRSCNA has a 28-year history of demanding full equality for
lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people in all spheres of
life. Full equality in all spheres of life means we support the right
of LGBT people to join with their partners in civil marriage.
Our parent organization, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, has
supported LGBT equality since its first Ard Fheis (convention) in
1975, and at its 2012 Ard Fheis, delegates unanimously passed a motion
authored by the IRSCNA, which read: “This Ard Fheis reaffirms the
IRSP’s support for full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender people, including the right of civil marriage.”
We believe that rights and privileges must ultimately be detached
from marital status, so that family relationships are defined by the
people in them, not the state or the church. But as long as the state
is in the business of recognizing relationships, and granting rights
and privileges to those in them, we demand equal access for LGBT people.
As revolutionary socialists, we recognize that LGBT liberation
requires more than just reform, it also requires a revolutionary
change in society. Full sexual and gender liberation for all people
can only happen if existing social institutions are abolished and the
archaic values they represent are swept aside with them.
Reactionary religious institutions have exerted their influence to
oppose civil laws promoting LGBT equality, including same sex
marriage. We condemn all attempts to use religion to justify
discrimination. The right to civil marriage is the right to be
married by the state, and the state must be free of religious diktat.
There is no legitimate reason to oppose marriage equality. Those who
oppose it wish to impose their personal religious values on society
and/or are prejudiced against LGBT people. Neither are acceptable
reasons to deny equality to any group.
In conclusion, we support a vote in favor of marriage equality in
Maine, Maryland, and Washington State, and a vote against a
constitutional ban on same sex marriage in Minnesota.
Onward to victory!
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
19 October 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Solidarity with Grand Jury Resisters
The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America stand in
solidarity with three anarchist activists who have been incarcerated
in a United States federal detention center in SeaTac, Washington for
refusing to provide testimony about fellow activists before a federal
grand jury.
The three activists–Matt Duran, KteeO Olejnik, and Leah-Lynn Plante–
have refused to provide testimony, and for this they have been
incarcerated, and could be held up to eighteen months. They have been
found guilty of no crime, but are being punished only to coerce their
testimony. This is 21st century McCarthyism.
Federal grand juries have a long history of being used to attack and
disrupt political movements and activists. They are secret
proceedings, and those subpoenaed to testify have no right to legal
counsel in the grand jury room with them. The government can thus use
the proceedings to gather intelligence, an abuse of their original
purpose of being a protection against prosecutorial misconduct.
Subpoenas were served to activists in July, when the Federal Bureau
of Investigation and a Joint Terrorist Task Force conducted a series
of raids on activists’ homes in several cities in the Pacific
Northwest. Warrants were issued seeking computers, phones, black
clothing and “anarchist literature.” In essence, political literature
in the homes of political activists is deemed suspicious.
These events were likely triggered by property damage during this
year’s May Day protest in Seattle, Washington, when a door at the
federal courthouse was damaged. Out of this, the federal authorities
spun a web of “terrorism” to justify heavy-handed tactics against
activists in order to gather intelligence.
We believe that it is clear that the government is using the grand
jury process to coerce political activists to give names and provide
intelligence, and punishing them with incarceration when they refuse.
We demand that these grand jury with hunts end, and that the
activists be released immediately.
An injury to one is an injury to all. Today it’s anarchists, but
tomorrow it may be some other radical current victimized by the power
of the capitalist state. Solidarity must be our weapon against the
state.
We stand in solidarity with the imprisoned activists and all others
who refuse to provide information to the grand jury, and we salute
the courage of activists who would rather go to prison than cooperate
with a government witch hunt.
For more information about the activists and their cases, go here:
http://www.supportresist.net/
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7 October 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Costello Commemoration Statement
The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America send
revolutionary greetings to our comrades in Ireland on the occasion
of the annual commemoration of the life of Seamus Costello, whose
life and work were sadly cut short thirty-five years ago by an
assassin’s bullet.
As the founder of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish
National Liberation Army in 1974, Costello was a determined and
forward thinking revolutionary. His goal was a 32 County Socialist
Republic, a Republic of and for the working class, a class undivided
by religion, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.
Costello stood in the same tradition as James Connolly, the leader of
the Irish Citizen Army during the Easter Rising of 1916. Like
Connolly, he didn’t live to see his vision achieved, but also like
Connolly, he continues to inspire those who carry on the fight to
achieve that vision.
While many things have changed since his death, just as many things
have remained the same. The exploitation and oppression he tried to
overthrow is as pronounced as ever. Capitalism continues to provide
grinding exploitation and misery as its contradictions produce
turmoil for working class people.
The form of British rule in Ireland has changed, but not the content.
The Northern Six Counties remain under British control, but now that
control is administered by local unionist and neo-unionist “nationalist”
politicians. Both the British controlled Northern statelet and the
Southern neo-colonial statelet serve their capitalist and imperialist
masters by suppressing the working class. Scarcity is artificially
maintained for profits, and for dividing people along sectarian
and ethnic lines.
The movement that Costello founded as a vehicle for revolutionary
change is his legacy. We are proud to lend our continued support
as the North American section of the Irish Republican Socialist
Movement. Let us carry forward his struggle until we have achieved
his dream of a 32 County Socialist Republic on the island of Ireland.
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6 October 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Statement to IRSP Ard Fheis
The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America send
greetings to our comrades in the Irish Republican Socialist Party on
the occasion of the 2012 Ard Fheis.
It has been the honor of the IRSCNA and its members to represent the
IRSP in North America since 1984. We have stood by the IRSP through
good times and bad times, and we will continue to do so. While
representing the IRSP, we have taken part in working class and
revolutionary struggles in our own communities here in North America,
understanding that the struggle for working class liberation is by
necessity a global struggle.
Since the IRSCNA was reorganized under a collective leadership in
2005, we have organized two Ard Fheiseanna and hope to have a third
next year. We will continue to put forth every effort to build
support in North America for the national and class liberation
struggle in Ireland. We will continue to recruit members dedicated to
that struggle, and will do our best to represent republican socialism
in North America.
From James Connolly to Seamus Costello, Ta Power to Gino Gallagher,
and Karl Marx to V. I. Lenin, we follow in the footsteps of those who
have defined the essential ideas of republican socialism while
understanding that ideological struggle must never become frozen but
must constantly evolve. We stand ready to meet the challenges of that
struggle.
Onward to victory, comrades!
###
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html
The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America endorse the Days in Solidarity with African People campaign.
