Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:04 pm (PDT)
Forward by Ned McGinley, Past President, AOH in America,
The Constitution of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America
Statement in Preamble: "To aid and advance by all legitimate means the
endeavors and aspirations of the Irish People for complete and absolute
independence promoting peace and unity for all Ireland"
As usual these words from the Preamble of the Constitution states the
Purpose better than any written word I have ever seen.
Since 1836, 173 years next month, our Order has proclaimed this core value.
Today we are closer than ever to that core goal but yet as we approach
that goal in so many ways there are more dangers and ambushes that Irish
nationalists will face from our enemies.
Dissidents wish to hijack the process and drive it back into the years of
violence are providing fuel for the hard core unionists to scream for more
force. Loyalists will battle to the end and Unionists will utilize them to
stoke the fire of opposition. The British hard core colonial security forces
who will use any means to throw gasoline on that same fire and scream the
Irish are not ready for freedom.
We need to be more vigilant than ever and keep our "eye on the prize" of an
Ireland United and Free for all of it's people.
Rita O'Hare, a great friend of our Order, has written an OP/ED for The
Irish Echo that spells out where we want to go and when we will move forward.
National PEC Committee
Editorial/Opinion from Irish Echo by Rita O'Hare
It is more than 10 years since I first arrived in the United States. My visits
since, and tenure as the Sinn Féin Representative to the United States have
been a varied and incredible experience. Most of all, they have awakened me to
the extremely loyal and powerful voice of Irish America.
I am a native of Belfast who remembers what life was like before the conflict and during it. I have been part of the Sinn Fein leadership for much of those years,
including the past 15 years which have brought us to the promising times of today. I deeply admire the Irish America that cares so much about Ireland. Without
Irish America it is questionable where Ireland - any part of it - would be
today.
It is with this frame of mind that I call on Irish America to join with us to forge the path to unity and freedom. Sinn Fein is an Irish Republican Party. Our aim is a united, independent Ireland. We are not alone. Fianna Faill, the Republican Party, has the same aim. Fine Gael asserts itself as the United Ireland Party and the SDLP also supports a united Ireland. Indeed, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern recently declared that unification is ân imperative not an empty aspiration.â€�
The reality of this broad position is embodied in the Good Friday Agreement
itself. Throughout the peace process, the legitimacy of the aim of unity was paramount and its inclusion in the agreement crucial. For the first time, in
an international agreement between the Irish and British governments, there
was an acknowledgement by the British government that the Irish people - and
the Irish people alone - have the right to determine the future of Ireland.
The agreement makes clear that an end to partition, i.e. a sovereign united
Ireland, is as desirable and politically legitimate as the status quo, and spells
out how it will come about, i.e., by majority vote in referenda north and south. There are those, mainly within unionism but also in the media and among an element of the establishment in the South, who either try to ignore this essential part of the agreement, or denigrate and dismiss it. Those who do use different tactics and arguments but generally assert that to raise the question will alienate unionists.
However, since the agreement and the peace process itself are about ending the discrimination and exclusion of republicans and nationalists and their values and hopes, which are valid and honorable, these arguments are both offensive and spurious.
For too long, any political opinion in
the North that opposed the union was
treated as criminal and treasonous.
That, like so much that dominated life in
the North, has changed forever.
All of us who believe that Ireland’s
best future is unity have not just the
right but the duty to assert this view
and to plan for it. To argue otherwise is
to try to undermine the Good Friday
Agreement itself.
In addition, recent commentary,
sparked I believe by Sinn Féin’s
announcement of a Task Force on Irish
Unity, has sneered that unity is not
achievable in any event, or that people
have “accepted an internal solution.�
While these views can be aired, they are
wrong and often insincere.
In this spirit, Gerry Adams recently
called for a national conversation, to
include the Irish diaspora, on how the
goal of a united Ireland can be achieved.
As part of this discussion, Sinn Féin will
host two major conferences in the United
States: New York on Saturday, June
13, and San Francisco on Saturday, June
27.
Gerry Adams will host the conferences,
introduce keynote speakers and
open it to the floor for contributions. I
am confident that Irish America will
take this opportunity to speak and provide
ideas, initiatives and plans to carry
this conversation into action.
Of course, achieving Irish unity is a
major challenge. It particularly means
that Irish republicans have to reach out
to unionists. Our vision of a united Ireland
is an Ireland where prosperity and
equality are delivered in equal measure,
an Ireland in which orange and green
can build a common future in co-operation
and harmony, an Ireland at peace
with itself and its neighbors.
We intend to mobilize and organize
with all those who see Ireland’s best
interests served by unification, whether
they support Sinn Féin or not. We will
challenge those who pay only lip service
to the goal of unity. We want the
Irish government and those political
parties who aspire to unity to begin to
plan for it in an inclusive way.
And we want Britain to do the logical
thing - and the best thing for both countries
- that is assist in ending the partition
of Ireland.
Lastly, we need Irish America to join
in bringing it about.
No comments:
Post a Comment