Chicago Cumann Easter Commemoration

PHOTOS

Irish Freedom Committee Easter Oration, 2006

By Joe Dillon, Boston – National Chairman

Sunday April 16, 2006

In this year of 2006, in which we honor and commemorate not only the heroes and heroines of 1916, but also the horrific deaths of ten young patriots in 1981; those who remain faithful to the ideals and promise of the true Irish Republic must rededicate themselves to the task that is unfinished. For, on this 90th Anniversary of Easter Week, 1916, we must admit that the sufferings and sacrifices of those splendid Irishmen and Women, the majority vote that enthroned a 32-County Republic, and certainly the upsurge in native pride and patriotism which had built upon the Hunger Strikes of 25 years ago, all—all have been compromised and their practical values in effecting a united, sovereign Ireland have been seriously negated by the gombeen-men and traitors of our era. 

We state this both in anger and in sorrow that, unfortunately, Mother Ireland had once again been sold out by her own children. Going back to 1916, as the vengeful Brits assassinated the POWs who included the poets, the writers, the Gaelic scholars as well as the leading proponent of labor unions -- all leadership material for a nation emerging from centuries of brutal occupation, genocide and mass murder, the effective and potentially successful beginnings for an independent Republic were thwarted and smothered by Brit guns in the hands of native traitors. And certainly the refusal by President Woodrow Wilson to accept the credentials of the Irish Republican delegation to the Versailles “Peace Conference” of 1918 assured the Brits of American neutrality, resulting in the forcible partition of an ancient island nation. 

It is evident that since their inceptions in 1921 the statelets known as the “Free State” and Brit-titled “Northern Ireland” have been maintained by terror and rigid censorship. Whether by the WWII internment of patriots by the faux-republican De Valera, which resulted in the deaths of at least 40 good men; or the continuous harassment, assault and imprisonment of those who reject the Quisling, West-Brit statelet; successive Free State governments have well-served the British queen. Although the horrors and inhumane regimen of Long Kesh were well known to the spineless “leaders” in Leinster House, they stood silently by in 1981 as the long, agonizing hours brought our ten beloved young Irish Republicans to their Maker. To quote an old saying: “One can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear”, and so today’s Free State, a.k.a. “The Republic of Ireland”, remains a dutiful and always amenable servant of the Crown. While banning truly patriotic, republican music and lore from the airwaves and TV, censoring speech and the written word, and eliminating the most relevant and important aspects of Ireland’s heroic struggle from textbooks, the Free State has now brazenly announced a state-sponsored, major parade in Dublin to “commemorate” the 90th anniversary of Easter Week 1916. Still portraying themselves as “The Republican Party”, de Valera’s Fianna Fail party are totally shameless. As one who had sacrificed all for Ireland, Theobald Wolf Tone, stated; “We have no national government; we are ruled by Englishmen and the servants of Englishmen, whose object is the interest of another country.” No more fitting words can be found to describe this 26-county statelet in 2006.  

Unfortunately and sadly, the great support and fealty shown to the leadership of the Provisional Movement has been found to have been misplaced and betrayed. The lionization of personalities, viz of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, rather than strict adherence to the Cause has, of course, resulted in faux-Peace, say: Pacification. In 1998, both the unconscionable treachery by the 26-county statelet in signing over six counties to the Brits, and the Provo’s acceptance of continued misrule by Ireland’s only enemy, will forever be noted as egregious treacheries to the common interests of all citizens of Ireland. For those who continue to trust the “bona fides” of the Provo leadership, a look at the March 28, 1999 statement to the Sunday Times by Francie Malloy, Provo Sinn Fein and member of the Brit Parliament in Ireland, is mandatory: “Republicans are prepared to work as an Executive. We are really prepared to administer British rule in Ireland for the foreseeable future. The very principle of partition is accepted…”  

In conclusion, the words spoken in 1915 by Patrick Pearse in his eulogy of the great Fenian O’Donovan Rossa, are as relevant today as then: “They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at Peace!” Let us come together and strive mightily for true unity, bereft of personality and personal ambition, in order to attain the common goal of freedom and nationhood. Our pledge at Eastertide is Solidarity with all Republican prisoners held in both England and Ireland, as well as continuing support for their loved ones. 

Tiocfaidh ár Lá!! 

- Joe Dillon, Chairman, The Irish Freedom Committee

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