What The Proclamation Means To Me: Contributions Added
As part of its “Reclaim the Republic/Athshealbhaígí an Phoblacht” campaign Éirígí has asked a number of individuals to contribute to a collection of writings on the theme of “What The Proclamation Means To Me”. The contributors come from a variety of backgrounds including the Arts, Journalism, Trade Unionism, Political and Community Activism.
Éirígí is delighted to add contributions from:
Tom Cooper (Cathaoirlaeach, Irish National Congress)
Sean MacBradaigh (Community activist, Belfast)
Donal O’Driscoll (Ógra Shinn Féin, personal capacity)
Read their contributions below -
“What The Proclamation Means To Me”
By Tom Cooper (Cathaoirlaeach, Irish National Congress)
The revolutionary assertion of the Irish people in 1916 to break the connection between Ireland and the British Empire, led by the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation took on not just national but global significance. Not alone did the Easter Rising change the course of Irish history, but the echo of resistance which resonated around the world gave hope and inspiration to colonised peoples everywhere. In subsequent generations, subjugated peoples worldwide found the inspiration to challenge empires, which in turn hastened the end of the imperial and colonial era which caused misery and kept people in hopeless poverty and hardship.
The Proclamation would be regarded as both noble and generous. In claiming the allegiance of every Irish man and Irish woman, the Proclamation in return guaranteed religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens and a promise to cherish all the children of the nation equally.
Not alone did the 1916 Rising knock the first brick out of the colonial walls of world empires which would eventually disintegrate, it sounded the death knell of Redmondism, conscription, Home Rule, and imbued a sense of national pride in a population which was confused as to its identity. No more would we be subject to a monarch, we would be citizens of a free state whose values of egalitarianism and equality would be enshrined in our constitution.
Unfortunately, not all in this state feel as I do regarding the Proclamation. During the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rebellion, some members of Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown Council voted against the 1916 Proclamation being displayed in their building. After many decades of denying our revolutionary past, there are indications that the Irish state is beginning to embrace the revolutionaries of 1916. The re-interment of Kevin Barry and his brave comrades into the republican plot in Glasnevin Cemetery from Mountjoy jail, and the possible return of the Manchester Martyrs is a positive sign. Also, 2006 was the first year since 1971 that the Irish state officially commemorated the most seminal event in the foundation of this state and for 20th century separatist Irish republicanism. Without the 1916 Rising, and Proclamation, there would have been no landslide Sinn Féin victory in 1918, no declaration of independence by the first Dáil in 1919, no defence of that independence in the War of Independence from 1919-21 and no incomplete British recognition of that independence in the Treaty of 1921.
For nationalists and republicans the fact that victory was not total and that the great national struggle was followed by partition, betrayal, and civil war tarnished our sense of achievement and pride. However, these events should not detract from the historic and unique achievements of the revolutionaries of 1916 and the hope that they inspired, not only in generations of Irish people but for oppressed people all around the world.
“What The Proclamation Means To Me”
By Seán MacBradaigh (Community activist, Belfast)
I believe that The Proclamation was both a unification of a cross section of revolutionary activists and an agreement on what they saw as a blueprint for a truly liberated Irish society. It wasn’t the definitive document on the creation of a New Ireland, rather a very progressive starting point and outline for the creation of that New Ireland. The tragedy of the Proclamation is that 90 years after it having been written I feel that the signatories would despair at the lack of delivery upon its ideals.
In terms of the unfettered control of our own destinies; we are still occupied by a foreign nation and corporations who control us culturally, socially and economically. In terms of cherishing all of the children of the nation equally; the vast majority do not benefit from the wealth of the nation and a glance at Irish society will show inequality, multi depravation and daily struggle as commonplace. In terms of exaltation among the nations; the Irish nation exists as a bit part in a greedy global machine that is destroying the environment, exhausting global resources, slaughtering innocent peoples and generally quickening the end of the human species in every way possible.
The further tragedy is that for most victims of this society in which we live the vast majority won’t realise or challenge the system that shackles them. Those who do are dispersed into a litany of different social movements, community movements, and other organisations whose challenge to the status quo is limited by their isolation. We have had in Ireland a long and heroic history of political activism in all forms. Various different movements have struggled for independence and liberty. Various different movements have struggled for equality and human rights. There has been continual struggle against oppression using multiple and diverse methods for centuries, yet what activists and the signatories of the proclamation sought to change ultimately has not.
The protagonists have changed today but the situation has not. We still have rulers who benefit themselves, we still have masses who are oppressed and asleep, we still have activists who are dispersed and isolated. What was appealed for in the proclamation was unity; a unification of the overwhelming section of Irish society who are used by and not cherished by the system under which they live. A unification in favour of change to ensure the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts. What the proclamation means to me and what I think it should mean to us all is that we must unify if we are to challenge the causes of our problems. We must unify in opposition to the common and growing enemy of neo-colonialism, global capitalism and its domestic manifestations. We must awaken the victims of the current system to the root cause of their problems. And together, united and strengthened, we must take what is rightfully ours; the world and everything in it for the betterment of humanity.
Beir Bua.
“What The Proclamation Means To Me”
By Donall O'Driscoll (Ógra Shinn Féin, personal capacity)
I see the Proclamation as essentially, the mission statement of Irish Republicanism. There is a tendency among certain sections of Irish society to buy into a 'four green fields' type of nationalism. What the Proclamation achieved, in my view, is to lay out a template for practical republicanism that understood that the 'liberation' of a nation is of little use unless the society that is moulded through that liberation is based on genuine social and economic democracy.
Some people claim, often with much delight, that the proclamation is not a socialist document; but is this really the case? What defines such a document as socialist? Does it need several references to the proletariat or 'comrades'? No. What is clear to me from reading the proclamation, is that it sets out a framework for an Irish Republic, that is perfectly compatible with a socialist system of governance. It does not set out a framework for exploitation, it does not set out a framework for privatisation. One does not need to think too long to realise that the societies that have emerged, both in the 6 counties and 26 counties, have been very much at variance with the ideals of 'cherishing all the children of the nation equally' and guaranteeing equal rights and 'equal opportunities for all our citizens'. The fact that many of those who claimed to believe in the proclamation, were responsible for creating such societies, does not take away from the nobility of the proclamation itself.
So to me, the Proclamation is essential in understanding that that genuine republicanism is as much about the socio-economic conditions of the people as the mere symbolism and flag waving of bourgeois nationalism. The proclamation was not only about setting out to free Ireland from British imperialism, but to lay the foundations for a society which would not prove to merely be an extension of that imperialism in a native Irish context. In short, it was a declaration of true republicanism.