This year the Ireland Information Group of Sweden has not been able to send a delegation to Ireland due to the ongoing pandemic. The countries all over the world are on lockdown, meetings are prohibited with regards to the risks of infection and official commemorations have been cancelled.
This, however, does not mean that the struggle is not going on. We have been reached by the apalling news that there is nothing being done to hinder the spread of the virus amongst the political prisoners and their already horrible conditions in Maghaberry, and we strongly condemn this! At the same time we hear inspiring news about republican organisations offering support in so many different ways to people in their communities during the ongoing crisis. Wether it be helping the homeless, aiding people in need with a handyman when the landlords refuse or solving problems with anti-social elements in the working class communities.
We have also seen the private hospitals being made public, and other examples of the failure of Capitalism and the Free Market to care for people during times of crisis. At the same time companies are letting people go into unemployment and refuse to pay wages to protect their short term financial interests for the stock holders. Exampels that even further shows the need for a united workers republic free from the exploitation of capitalism, foreign or domestic, as well as from the yoke of British occupation.
During the year that has been Britain has also voted for an implementation of Brexit, a decision that still has to show it’s consequences on the island. No matter what, it is clear that there can be no just claim for a border in Ireland no matter if it is an english one or a european, just as there is no justification for either british colonialism or european neo liberalism. The only just system is a united 32 county Workers Republic based on the principles of the Proclamation of 1916!
So we will wear our Easter Lilys to commemorate those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and sparked a flame that resonated around the world shining like a bright beacon for peoples yearning for freedom. The struggle continues wether there is an ongoing pandemic or not, it just takes different forms at the moment. But the core values will always be the same:
”The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.”
Tiocfaidh ár lá
Easter Statement 2020 on Youtube:
