Unite Ireland.

[Se7en]

History of the Conflict

Throughout history, the island of Ireland has been regarded as a single national unit. Prior to the Norman invasion from England in 1169, the Irish had their own system of law, culture and language and their own political and social structures. Following the invasion, the island continued to be governed as a single political unit, as a colony of Britain, until 1921.

At various times over the next 800 years Irish men and women resisted British rule and attempted to assert Irish independence. Between the years 1916 and 1921 Irish nationalists waged a combined political and military campaign against British occupation. In 1920 partition (dividing Ireland into two sections - the 26 and Six Counties) was imposed by a British Act of Parliament. The consent of the Irish people was never sought nor freely given.

Unionist Rule

Throughout the 19th Century and until partition in the 20th Century the British Government provided its colonial rule in Ireland with a cover of 'democracy'. In the changed conditions of a partitioned Ireland it now used the wishes of Irish Unionists in North East Ireland as justification for its continued occupation.

Within the Six-County statelet the British government fostered political division between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants through a system of political, social and economic privilege. The in-built manufactured unionist majority meant continuous government by the Unionist party. Today the unionist community represent some one in five of the Irish nation.

For nationalists, life under Stormont rule meant institutionalised discrimination, electoral gerrymandering and human rights abuses and sectarian pogroms instanced by a sectarian state. Indeed patterns of discrimination which existed at this time remain today with nationalists still 2.5 times more likely to be unemployed.

Civil Rights

Organised discontent began to emerge in the late 1960s, leading to the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. Their moderate demands were:-

• One person, one vote;

• An end to the gerrymandered local government boundaries;

• An end to discrimination in the allocation of housing;

• An end to discrimination in employment;

• The repeal of the repressive Special Powers Act.

These demands were viewed by the unionist majority as a threat to their privileged position. But the violent reaction of the state shocked the world as television cameras relayed scenes of unprovoked attacks on civil rights marches and demonstrations.

As widespread political unrest spread, on August 14th 1969, British soldiers were deployed into Belfast and Derry. Within a relatively short period came the introduction of curfews in nationalist areas, internment without trial and the murder by British Paratroopers of 14 unarmed civilians in Derry on Bloody Sunday in 1972. Within weeks of this massacre the British Government abolished its local assembly, Stormont, and resumed direct rule.

Feel free to check out their official site:
http://www.sinnfein.ie

Thanks!

The task of building an Ireland of equals is a huge and exciting challenge for all of us. Use this site, engage with the party and join with us on the road to Irish unity and independence."

[Good Doctor HST]

Lyrics to "Luck Of The Irish": by John Lennon

If you had the luck of the Irish
You'd be sorry and wish you were dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you'd wish you was English instead!


A thousand years of torture and hunger
Drove the people away from their land
A land full of beauty and wonder
Was raped by the British brigands! Goddamn! Goddamn!


If you could keep voices like flowers
There'd be shamrock all over the world
If you could drink dreams like Irish streams
Then the world would be high as the mountain of morn


In the 'Pool they told us the story
How the English divided the land
Of the pain, the death and the glory
And the poets of auld Eireland


If we could make chains with the morning dew
The world would be like Galway Bay
Let's walk over rainbows like leprechauns
The world would be one big Blarney stone


Why the hell are the English there anyway?
As they kill with God on their side
Blame it all on the kids the IRA
As the bastards commit genocide! Aye! Aye! Genocide!


If you had the luck of the Irish
You'd be sorry and wish you was dead
You should have the luck of the Irish
And you'd wish you was English instead!
Yes you'd wish you was English instead!