Issue 033, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (January, 1990)

              issn 0791 - 0002 bulk rate us postage paid hummel dist corp return address saoirse box 1053 south orange n.j 07079 flthbhliam ft shean | is ft mhais ] dar teitheoirf uilig j march hi all-ireland democracy • mrs thatcher in ireland in 1989 - the last colonial dictator in europe in 1990 over nine days in january 1990 sinn fein poblachtach will be hold ing a coast-to-coast march for dem ocracy in ireland it will begin on friday january 12 at the village of cross in co mayo home of comdt general tom maguire the last and faithful survivor of the last all ireland democratic assembly known to history as the second dail eireann the route of the 163 mile march will be through galway loughrea ballinasloe athlone-tyrellspass-kinnegad-kilcock — lucan see map below ending with a rally at the gpo in dublin's o'connell street on saturday january 20 and a cer emony at the mansion house in dawson street the mansion house is where ireland's first dail eireann assembled on january 21 1919 to proclaim our declaration of independence from britain and the dem ocratic programme which outlined the social and economic aims of a free ireland 71 years after neither document has been implemented due to the partition system both states undemocratic republicans have sought for and fought for a restoration of the national franchise of all the irish people since the artifi cial division in 1922 into six and 26 counties the years since then have pro duced continuing political instability economic undevelopment and armed re sistance to british rule both states are failures because they are at heart undem ocratic following the upsurge in peoples demo cracy in the last months of 1989 through out eastern europe many people are now asking will mrs thatcher be the last re maining dictator in europe but the crumbling of the eastern european em pire gives us hope that the last remnant of the british empire in our country will not long survive it democracy is indivisible and ireland's right to determine her own future stands alongside germany's romania's or pol and's it cannot be praised and encour aged in one part of europe and denied and suppressed in another the newly-elected czechoslovak pres ident vaclav havel has told the world that it has nothing to fear from a united democratic germany the same holds for a united and truly democratic ireland opportunity such an ireland would allow us the opportunity to • settle the national question for once and for all by getting britain to with draw and allowing self-determination for the irish people ; • work for genuine local democracy with control of decision-making in communities and places of work by the ordinary people we believe jjinn fe*in poblachtach's proposals in eire nua are a workable model of such decentralisation that will free us from the imported british colonial models of politics economics and administra tion that rear our youth for unem ployment and emigration ; • replace the corrupt clientist system of 26-county politicians buying people's allegiance with promises which is not democracy — disillusion ed former fine gael minister gemma hussey admits sunday tribune de cember 31 1989 there are no long er any standards of truth or consis tency among leinster house politi cians and that they are a despised profession • give present day unionists an equal right and an equal opportunity to contribute to an all-ireland democ cracy while recognising the diverse traditions the irish nation undoubt edly contains • get down to the job of national re construction and development based on our land fisheries forestry min erals etc to defeat emigration ex ploitation and unemployment cultivate our own language and iden tity to provide a motivating driving force for the future this january we can begin the cam paign for democracy in ireland by sup porting the march across ireland and joining in along the way as events in europe show us all too clearly freedom is not conceded but must be won by the efforts of the people themselves january 12 cross — galway january 1 5 january 1 3 jballinasloe - athlonel galway — loughrea january 14 january 16 ithlone — tyrellspass £