Lasair Dhearg New Year Statement, 2021

Lasair Dhearg New Year Statement, 2021

At the beginning of another new year, Ireland’s six most north-eastern counties remain under the grip of a foreign power.

At present, there are more than 20,000 security personnel maintaining Britain’s occupation of Ireland. These figures, the combined force of all layers of the British security state in Ireland, are supported by a political and military infrastructure which supplies a ready supply of modern weaponry including sidearms, machine guns, armoured vehicles, boats, helicopters and associated military-type infrastructure, barracks and garrisons across the length and breadth of the Occupied Six Counties. 

This politico-military system is organised through a vast security and intelligence network; one that has existed for generations, is enforced in each town and city by the colonial police force commonly referred to as the PSNI and their supporting political parties, and ensures the most agreeable outcome for the British state in Ireland.

That outcome is the same as that which exists in the Twenty Six County state; a free market economy that exploits vast amounts of wealth and resources from Ireland’s soil, its sea and its people whilst acting as a way point for international imperialism. Both states ensure an optimum working environment, not for those that own or create the wealth in Ireland, but for those that seek to extract it in ever increasing amounts; as Belfast seeks to emulate Dublin by rolling out the welcome mat to finance capital. 

Both cities now serve as postcodes for international conglomerates and tax dodgers seeking to funnel their vast amounts of wealth through low tax nations. Amounts unfathomable to the tens of thousands of Irish people languishing on housing waiting lists whilst homes lie empty; bought up by international investment companies.

This is Ireland, 2021.

The failure of the Six and Twenty Six County states does not stop at the economic or housing systems here. This previous year has shown, if it were not already known, that the health of our people is secondary to big business as well. The Covid pandemic has exposed those class lines under the plain light of day; as state ministers in both jurisdictions sought to weigh up health against the economy, oftentimes giving the latter more support when the former needed it most.

As a small and relatively young organisation, Lasair Dhearg was facing into this previous year with a lot of hope, in what we had termed our ‘Year of Activism’, and we were not found wanting in that regard. With a core group of mostly young activists, we kicked off the year with a focus on the continued occupation in Ireland and the failure of both governments to adequately govern their respective states.

In the face of the Covid crisis, our membership rose to the occasion by tackling it head on; just 9 months ago we formed the Community Defence Committees. The CDC’s secured a storage depot granted to us by a local sports club, as convoys of food were shipped across the city, packaged up and distributed to hundreds of doors across Belfast. Fundraising efforts raised a significant sum which was spent acquiring more food and goods for distribution. This project was sustained for many months during the first peak of the crisis, and saw us networking with activists from other organisations, trade unions, supporters and independents; and we send special thanks to everyone involved.

Our activists sustained a number of campaigns throughout the year, including highlighting businesses complicity in imperialism, we tackled PSNI normalisation and recruitment, supported women’s healthcare rights, faced fascism head on and organised an anti-fascist broad front, we highlighted capitalist developments at street level and a lack of housing across Ireland, we organised and supported a series of solidarity events, launched a series of digital campaigns and held a number of commemorative events, all whilst conducting day to day activism, utilising new ideas and PR techniques to get our message and campaigns out there.

Having only opened up Lasair Dhearg for membership just 13 months ago, our organisation received a significant amount of formal requests for membership in 2020. Our focus from the outset was to build an organisation focused on credibility and longevity – as all current members will know, our application process is designed to ensure that all those joining have views consistent with the ethos and direction of the organisation.

Since its launch in December of last year, our supporters network, Clann Lasrach Deirge, now has a presence in counties Antrim, Down, Derry, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Donegal & Laois. Internationally, we now exist in Scotland, Wales, England, The USA, Sweden, Australia & Spain. We expect, and hope, that our supporters network will continue to grow organically over the coming year alongside Lasair Dhearg.

By all accounts, 2020 was a successful year for our organisation, and we thank our members and supporters for helping to drive the project forward.

Having already consolidated our structures and strategic direction, this new year will see Lasair Dhearg complete two new policy documents focused on housing and the decriminalisation of drugs. Alongside this, will be the launch of our digital newsletter as we seek to expand the organisation islandwide. If 2020 was our ‘year of activism’ then we hope that 2021 will be our year of national growth.

“Opportunities are for those who seize them,” said James Connolly, “the coming year may be as bright as we choose to make it.”

Join Us – Bígí Linn.