Gerry Adams’ lecture in full delivered by Pearse Doherty TD 13 June 2012

Redmond O Neill – A revolutionary socialist, internationalist and peoples Champion

A Chairde,
Is a great honour to be here to remember with fondness and pride our friends and comrade Redmond O Neill.
It is an opportunity to reflect on his contribution to life and politics and on the struggle for freedom in Ireland – a goal that was close to his heart.
Let me begin by thanking the Venezuelan Ambassador Samuel Moncada for allowing us to hold this event in the Bolívar Hall.
Redmond was an internationalist and enormously supportive of the efforts of the Venezuelan peoples in their drive to create a new and better society.
He would be very pleased that we are here.
I want to acknowledge Ken Livingstone with whom Redmond worked for many years.
I don’t know who had the greater influence on the other but their work in support of working people in London and oppressed peoples around the world, in Latin America and Palestine and Ireland and elsewhere was prodigious.
And a very special word of solidarity to Kate Hudson and to Redmond’s family, his sisters Ann and Fidelma, his nieces and others with us tonight.
Redmond’s death left a huge gap in your lives, but as is evident from the numbers here this evening, you are not alone.
A final word of thanks to the organising committee – as an organiser par excellence Redmond would have been proud of your efforts.
I want to thank all of you for coming.



A Revolutionary Socialist

Your presence is a measure of your respect and love for a great human being, a life-long revolutionary socialist, who in his all too brief life, touched the lives of so many others in a positive and caring way.
Revolutionaries are very ordinary people.
A successful revolution is achieved when a critical mass of these ordinary people unite in active pursuit of genuine equality.
Redmond understood this.
He was the son of Irish immigrants from Tipperary.
He was born in London but his love and commitment to Ireland, its people and its freedom was a part of his core beliefs.
This was reflected in the work he did on behalf of the Irish struggle and the Irish community in London.
Redmond was committed to a United Ireland.
He played an important role in the development of Sinn Féin’s uniting Ireland strategy and specifically its outreach into the Irish community in Britain and to others here who support that demand.
His work on behalf of the victims of British state violence in Ireland was invaluable.
Redmond was also very proud of his Irish roots and of his part in transforming the London St. Patrick’s Day festival into one of the largest in the city.
He was an anti-imperialist.
He rejected colonialism and racism and organised and fought against both.
He was a socialist.
He understood that the road to socialism and to a better future would be complex and difficult.
To achieve that goal requires allies.
Redmond understood the importance of reaching out to and embracing others who might not necessarily share all aspects of your politics.
His ability to forge alliances around specific goals was rooted in that belief.
For example, Redmond was a pivotal figure in organising the campaign against Cruise missiles, opposing the Gulf War and the Israeli assault on Gaza.
His solidarity work with the Venezuelan revolution is well known, as was his defense of Muslim communities in London and elsewhere.
In 2000 the creation of the London Mayor’s office saw Redmond take up the responsibility of deputy chief of staff to Ken.
In that role he was responsible for transport, trade union relations, editing The Londoner and public affairs.

Opposing Austerity

If Redmond were with us today he would be in the front line of the battle against the austerity policies of this British government and of the European conservative elites.
Across Europe there is growing opposition to austerity.
The European Trade Unions Confederation is against it.
The Dutch government has collapsed because of it.
And the French President says he wants to renegotiate the Fiscal Treaty to include a jobs growth strategy.
The fact is that the crisis in the European Union is part of a deeper crisis within international capitalism.
And it is a crisis that grows worse daily.
This weekend the people of France and of Greece go to the polls.
There is huge pressure on the Greek people to buy into the austerity agenda and significant resistance.
And while Europe speaks of billions for bailouts and banks and the markets, and spends billions more on armaments and war, a few hundred miles south, in the Sahel region of North Africa, hundreds of thousands of women and children are dying for the want of relatively limited resources!
The Fiscal or more appropriately the Austerity Treaty is a child of the European conservative governments, and especially of France and Germany.
It favours big business and the wealthy and protects the interests of the larger states.
That’s what conservative – right wing parties and governments do.
That’s what the British government and the Irish government are both doing.
Sinn Féin believes there are alternatives to austerity and to bank bailouts.
Sinn Féin believes that the focus needs to shift to investment and growth, and job creation, and to debt restructuring and fair taxation.
Redmond would have been with us on this.
He was full of energy and enthusiasm for everything he did.
There were no half measures about his activism. He gave 100%.
No one worked harder.
But he also enjoyed good craic – music and good food and gardening.
I never heard him sing but I’m told that he was renowned for his rousing rendition of the Fields of Athenry.

The Struggle for Freedom

Redmond had much in common with many other great leaders and fighters for truth and justice.
It is very fitting that this evening’s event is held here in a room dedicated to the memory of one such leader - Simón Bolívar.
Bolívar successfully led the struggle for freedom against Spanish colonialism in much of South America.
His strategic planning, vision and leadership won independence for Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru, and inspired and motivated countless other liberation struggles.
He was helped in this, like many other colonised peoples across the world by Irish emigrants, many of whom had, either fought in or been influenced by the struggle in Ireland against British colonialism.
The Irish Legion played a pivotal role in Bolivar’s success.
He made Dr Thomas Foley from Kerry his inspector general of hospitals.
Another Kerry man Arthur Sandes, became a brigadier-general and County Antrim man William Ferguson from Ballinderry, who died in mistake for Bolívar during an assassination attempt.
Like his many Irish compatriots, among them Cork man General Daniel O Leary who was his aide-de-camp, Bolívar was also very influenced by the French and American Revolutions and their ideals of liberty and independence.
Bolívar was also strongly opposed to slavery.
He wrote:
“Slavery is the daughter of darkness ... the rule of law is more powerful than the rule of tyrants ... to practice justice is to practice liberty.”

Bolívar understood that building a new future means putting in place political structures and laws and policies that guarantee protections for citizens.
He also understood the importance of education in building a new and better society.
Bolivar said:
“The first duty of a government is to give education to the people.”

He also remarked that:
“Nations will march towards the apex of their greatness at the same pace as their education. Nations will soar if their education soars; they will regress if it regresses. Nations will fall and sink in darkness if education is corrupted or completely abandoned.”

Bolívar’s legacy is to be found in the many free and independent states that exist today in central and south America.
His legacy also exists in the humanitarian efforts of nations like Venezuela and Cuba who provide help and assistance to peoples around the world struggling against poverty and ill-health, disease and inequality.
The people of Ireland share many connections with the peoples of central and south America.
They are summed up in the names of the countless Irish citizens who lived and fought for freedom there.
As well as Daniel O Leary and the Irish Legion, there was Bernardo O Higgins in Chile and in Argentina Admiral William Brown.
In Mexico there was the San Patricio Battalion – a group of Irish men who joined the Mexican Army during the Mexican-American War of 1846-48 and fought with great valour in defence of Mexico.
And of course in Cuba there was Che Guevara whose grandmother Ana Isabel Lynch was from County Galway in the west of Ireland.

Challenging Colonialism

But our connections are also to be found in our shared politics – our shared rejection of colonialism and imperialism and injustice, and our shared desire – our hunger - for freedom.
Time after time the Irish people have confronted and challenged colonialism.
Despite the setbacks and the disappointments and the defeats we have never given up – never been bowed or broken.
At his court martial before his execution by the British, Padraig Pearse, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, gave voice to the Irish demand for freedom.
He said:
‘Believe that we, too, love freedom and desire it. To us it is more desirable than anything in the world. If you strike us down now, we shall rise again to renew the fight. You cannot conquer Ireland. You cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom.’

This experience – this determination to overcome oppression whatever the odds - has its echo in Latin America and in the struggles there against dictatorships and foreign interference.
The root of the conflict in that part of the world was colonialism.
The root of the conflict and divisions in Ireland is colonialism.
Redmond understood this and worked closely with Sinn Fein in seeking to end Britain’s colonial presence in Ireland.

A New Republic

Sinn Féin is an Irish republican party.
We are for a new Republic.
Independent and Sovereign.
A people centred Republic.
Our primary political objectives are an end to the partition of Ireland; an end to the union with Britain; the construction of a new national democracy, a new Republic on the island of Ireland, and reconciliation between Orange and Green – between the people of Ireland.
We are also socialist republicans.
We want to see that type of society shaped on our island.
A new agreed Ireland based on the rights of citizens is needed to achieve this.
This is best achieved by unity through reconciliation.
This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky, emotional or fanciful dream.
This is a very hardnosed realisable political objective as we advance the process of building a new Republic.
In the short term it means defending peoples rights.
These rights include the right to a decent home, to a job and a decent wage, to decent public services like health and education, and a safer, cleaner environment.
Irish republicans believe in a new Ireland which is inclusive of all citizens, and in which there is a redistribution of wealth for the well-being of the aged, for the advancement of youth, for the liberation of women and the protection of our children.
Republicans seek a new relationship between these islands, resting upon our mutual independence and mutual respect.
Sinn Féin’s republicanism is about change – fundamental, deep-rooted change.
It is about creating the conditions whereby people are empowered to make that change.
Key to this is building political strength.
If we succeed in this we will build the capacity to move both the British and the Irish governments and the unionists and to influence the political agenda.
The Proclamation of 1916, which is the mission statement of Irish republicanism in the 21^st century puts it best even now almost 100 years after it was written:

‘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 all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally.’

So, these are our goals. How do we achieve them?

A Strategy for Progress

In recent years Sinn Fein has developed a political strategy to advance our goals.
It involves advancing Irish unity through the various elected forums on which we have representation – the power sharing Executive, the Assembly, the Dáil, local councils, the European Parliament and at Westminster.
Last week I announced that Martin McGuinness would be resigning as MP for Mid Ulster.
His future focus will be on the Assembly and Executive where he is Deputy First Minister.
Our other four MPs have resigned as Members of the Assembly to concentrate on their roles as MPs.
They, and whoever replaces Martin will be able to give greater time and attention to building our connections into Britain than we have been able to do thus far.
Their priority will be the promotion of our uniting Ireland goal.
Be sure that Jayne or Sean Oliver would have been calling on Redmond to discuss how we advance this initiative.
And he would have been calling on you.
So, let’s take a leaf out of Redmond’s book.
Whether you are in a political party or none, a trade union or in business or working in the community – there is a role for democrats in helping to bring freedom to Ireland.
Did you know that ten years ago there were 674,786 people in England (1.4 per cent of the population) who had been born in Ireland?
This is the greatest concentration of Irish-born - as distinct from persons of Irish ancestry – outside of Ireland anywhere in the world.
In a London poll several years ago 11 per cent of those polled said that one or more of their parents were Irish.
I tell you all of this because Sinn Féin wants to tap into the potential of the Irish in Britain.
We are also looking for democrats, socialists, internationalists who will join with us in putting Irish freedom and reunification at the top of the political agenda.
It is also clear that the nature of the British union is changing.
The scrapping of the Government of Ireland Act is evidence of that.
So too is the demand for independence in Scotland and the planned referendum in two years time.
Political conditions are changing.
And we have to shape those conditions to our advantage.
Sinn Féin will seek to advance our uniting Ireland agenda through the institutional architecture of the Good Friday Agreement; through political outreach and programmes of work, especially toward unionists; through publicity, including public conferences; and in Britain and internationally, through in part the Irish diaspora.
A lot of progress has been made on this.
In the last year we have held a series of six very successful conferences across the island of Ireland and before that, conferences in the USA and Canada, and here in London.
Redmond was very involved in the success of the London conference.

Tackling Partition

Redmond also recognised that partition, sectarianism and division; and the great hurt between the people of these islands, have their roots in Britain’s occupation of Ireland and the strategies it has pursued to sustain that occupation.
Partition is not just a line on the map; it was the construction of a system of political apartheid which relied on discrimination and denied democracy and justice and created the context for conflict.
The peace process has delivered an end to war and that is to be welcomed and applauded.
However, resolving the many complexities resulting from centuries of occupation and partition was never going to be easy.
Partition has had a catastrophic impact on the island of Ireland.
It created two conservative states ruled by two conservative elites.
Ireland only has a population half that of London’s metropolitan area and yet we have two of everything.
There are two states on the island with two governments and two public and private sets of services and currencies.
We have two tax systems, two sets of laws and regulations and two competing agencies seeking inward investment.
This inefficient structure means that no part of the island has been immune from the effects of partition.
And while circumstances have changed since the Good Friday Agreement the border still represents a significant barrier to economic growth.
Some of this is down to the existence of two different political and economic jurisdictions with different policies on investment and growth.

Uniting Ireland makes sense

Already there are many who accept the logic of an all-island economy, in which all of our interests in health, the environment, education, agriculture, transport, job creation, taxation and strategic investment, are planned together.
Uniting Ireland makes economic sense; it makes political sense; it makes common sense.
However, sovereignty remains the key unresolved issue at the heart of the flawed relationship between the island of Ireland and our nearest neighbour.
In the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement Sinn Féin very specifically sought and secured the scrapping of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 which had partitioned Ireland.
In its place the Good Friday Agreement created a conditional claim of sovereignty by Britain in the north.
The Agreement also created a level playing field on which there is equality between the competing claims of sovereignty and which allows for a democratic debate on this issue.
The British government is committed to legislate for a United Ireland if a majority in the north want it.
This was a significant development.
This was underlined last year by the British Prime Minister David Cameron in remarks he made to the Assembly.
Mr. Cameron said that the British government will always back the democratic wishes of the people whether ‘to remain part of the United Kingdom, as is my strong wish…or whether it’s to be part of a united Ireland’.

Later, when he was privately challenged on this by the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, the British Prime Minister stuck by this position.
Once upon a time another British conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher claimed that the north was as British as Finchley!
No longer.
So, while no schedule or timetable exists for Irish reunification the means by which it can be done – through a border poll - has been agreed and a road map has been legislated for and the work has begun.
The onus is on the British Secretary of State to set a date for such a poll.

Persuading Unionists

For Irish republicans and democrats Irish sovereignty, in the context of reunification, remains the single most important constitutional and political issue.
Standing in the way of its resolution are those, particularly within the political establishments north and south, who present partition as a done deal – a fixed and immovable arrangement.
Unionists say they oppose change because they believe that Irish unity would be to their political, social and economic disadvantage and because of their professed affinity to the notion of ‘Britishness’.
But nothing ever remains the same.
Some unionists are now comfortable describing themselves as Irish, a minority perhaps but increasingly many others identify themselves as ‘northern Irish’.
And anyway in a new pluralist Ireland surely there has to be accommodation for those who feel British.
Sinn Féin’s uniting Ireland conferences attracted considerable interest outside of traditional republican circles.
In Newry and Derry unionist speakers agreed to participate.
They took the opportunity to set out their objections to uniting Ireland but they also entered into a constructive dialogue.
A development unthinkable only a few short years ago.
Finally resolving the issue of sovereignty and putting in place a new agreed Ireland that can end division on the island needs a step change.
It also needs a change of mindset.
It means agreeing a political strategy to achieve that.
So, if we are serious about uniting Ireland – and Irish republicans are serious – then we have to have a national – all-island – conversation about what this means.
What kind of united Ireland do we want?
What sort of constitution is needed?
What kind of governmental structures should there be?
And can unionists be persuaded of its value?
We have to plan for the type of new Ireland we want.
I believe partition is history and Irish unity is the future.
I am asking you to join with us and with Redmond, in forging that new future.
I believe absolutely that we will succeed.
Not least because of the tenacity and commitment of people like Redmond O Neill.
My friend and comrade Bobby Sands demonstrated that same tenacity and courage every day of his life in the H Blocks.
He appreciated more than most what drives someone to struggle in defence of others; to fight for equality and justice for future generations.
His words speak of Redmond:
There's an inner thing in every man,
Do you know this thing my friend?
It has withstood the blows of a million years,
And will do so to the end.
It was born when time did not exist,
And it grew up out of life,
It cut down evil's strangling vines,
Like a slashing searing knife.
It screamed aloud by Kerry lakes,
As it was knelt upon the ground,
And it died in great defiance,
As they coldly shot it down.
It is found in every light of hope,
It knows no bounds nor space
It has risen in red and black and white,
It is there in every race.
It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,
It screams in tyrants' eyes,
It has reached the peak of mountains high,
It comes searing 'cross the skies.
It lights the dark of this prison cell,
It thunders forth its might,
It is 'the undauntable thought', my friend,
The thought that says 'I'm right!'
Redmond was right.
And we are all the wiser and more fortunate to have known him.