"We prate and babble, and write books, and publish them, filled with sentiments of freedom, and abhorrence of tyranny, and lofty praises of the Rights of Man! Yet we are content to hold three millions of our fellow creatures, and fellow subjects, in degradation and in infamy, and contempt, or to sum up all in one word, in Slavery!"  Wolfe Tone "Dept Slavery" comes next for the present "three millions" plus Republic of Ireland citizens: if we're not all very vigilant, and very cautious? The e-mail reproduced below to 83 Republic of Ireland TDs (half of the total 166) can also be viewed at: http://www.humanrightsireland.com/Dail31TDs/Group1of2/3June2011/Email.htm The version e-mail at the above address has rich-text hyperlinks which are not available in plain-text. A very similar e-mail has been sent to the Group which makes up the second half of the TDs, and it can be viewed at: http://www.humanrightsireland.com/Dail31TDs/Group2of2/3June2011/Email.htm =========================== --- On Fri, 3/6/11, William Finnerty <newinngalway@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: From: William Finnerty <newinngalway@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Irish Republicanism To: "Members of the 31st Dail (Group 1 of 2)" <gerry.adams@oireachtas.ie>, james.bannon@oireachtas.ie, sean.barrett@oireachtas.ie, tom.barry@oireachtas.ie, richard.boydbarrett@oireachtas.ie, pat.breen@oireachtas.ie, tommy.broughan@oireachtas.ie, john.browne@oireachtas.ie, richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie, joan.burton@oireachtas.ie, ray.butler@oireachtas.ie, jerry.buttimer@oireachtas.ie, catherine.byrne@oireachtas.ie, eric.byrne@oireachtas.ie, dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie, ciaran.cannon@oireachtas.ie, joe.carey@oireachtas.ie, paudie.coffey@oireachtas.ie, joan.collins@oireachtas.ie, niall.collins@oireachtas.ie, michael.colreavy@oireachtas.ie, michael.conaghan@oireachtas.ie, sean.conlan@oireachtas.ie, paul.connaughton@oireachtas.ie, ciara.conway@oireachtas.ie, noel.coonan@oireachtas.ie, marcella.corcorankennedy@oireachtas.ie, joe.costello@oireachtas.ie, simon.coveney@oireachtas.ie, barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie, michael.creed@oireachtas.ie, lucinda.creighton@oireachtas.ie, sean.crowe@oireachtas.ie, clare.daly@oireachtas.ie, jim.daly@oireachtas.ie, john.deasy@oireachtas.ie, jimmy.deenihan@oireachtas.ie, pat.deering@oireachtas.ie, pearse.doherty@oireachtas.ie, regina.doherty@oireachtas.ie, stephen.donnelly@oireachtas.ie, paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie, tommy.dooley@oireachtas.ie, robert.dowds@oireachtas.ie, andrew.doyle@oireachtas.ie, bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie, dessie.ellis@oireachtas.ie, damien.english@oireachtas.ie, alan.farrell@oireachtas.ie, frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie, anne.ferris@oireachtas.ie, martin.ferris@oireachtas.ie, frances.fitzgerald@oireachtas.ie, peterm.fitzpatrick@oireachtas.ie, charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie, lukeming.flanagan@oireachtas.ie, terence.flanagan@oireachtas.ie, sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie, tom.fleming@oireachtas.ie, eamon.gilmore@oireachtas.ie, noel.grealish@oireachtas.ie, brendan.griffin@oireachtas.ie, john.halligan@oireachtas.ie, dominic.hannigan@oireachtas.ie, noel.harrington@oireachtas.ie, simon.harris@oireachtas.ie, brian.hayes@oireachtas.ie, tom.hayes@oireachtas.ie, seamus.healy@oireachtas.ie, michael.healy-rae@oireachtas.ie, martin.heyden@oireachtas.ie, joe.higgins@oireachtas.ie, phil.hogan@oireachtas.ie, brendan.howlin@oireachtas.ie, heather.humphreys@oireachtas.ie, kevin.humphreys@oireachtas.ie, derek.keating@oireachtas.ie, colm.keaveney@oireachtas.ie, paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie, bily.kelleher@oireachtas.ie, alan.kelly@oireachtas.ie, enda.kenny@oireachtas.ie Cc: "The Spirit of Celtic Queen Boadicea (East Anglia)" <iceniqueenboadicea@yahoo.co.uk>, "The Spirit of Celtic Chieftain Vercingetorix (Alesia and Turoe)" <vercingetorixireland@yahoo.ie>, "The Spirit of King Ollamh Fodhla (Tara and Ulster)" <ollamhfodhla@yahoo.co.uk> Date: Friday, 3 June, 2011, 17:00 June 3, 2011 Irish Republicanism By William Finnerty Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763 -- 1798), who died by his own hand in a Dublin prison after being refused a "soldier's execution", is widely regarded as the "father of Irish republicanism". He was a leading member of the group of aristocrats who vigorously supported the Irish independence movement known as "The United Irishmen". :::::::: The main section of text below is largely based on a recent "comment" at the following www location: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/99376#comment281136 A backup copy of the original comment has been placed at: http://www.humanrightsireland.com/IndyMediaIreland/3June2011/Comment.htm#comment281136 =========================== Puzzled by W. Finnerty Fri Jun 03, 2011 09:48 How have we ended up with such narrow views on republican forms of government, and the wide range of people and groups who have supported them since the days of Ancient Greece at least? "The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase 'res publica', which can be translated as 'a public affair', and often used to describe a state using this form of government." The above excerpt has been copied from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic Basically, when all the verbal "smoke and mirrors" are filtered out from the "big picture", there seems to me to be just two main forms of government: Government of the people, by the people, for the people and Government of the ruling elites, by the ruling elites, for the ruling elites. Although I believe I know which form of government Wolfe Tone and his fellow United Irishmen supported, I'm genuinely unsure about which side RSF and many other political groups and parties are really on? It often appears to me that political groups who claim to be "republican" are (in reality) little more than "ruling elites" of one kind or another (at heart) trying to replace some other group of virtually identical "ruling elites" (under a different name): often through the ballot box, and under the pretence of genuine democracy. What choice did "Republic (so called) of Ireland" voters have at the general election earlier this year: "six" of one type of "ruling elites", or "half a dozen" of the other? And where, especially with regard to current issues of extreme importance relating to the "common good" of the people of the Republic of Ireland, issues such as the "bankers bailouts" and the "giveaway" of our oil and gas resources (for example), do all of our present set of "elected representatives" (so called) stand at the present time -- in reality -- regarding their support for the basic set of republican principles expressed in the following piece of text: "All powers of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive, under God, from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good": which, as some will already know, is the full text of Article 6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann, the Basic Law of the Republic of Ireland? =========================== The above text has been copied from the following Open News location: http://www.opednews.com/populum/print_friendly.php?p=Irish-Republicanism-by-William-Finnerty-110603-16.html&c=d =========================== A list of closely related Open News Diary Entries by William Finnerty can be viewed at the following www location: http://www.opednews.com/author/diary/author46094.html =========================== William Finnerty http://www.humanrightsireland.com ===========================