I have nothing against peace and fully embrace it with open arms. It is the most important thing to maintain for the sake of our children. However, if the price of peace brings with it the erosion of Irish sovereignty and does not contribute to the liberation of the Irish working class then we must question the entire process.

If the price of peace is to stunt the health and needs of our children, elderly, unemployed, homeless and infirm to instead bolster and serve the needs of the landlord and wealthy capitalist then we must adopt a radical and revolutionary position.

If the price of peace comes at the cost of our self-determination and in our ability to govern ourselves without foreign interference then we must decide what is the greater sacrifice: the price of peace or the price of freedom.

If the price of peace is to cost a generation the right to affordable housing, a decent wage, labour rights and the prospect of a comfortable retirement then that generation has the right to undermine and disobey.

If the price of peace is to be the slow suffocation of our education system and language then we must have the courage to speak out and to educate ourselves.

If the price of peace is the creation of a neo-liberal state, tax-haven for multi national corporations and a landing pad for imperialist war machines then we all must ask ourselves: peace for who exactly.

And if the price of peace is to be found in all of the above, well then we must question the very definition of violence.

As a general rule most people hold the core belief that because there is no clear and overt sign of violence or war that they:

a) are not in any risk of harm or attack from enemy forces,

and,

b) must therefore be living in a time of peace and in an environment free from malign intentions and threat,

but unfortunately it is really not so simple.

This is because such core beliefs can not consider all other forms of covert violence and subversion that can so easily exist in an oppressive two-tier society. Such a society will forsake all of it's responsibility to the care and maintainance of her natural resources, land and people, to instead exploit these finite resources in the pursuit of business, profit and power. In this way, it is precisely through such exploitative processes that human beings are dehumanised and objectified, effectively being denied any process of inquiry into his or her own personal affairs, or into matters concerning the inner workings of the state. At every turn the people will be lied to and manipulated by government and state-owned media, with even the most benign of dissenters being branded, ostracised and ridiculed. 

Indeed as Paulo Freire so aptly stated:

'Any situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence. The means used are not important; to alienate human beings from their own decision making is to change them into objects.”

Finally, drawing from the great quote by Bobby Sands,

'Our revenge will be the laughter of our children'.

Unfortunately, it has certainly been a very long time since I have heard children laugh with a laughter that was both joyful and pure, or in such a manner to make it in any way believable. This is the state of the Irish nation today. 

So, what is to be done? 

~ Gamhain MacCionaoith 

10/10/24