Easter Statement from the Leadership of the Republican Movement 2005

On this the 89th anniversary of the historic 1916 Rising the Leadership of the Republican Movement extends fraternal greetings to members and supporters throughout the world. We particularly extend greetings of solidarity to all our imprisoned comrades held in British and Free State jails and we pay tribute to the Republican Prisoners Action Group who are engaged in a campaign against the British attempts to criminalise our POWs in Maghaberry jail.
We extend fraternal greetings to all the people throughout the world who are struggling against forces of oppression.
Since last Easter the Irish people have once again witnessed yet another failed attempt by the British and their Irish agents to re-launch the partitionist parliament at Stormont. We have watched the continued grovelling of all shades of Irish nationalists to British rule in our country, but at the end of the day as we had predicted the grovelling was not enough for the British master.
It was however significant that once again the Provisionals were prepared to perform a final act of betrayal in destroying all the military material which does not belong to them, but to the Irish people.
The recent public exposé of their other criminal activities has contributed to a frenzy aimed against Irish Republicanism. This and the murder of Robert McCartney in Belfast are typical examples of what the Provos are about. It is not about freedom, it is not about justice, it is not about equality and, above all, it has nothing to do with the honourable Republican struggle to end British rule in Ireland once and for all. We again call upon this organisation to desist from claiming any linkage to this honourable cause as they attempted to usurp and sully all that true Republicanism stands for.
Over the past year our supporters throughout the whole of Ireland have been the subject of continued harassment, intimidation and false imprisonment at the hands of the British Forces of Occupation in the Six Counties and by their lackeys in the Free State.
We note the outcry from all quarters over the raid on the Northern Bank in Belfast, where has been the outcry over the theft of money from Republican Sinn Féin by the Free State police, just a month earlier? These same forces should well remember that they will not succeed where others have failed, and should be mindful of the true saying that it is not those who can inflict the most, but those who can endure the most who will finally overcome.
The past twelve months have been a difficult time for those who remain committed to resisting the continued colonial occupation of our country. We are faced with an unprecedented combination of forces railed against us. We will undoubtedly see in the coming twelve months a further renewed and forceful attempt to quell Republican resistance to this colonial rule, but let us again reassert our commitment and absolute determination to ensure that this resistance not only remains, but prospers.
There will never be an acceptance of colonial occupation, however it is remodelled. All Republicans committed to this resistance must unite under the banner of Irish Republicanism. Our unity of purpose will serve both to reject those who have usurped Republicanism and to resist the colonial occupier.

There will be no surrender, there will be no compromise. Onwards to the Republic!