Sinn Féin Press Office
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Dublin 1
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Email: sfpress@eircom.net
October 20, 2005
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP speaking in South Africa today
"What we want in Ireland is what you have achieved in South Africa.
We want our freedom.
It is my conviction that this is achievable.
As you used to say here, freedom in our lifetimes."
I want to deal with the Irish peace process but before doing so I want to
offer up some observations on the international situation.
Irish republicans have always been firmly internationalists - our roots lie
in the French Revolution and the American Revolution. Our core political
value is based on the right of human beings to be free citizens - liberated,
empowered and equal.
The founders of Irish republicans saw themselves as citizens of the world
and the Irish fight for freedom as part of a worldwide struggle of humanity.
That remains Sinn Fein's view today.
For us the big central international struggle of our time is to assert
democratic control by people over the decisions, which affect their lives.
This means free nations working together on the basis of equality, to pursue
this objective.
It means tackling the great social, economic and environmental problems,
which face us, by means of co-operation between nations. It requires
international cooperation amongst states for real human development. It
means the developed world working in strategic partnership with the
developing world - not as an act of charity- but as part of our duty and
responsibility towards other human beings.
The problems on this continent are a result of colonialism. Irish people
understand this. We were England's first colony. So we have a natural
affinity with other colonised countries across the globe. We are delighted
to see the decline of the old empires but we are conscious that the old
imperial powers continue to seek ways to exploit their former colonies.
We are conscious that as the rich countries of the west get richer over one
billion people live on les than a dollar a day. Eleven million children
under the age of five die each year from preventable diseases.
We know it is the poor who suffer most from the natural disasters - many
caused by the environmental policies of richer countries. We know that the
big powers do not conduct themselves in a globally responsible way.
We know that more money is expended on armaments and military projects than
on aid or fair trade policies.
But we believe that another world - a world of equals is possible.
This requires a united nations which can assert an agenda which reflects the
true needs and interests of the peoples of the world. In other words efforts
to reform and democratise the un must continue.
We believe there should be an end to war, a settlement in the Middle East
and an end to the occupation ofIraq.
We believe that foreign debts of developing countries must be cancelled.
We believe poverty can be eradicated.
We believe that the cause of international security has to shift from a
purely militaristic agenda which attacks democratic and civil rights in
particular countries to deal with the real causes of insecurity in the world.
We believe that the global economy must be reorganised to allow developing
countries the freedom to develop socially and economically - to manage their
own resources with the developed countries paying fair prices for their
products.
All of this is hugely challenging. Some may say it is utopian.
But twenty years ago the aims of your struggle were dismissed in these
terms. But these aims were achievable and at a great cost to the people of
this country you succeeded.
Which brings me to the second main element of my remarks today.
We can make the world a better place by making our own countries - our own
regions of the world - better places.
Let no one here be in any doubt - the end of apartheid has made a huge
contribution to this cause. Of course there is a lot more to be done, but
progressive and freedom loving people everywhere owe a great debt of
gratitude to the people of South Africa.
Your leadership has set an example to us all.
Yesterday October 19 you celebrated Media Freedom Day. In 1977 on that date
the apartheid regime banned eighteen anti-apartheid groups and two
newspapers here.
On October 19 1988 Margaret Thatcher introduced the broadcast ban - the
censorship of Sinn Fein in Ireland.
I note these dates so that we can judge how far our progressive causes have
advanced since then. It also brings me back, you may be glad to hear, to
Ireland and the Irish peace process.
There has been great progress but we have not yet reached a settled
accommodation - Ireland, a small country - just over five million people,
remains partitioned - the unionist section of our people at this time refuse
to be in government with the rest of us and the political institutions
established under the Good Friday agreement have been suspended by the
British government in what is a clear breach of that agreement.
But yet there is great cause for optimism. The peace process is a journey.
The milestones on that journey have been signposted since the IRA cessation
of 1994 through to the recent IRA initiatives to formally call an end to its
armed campaign and to put its weapons beyond use.
Yesterday President Mbeki described this as a historic step by the IRA and a
strategic contribution to opening the way to the re-establishment of the
government.
I thank president Mbeki for his support and encouragement. The ANC has been
consistent and long-standing in its help for our process. Madiba actively
assisted us. Your negotiators gave us their time and shared their
experiences with us. President Mbeki has been equally supportive.
Many of your leader shave visited us in Ireland. Minister Ronnie Kasrils
will be there next week. Comrades like Cyril Ramaphosa travelled to Ireland
many times. So too did Roelf Meyer. I met him again during this visit. I
congratulated him on how well he looked.
His answer summarised for me your achievements - "I am enjoying my freedom".
There are two big challenges facing Sinn Fein in the next phase of the peace
process. One is to keep the British government to its commitments.
The other is to end the scourge of sectarianism in Ireland to forge a new
relationship between unionism and the rest of us.
President Mbeki talked on this issue yesterday.
"We might find that unionists are afraid of what they might lose by this
change, having been accustomed to particular things.
Take the experience of this country. It was the same experience. The white
minority was afraid of change in case they might lose something but now,
eleven years on, they are all saying that that 'what we feared we would
lose, we did not lose. We are happier. We are freer. We are more secure. We
are richer'.
"I think it becomes the responsibility of everyone to move and let unionists
and republicans approach each other.
"I think that if we move the peace process in Ireland forward, people of
this point of view will discover that that future is indeed a much, much
better one for everyone. It can be done. It must be done."
I agree with that. I believe there are lessons to be learned form your
process of national reconciliation and I am pleased that the President and
Foreign Minister Zuma are prepared to facilitate this if and when this is
necessary.
The process of change in Ireland is slow. Sinn Fein this year celebrates
its hundredth birthday - an Cead.
In that time there have been other connections between us.
Arthur Griffith was here for two years at the beginning of the last century.
John Mac Bride later executed by the British in 1916 fought here on the side
of the Boers against the British.
Roger Casement also executed by the British did great work in exposing the
suffering of the people in the then Belgian Congo.
When Terence Mac Swiney, Sinn Fein mayor of Cork city died on hunger strike
in October 1919, the ANC sent solidarity greetings to Sinn Fein.
So our links go back a long way and it is good to be here to renew and to
reinvigorate them.
What we want in Ireland is what you have achieved in South Africa.
We want our freedom.
It is my conviction that this is achievable.
As you used to say here, freedom in our lifetimes.
We wish you luck in tackling all the many problems facing you - we enjoy
your successes and are confident you will continue to make progress.
A better world is possible.
As I said at the beginning of these remarks, not least because of you.
