The following is an old press release from the Sovereignty Movement.
32 County Sovereignty Committee Press release.
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The 32 County Sovereignty Committee views the proposed "agreement" as fundamentally undemocratic, anti-Republican and unacceptable. The agreement runs contrary to the democratic wish of the Irish people to their sovereign independence as declared in the "Declaration of Independence" in 1919.
We believe that rather than aid or assist the goal of a genuine and just peace it will compound the problem as it does not address the fundamental cause of conflict, which is the denial by Britain of Ireland's right to Sovereign Independence.
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The agreement clearly acknowledges the wish of the overwhelming majority of ~e people of Ireland for a United Ireland, which would be in keeping with the democratic sovereign decision taken in 1918 for an end of British rule. Yet by the manipulation and use of a minority veto, which is repeatedly enshrined in this document, it has contrived to deny this wish. British policy on the "Union" and the abuse of the "consent" principal are inextricably linked, one serves the other.
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We believe Britain is mercilessly pursuing its war objectives under the banner of "peace", these objectives are the stabilisation of British state rule in Ireland and an attempt to assimilate Republican resistance into structures which neutralise any assertion of the people of Ireland to sovereignty and national self determination.
Transitional arrangements depicted by this "agreement" are for a restructured partition from direct rule to an internal Assembly. There are no transitional arrangements outlined for the restoration of Ireland's sovereignty.
The removal of articles 2 & 3 and their replacement by the proposed aspiration clauses are tantamount to the greatest attempt at national duplicity ever attempted by politicians upon the people of Ireland.
The purpose behind the referendum is to transfer sovereignty to the British Cabinet. The argument put before the people that the new clauses replace people over territory falls flat on its face considering that the British claim is territorially based
The illegality of placing such an agenda before the Irish people while part of the country is under armed occupation should have been obvious to the Irish negotiators. The British having consistently denied Ireland's sovereignty are now signing up to an agreement where the Irish are being asked by referenda to legalise an illegal occupation.
The many aspects of the agreement that undoubtedly could be hailed as progressive and helpful in relation to reconciliation of our people are designed to blind the Irish people into voting on highly complicated constitutional matters. The timetable allowed for debate is clearly inadequate when one considers the resistance of our forefathers through one hundred acts of coercion - that an Irish government is proposing that we vote to recognise British sovereignty over Irish soil within a five week period is obscene
This committee welcomes and encourages agreement between the various differing traditions in our country, however the outrageous proposition that British sovereignty over part of Ireland is a prerequisite for this, raises the question about the meaning of the word agreement!
We note this agreement is not being sold on the basis it will bring about freedom, justice, and sovereign independence, but on the false assertion that the alternative is conflict. Painful experience has shown that past strategies, which have attempted to stabilise British rule, have in fact been no more than alternatives to the only real solution that can bring about the conditions for a genuine peace, namely British state withdrawal from Ireland.
The underhanded attempts to trade basic human rights for consent to disenfranchise a section of our people undermining the Sovereignty of the Nation must be deplored. Furthermore, we believe the vulnerable position of political hostages and their families is being exploited. It is the committee's position to campaign for release of all Republican prisoners in Ireland and throughout the world.
We believe that should Britain succeed in its aims to modernize its occupation, continue the denial of our right to national sovereignty and prolong partition, this will result in further injustice and conflict.
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The 32 County Sovereignty Committee will be sending a delegation to the United Nations., to lodge Ireland's Declaration of Independence and petition the U.N.to uphold our right to national sovereignty and end Britain's Denial of that right. It is hoped the delegation will also meet with numerous, concerned groups and individuals among the Irish American community.
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