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PROGRAM OUTLINE
Purpose
The NIFC program ‘Our
Irish-American Cultural Heritage - Linking the Past, Present and
Future’ has been established for the purpose of preserving our
Irish-American cultural heritage and the Fenian traditions
passed on to us by our exiled Irish forebears. Our forebears who
came to America to escape oppression, poverty, persecution,
freedom of expression, censorship etc., contributed enormously
to America’s freedom, culture and prosperity. They and their
descendants fought in the War of Independence, Civil War and in
every war since then when America’s interests were threatened.
The NIFC will commemorate and honor their contributions and will
carry on their tradition of helping their former homeland in its
struggle for freedom, independence and reunification.
The
following campaigns seek to fulfill this undertaking.
Our Exiled Forebears
Awareness Campaign
The National Irish Freedom
Committee (NIFC) engages in cultural related activities for the
purpose of providing a medium to raise the cultural and historical level of awareness amongst those of
Irish heritage to ensure that our cultural heritage, values, and
Fenian traditions are preserved for future generations of
Irish-Americans.
Down through the centuries Ireland
has produced some of the world's greatest scholars, writers,
poets, and artists. Because of prejudice and intolerance many of
these talented individuals left Ireland to practice their art
elsewhere. Many others who left Ireland because of political
activism, famine or lack of opportunity became in their own
right renowned statesmen, politicians, judges, doctors,
businessmen and women in their adopted countries. All of these
individuals make us proud of our Irish roots and we cherish
their contributions to our proud heritage.
The NIFC will support other
Irish-American organizations engaged in promoting our cultural
heritage. In addition, the NIFC will pursue its own initiative
to raise the level of awareness of Irelands' struggle for its
independence in a reunited sovereign nation free to determine
and charter its own destiny.
The Irish Republican
Activists Support Campaign
The NIFC supports the dependants of
Irish Republican political activists, through Cabhair in
Ireland, who are harassed and prosecuted by British and Irish
authorities for promoting Eire Nua. This undertaking is an
obligation inherent in the NIFC’s founding principles as
espoused by Wolfe Tone i.e. 1) to unite the whole people of
Ireland regardless of religious conviction and 2) to break the
connection with England, the never-ending source of all
political evil.
As a result of constant police
harassment at homes and places of employment, political
activists and family members are being ostracized and
marginalized in their own communities. As an added burden,
political activists appearing before non-jury courts are
subjected to arbitrary bail conditions that inflict severe
hardships on their dependants. These arbitrary bail conditions
are tantamount to a virtual state of imprisonment. All of these
malicious tactics are designed to silence the voice of Eire Nua
proponents, who are viewed by the ruling elite in both states as
a threat to the status quo; hence, a threat to their own
privileged lifestyles. The NIFC will continue highlight their
plight.
The Eire Nua Awareness
Campaign
The NIFC will engage in
informational related activities to increase the level of
awareness in the U.S of the Irish authored Eire Nua political
program and the proposals contained therein to achieve a just
and lasting peace in Ireland
Eire Nua (New Ireland) is a
comprehensive Irish authored political program designed to
achieve a just and lasting peace in Ireland in the context of a
British withdrawal. Initially proposed by the Republican
movement in 1972, Eire Nua would reunite the British occupied
six counties of Ireland with the rest of Ireland in an
all-Ireland federation comprised of the four historic provinces
of Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht. The principle on
which Eire Nua is based, envisions a system of government in
which all creeds and traditions would be represented and all
citizens could exercise real power, without any one group
infringing on the right of others.
This comprehensive and far-reaching
program is in stark contrast to British imposed arrangements
such as the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Sunningdale,
Hillsborough and the faltering Good Friday Agreement, all
calculated to copper-fasten and legitimize British control over
the occupied six counties of Ireland.
The NIFC will also endeavor to
engage political leaders, the media and the American public in
bringing pressure to bear on the U.S. government to reverse its
selective visa denial policy
directed at Eire Nua proponents.
Eire Nua is a comprehensive Irish formula for a just and lasting
peace in Ireland in the context of a British withdrawal. More
importantly Eire Nua is an Irish alternative to the faltering
British-initiated Good Friday Agreement, an arrangement that
after many years in existence is still ineffective.
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