The focus of the celebration of African Liberation Day this year is appropriately the role of Neo-Colonialism and this is a topic the Irish Republican Socialist Movement has long had experience with. Capitalism is not a static system, but one that constantly changes in an attempt to maintain itself in the face of working class opposition. When capitalism expands beyond the boundaries of the Nation-State, it first does so through the institutions of colonialism, including settler-colonialism. Ireland, ever the testing ground for systems of exploitation, saw the first successful example of settler-colonialism with the Plantation of Ulster. This colonial experiment, masquerading as religious sectarianism, remains a pressing concern for Irish revolutionaries today in the struggle to end British domination of the six Irish counties known as "Northern Ireland."

In the 19th century, with the growing dominance of finance capital, capitalism brought forth imperialism. This takes the form of domination and exploitation through military intervention, as seen in Iraq today, as it is in Ireland's six county occupation. It also takes the more common form of economic domination, for example, in the crushing foreign debt of Latin American nations like Mexico. Chile, and Argentina and in the complete domination of the Irish economy by foreign multi-national corporations.

In the 20th century, a new weapon in the arsenal of capitalism appeared, neo-colonialism. What distinguishes neo-colonialism from earlier forms is the appearance of the face of the overseer of colonial domination. Whereas previously the overseer was an easily identifiable foreigner, with different ethnic, religious, language or other characteristics, which set him apart from the native populace; in neo-colonialism, this role is assumed by one of 'our own.' Because the overseer tending the interests of imperialism appears to be one of us, some of us may be fooled into believing we have gained sovereign control over our destinythat we have achieved national liberationbut those who rule under neo-colonialism continue to rule in the interests of those have traditionally exploited our labour and resources for the benefit of another nation, another class.

Recognising the dawning of this new form of exploitation, the great Irish Marxist James Connolly wrote:

"After Ireland is free, says the patriot who won't touch Socialism, we will protect all classes, and if you won't pay your rent you will be evicted same as now. But the evicting party, under command of the sheriff, will wear green uniforms and the Harp without the Crown, and the warrant turning you out on the roadside will be stamped with the arms of the Irish Republic. Now, isn't that worth fighting for?

"And when you cannot find employment, and, giving up the struggle of life in despair, enter the poorhouse, the band of the nearest regiment of the Irish army will escort you to the poorhouse door to the tune of 'St. Patrick's Day.' Oh! It will be nice to live in those days!

"With the Green Flag floating o'er us' and an ever-increasing army of unemployed workers walking about under the Green Flag, wish they had something to eat. Same as now! Whoop it up for liberty!

"Now, my friend, I also am Irish, but I'm a bit more logical. The capitalist, I say, is a parasite on industry; as useless in the present stage of our industrial development as any other parasite in the animal or vegetable world is to the life of the animal or vegetable upon which it feeds.

"The working class is the victim of this parasitethis human leech, and it is the duty and interest of the working class to use every means in its power to oust this parasite class from the position which enables it to thus prey upon the vitals of labour.

"Therefore, I say, let us organise as a class to meet our masters and destroy their mastership; organise to drive them from their hold upon public life through their political power; organise to wrench from their robber clutch the land and workshops on and in which they enslave us; organise to cleanse our social life from the stain of social cannibalism, from the preying of man upon his fellow man."

It was with these same sentiments that when Connolly led his small workers' militia, the Irish Citizen Army, out into the streets of Dublin alongside the non-socialist Irish Republican Brotherhood, he told the ICA's volunteers to "hold upon to your guns." Because, he told them, when this initial fight against the British Army was over, they may well need to use them against the IRB, whose vision of an Irish republic was very different from the workers' republic envisioned by the ICA.

Sadly, Connolly was killed at the close of that fight with British imperialism and far too many forgot his advice when 26 counties of Ireland wrested nominal independence away from Britain. But, Connolly was right, the new capitalist rulers of Ireland's 26 counties soon found that their interests were completely intertwined with those of the their imperialist big brothers in Britain. Virtually from the start, they ruled Ireland in the interests of the British imperialists, as this was the only way to preserve their own class interests as capitalists.

Today, the remaining six counties under British occupation are said to be witnessing some form of transition, and this is true. They are witnessing the transition from colonial occupation and settler-colonial control to a form of neo-colonialism. Today, two members of the modern version of the IRB, the Sinn Fein party, hold positions in the executive responsible for administering the British controlled statelet in the north of Ireland. And, the nationalist working classas well as loyalist working class, whose 'own representatives' dominate that executivehave won the right to speak in the Irish language in the substandard housing of their communities. They have the ability to comment on the shape of the police force, which will enforce a sectarian divide among the people while ignoring the drug lords flooding their communities with poison. They can hold their heads proudly erect and proclaim their support for Sinn Fein or Progressive Unionist Party members of the assembly, which is now responsible for providing them with meager dole payments because there is no work to be had. They are free to sing The Soldier's Song or The Sash, while the labour of those lucky enough to find work is purchased for among the lowest wages in Europe by foreign multi-nationals who will repatriate the profits thereby made to their own home nation,

People will wonder, why we are not satisfied with this. They will ask, what more do you want? They will want to know, why aren't we excited by projections that Sinn Fein will increase their seats in the legislative bodies of both the six and 26 county statelets on the island of Ireland in the coming elections.

And, we will have to tell them; we don't give a damn who participates in our exploitationwe want to be free. We don't care a bit if Sinn Fein becomes the biggest nationalist party in the six countieswe want an end to Ireland's partition. We don't care if Sinn Fein holds the balance of power in the 26 counties and joins a coalition governmentwe don't have any interest in the government, which controls the majority of the island of Ireland to ensure that it remains available for imperialist exploitation. We could care less what the composition of the ruling class of Ireland iswe only care if Irish workers gain control of Irish economic wealth and political institutions.

The war, waged most recently in Ireland for nearly three decades, wasn't fought to gain peace; it was fought to gain national liberation and social justice. The struggle that we've been engaged in was not directed at providing minister positions for members of this or that party; it was directed at providing the working people of Ireland with control over the nation's destiny and their own lives. The martyrs of the Irish National Liberation Army did not die so that some politicians could get big houses in Donegal and impressive titles; they died for freedom and socialism. Our prisoners of war did not languish in British jails so that Gerry Adams could sip tea with the US President; they did so in order to ensure the interests of the masses of Irish people would be met first and foremost, not those of foreign corporations.

Whether in Ireland or Guatemala, whether in South Africa or the Philippines, whether in Palestine or Nicaragua, the working people of this world have suffered, struggled, and died for liberation. It is liberation they will have and we will not be satisfied by the ruse of placing a native masque over the face of our imperialist exploiters.

In closing, I turn again to the wisdom of James Connolly. When told that his demand of a Workers' Republic was to extreme and that he needed to pull his head down from the clouds and be reasonable, Connolly told his critics plainly: we want for the working class the control over all the means of production, distribution and exchange; we want all the wealth of the nation which was built up through our toil and our toil alone; we want the workers to exclusively hold the reigns of power to direct the course of the state and civil society; we want the whole fucking world! And, nothing could be more reasonable!