New Website - Aontacht.net

national | miscellaneous | press release

Wednesday January 19, 2005 17:08

by Alan - Aontacht - Unity

Aontacht.net is a new Republican website created by a group of young Irish Republicans with the intention of debating the future direction of Irish Republicanism and its relevance to modern society. It was felt that there needed to be a more detailed examination of the problems facing the ideology than has been carried out before but that there was no exisiting forum for this to be done in an impartial manner away from party political lines. The main area of debate will be the discussion forum which will become the nucleus of a much bigger website in time. The moderators have been handpicked for their political experience, knowledge and political diversity. Aontacht.net is an ambitous project to bring agreement from people of divided political backgrounds and to create better understandings of respective positions. Please read the mission statement below and join if you agree with its stated aims.

Getting Republicans into the community
&
Getting the community into Republicanism.

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Aontacht.Net's underlining purpose for being set up is to...

..Promote respect and revival for Irish history, language and culture.
..Provide a non-partisan analysis of Republicanism and the current position of the possibility of unification.
..Evolve a contempory definition of Republicanism and set out it's relevance to the people of Ireland.
..Set out the current problems facing those who support unification and create solutions for these.
..Encourage community awareness and participation in Republican politics and history.
..Provide an online focal point for those who believe in the unification of Ireland.
..Discuss the challenges that would arise from unification.
..To encourage people to focus their individual skills for the benefit of the cause of unification, be they academic, web design, artistic, oratorical or musical.

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Suppoting..

..Secularism in politics and government.
..Co-operation and understanding between different cultural groups in Ireland.
..Co-operation between different political groups in Ireland toward unification.

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Opposing..

..The partition of Ireland and the British Government's occupation of Irish national territory.
..An elitist approach to Republicanism.
..Racism and Religious Sectarianism.
..The alienation and disregard for the weaker sections of our society including the disabled, homeless, drug addicted and immigrants.
..Censorship and revisionism.
..The destruction of Irish heritage and historical sites in Ireland.

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Recognising..

..The right of the island of Ireland to act as a single unit.
..That the basic aim of Republicanism is unification of the national territory and, equally, unity and understanding among it's inhabitants.
..How the above cannot and will not be achieved through the Good Friday Agreement.
..The current crisis within Ireland insofar as unification is concerned.
..The devision between republican groups in Ireland.
..How the above is counter-productive to even the most basic of Republicanism's objectives.
..The concerns of Unionism.
..The right of Unionism as a political entity to exist. However it does not accept the right of Unionism, as a national minority, to subvert unification.
..That true Republicanism comes from the people and, as such, without their support, no plan for unification can hope to succeed.
..That the Irish people have misconceptions of Republicanism that must be changed.
..That the people are the only reliable foundation of any state.
..That support from the people must be earned through community-level work of a wide and varying nature.

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Seeing that..

..Modern Republicanism is an amalgamation of diverse idealogies set around the fundamental position that the island of Ireland is entitled to complete seperation from Britain.
..[Taking the above into consideration] ..All Republicans are able to find basic common ground with one another to co-operate.
..Because the Irish people hold diverse political views, so too, do Republicans and though at times these views may conflict, the basic tenet of unification holds true.
..In order for the people to become firmly commited to the belief of unification, Republicans must be educated, credible, patient and polite in their approach.
..Republicans must have a coherent, though evolving, stand on all issues of relevance to the people.
..Republicans must set aside party allegiances in lieu of National allegiance.
..The people are the only power that can establish or dismantle a state.
..Those opposed to unification are entitled to their views and that those views should be aired to create understanding and interpretation.
..As the world is constantly evolving and creating new challenges, so too should Republicanism be evolving and creating new ways to meet these challenges.

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Aontacht.Net is not the website for a political party, nor is it affiliated with any organisation in Ireland. While Aontacht.Net is aimed at those who believe in unification, it also welcomes those who are opposed to it to take part in mature and constructive discussion on the topic in our forum. It is intended that Aontacht.net will compliment exisiting websites and it is not an attempt to surplant other established forums.

http://aontacht.net

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Comments (9 of 9)

Some Change!

by sceptical in Donegal

Wed Jan 19, 2005 17:59

IF this new republican site wants to 'evolve' republicanism then why is one of its aims:

'The right of the island of Ireland to act as a single unit.'

Surely an evolving republicanism would accept that it is the People of Ireland who have the right to act as a single unit, if they choose to do so.

Also the aspiration to re-integrate somthing called the 'national territory' without any reference to the people who inhabit that territory is a bit rich.

I'm all for looking at developing republicanism into a vision that we can buy into for the future, but this is a fairly inauspicious start. It seems to be based firmly on 19th century European Nationalism rather than any more sophisticated political philosophy.

Not even close, and no cigar.......

Needs a RSS feed

by redjade

Wed Jan 19, 2005 18:34

just a suggestion....

The script you use for the site is PHPBB

you can add RSS syndication to your site and create a RSS feed for all entries. indymedia.ie has RSS feeds, for example: http://www.indymedia.ie/syndication.php

go download this:
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=144548

would bring people back to the site and useful for people like myself that read sites via http://bloglines.com

re; sceptical in Donegal

by Barry

Thu Jan 20, 2005 08:25

Presumably then you believe that sophisticated republicanism doesnt actually believe in a British withdrawal, accepts their occupation and institutionalised sectarianism, and that Ireland is not in fact a nation at all.

Sorry but thats not republicanism, its bollocks.

Republicanism now

Thu Jan 20, 2005 16:27

The Irish people are indeed a Nation Barry, not the island we live on.
The British 'occupation' exists because over a million British people who live on this island want them to be here to protect them from us, as they see it.
Institutionalised sectarianism continues to exist and should be named and confronted on an ongoing basis.
The task of republicans now is, in my opinion, to campaign and create a society and polity in the south that a majority of people in the north would want to become a part of, one they would opt into rather than be dragged into.
The dominant thinking in the south, materialism and selfinterest has to be changed. People here won't even pay for decent hospitals schools and services in 26 countys, never mind 32.
Modern republicanism should accept that you can't force people to live together at the point of a gun and that the old slogans and language are redundant old guff that drives people apart rather than bringing people together. Republicans should be working to make each of the current states on the Island decent places for people to live and bring up theire kids, not banging on about a mythical United Ireland that northerners dont want and southerners wont pay for.

Re: Sceptical in Donegal

by Dave

Thu Jan 20, 2005 17:37

And the Winner is---

"The task of republicans now is, in my opinion, to campaign and create a society and polity in the south that a majority of people in the north would want to become a part of, one they would opt into rather than be dragged into."

Mo Chlann

by Mise Eire - Na Fianna

Thu Jan 20, 2005 18:31

Dia Dhiabh mo phaiste go leir.
Ta ionadh mor ormsa faoi lathair mar ta grupa nua in Eireann ag caint fumsa.
Is brea liom na poblachtanai,
ag caint faoi ar Naisiun agus ar bpobail.
Nach alainn e an teanga Bearla ar na riomhairi moduirn. Is rud an-tabhachtach e an 'sophistication', caithfidh sibh do chuid smaointi agus mothucain a cuir isteach sna aiteanna a bhfuil na bealoiri agus muintir an nua-aimsire ag obair le haidh mo bhas.
Nil moran daoine i chonai ar mo chorp, ar mo chuid craiceann no i mo chuid gruaige ach buichas le Dia ta crowdin beag ann go foill ag canadh lena crinnte
agus eisteann siad le na focail ata a ra libh ach mar a deirim do na Fianna' Caith do shaol Ghaelach, caith do fior-shaol
gan moran ceangailti le na cainteoiri craiecailte ata ag rith thart na gcathracha ag iarraidh saol nua sa domhain an Gall.'
Nach brea an Saoirse a dtugann me diabh le na milte blianta anuas.Ta na freagrai an-shimpli, nil moran ceisteanna ann.

paramilitary activity

by Fundy

Fri Jan 21, 2005 16:05

Does aontacht have a stance on parlimilitary activity, or does it leave that to its members

by barry

Fri Jan 21, 2005 16:41

Why dont you post on their board and find out. ?

Future of Aontacht

by Reb

Mon Dec 12, 2005 21:21

Aontacht.net will soon be no more, a temporary replacement for the forum can be found at the supplied link.

TáL

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Comments (9 of 9)