A Social Outlet for Nationalists

It is my firm belief that we must begin to implement a social infrastructure for Nationalists of Ireland. This infrastructure would serve several goals, some of which are more important to our movement than others, but all of which are none-the-less important in some way or another. If our movement is to succeed it is vital that a number of conditions be satisfied. If these conditions, which shall be discussed below, remain unsatisfied then our movement is likely to remain flaccid and our dream of establishing a desirable state, a secure future for ourselves and our children shall be rendered hopeless. And what a sad day that would be.

I suggest that this social infrastructure take the form of, at least in part, sports clubs which cover a broad range of activities including those which are attractive to even people who are typically uninterested in sport (I suspect there is a suitable sporting activity for almost everyone). I am thinking of clubs which organise people for running, swimming, cycling, boxing, paint-balling, martial arts, shooting, hiking and camping etc. In part this social movement should also consist of social clubs which hold cooking, baking, gardening, computer and other lessons. Youth and adults alike should be catered for. All of these clubs, of course, must have running through them a strong undercurrent of political ideology which is to be simply stated so that it may be understood by the common man. What I am trying to say is that these social groups are to serve as a dissemination service for our ideas. It is vital to our success that we instil certain information in a sufficient number of people and this end can be served by bringing people together at social gatherings and promoting discussions relevant to our movement at those gatherings. In other words, these social groups of which I write can serve as a hub of information relevant to our movement.

Social gatherings can also serve as a means of binding people and strengthening beliefs. These two things are also vital if we are to provoke the emergence of a strong Nationalist force on our island; if we do not ensure that these two needs are satisfied then our movement will likely remain flaccid for a long time to come.

But that is not all. With the present economic situation comes social exclusion which is undoubtedly bad for the well-being of the people of our communities and the establishment of social outlets would undoubtedly contribute to remedying this problem. In addition to social needs being met the physical wellbeing of youth and adults alike can be improved by this social movement. But these latter things are of secondary importance. If we are successful in establishing this social movement it would perhaps be easy for us to loose sight of the primary goals of the social network of which I write. This must not be permitted. We must always bear in mind the political nature of this suggested social movement.

Ireland First