Young republicans in Belfast and South Armagh have launched a new initiative to mobilise young people across the Six Counties. Calling itself Sinn Féin Youth, and targeting people between the ages of 15 and 25, the initiative has already organised a series of successful protests in Belfast and Camlough. It emphases militant street protest and innovative forms of politics.
South Armagh youth activist Deirdre Feehan called the initiative "a much needed shot in the arm" for both young nationalists and the republican movement in general.
"Sinn Féin has in recent years failed to capture the minds and imaginations of our young people and equally, young people have failed to organise themselves. What we are trying to develop is a movement of young republicans which not only addresses the needs and concerns of young people today, but also sets an example for the broader movement", she said.
Identifying their key campaigns as demilitarisation, RUC disbandment and equality, Feehan said, "We are not interested in simply becoming an extension of the already existing structures in Sinn Féin. We want to campaign around all those other issues which affect young people as young people. Issues like education, substance abuse, joy-riding, sexuality and teenage pregnancy, all those things which make up the reality of young people's lives today."
Belfast Sinn Féin Youth activist Eoin O'Broin said, "It makes no sense to talk about national self-determination without individual self-determination. Young people need that right recognised if the political project of the republican movement is to have any meaning for them.
"This means engaging with the realities of young people's lives, in a meaningful way. But also, it means an end to the criminalisation of young people, it means an end to seeing our youth as a problem. It also means bringing young people into every aspect of the political process, giving us ownership at every level.
"But most importantly it means allowing young people to create a political space inside the movement within which they can create their own politics, in their own way.
"Our focus will be on generating as much street activity as possible, whether in the form of protests, militant actions, stickers or posters. Bringing young people onto the street and using politics to reclaim those streets for ourselves will be our primary aim."
O'Broin said: "The time when young people had to ask permission from adults to make politics is over. If we are to have ownership of this political process, we must take it for ourselves.
"This means taking initiatives, taking risks but equally taking responsibility. Don't wait for others to do things for you and then complain afterwards that nothing happened. Get up, get out and get active. There is a mountain of work to be done, and every young person has a role to play. If this initiative fails, we have only ourselves to blame."
Sinn Féin Youth has produced thousands of stickers calling for the disbandment of the RUC. T-shirts commemorating internment and denouncing state violence have also been produced. Meetings have been held across Belfast and South Armagh, and interest is developing in Derry and elsewhere in the Six Counties.
[Abridged from An Phoblacht/Republican News]