James Connolly Quotes
It is well to remember that nations which submit to conquest or races which abandon their language in favor of that of an oppressor do so, not because of the altruistic motives, or because of a love of brotherhood of man, but from a slavish and cringing spirit.
Executed by the English for his part in the Easter Uprising. He was criticizing his fellow Irish. During the English conquest, Gaelic was often prohibited and almost totally disappeared. Since independence there have been various movements to revitalize the old Gaelic language but this have not gotten very far.
James Connolly, 1868-1916, Founder, Irish Socialist Republican Party, Military Commander of Republican Forces in Dublin, Irish Founder of the Irish Socialist Republican Party, Co-Founder Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), “The Language Movement,” The Workers’ Republic, October 1, 1898
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
When the British first colonized South Africa, the area they used was not inhabited or very sparcely so. However, some Black tribes (including the Zulus) were moving from the north and themselves were colonizing or annexing the sparcely populated areas to their kingdom. The British were most interested in Trading so did not have large land asperations. The Dutch white Boer Africanners, in contrast, wanted to farm the lands and use the range for their cattle. They wanted the land. The English policy was that there would be friendly relations with the Black tribes surrounding their Cape Colony and no one should take their land. However the Boers started attacking the Black areas and seizing their farms and villages. At first, the English assumed that the Blacks would easily be able to ward off the invasion as the Afrikanners had no professional troops like the British. However, the neighboring native tribes were not very warlike or good fighters. They were being overrun by the Zulus coming from the North and the Boers from the South. The British Government had a real problem in that they would have to have British soldiers fight the white Afrikanners if they wanted to stop the illegal white invasions. This was the root of the Boer War where the British would be fully at war with the Africanners.
At the time, many of the European powers were seizing African and Asian colonies.
The Parliament was debating the reaction to the Stamp Act by the American Colonies. One of the members, reflecting a majority view, asked sarcastically when the American Colonies had been emancipated so that they could make their own independent decisions. Pitt then hit this one out of the park by reversing the question.
Referring to the Arawak natives he found when he landed in the "new world—San Salvador:"
There had been an era whereby the French military had conquered much of Africa without the approval of the civilian authorities.
James Connolly was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish parents Connolly left school for working life at the age of 11, and became involved in socialist politics in the 1880s.
