CAMBRIDGE University’s Labour Club (CULC) has apologised for sharing content produced by Lasair Dhearg, an Irish republican group. Lasair Dhearg says that it is “fighting for a 32 County Irish Socialist Republic built upon the principles of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic of 1916 and the Democratic Programme of the first Dáil Éireann. It has called the Good Friday Agreement “a victory for imperialism”.
The Lasair Dhearg message, which was reposted on the club’s Instagram account, commemorated the 42nd anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strikes and gave instructions on how to join the republican organisation. The post also included a quote from hunger striker Bobby Sands, describing Britain as the “perennial oppressor”.
According to Varsity, the oldest of Cambridge University’s main student newspapers, the incident has caused infighting within CULC with a senior member of the executive team, Jake Havard, resigning from his post.
The incident also brought criticism from students not affiliated to CULC, and from rival political societies.
According to Varsity, the Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) called the Labour club’s actions “profoundly irresponsible”, saying “the decision to amplify the voice and recruitment campaign of this group has given support to a lamentable political force”.
CUCA described the incident as “especially inappropriate” given Lasair Dhearg’s opposition to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). This follows the recent PSNI data leak and announcements by the chief constable that officers’ personal information is likely in the hands of “dissident republicans”.
The Labour club’s executive body has since apologised for the post, telling Varsity: “The post was shared by mistake, without any knowledge of the beliefs and affiliations of the organisation.”
“We value and recognise the validity of the resulting criticism”, the statement continued, promising to install procedures guaranteeing that “no such mistake can happen again”.
The executive team of CULC went on to describe the Good Friday agreement as “one of the greatest achievements of Labour in government”, and condemned “any organisation which attempts to frustrate that hard won peace.”
