amonn McCann on RSF and Political Legacy of    RSF AUTHENTIC CLAIMANTS TO POLITICAL LEGACY OF  RISING   WRITING in the Sunday edition of the Derry Journal journalist and author amonn McCann said that in his view as far as Republicanism was concerned the most authentic claimants to the political legacy of the  Rising were Ruair  Brdaigh and Republican Sinn Fin   He said The Proclamation didnt promise a fight to achieve the Republic It proclaimed the Republic as an actuallyexisting entity It is for this reason that IRA volunteers ever since have pledged not to strive for the achievement of the Republic but to defend the Republic already achieved In this perspective a deal which others might see as a step towards the ultimate objective will be seen as contemptible retreat from the struggle   In detaching himself from the Provisionals in  because theyd accepted the legitimacy of the Leinster House parliament  Brdaigh stood by the Republic established on Easter Monday Looked at from this angle  as legitimate an angle as any other  there is no question Mr  Brdaigh and his followers stand alone in true succession to Easter Week   Those of us who stand rights outside the Republican tradition and who take a socialist view also see Easter Week in the perspective of our own politics see its enduring legacy in the fact that it was a blow against the most powerful Empire on earth at the time and regard it as selfevident that its spirit is best represented today in the fight against the imperial power of the US ruling class   In this view the most egregious betrayal of  lies not in grudgingly taking seats in a partitionist parliament but in cheerfully breaking bread with George W Bush   The Sunday Journal also carried an article entitled Were the true inheritors of   Derry Republican Sinn Fin on page    Plans by the Irish Government to celebrate the  Easter Rising are hypocritical a Derry Republican Sinn Fin RSF activist has suggested   Derry based spokesman for the movement Richard Walsh says that RSF are the only true inheritors of the historic insurrection and the proclamation of independence He hit out at the County Administration for warcrimes against those who believed in the ideals of the uprising during the Civil War   He said There has been much talk of late about the legacy of the Easter Rising of    Bertie Ahern has announced plans by the County State to commemorate  with a Free State military parade   Let noone forget that it was the Free State Army that executed four Republican soldiers in Co Donegal by firing squad in  as a reprisal for Republican military operations True Republicans commemorate the Drumboe Martyrs at Eastertide every year   The Staters were also responsible for many other warcrimes such as the Ballyseedy massacre in Co Kerry also in March  where eight Republican soldiers were killed whilst strapped to a landmine by Free State forces  miraculously leaving one survivor   He added that the County government cannot claim ownership to the legacy of the Easter Rising   Those who not only betrayed the AllIreland Republic  proclaimed in arms at Easter  endorsed by the people of Ireland in  and effectively established by Dil ireann in January   but also actively waged war against it cannot claim the legacy of    These people continue to imprison Republicans by using the Special nonjury Court in Dublin  the same building in which Robert Emmet was sentenced to be hanged drawn and quartered by the English  on the basis of the opinion of the County police Garda   He added that the Republican Movement on the other hand had remained loyal to the Republic of Clarke Mac Diarmada Mac Donagh Pearse Ceannt Connolly and Plunkett and have commemorated the  Rising every year since   Those who have maintained this continuity are the true inheritors of the noble ideals of