Sean Bresnahan writing over week ago thinks the republican struggle is in a quandary.


Acceptance of the status quo, and with it the political means and mechanisms allowed for by the status quo to alter the status quo, has never been more deeply rooted in Ireland, both north and south — an imposing strategic conundrum for those whose object is to restore the Irish Republic.

The reason for this, in the main, is that the Irish Republic has been ruled out in advance as an outcome of the established political process — of the means it provides for to effect ‘Irish Unity’ (or more accurately what it is prepared to countenance as Irish Unity).

Coupled with widespread acceptance of that process, among those who Republicanism needs to support its intended process of change — which rivals that of the status quo — the Republican struggle is in a quandary, from which there are no obvious means at hand to escape the difficulties faced.

It is for this reason that Republicans are being pulled away from our core ideological function and purpose — which is to uphold the sovereignty and unity of the Republic and its right to proceed unfettered — towards all of the campaigns and initiatives now surrounding the struggle but which, of themselves, are outside of that core function and purpose.

Involvement in such initiatives, while worthy ventures in their own right often — and not necessarily, then, to be dismissed or not partaken in — absent an acute focus on the Republican object are symptomatic of our political failure and point towards the ultimate collapse of the Republican struggle.

It is there where lies the ‘defeat’ of Republicanism, not in the failure to secure outright military victory as pointed to by many in the fold — ‘defeat’ in inverted commas because, while the struggle for the Republic is upheld by even a respectable minority, we are merely down and not out.

Given that the Army — recognising that in winning the political war lay the path to ultimate victory — stood aside to make way for the required ‘new phase’, so long as there are those still set towards the Republic, as their intended political object, then we have not been defeated.

As Brexit and demographic change in the North speed new and unheralded political opportunities, it is on building that ‘new phase’ and process — towards arriving at the Irish Republic — where the Republican lens must concentrate. Fail to focus accordingly and our defeat, long heralded, might just be sealed. A moment of reckoning is upon us.


Sean Bresnahan, Chair, Thomas Ashe Society Omagh blogs at An Claidheamh Soluis


Follow Sean Bresnahan on Twitter @bres79


‘Moment Of Reckoning’ Upon Us

Sean Bresnahan writing over week ago thinks the republican struggle is in a quandary.


Acceptance of the status quo, and with it the political means and mechanisms allowed for by the status quo to alter the status quo, has never been more deeply rooted in Ireland, both north and south — an imposing strategic conundrum for those whose object is to restore the Irish Republic.

The reason for this, in the main, is that the Irish Republic has been ruled out in advance as an outcome of the established political process — of the means it provides for to effect ‘Irish Unity’ (or more accurately what it is prepared to countenance as Irish Unity).

Coupled with widespread acceptance of that process, among those who Republicanism needs to support its intended process of change — which rivals that of the status quo — the Republican struggle is in a quandary, from which there are no obvious means at hand to escape the difficulties faced.

It is for this reason that Republicans are being pulled away from our core ideological function and purpose — which is to uphold the sovereignty and unity of the Republic and its right to proceed unfettered — towards all of the campaigns and initiatives now surrounding the struggle but which, of themselves, are outside of that core function and purpose.

Involvement in such initiatives, while worthy ventures in their own right often — and not necessarily, then, to be dismissed or not partaken in — absent an acute focus on the Republican object are symptomatic of our political failure and point towards the ultimate collapse of the Republican struggle.

It is there where lies the ‘defeat’ of Republicanism, not in the failure to secure outright military victory as pointed to by many in the fold — ‘defeat’ in inverted commas because, while the struggle for the Republic is upheld by even a respectable minority, we are merely down and not out.

Given that the Army — recognising that in winning the political war lay the path to ultimate victory — stood aside to make way for the required ‘new phase’, so long as there are those still set towards the Republic, as their intended political object, then we have not been defeated.

As Brexit and demographic change in the North speed new and unheralded political opportunities, it is on building that ‘new phase’ and process — towards arriving at the Irish Republic — where the Republican lens must concentrate. Fail to focus accordingly and our defeat, long heralded, might just be sealed. A moment of reckoning is upon us.


Sean Bresnahan, Chair, Thomas Ashe Society Omagh blogs at An Claidheamh Soluis


Follow Sean Bresnahan on Twitter @bres79


26 comments:

  1. Irish Republicanism without Nationalism is an oxymoron.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sean,

    I'm sure you're well aware of the old trope that 'a week is a long time in politics' ... Whatever quandary 'Republicanism' was in last week it's in a much deeper and darker hole now.

    The senseless events leading to the death of Lyra McKee, indecently followed by the vulgar displays of men and women in combat fatigues at the 'Saoradh' commemoration in Dublin today throws a further scorching light not only on the shortcomings and irrationality of militant Republicanism in particular but also questions any pursuit, even if peaceful, of the proclaimed'sovereign and indefeasible', Republic.

    Denis Bradley in today's Irish Times, to my mind, succinctly captured in a phrase the challenge facing Republicans when he advocated that they "could do with some political support from those parties whose ancestors knew the agony and the pain of unresolved political identity"

    The political identity that Proclamation bound Republicans insist on clinging onto is irresolvable. Rory and his followers ideologically bound themselves to renouncing the Southern State. Alas he and his coterie swiftly became less and less relevant. The renouncers of the Northern State are but on a similar trajectory.

    If Republicans don't face up to their own agony, loss and pain it's more than likely that agony is going to be projected outwards and will manifest again and again on other innocents like Lyra McKee.

    We can be of more service to our communities once we free ourselves of our ideological shackles.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hear you HJ but the underlying point to the article is that the war is long over and Republicanism needs to build the ‘new phase’ spoken of, but not delivered on, at the time it was ended — and that article was written over a week before the grim happenings in Derry on Friday night. I have been labouring this point for years.

    What you might not realise is that, while very much of a similar politics to Ó Brádaigh at a theoretical level — in terms of the political theory of Irish Republicanism — I never left the Republican Movement at any point. I dissociated from the party, yes, and on more than one occasion, but have always stood by the direction of the Army, which I agree with. The forward Army instruction was to pursue our object only through the employ of democratic programmes. What I and others are doing in 1916 Societies, for me, is not outside that instruction. It is in line with it.

    That type of initiative — the ‘new phase’ mentioned above — is what Republicanism still has to offer and I believe we can do that. All of us together. Your analysis of where we are at and what is possible is as important to the required conversation as anything I have to say and be assured that I can see that. We have to be conscious of where we’re at — of where we stand and of what’s possible. But, to be Republican, we must focus the trajectory of our efforts towards the constitution of the Irish Republic. That, for me, is an unalterable fundamental.

    The only war I see right now that needs fought is the war for ideas. Can we impact on that field of battle or should we give up? I discussed this, among other things, at length with Dixie yesterday at the graveyard. Our parting conclusion, as I headed for the hills of Inishowen and a friend’s Christening, was that we should continue. That much is owed to those like Richie Quigley, whose grave we attended yesterday to mark his 35th Anniversary.

    What is demanded today of Republicanism, in my book, is to embrace the building of the ‘new phase’ as it ought to have been built. This involves putting together a campaign for Irish Unity with the Irish Republic at its masthead. There are a range of options available to us here but none of them involve needless efforts to continue a war that in reality, rightly, was brought to an end long ago. We must move forward now using only democratic programmes, as encouraged and accepted by Óglaigh na hÉireann when it finally brought its campaign to a formal end and disbanded.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sean,

    I respect your commitment to moving 'forward now using only democratic programmes'. Unfortunately there are other 'republicans' who are not as committed to exclusively peaceful means.

    Your efforts alas will be tainted by their actions.

    But all that said, continue with your efforts if that's what 'floats your boat'. There's still a constituency out there with similar aspirations as those you profess. However to my mind, its unlikely if not impossible that the conflicting aspirations of Unionists and Nationalists can ever be resolved within the framework of that which adherence to republican ideology implies.

    The GFA, which I opposed and campaigned against and which has many imperfections and holes is a for more likely and realistic template for achieving unity than anything which Irish Republicanism has proffered.

    Politics invariably entails compromise; Collins eventually compromised, as did De Valera 4 short years afterwards, Sean McBride did, the Sticks did, and eventually the Provo's did too. And yet you believe this trend can be bucked?

    Some people will see arrogance in such positioning, others naivety and most will just ignore it. The majority will preference security and peace over and above the dangers inherent in the unachievable & Utopian ideology Republicans offer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. HJ, Republican ideology is not as far removed from the wants and needs of the ordinary people as you mistake it to be. It is, after all, a relatively basic thing — it stands over the notion that Ireland should be an independent 32-county republic. I think the overwhelming majority of Irish people support that same notion and would support it, indeed, if ever given the opportunity. I think if we were to construct such a republic on the Éire Nua template we can, after all, resolve our conflicting aspirations within a Republican framework. It is not a pipe dream but it’s most certainly a difficult task.

    To ever arrive at such a framework demands strategies and efforts that put happenings as that in Derry on Friday night where they belong — in the past. The war is over. I’ve read Tony’s other piece last night but have yet to comment. I don’t agree with it entirely, so will have to mull over any response, but I most certainly concur with his assertion that there is no war being fought, despite pretensions. The conclusion, however, that those concerned and their presenting to be the IRA carries currency is another matter.

    The IRA stood down and no longer exists as a tangible army, so he is wrong on that call. IRA Volunteers accepted that to advance the Republican object demanded a new path of struggle. That is what I and those who I work with have been trying to build. That is the only way forward — as the Army, its Volunteers and supporters realised long ago. Yes, it was never anticipated that things would end as they have — with toasting war criminal ‘royals’ and the like — but the correct path, broadly and in the round, was taken.

    The IRA served its purpose and while it may not have achieved its ultimate object it fulfilled that purpose in other ways. Where the nationalist community stands today and the confidence of our community is in no small part an outworking of its efforts. There is succees there. There is achievement and not defeat. In the end, I truly believe it will be as Bobby Sands once spoke of. In the end it really will be that our revenge will be the laughter of our children. We will continue to work for that certain day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. By the same token, it should be added, those who have since destroyed the Republican Movement, post the embrace of TUAS, have fostered an environment most certainly worthy of the description defeat. But while they and the British have done their work well, the road is long — and it is still before us. Every step forward, no matter how small, is a step closer to its endpoint. We will get there in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sean - republican ideology is close to what people want if by that we mean a united Ireland. But people value other things above republican ideology and if republican ideology does not address them with strategies rather than slogans, it will remain marginal. Something that seems valued even greater than republican ideology is opposition to obligatory nationalism. This brings us right back to the question not of republican ideology per se but the realisation of republican ideology. I have heard nothing said yet in the wider discussion around that which might show how that will happen.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anthony, I’m seeing today a range of references across a range of people to the idea of a 32-county constituent assembly, at which the political form and structure of a ‘new Ireland’ can be determined towards — something that’s been advocated from the wilderness but is now gaining currency. As I’ve long argued, arriving at such an assembly is how we realise the Republican object. Republicans in 2019, and going forward, must build support for a process as this to be mounted in the event of a mandate for Irish Unity — even should it be one arrived at through the mechanisms allowed for under the Good Friday Agreement. That is where Republican struggle lies in 2019 — not in pretensions to be continuing a war that ended many years ago. I fear, however, that HJ is right. The implications of Friday night for Republicanism, for how what it advocates is received by the ordinary person, are catastrophic. Republicanism simply cannot withstand such happenings. The war is over and for good reason. Why anyone thinks it a good idea, strategically, to go back there is beyond me. There is another way and it’s not ‘unmanly’ or whatever else to pursue it. Not only is it not unmanly, from a simple strategic point of view it is surely the most sensible way to move forward in the times and the Ireland we live in today. This is 2019 — not 1969. The Army and the armed struggle have already served their purpose. Now is the time to finish what was started in the only way it ever could be finished — by succeeding toward a political process as that I’ve already outlined. That requires popularising the idea of the Republic through political engagement from grass roots level up — not damaging the effort to do so by clinging to this notion that the war goes on. The war does not go on. It’s over and it really is time now that this be acknowledged — in particular by those who sat with the movement as it consigned the Army to history. How in God’s name they can claim to be the IRA with a straight face in that context escapes me but alas.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sean - when wish is parent to the thought there is a tendency to see what is not actually there. None of what you have seen over the years has actually materialised. Hope is always last to die. A 32 county constituent assembly seems nowhere near a remote possibility. We have the Dail and Stormont (some of the time) and the chances of them being usurped by something most regard as airy fairy are limited to say the least.

    Republicans can carry on making the case if they can get anybody to listen. They have never stopped making it but never started going anywhere with it. I think the upshot of Derry has been to destroy Saoradh as an emerging political entity. It now looks extremely limited. Its statements are hugely embarrassing. I can imagine the spooks rubbing their hands with glee each time one is issued. The march in Dublin is viewed as a parade of pariahs which succeeded in inflaming but not inspiring. But even before any of it, the bombing of a street or the killing of a journalist, republicanism had long been rendered irrelevant.

    100% - proclaiming they are the IRA when they destroyed the IRA before them - there is nobody buying into it. But the organisation to which they belong is an IRA. A hopelessly incompetent IRA but an IRA nonetheless. Adams did not own the title deeds to the IRA. In my view it is not a property but a tradition.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The IRA is gone Mackers. I don’t feel we can look on it as though it were a tradition. What you are really doing in that respect, while likely not intended, is affording space to those concerned to title themselves Óglaigh na hÉireann, when quite simply they are not. Some of their members, indeed many of them, may and were have been IRA Volunteers but that alone can’t make them the IRA. They might be many things but they are not Óglaigh na hÉireann, which stood down — with many of those who now describe the so-called ‘New’ IRA as though THE IRA remaining in the Republican Movement subsequent. That to me is actually mind-boggling. They really should have done what the INLA done on its formation, which was to use a different name. In fact they should not even have done this, in my opinion, and would have been better never to form in the first place. They are not needed — the Army and the armed struggle have served their purpose. Either way and no matter, the IRA no longer exists — certainly not as a military structure. It was not a tradition but a volunteer army, made up of men and women with a constitution and relevant structures. While moves and manoeuvres and lies and the rest were employed by Adams and those around him, it is nevertheless the case that the IRA was effectively disbanded at its own behest and by agreement among the rank. That lies were told and deceit employed en route is ultimately irrelevant. I really don’t see how this can be called any other way to be honest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean - the IRA is gone is something said by everybody that wants to keep the title deeds for themselves. The Dublin government have always stated that no one but their own defence forces are entitled to bear the name Oglaigh na hEeireann. The Provisional IRA has gone but there are other IRAs including the Official IRA. The other IRAs accept that the Provisional IRA stood down (which is not actually accurate either). That is a convenient Adams fiction. None of the IRAs however claim to be the Provisional IRA. I think looking on it as a tradition rather than a property is the most accurate way of looking at it. As Tommy McKearney used to put it when reflecting on these things: the England centre forward is the person wearing the No 9 shirt not the player whop used to wear it. What you logic amounts to here is that the Provisional IRA folded tent.

      Delete
    2. Yes it is not entirely accurate to say the IRA stood down, Anthony, which is why I said it effectively stood down — which it did. At the time in question, everyone involved was told the war was officially ended and to mount only democratic strategies towards achieving the Republic going forward. As far as I’m concerned, that was a stand down and, indeed, the logical extension of TUAS and to where it was always going to lead — a direction which, we must acknowledge, was backed by the Army authority and the Volunteers.

      Bernie made a great job of pointing this out in the last segment of her podcast and of revealing the implication for those now proclaiming a different line. As I’ve said before, we can’t just park it all at the doorstep of Adams and McGuinness when we went along with it ourselves. I think Matt Treacy, too, done a reasonable job of pointing out the logic of what happened — the standing down of the IRA — in his excellent book, ‘a tunnel to the moon’.

      It could never have worked out differently, particularly in hindsight. Volunteers, yes, were told that the peace strategy was an Army strategy and that the Sinn Féin project was an Army project, which ultimate they were — even if it was just a convenient fig leaf for Adams and his lieutenants to steer the movement into its embrace of constitutionalism. Ultimately that is irrelevant — it happened no matter.

      The army of the Irish Free State may have been made up of men who had fought in the rank of Óglaigh na hÉireann but it was not constitutionally Óglaigh na hÉireann. The constitution of Óglaigh na hÉireann remained intact right up until the standing down of the Army in 2005. I can see how the Contos might claim to the contrary but their claim is compromised by the fact they were non-existent for over a decade of actual war and only put themselves forward after the IRA engaged the peace process. That they had reason to do so, that being fear of attack, is again irrelevant — it’s what happened.

      If you look at the constitutional objects of the Army, first outlined in its revised 1925 constitution, you can see that by 2005 it had effectively served its purpose. That is why it was free to make way for ‘only democratic programmes’. We can achieve our ultimate object now — the Irish Republic — through means other than the employ of arms. That alone is enough for all armed groups to desist. Those who proclaim allegiance to Connolly might do well to reflect on his words: ‘we believe in constitutional action in normal times and believe in revolutionary action in exceptional times’. That’s where it’s at for me.

      Delete
    3. That is precisely what I’m saying, Anthony — removing the fig leaf that the IRA was not disbanded, effectively (no matter if we agreed with that process or not), and that we are now dealing with a further manifestation of Óglaigh na hÉireann is, in my view, critical to doing just that. Surely that is obvious, given the theoretical proposition put forward by those concerned — i.e. not only do they claim to be a manifestation of the IRA, they claim to be the specific continuation and physical embodiment of the IRA of Lynagh, McKearney, McElwain and their ilk.

      Their taking orders from the RUC at their main Easter Commemoration in Derry the year before last — when they were told by their liaison to lower their masks and did — offers an entirely different perspective and a glimpse at the reality. The bullshit pretences surrounding last year’s commemoration on the Creggan was an elaborate distraction to conceal that very same, utterly embarrassing, taking of and compliance with such orders.

      (As a quick aside, how TUAS was packaged to different constituencies, for me, is ultimately irrelevant to this particular subject matter. Indeed I’ve seen reference to that difference used to bolster notions that the Army was not, after all, removed from the equation and is therefore intact and under a new command structure.)

      As you will know, the pointing out of what became of the war and the Army that fought it is something I’ve been engaged in long before the week just past — not out of a desire to annoy those in question but out of concern for where they hope to take the next generation. And for what, so they in turn can sell us out and take their own place at the Brit trough? There is already Brit funding doing the rounds, which is a good indicator of where things would end.

      I stand by what I’ve long argued — the war is over, the IRA was effectively disbanded and the Republican object no longer requires the employ of what I’ve been hearing described as ‘revolutionary armed actions’, often by online warriors. That was the case before the latest fuck up in Derry and it remains the case still yet. Rather than that statement I see posted in today’s Irish News, that group should have apologised, called an immediate ceasefire and announced their intention to initiate their own forward disbandment. I’m as shocked as I am depressed that they think they’re somehow positioned to continue.

      Delete
    4. Just to say that the reply above was to one that’s posted below. I don’t know whose reply was posted to the wrong box but just to make that clear.

      Delete
  11. Sean,


    AM's piece on Lyra's killing must have seemed startling to you as it indeed must have to other former comrades ... but I'm fairly certain that his position with regards to the righteousness, legitimacy, effectiveness or otherwise of the Provisional IRA's campaign are an accurate reflection of broad based public opinion that exists here in the 26.

    There's no 'Republican' heart beating down here ... there's no great nationalist fervour waiting to be called forth in support of Northern Nationalism or for unity.
    In the same way that some republicans are now disgusted by recent events in Derry so has it been for decades down here with the broad population repulsed by the Provisional's activities. Don't be fooled Sean by the bit of green flag waving with regards to 'Brexit' and the 'backstop'. The concerns here are about economic inconveniences rather than grave concerns about Northerners per se. In much the same way as AM sees the activities of the 'New IRA' as reputationally destroying the IRA that went before them so too do southerners see the Provisionals as having impinged the reputation of their 'good old IRA'. Northern republicanism is an embarrassment and a threat to southerners positive self-identity.

    Any beliefs that unity is on the cards any time soon are highly improbable and any belief that it would ever have the shape and form as proclaimed in 1916 are hopelessly delusional.

    Republicanism of the variety that many of us once practiced is a flawed and unhealthy doctrine. Anyone with a modicum of decency and self-respect would do well to give it a seriously wide berth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean - this is unpersuasive. The IRA had not served its purpose but failed in its purpose. It failed to get the British out of Ireland on its terms and settled for the slight possibility of getting them out on Brit terms. It could never have put the Brits out on its terms but to push the fiction that it stepped aside to allow something else to move the struggle forward is just that - a fiction. As I wrote in 2002 The leadership will become ever more engaged in managing a process of having the IRA form ranks so that it may more easily be marched off into the sunset, proudly braying martial dulcets proclaiming that it will never be marched off into the sunset.

      TUAS was a con - sold to the vols as one thing and the wider public as something else.

      Few will buy into constitutional niceties and formalisms, seeing it much as they do the theology of RSF at its most purist. Nobody pays the slightest attention to army constitutions when figuring out these things: every IRA will find something to claim continuity and legitimacy while simultaneous depriving rivals of it.

      Rather than discussing these esoteric points it is better if energy is directed towards finding ways of bringing to a close the futile but lethal actions of people, whether they call themselves the IRA or not.

      Delete
  12. I honestly think we can be more positive in our affirmation of Republicanism than that, HJ, though I can imagine what you’re saying carries weight. What you are reflecting, then, needs considered without question. Below is something I’ve chalked down before in respect of what you’ve alluded to — i.e. it is an effort to bridge the reality that Republican political theory is largely an unknown to those it is aimed toward, the wider Irish people, a reality that poses our effort difficulty. (It is only one section of a document I put together but which was never used or published, so apologies if it appears disjointed.)

    While the reality of existing political arrangements — with a resultant need to transition from same — is to be acknowledged, it need not prevent us from upholding the Republican line of theory, constituted under the Proclamation but since usurped by Britain’s imposed Partition system, which remains in place today.

    From a Republican perspective, the route forward in that context is that the current order, in all its parts, should give way to an independent all-Ireland republic — this to proceed from, and thus restore, the Republican constitutional line.

    With that said, a large section of the Irish people either do not share, have insufficient knowledge of or are otherwise uncommitted to the intricacies and virtues of Republican political theory. Nevertheless, they share the Republican vision and aspiration for a united all-Ireland republic — this to be premised on the values, if not the explicit constitutional line, of the 1916 Proclamation.

    In the context of that shared aspiration, through a common endeavour towards an independent 32-county republic, the respective lines of political theory in Ireland can be reconciled, this without infringing upon the perceived integrity of either, with both, in turn, finding form and expression in a ‘new republic’ that meets the requirements of all.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sean - there is no one level of desire on the part of the Irish people regarding an independent 32 county Irish Republic. They want it to varying degrees. The country has moved away from our vision as much as it has moved away from the Church's. I guess they all still want to go to Heaven and a United Ireland but are no longer prepared to listen to the preachers. I know that is facetious but you will get the point. There are lots of progressive things republicans can still do which might have noting to do with the mechanisms for achieving a Republic. I think one thing we can all do is conduct ourselves in a manner which does not encourage the wider public to think we are Neanderthals who treat them with utter contempt.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I wont disagree that there isn't the stomach in the 26 counties for a 32 democratic Irish Republic for the reasons both yourself Anthony and HJ made...political, financial...whatever. Just before Lyra was murdered there was a MORI Poll that showed only 1/3 people in Britain want the 6 counties to remain within the UK. Basically if it was put to a referendum, the 66% cut off point that you (Anthony) made concerning referendum's would be met.

    So the 26 counties aren't waiting with open arms, Britain don't seem to want the place...What then a 6 county UDI?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sean,

    stories and narratives help give shape, order and direction to an often random, sometimes disorderly and occasionally chaotic world.

    In the beginning we tell our children fairy tales. Then we create Gods and guardian angels. We temper their everyday existential angsts and realities by encouraging optimistic fantasies; in service of this we call forth tooth fairies, Easter Bunnies and Santa Claus.

    Utopian ideologies are but extensions of these soothers.

    Republican purveyors of ideology, will at best be viewed by most down here, in much the same way as they view Jehovah's Witnesses. But hey, Jehovahs are usually pretty clean-cut and well coached for the task at hand. They present themselves as benign and in fairness, despite their whacky belief system, aren't carrying the same malign baggage and history as the 1916 prothletisers .

    In much the same way as not wishing the Jehovahs any harm, I wish you guys none either. I suppose, old stories when well told occasionally retain some purchase.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sean - the Provisional IRA stood aside, shed itself down, quit its war but never really went out of existence.

    For those of us who believe the IRA is a tradition rather than a property, we are dealing with a body called the IRA that is doing serious damage to republicanism in terms of not only how it is perceived today but also of how the history is perceived.

    When people, rightly or wrongly, observe it and think it is all about lining pockets, status, a psychological dependency on belonging to something called the IRA rather than a political need to belong to it - being fuelled by drug tax - that leads to a projection of that image back in time.

    Trying to tell the public that the current armed batch are not the IRA is a waste of time: it is dismissed as semantics. When they read the work of Marisa McGlinchey, they quickly see the same pool being drunk from by past and present.

    Of course they will claim they are the descendants of Lynagh et al. Saying they are not the IRA will not change that one iota.

    Much of what you say is indisputable - the war is over but then who regards what they are doing as a war? It would be like calling a sneeze an earthquake or a tornado.

    Whether they took orders from the PSNI or not is of no real concern to me. More important is to have it brought to an end.

    If you look at the paint protest at the Saoradh office in Derry yesterday, the people standing facing the protesters exuded menace and struck the same sort of chord that Johnny Adair used to when he would stand in front of the cameras in a tight T shirt, muscle bound with tattoos. I have no problem with muscles, T-shirts, people standing outside their own offices or tattoos but when they are work together to generate an image that alienates people, you can see the doldrums that body is in. If they cannot see the terrible image of their cause projected onto the world, what chance is there of them moving off the stage?

    ReplyDelete
  17. To be honest Mackers my head’s fucking exploding at this point, with all that’s been going on and the discussion around it. I’d venture enough has been said on my part, save this. Whatever those involved in the construction of today’s statement might claim, they are not the IRA and that needs to be clearly understood. Whether an esoteric analysis or whatever, what was the IRA stood down in 2005, believing — rightly or wrongly — that its purpose had been met. I agree with Matt Treacy’s view that the organisation referred to, no matter of the ‘core group’, to all intents and purposes ceases to exist. We can achieve the Irish Republic now through democratic programmes, as referenced by the Army in its final instructions to the rank and file and support structure. The building of a democratic struggle to achieve in full the object of Irish Republicanism — a united and independent 32-county republic whose sovereignty extends over all of Ireland — is the ONLY strategy required to achieve that object in the Ireland of 2019. While, without question, the political successors to the IRA have failed, thus far, to advance a strategy as that required, that does not justify attempts to mount another armed campaign. Not only is the war long ended, it has already served its purpose and is not required. Indeed, if anything, it is now a distraction away from what and where Republicans need to be focused on. Too many have suffered horrific loss, on all sides and for little reward, to ever countenance again the unnecessary employ of further armed struggle — Lyra McKee but the latest of them. It is not another war, then, that we must engineer but the promised ‘new phase’ sold us but never delivered, that was bogged down in the swamp of constitutionalism. That is what is required to win out in the end. Though no-one can know what the future holds, the words of James Connolly again bear repeating: ‘we believe in constitutional action in normal times and believe in revolutionary action in exceptional times’. I just wonder has the last week damaged us beyond repair. Thank you for engaging in this discussion and sorry for the loss of your friend — she seemed to be a wonderful young woman. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam uasal.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sean - thanks for that.

    If "We can achieve the Irish Republic now through democratic programmes", it would be better to persuade the armed groups of that point rather than trying to persuade them that they are not the IRA. Although at this point I think they will not be persuaded of either.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Indeed. But while I’ve already tried to convince people of that reality, for years, it seems they will only come to this realisation of themselves and in their own time — most likely, sadly, after God knows what damage has been furthered on folk as Lyra McKee.

    I recall the responses to the appeals of yourself, Tommy, Dixie and the like a number of years back and the responses I was given, too, myself — both in public and private. From today’s stone deaf statement, it’s clear that nothing of the sound arguments made, then as now, has impacted and that is truly worrying — particularly in the context of last week’s outrage and the popular response to it across the land.

    Senior figures around here reflected to me privately, at the time in question, that those railing against what I was arguing — as what yourself and Tommy were likewise arguing — were in fact exhibiting vexation at their own inability to carry the argument on armed struggle, beyond the limits of their own constituency. There might be something in that, for the same men are shrewd in their judgments.

    Where to from here God only knows but it’s near certain that those you hope might listen are just not ready to do so. In that context, rather than try to persuade those not open to persuasion, it is building a political alternative to their failed approach — one that steadily advances towards the core Republican object — the establishing of a permanent national government in sole control of the Irish Republic — that perhaps we are better attempting.

    It is the forward successes of that effort which will ultimately dictate an end to what is surely a forlorn strategy. That, for me, is the clearest lesson of our history. Sin é.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean - the heaviness of heart with which that is written says more than the words. It is a truly despairing situation. Prior to the Derry bombing it seemed people were listening to some of the arguments being made by Saoradh. Now, they have been painted into a corner with their own brush. I hope the people I know in Saoradh will step up to the plate with moral courage and say what needs said. They are not stupid and have to know where the abyss sits.

      Delete
    2. I suppose we will have to see on that but, going off of Facebook and the attitudes visible over there, I’m not sure it’s likely. Perhaps there will be movements to address what needs addressed behind the scenes — it’s probably the best we can hope for. Deleting all social media apps off my phone before bed and taking a break from the internet tomorrow. Don’t think I could stomach our pathetic politics with the day that’s in it. Sympathies again to yourself and Carrie on the loss of your friend — may her soul be at peace.

      Delete