The Broken Elbow is shocked to learn that the Provisional IRA still exists.
“IRA still exists but in ‘much reduced form’, says official report” – Guardian headline
PSNI Chief Constable gives re-assuring explanation: “The average height of Army Council members has shrunk by six inches in face of Tory austerity policies”, said George Hamilton. “Nothing else to see here, no need for panic. Please move on”, he added.
Was it really a slip?? The front page of today's Irish News quote MMcG as follows 'all parties had a responsibility to "tackle criminality and bring paramilitarism to an end." Did he always secretly see the IRA as a criminal paramilitary group or is that a view only developed up in Stormont? I wonder if former Hunger Strikers Raymond McCartney and Pat Sheehan also now share his view?
Christy, i dont think he is that clever.Plus,Id love to think there was some hidden Republican design to all this, there is scant evidence of in the past 20 years though. The criminality tag is one passed backwards as the Republican torch passes forwards,but it doesnt bother me what he labels anything.I was watching a film the other day, Black Mass, the Whitey Bulger story. Joe Cahill made an appearance in it, sitting with the biggest gangster in Boston, receiving arms bought with drug money.
I see RTE are running with a similar position from Adams. Keep in mind that the allegations are not about dissidents but that IRA members believe the Provisional IRA army council oversees the IRA and Sinn Féin with an overarching strategy.
RTE reports that "Mr Adams said Sinn Féin stands with the PSNI and the gardaí against criminality and that members of the party have paid a price for that." http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/1021/736409-politics-north/
Has SF devised a strategy to retrospectively 'criminalise' the IRA? When the IRA was no longer of any use to De Velara he also criminalized them.
Christy, they have been doing a sterling job for the British in retrospectively delegitimising the Provos campaign, but I would be surprised if they outright called it criminality.But then again,I wondered if there was a break coming between SF/PIRA after MMcG called the killers of Kevin McGuigan criminals, until even that seemingly straightforward position was peace processed.There is no reason they couldnt call Bobby Sands a war criminal, whilst selling t-shirts with his face on them in their shop.The apparent dichotomy would just be peace processed until the next distraction.
Using the words criminality and paramilitarism in the same sentence when talking about the IRA is, or dangerously close to, calling the IRA campaign a criminal one. I am sure they have some spiel to persuade any IRA or former IRA volunteers that it is not them they are talking about. It is perhaps the route they have chosen in attempt to prove to the DUP that they are finally house trained. It is not so much about the hypocrisy they sell in their shops but what it is they are trying to buy into under the terms of the undocumented GFA that its support base don't really know about.
we can rest assured that if they called a "Bobby Sands is a criminal" rally down the Falls, nodding and winking to the Bovine Brigade that it is all part of a cute plan, does anyone really think the BB would not turn up?
AM, I remember now it you was that put the Sinn Fein calling Bobby Sands a criminal scenario into my head first, its so funny. Christy, I doubt the support base would even care, it really surprised me about people in the North, having struggled so long against the state,I thought they would view accoutability of leaders different.Perhaps its why SF were worried about the effects of weaning them off the economic opiate administered by Westminster.
Former IRA volunteer and ex-prisoner, spent 18 years in Long Kesh, 4 years on the blanket and no-wash/no work protests which led to the hunger strikes of the 80s. Completed PhD at Queens upon release from prison. Left the Republican Movement at the endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement, and went on to become a journalist. Co-founder of The Blanket, an online magazine that critically analyzed the Irish peace process. Lead researcher for the Belfast Project, an oral history of the Troubles.
MMG made a funny slip : "We take instructions from no one else"
ReplyDeleteIts kind of the point isnt Martin?
DaithiD
ReplyDeleteWas it really a slip?? The front page of today's Irish News quote MMcG as follows 'all parties had a responsibility to "tackle criminality and bring paramilitarism to an end." Did he always secretly see the IRA as a criminal paramilitary group or is that a view only developed up in Stormont? I wonder if former Hunger Strikers Raymond McCartney and Pat Sheehan also now share his view?
Christy, i dont think he is that clever.Plus,Id love to think there was some hidden Republican design to all this, there is scant evidence of in the past 20 years though.
ReplyDeleteThe criminality tag is one passed backwards as the Republican torch passes forwards,but it doesnt bother me what he labels anything.I was watching a film the other day, Black Mass, the Whitey Bulger story. Joe Cahill made an appearance in it, sitting with the biggest gangster in Boston, receiving arms bought with drug money.
DaithiD
ReplyDeleteI see RTE are running with a similar position from Adams. Keep in mind that the allegations are not about dissidents but that IRA members believe the Provisional IRA army council oversees the IRA and Sinn Féin with an overarching strategy.
RTE reports that "Mr Adams said Sinn Féin stands with the PSNI and the gardaí against criminality and that members of the party have paid a price for that." http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/1021/736409-politics-north/
Has SF devised a strategy to retrospectively 'criminalise' the IRA? When the IRA was no longer of any use to De Velara he also criminalized them.
Christy, they have been doing a sterling job for the British in retrospectively delegitimising the Provos campaign, but I would be surprised if they outright called it criminality.But then again,I wondered if there was a break coming between SF/PIRA after MMcG called the killers of Kevin McGuigan criminals, until even that seemingly straightforward position was peace processed.There is no reason they couldnt call Bobby Sands a war criminal, whilst selling t-shirts with his face on them in their shop.The apparent dichotomy would just be peace processed until the next distraction.
ReplyDeleteDaithi
ReplyDeleteUsing the words criminality and paramilitarism in the same sentence when talking about the IRA is, or dangerously close to, calling the IRA campaign a criminal one. I am sure they have some spiel to persuade any IRA or former IRA volunteers that it is not them they are talking about. It is perhaps the route they have chosen in attempt to prove to the DUP that they are finally house trained. It is not so much about the hypocrisy they sell in their shops but what it is they are trying to buy into under the terms of the undocumented GFA that its support base don't really know about.
Diplock Court,
ReplyDeletewe can rest assured that if they called a "Bobby Sands is a criminal" rally down the Falls, nodding and winking to the Bovine Brigade that it is all part of a cute plan, does anyone really think the BB would not turn up?
AM, I remember now it you was that put the Sinn Fein calling Bobby Sands a criminal scenario into my head first, its so funny.
ReplyDeleteChristy, I doubt the support base would even care, it really surprised me about people in the North, having struggled so long against the state,I thought they would view accoutability of leaders different.Perhaps its why SF were worried about the effects of weaning them off the economic opiate administered by Westminster.