ANTHONY MCINTYRE discusses the pressure Saoradh and the New IRA are facing
NIRA and its political appendage, Saoradh, despite their trenchant resistance to reason, might just be feeling the cumbersome burden of a sentiment expressed by the Roman jurist, Aemilius Papinianus: “it is easier to commit murder than to justify it." Heat is not a cerebral thing and need only be felt, not deliberated. NIRA and Saoradh must be feeling the heat although that does not mean they are ready to vacate the kitchen, as the NIRA interview in last weekend's Sunday Times illustrates.
In the immediate aftermath of Lyra McKee's killing there was a hope, a wispy one doubtless, that the more capable people in Saoradh - those with analytical minds who are quick to discern and who sometimes assume the role of public thinkers, who have frequently exhibited empathy, who have not stumbled through their political lives with eyes wide shut - might step up to the plate.
While it would have been a most welcome development had they gone as far as to echo the words of Brendan Harkin and announced that the New IRA were desisting, decommissioning and disbanding, it would still have been positive had they even promised much less. They could have said of Lyra McKee's death that while she was not the intended target, it was wholly unjustified, would not be repeated, that an inquiry was under way to establish the facts, and that their armed activity would at least be put on hold to give them time to consider all their options. It would not have deflected the Katyusha of flak that rained down on them, but it would have given rise to a view that there was some sort of strategic intelligence at play, the possibility of meaningful engagement with them, a more conscious effort to understand their concerns. But no, nothing like that: any hope of reason prevailing simply dissipated with the group’s apologia for those who killed Lyra McKee. The statement was formulaic rhetoric which Eddie Holt might have excoriated:
the language of war, like the language of advertising, political ideology and corporations, is a jumble of jargon, euphemisms and downright lies … a sanitising operation, designed to disguise the reality of butchery.
The somewhat more sophisticated interview given to the Sunday Times by the New IRA may have arrested the credibility freefall but just marginally and only temporarily. The contempt in the interview for the Irish people or any semblance of democracy from those who describe themselves as anti-imperialist and socialist is on a par with fascism and is being described as such. Not that NIRA is politically fascist but it is attitudinally so. In the view of one commentator:
Nothing will dissuade them from using armed violence to achieve their aim. And they have zero support. We know all this because they said so in a Sunday Times interview. They failed to mention that to achieve their aim would entail the overthrow of democracy and the State’s entire system of government. This approach is also known as fascism.
The former republican prisoner and writer Richard O'Rawe has often noted in conversation with me that this is not something new to armed republicanism. It was as prevalent in our own day as it is currently. The fascistic attitude was a serious challenge to our republican credentials, much at ease with obligatory nationalism but wholly at odds with the republican ethos of rule by the people. We got away with it only because of a widespread culture of resistance that no longer exists. There was a well grounded view that we represented something primarily liberatory rather than repressive. Also because we resembled a social protest movement rather than a gang. That image has since been inverted by the posturing of NIRA, which causes it to be viewed more as a Nearly IRA than a New one.
When Saoradh members come out of court in Derry exuding the demeanour of Tommy Robinson more than that of Pat McGeown, the public will reach its own verdict: guilty of something other than republicanism.
Cant disagree with all that post a chara,but what concerns me is that the prevailing conditions still exist that give rise to militant republicanism, I make this point here as someone who believes that if we had a 50% chance or more of kicking the brits and their entourage out of here and establishing a truly democratic socialist republic ,I,d say go for it, but the truth however unpalatable as it may be is that is not the case and what we witness these days is a continual conveyor belt feeding the prisons that are run by bigoted bastards ,and therefore keeping these cunts in well paid jobs ,if the NIRA were to leave the stage today and new militant grouping will surely emerge, why , because the new beginning ,peace with justice etc that we were promised was fucking lies ,I read with disgust todays rags and in particular the column,s from Mackin and Barnes ,they in their usual gusto berate and demonise Thomas Mellon and level allegations at him without proof or evidence or redress , they remind me of Wallace and Holyroyd in the 70,s -80,s and their black propaganda machine , we know the po-lice farce is controlled by mi5 it seems to me they have the so called press by the nuts also ,the demonization of this man shows how weak the states argument really is ,taking this mans liberty away (and that surely is the point of the exercise ) will achieve nothing but continue to simmer a pot ,which given a bit of social justice ,hope and proper leadership,not the quisling kind we may find a way to move forward , if not and Thomas Mellon becomes the next Tony Taylor then it wont be in my name nor am I sure would Lyra want it,
ReplyDeleteMarty - events like Lyra McKee's death invariably increase public apathy towards state abuses. And that is dangerous. Down here the state can jail people in the juryless courts on the basis of accomplice evidence. Few care. Worse still, most support it. With so few people seeing any difference between republican violence and gangland violence, there is a total indifference to the fate of those arrested and jailed.
ReplyDeleteNot a word of that a lie a chara ,however it doesn't solve the problem it just elongates the solution , I don't think republicans of all hue should engage in playing the states one sided game, we witnessed that with the shooting of Lyra ,her death played into the hands of mi5 and their cronies ,why should people continue to participate in this , the provos were bought and as we know they can be sold, we need justice here honesty maybe the new independents and established ones can help change the dynamic . or for sure this crap is going to run and run
ReplyDeleteMarty - it creates new problems. Republicanism that is rights driven rather than rights repressive can do nothing but oppose the killing of Lyra and be vociferous in that opposition. Many of the same people opposing that killing have long highlighted state abuses and defended prisoners rights. Once we take the attitude of Paddy Cooney and say there are some people who have no rights (in his case it was prisoners) we are exhibiting that fascistic attitude I referred to above. The central contradiction at the heart of the physical force tradition is that it holds that the Irish people have a right to be free from British rule but not free from republican violence. But the tradition has no authority to determine what the rights of people are no more than a religious tradition does. If priests were going around killing those who had abortions there would be no reason for us to remain silent and every reason to oppose the fascistic attitude that leads them to think they have the right to kill women who have abortions and that society has no rights against them.
ReplyDeleteOnce you mention priests I go into killing mode hypocritical cunts swinging whichever way the wind blows ,the points you make so eloquently a chara are correct in all respects ,but I think to myself were the maquis wrong in resisting the German occupation? my problem is that we have a state controlled by mi5 whose budget depends upon people playing their game , hence the daily harassment of people associated with probably the strongest opposition to those quisling agents in $inn £anny ,this harassment is not in pursuit of justice or assisting in the rule of law ,or indeed disrupting the activities of terrorists , but to provoke a militant response hence justifying a hefty budget,I don't want any of our youngster,s going to jail nor do I want to see any police killed .as you have said so often it didn't work for the RA it aint gonna work now, it really is the definition of madness , we need to question the states role in the daily activities of its agents here,and possibly question the role the press plays.I don't believe Barnes or Mackin would know the truth if it hit them in the face ,
ReplyDeleteMarty - the first rule of war is that it should be the last resort not the first. That applies as much to Ireland as it did to France. No society should allow the self anointed and self appointed to upend it and proclaim it is going to wage war on its behalf. One thing in defence of the Maquis, people did think it was a serious effort. That can hardly be said of what is happening today. The joy riders in Derry have killed more police in 30 years than those who claim to be at war with the police. Imagine the Maquis were to itemise that type of statistic in their war against the Nazis. Demanding that the state cover for its agents be stripped away is at least a push in the direction of transparency. Those that live through wars should be the first to oppose them. Pacifism is a redundant approach but we should not equate that with being anti-war. One lesson with universal applicability - revolutionaries will always shaft you. I suppose the task for those who are genuine about revolutionary change is to find ways of doing it without the revolutionaries.
ReplyDeleteWell a chara you know the definition of a revolutionary, a social climber with a bomb,the question that I posed re the maquis was not their efficiency in dispatching the enemy ,but their moral right to do so,my problem if it is one is that this state has acted immorally and continues to do so, this as I repeat ad infinitum needs addressed ,how is the question? I totally agree re revolutionaries and shafting , we all have sore arses after that last lot ,
ReplyDeleteMarty - it is a question of quite some importance. There should be no absolute moral right to use arms. The onus has to be on those who use them to make their cause on a case by case basis. If we start out from a position that we never want to use arms but accept that there are circumstances in which we might have to or must, then the moral mitigation has to increase incrementally in proportion to the harm caused by their use but also the harm caused by not using them. In the case of the Maquis (some of whom were right wing nationalists) the Nazi threat to humanity was of such magnitude, that the mitigation in the use of arms against them increases exponentially. Imagine the Nazis had succeeded? There is nothing comparable to that here or quite a few more of us would be using arms in a genuine act of resistance rather than the faux posturing we have at present. In that situation you would even find SDLP types taking up arms. Because the use of arms must always be strategic and never traditional, and their use of such importance and necessity to human progress, then the edifice of armed insurrection in the last resort must be protected from adventurism, militarism and revolutionary posturing. I am not a pacifist but I am no ethicist either, so I merely think about the things rather than claiming absolute knowledge of how to solve them.
ReplyDeleteSorry a chara re length of time to reply just out of hospital, but the problem that I have re all this is ,while in this particular case I agree militant action is not the answer ,but a chara the majority of free countries including America etc would still be in colonial chains had they not used force,the lack of willingness in Britains and more recently Spains unwillingness to uphold a democratic mandate bodes an ill wind to those who want peaceful change , the continuous daily harassment of Saoradh is an attack on the democratic process by the state ,reminiscent of the RUC,s attack on the Sinn Fein office on the Falls rd in the 60,s, Saoradh should be encouraged to engage in peaceful activism not driven into the shadows , ,interning Thomas Mellon without trial which seems to be the intention of mi5 aided by the press is certainly no way to remember lyra Mc Kee or what she stood for ,
ReplyDeleteMarty - hope you are doing fine now that you are back out but I am sorry you were ever in. But even in many of the countries we call free we can see how the revolutionaries worked to build a power structure that would protect the revolutionaries but not the revolution. Once you start licensing the self appointed where does it stop? Theocratic fascists will start telling us they have found something to free us from but it is never them they tell us we can be free from. People have rights that the self appointed should not be violating. In my view if you set up an authoritarian structure that permits the latitude to deny rights to others then the type of people it is going to attract along with the ideologically committed are those who see the opportunity to abuse and not be accountable. But more specific to the North, why risk the republican brand for no gain? Talking casually to people in town here and they see no difference between what happens in Derry and what happens in Drogheda: all Love/Hate gangsterism in their view. Even saying to people that the Special Criminal Court is a serious abuse of civil liberties and point to the convictions in the Butterly case based on so called accomplice evidence, gets you a look as if you are on something or off your meds.
ReplyDeleteMarty - Saoradh are getting screwed over by the state. I spoke to some of their people down here just before Lyra McKee was killed and said the Derry bombing had all the hallmarks of the security services and dirty tricks: they agreed. Even if it was just straightforward stupidity and no hidden MI5 hand, armed posturing is a serious hindrance to the growth of a group like Saoradh. Prior to Lyra very few had heard of Saoradh - now what they hear of it is all negative. What better way to hobble Saoradh than armed folly? The state and the media institutions censoring Saoradh is a serious assault on freedom of opinion and inquiry and needs tackled but Saoradh have an obligation to defend the concept also and not come out of courts conveying menace against the media. The message again sent out is that censorship is ok as long as we are doing it. As we know only too well from our own experience the worst censors are often those who claim they are republicans.
ReplyDelete