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From the Irish Times a view on the RIC not at one with Charlie Flanagan. 

By Brian Hanley
As a paramilitary force defending British rule, its officers were not innocent victims.

John William Nixon was a career policeman. A native of Cavan, he joined the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1899, at the age of 22. Nixon served in Donegal, Antrim, Mayo, Fermanagh and Dublin and in August 1917 was appointed a district inspector. He was then the youngest such officer to have risen from the ranks of the force.

During those years Nixon must have carried out many of the normal duties of policing which have been referenced repeatedly by those arguing in support of a State commemoration for the RIC. But by 1921 Nixon had acquired a fearsome reputation in Belfast, believed by nationalists there to be the leader of a “murder gang” who carried out assassinations of republicans and others perceived as “disloyal”. Nixon was thought responsible for the notorious McMahon family murders during March 1922. Later that year he would be one of those 1,350 RIC men who transferred to the new Royal Ulster Constabulary on its foundation.

Nixon’s story illustrates why the idea of an uncontentious commemoration of the RIC was always an impossibility. Last October Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan described those policemen who were killed between 1919-21 as having been “murdered”. He has also claimed that they were only “doing what police officers do. As they saw it, they were protecting communities from harm.”

But the story of the RIC under British rule was never that of a normal police force, even before the revolutionary era. And, as a paramilitary force between 1919 and 1921, the RIC were combatants not innocent victims.

Continue reading @ the Irish Times.

The RIC Was Never A Normal Police Force; Commemorating It Would Be A Travesty

From the Irish Times a view on the RIC not at one with Charlie Flanagan. 

By Brian Hanley
As a paramilitary force defending British rule, its officers were not innocent victims.

John William Nixon was a career policeman. A native of Cavan, he joined the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1899, at the age of 22. Nixon served in Donegal, Antrim, Mayo, Fermanagh and Dublin and in August 1917 was appointed a district inspector. He was then the youngest such officer to have risen from the ranks of the force.

During those years Nixon must have carried out many of the normal duties of policing which have been referenced repeatedly by those arguing in support of a State commemoration for the RIC. But by 1921 Nixon had acquired a fearsome reputation in Belfast, believed by nationalists there to be the leader of a “murder gang” who carried out assassinations of republicans and others perceived as “disloyal”. Nixon was thought responsible for the notorious McMahon family murders during March 1922. Later that year he would be one of those 1,350 RIC men who transferred to the new Royal Ulster Constabulary on its foundation.

Nixon’s story illustrates why the idea of an uncontentious commemoration of the RIC was always an impossibility. Last October Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan described those policemen who were killed between 1919-21 as having been “murdered”. He has also claimed that they were only “doing what police officers do. As they saw it, they were protecting communities from harm.”

But the story of the RIC under British rule was never that of a normal police force, even before the revolutionary era. And, as a paramilitary force between 1919 and 1921, the RIC were combatants not innocent victims.

Continue reading @ the Irish Times.
Irish Times RIC Commemoration controversy

3 comments:

  1. Christy Walsh10:15 PM, January 16, 2020

    Good article. As soon as I saw mention of Nixon I realised that even I had overlooked the RICs role in Belfast along with the Specials and the irelevance of name changing RIC to RUC.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eoghan5:45 PM, January 19, 2020

    Christy Walsh,

    I agree this is a good article because it seems to me, as pointed out by the political analyst Nanjala Nyabola, that that there is “…an element here of what (the psychiatrist and WWII veteran) Frantz Fanon calls in his book Black Skin, White Masks ‘collapse of the ego’ - where ‘the black man stops behaving like an actional person … since only the Other can enhance his status and give him self-esteem’".

    https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/cambridge-analytica-elections-200112201424047.html

    Hence the desire to adopt the Other’s political perspectives (i.e. anti-IRA in particular and anti-national liberation efforts in general unless funded by MI6 or the CIA), and to genuinely want to commemorate British anti-Irish national liberation efforts even claiming they were entitled to “…mutual respect”:

    Mr. Flanagan said that reconciliation on the island of Ireland could only be achieved through "mutual respect of the different traditions on the island".

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51013678

    Here is the proof that many Fine Gael party members and others suffer from this colonial collapse of ego condition:

    1. The US doesn't commemorate British Loyalists on July 4th.
    2. French don’t commemorate Vichy French ever.
    3. Jews don’t commemorate their concentration camp kapos.

    And nor do they accord their historical antagonists “mutual respect”.

    Because their national liberation efforts were a complete success.

    Irish national liberation efforts were not.

    The Treaty of 1922 and the GFA of 1998 ensured that even after British Army withdrawals.

    So, unless or until Ireland is completely united and nationally liberated….

    This kind of prison bitch politics will continue to be viable in Ireland:

    'It doesn't take very long for your balaclava to slip' – Leo Varadkar

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL5znC25KOM

    Because as George Orwell said.

    “Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip.”

    https://quotes.yourdictionary.com/author/george-orwell/180057

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eoghan1:00 AM, January 20, 2020

    FYI -

    Old IRA + Black & Tan Interviews (1960's - 1970's)
    Collection of Clips covering: Black & Tan Behaviour 1919 - 1921 IRA Resistance:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErRJPlwPvcg

    Fascinating Documentary about the Irish War of Independence

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGutJDCfqig

    ReplyDelete

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