Anthony McIntyre ✒ It sometimes seems that Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly is given the shitty end of the stick, almost as if he is being punished for some transgression the rest of us know nothing about.

No doubt, Kelly has his indiscretions like everybody else, probably pisses in the street after a beer or takes a hammer to a wheel clamp. Nothing that should concern the rest of us, apart from some unionists who seem to get perplexed about these sort of things, although not, for some reason, about the behaviour of Davy Tweed.

It could be speculated in those more fanciful moments that Kelly has become a pin cushion for his ardent revolutionary past at the behest of the conservative leadership now running Sinn Fein. More plausibly, that very past is held up to show how deferential to the establishment the party has become after years of a relationship of mutual contempt and anathema. Having the erstwhile ardent revolutionary undo all he ever did and unsay all he ever said is perhaps an authentic and effective way of flashing the required credentials that permit admission to the establishment ball.

Recently, Kelly commented on the British government's amnesty proposal for all those combatants from the North's violent conflict: 

People, whether they are ex-combatants or not, look upon this as an issue for victims. We had the Stormont House Agreement, all parties said this had to be based on a victims-centred process, and the Stormont House Agreement brought that. I am an ex-combatant myself and I have talked to others and they have no notion outside of supporting the families in this.

He contended that former combatants "would feel no relief" from any amnesty. It is not about relief but belief. As one of those former combatants I do not support the Kelly position. I have always believed a political amnesty should have been enacted on the cessation of hostilities.

Long before the British suggested their own self serving amnesty I found myself opposed to prosecutions. I can fully understand the victims favouring such an approach even if I feel many of those in the political class perform a sleight of hand when encouraging families to go down the prosecutorial route.

What is harder to fathom is why former combatants like Gerry Kelly can support the arrest by the British of their own comrades, former IRA volunteers of the Bobby Sands generation, have them prosecuted and tried in a non-jury Diplock Court as mere deviants subject to the criminal code, and deposited into the British prison regime.

As a former combatant, I will see the crematorium before ever agreeing to that.

⏩ Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Belief Not Relief

Anthony McIntyre ✒ It sometimes seems that Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly is given the shitty end of the stick, almost as if he is being punished for some transgression the rest of us know nothing about.

No doubt, Kelly has his indiscretions like everybody else, probably pisses in the street after a beer or takes a hammer to a wheel clamp. Nothing that should concern the rest of us, apart from some unionists who seem to get perplexed about these sort of things, although not, for some reason, about the behaviour of Davy Tweed.

It could be speculated in those more fanciful moments that Kelly has become a pin cushion for his ardent revolutionary past at the behest of the conservative leadership now running Sinn Fein. More plausibly, that very past is held up to show how deferential to the establishment the party has become after years of a relationship of mutual contempt and anathema. Having the erstwhile ardent revolutionary undo all he ever did and unsay all he ever said is perhaps an authentic and effective way of flashing the required credentials that permit admission to the establishment ball.

Recently, Kelly commented on the British government's amnesty proposal for all those combatants from the North's violent conflict: 

People, whether they are ex-combatants or not, look upon this as an issue for victims. We had the Stormont House Agreement, all parties said this had to be based on a victims-centred process, and the Stormont House Agreement brought that. I am an ex-combatant myself and I have talked to others and they have no notion outside of supporting the families in this.

He contended that former combatants "would feel no relief" from any amnesty. It is not about relief but belief. As one of those former combatants I do not support the Kelly position. I have always believed a political amnesty should have been enacted on the cessation of hostilities.

Long before the British suggested their own self serving amnesty I found myself opposed to prosecutions. I can fully understand the victims favouring such an approach even if I feel many of those in the political class perform a sleight of hand when encouraging families to go down the prosecutorial route.

What is harder to fathom is why former combatants like Gerry Kelly can support the arrest by the British of their own comrades, former IRA volunteers of the Bobby Sands generation, have them prosecuted and tried in a non-jury Diplock Court as mere deviants subject to the criminal code, and deposited into the British prison regime.

As a former combatant, I will see the crematorium before ever agreeing to that.

⏩ Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

6 comments:

  1. Yeah but is it Shinner Kelly talking or Provo Kelly talking?

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  2. I agree Anthony, if the British side can continue prosecuting IRA and INLA former combatants then surely the conflict is not over! No prosecutions, to me, appears the only way as sickening for these families this may be. I would be interested to hear a credible alternative??

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

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    Replies
    1. Are they still former combatants or are they still fighting a war themselves?

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  3. The truth of the thing is, Tony, Gerry doesn’t support the arrest of his former comrades at all and that’s the real sad thing in all of this — that he’s prepared to stay silent thinking some greater good is being served by his doing so. I think you almost hint at this in your piece. There was a time I’d have said to myself, ‘if it’s good enough for Gerry then it’s good enough for me’. To see if what has since become of him is more troubling than it is angering tbh.

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    1. Sean,

      he is on record as saying he does.
      When he calls for prosecutions in any circumstance where there is evidence he is supporting the prosecution of former volunteers.
      I would accept your take were we able to show where he has said that only former security force personnel should be prosecuted. But we will not find that.
      I wrote this about three years ago on the very thing.

      Delete
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