Dixie Elliot  ✑ Back in August 1977 my view of the world was blocked by barbed wire fences and high concrete walls. 


I had only been on the blanket protest just under two months from the time I was sentenced that June. We hadn't yet wrecked our cells, thus beginning the no-wash protest and thoughts of a hunger strike were the furthest thing from our minds. That very month the British Queen was over in the north on a royal visit, it was her 25th year jubilee. Thousands of Republicans had taken to the streets of West Belfast in a mass protest against this visit. A huge banner referred to her as 'The Queen of Death'.

The war against British rule in Ireland was raging on the streets and in the countryside, while Sinn Féin worked out of leaking caravans and decaying terraced houses. Electoralism was seen as conformity and a betrayal and dare anyone even mention it. Little did we know that it was, in fact, already on the minds of a certain few and that a movement within the Republican Movement was growing like a cancer. This cabal would eventually take the Movement down a path where a future Sinn Féin leader; a millionaire former Fianna Fáiler called Mary Lou McDonald, would praise that same British queen 'on a lifetime of service'.

The Sinn Féin of the leaking caravans and the decaying terraced houses has become the richest party in Ireland. It is already an establishment party in the north and down south: it supports the Special Criminal Court, which was established by the Free State government in 1939 to suppress Irish Republicanism. Using this legislation they executed six IRA volunteers between 1940 and 1944.

The party which once led protests against royal visits now not only warmly welcomes them, they are doing what no other party in Ireland could possibly get away with, they are making the British royals acceptable in this country.

During the 1981 hunger strike Bobby Sands stood in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election for one reason only, in the hope that Thatcher couldn't let an MP die. Thatcher being the evil bitch that she was refused to budge and Bobby did die. His election victory opened the door slightly for those with political ambitions who wanted to steer the movement towards the ballot box.

Forty years after Bobby's historic election victory, to the day, the Sinn Féiners were preoccupied with sending condolences to the British royals on the death of a notorious racist, Prince Philip. In fact I waited until 11:30pm that night to see if Michelle O'Neill had so much as mentioned Bobby's election victory before going to her page to remind her. Alex Maskey's statement on the death of Prince Philip was shocking beyond the belief of any right-minded Republican. He described him as someone with 'a long and full record of public service'. Maskey also referred to 'a life well lived'.

'A lifetime of service' - Mary Lou McDonald.

'A long and full record of public service.' - Alex Maskey.

These two heaped the type of praise on the British queen and her racist husband which you'd come to expect from a Unionist. They are certainly not the words any principled Republican would use. Sinn Féin has clearly cast principled Republicanism aside like a used coat and they have taken to wearing a cloak of respectability. They later went on to apologise for the killing of Mountbatten by the IRA in 1979. A royal on whom the FBI had released files regarding his ‘lust for young men’ and who had introduced Jimmy Savile to the British royal family in the 1960s as ‘a useful contact’ (Savile’s own words taken from an Express newspaper interview.)

During the Ballymurphy Inquiry, at a time when horrific stories regarding the murderous Parachute Regiment were emerging on a daily basis, their Colonel-in-Chief, Prince Charles paid a visit to Belfast. This was clearly an act of British arrogance yet the Sinn Féin mayor of the city, John Finucane was there to greet him.

Less than 24 hours after it had been announced that no further charges would be brought over the Bloody Sunday massacre, Prince Charles, showing British arrogance yet again, paid another visit to the north. On that occasion Michelle O’Neill and Declan Kearney were there to stand at his side. When asked why they had met with him, Michelle O’Neill said, ‘the Royals have played a positive role throughout the peace process.’ Really? This is a family steeped in militarism, who are heads of probably every regiment in the British armed forces. Around that time ‘The Overseas Operations Bill’, which was ‘to tackle vexatious claims against our Armed Forces’, was given Royal Assent. Was this the Royals playing a positive role in the peace process?

James Connolly attacked royal visits as ‘signs of disease in any social state’ and accused those who took part in them as ‘dirt-eating capitalist traitors.’ Yet this seems to matter little to Sinn Féin who have taken the path they are on and only look back when those who gave their lives in the past can be of use to them politically or financially. It is shocking to think that many who are purporting to be Republicans continue to believe that this is ‘all a part of some bigger picture.’ No matter what the party does, it is followed up by its membership and supporters taking to social media with outrageously idiotic claims of victory in that the ‘Unionists won’t like that’, or ‘they didn’t see that coming’ or ‘Sinn Féin reaching out again.’

Why are Sinn Féin really on a path that would never have haunted our worst nightmares during the blackest nights of the Blanket Protest? Are they being forced down it or are they doing what they do in an effort to win the British round to the idea of a United Ireland as part of the British Commonwealth? They’re thrown out enough hints that this is a strong possibility.

Mary Lou McDonald said in August 2018 that, ‘the idea of Ireland rejoining the Commonwealth needs to be discussed.’ She said in the same statement that, ‘the Irish government must start to put plans in place for a United Ireland.’

Chris Donnelly tweeted in March 2019, ‘whilst there’s little appetite for it in existing circumstances, Republicans(and others)have for long openly discussed the issue of Commonwealth membership in a United Ireland.’

Who are these others? The Irish government/Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael?

Robin Percival used ‘India, South Africa and Tanzania,’as examples of ‘democratic republics’ which ‘are also members of the Commonwealth.’ He added that, ‘I can see no issue of principle here. Ireland within the Commonwealth might ease the road to unity.’

I notice that they used, ‘the Commonwealth’ rather than, ‘the British Commonwealth.’

When Mitchel McLaughlin accepted the post of President of the Assembly’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in 2015, he said that it was his ‘absolute duty’ to do so.

‘Absolute duty’ to whom? Certainly not to the cause of Republicanism, which has historically seen the British monarchy as having:

opposed every forward move, fought every reform, persecuted every patriot, and intrigued against every good cause. Slandering every friend of the people, it has befriended every oppressor.

Those are the words of James Connolly.

Alex Maskey now holds the post of President of the Assembly’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

The Sinn Féin of today has as much in common with the ideals of Bobby Sands as the Irish Labour Party has with those of its co-founder, James Connolly.

Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

Royal Visits ✒ Signs Of Disease In Any Social State

Dixie Elliot  ✑ Back in August 1977 my view of the world was blocked by barbed wire fences and high concrete walls. 


I had only been on the blanket protest just under two months from the time I was sentenced that June. We hadn't yet wrecked our cells, thus beginning the no-wash protest and thoughts of a hunger strike were the furthest thing from our minds. That very month the British Queen was over in the north on a royal visit, it was her 25th year jubilee. Thousands of Republicans had taken to the streets of West Belfast in a mass protest against this visit. A huge banner referred to her as 'The Queen of Death'.

The war against British rule in Ireland was raging on the streets and in the countryside, while Sinn Féin worked out of leaking caravans and decaying terraced houses. Electoralism was seen as conformity and a betrayal and dare anyone even mention it. Little did we know that it was, in fact, already on the minds of a certain few and that a movement within the Republican Movement was growing like a cancer. This cabal would eventually take the Movement down a path where a future Sinn Féin leader; a millionaire former Fianna Fáiler called Mary Lou McDonald, would praise that same British queen 'on a lifetime of service'.

The Sinn Féin of the leaking caravans and the decaying terraced houses has become the richest party in Ireland. It is already an establishment party in the north and down south: it supports the Special Criminal Court, which was established by the Free State government in 1939 to suppress Irish Republicanism. Using this legislation they executed six IRA volunteers between 1940 and 1944.

The party which once led protests against royal visits now not only warmly welcomes them, they are doing what no other party in Ireland could possibly get away with, they are making the British royals acceptable in this country.

During the 1981 hunger strike Bobby Sands stood in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election for one reason only, in the hope that Thatcher couldn't let an MP die. Thatcher being the evil bitch that she was refused to budge and Bobby did die. His election victory opened the door slightly for those with political ambitions who wanted to steer the movement towards the ballot box.

Forty years after Bobby's historic election victory, to the day, the Sinn Féiners were preoccupied with sending condolences to the British royals on the death of a notorious racist, Prince Philip. In fact I waited until 11:30pm that night to see if Michelle O'Neill had so much as mentioned Bobby's election victory before going to her page to remind her. Alex Maskey's statement on the death of Prince Philip was shocking beyond the belief of any right-minded Republican. He described him as someone with 'a long and full record of public service'. Maskey also referred to 'a life well lived'.

'A lifetime of service' - Mary Lou McDonald.

'A long and full record of public service.' - Alex Maskey.

These two heaped the type of praise on the British queen and her racist husband which you'd come to expect from a Unionist. They are certainly not the words any principled Republican would use. Sinn Féin has clearly cast principled Republicanism aside like a used coat and they have taken to wearing a cloak of respectability. They later went on to apologise for the killing of Mountbatten by the IRA in 1979. A royal on whom the FBI had released files regarding his ‘lust for young men’ and who had introduced Jimmy Savile to the British royal family in the 1960s as ‘a useful contact’ (Savile’s own words taken from an Express newspaper interview.)

During the Ballymurphy Inquiry, at a time when horrific stories regarding the murderous Parachute Regiment were emerging on a daily basis, their Colonel-in-Chief, Prince Charles paid a visit to Belfast. This was clearly an act of British arrogance yet the Sinn Féin mayor of the city, John Finucane was there to greet him.

Less than 24 hours after it had been announced that no further charges would be brought over the Bloody Sunday massacre, Prince Charles, showing British arrogance yet again, paid another visit to the north. On that occasion Michelle O’Neill and Declan Kearney were there to stand at his side. When asked why they had met with him, Michelle O’Neill said, ‘the Royals have played a positive role throughout the peace process.’ Really? This is a family steeped in militarism, who are heads of probably every regiment in the British armed forces. Around that time ‘The Overseas Operations Bill’, which was ‘to tackle vexatious claims against our Armed Forces’, was given Royal Assent. Was this the Royals playing a positive role in the peace process?

James Connolly attacked royal visits as ‘signs of disease in any social state’ and accused those who took part in them as ‘dirt-eating capitalist traitors.’ Yet this seems to matter little to Sinn Féin who have taken the path they are on and only look back when those who gave their lives in the past can be of use to them politically or financially. It is shocking to think that many who are purporting to be Republicans continue to believe that this is ‘all a part of some bigger picture.’ No matter what the party does, it is followed up by its membership and supporters taking to social media with outrageously idiotic claims of victory in that the ‘Unionists won’t like that’, or ‘they didn’t see that coming’ or ‘Sinn Féin reaching out again.’

Why are Sinn Féin really on a path that would never have haunted our worst nightmares during the blackest nights of the Blanket Protest? Are they being forced down it or are they doing what they do in an effort to win the British round to the idea of a United Ireland as part of the British Commonwealth? They’re thrown out enough hints that this is a strong possibility.

Mary Lou McDonald said in August 2018 that, ‘the idea of Ireland rejoining the Commonwealth needs to be discussed.’ She said in the same statement that, ‘the Irish government must start to put plans in place for a United Ireland.’

Chris Donnelly tweeted in March 2019, ‘whilst there’s little appetite for it in existing circumstances, Republicans(and others)have for long openly discussed the issue of Commonwealth membership in a United Ireland.’

Who are these others? The Irish government/Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael?

Robin Percival used ‘India, South Africa and Tanzania,’as examples of ‘democratic republics’ which ‘are also members of the Commonwealth.’ He added that, ‘I can see no issue of principle here. Ireland within the Commonwealth might ease the road to unity.’

I notice that they used, ‘the Commonwealth’ rather than, ‘the British Commonwealth.’

When Mitchel McLaughlin accepted the post of President of the Assembly’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in 2015, he said that it was his ‘absolute duty’ to do so.

‘Absolute duty’ to whom? Certainly not to the cause of Republicanism, which has historically seen the British monarchy as having:

opposed every forward move, fought every reform, persecuted every patriot, and intrigued against every good cause. Slandering every friend of the people, it has befriended every oppressor.

Those are the words of James Connolly.

Alex Maskey now holds the post of President of the Assembly’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

The Sinn Féin of today has as much in common with the ideals of Bobby Sands as the Irish Labour Party has with those of its co-founder, James Connolly.

Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

13 comments:

  1. "They later went on to apologise for the killing of Mountbatten by the IRA in 1979."


    No mention then of the elderly woman and the two children who were killed with the full knowledge, and in the view, of those of detonated the bomb?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dixie,

    What other option was there apart from the purely political one? The campaign was going nowhere and arguably a UI is a lot closer to fruition now via exclusively politically peaceful means?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve - you seem to confuse purely political with electoralism. It is too easy to read into your comment that the author is suggesting that a continuation of force was the way to go. Far from it. The binary position of peace process or Omagh bomb is spurious. There are ways to advocate politics without armed force which do not amount to obsequious deference to monarchy.

      Delete
    2. Ah ok, not my intention. So was Dixie saying the peaceful path politically could have been taken without the Shinners tipping their hats at the Crown? Fair enough, but I think the Shinners are using it tactically to put the shits up Unionism, feint praise if you will.

      Delete
    3. A typical response when anyone criticises the Sinn Féiners is to try and label them as warmongers. Adams and McGuinness knew that the war was going nowhere when Adams set out with Father Alex Reid to find ways of ending it behind the backs of the IRA. All the while they continued to encourage war. You seem to have ignored what I wrote. I believe that they are now trying to curry favour with the British in order to push for a United Ireland within the British Commonwealth. No one died for that nor was it worth a single life.

      Delete
    4. Steve R - I wrote about exactly what you have just done, claim that the Shinners are doing these things tactically or as part of some cunning plan to put the shits up Unionism. Are they trying to make Unionists jealous that they've become more loyal to the British Crown than they are? It's clearly not working as the Unionists don't appear to be giving a shit. They are more concerned with the Protocol, brought about by Brexit which Sinn Féin strongly opposed after 40 years of being anti-EU...

      Delete
    5. Thanks Dixie, I was genuinely trying to get clarity for myself nothing more.

      Delete
  3. I read nothing about a return to armed conflic, not a mention. Political covers a very wide area, just as politics is far broader than party politics and parliaments.

    Philip Mountbatten was an imperialist racist biggot till the end, no apolgises for the crimes he condoned on various natives of far flung lands.

    As for the royals, Andrew the alledged peadophile Prince, has just done an out of court deal to save himself a possible spell in San Quentin, though that is unlikely to have happened as people like him, US Presidents and members of Thatchers cabinet do not go to jail for their crimes. I say that in reference to the recently depossed incumbent of the White House who has had countless allegations of sexual abuse made against him. As President prosecuting was difficult, now he is a former President he no longer enjoys that protection, officially! Will he be prosecuted? Don't hold your breath. Thatchers cabinet, back in the eighties, also had accussations about child abuse at parties aimed at them. These allegations were brushed aside, never to be repeated.

    As for Mountbatten, Charlies "Uncle Dicke" - says a lot, considering his name was not Richard.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And the children also blown to pieces with him?

      Delete
  4. One thing Irish Republicanism fails to grasp is that whatever the format or structure of a new Ireland may be, a large percentage of its citizens will have a British identity. What’s more that identity will be inextricably linked to the British monarchy. Future relations between Britain and Ireland will involve greetings and visits between the various heads of state. The very idea of a monarchy baffles me. How anyone can inherit such a position simply by accident of birth should be an anathema to most right thinking people. Until such times as Britain abolishes the monarchy they will remain part of the relationship between the two island.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That, alas, is very true. I cannot understand it either, never could even as a kid.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  6. Reads like an Irish take on Animal Farm...

    ReplyDelete