First, The North Must Work

Muiris Ó Súilleabháin ✍The recent writings in TPQ have led me to reflect on 20 plus years in the Provisional Republican Movement (PRM) in an attempt to unpick what I believe might be the answer to `where now for Republicanism?`

This is not meant to be a route map, merely my ramblings, on how we, as Irish Republicans, might re-start a journey that will bring us the Republic envisioned in 1916 and the democratic programme of the First Dail.

My ramblings are disjointed and confused but that reflects my thoughts and views. I genuinely do not know what the future may hold and I am perplexed daily by where we find ourselves and what the solutions may be.

There are a few things that I am relatively assured about. I wish to be clear from the start: there is no justification for the use of violence to achieve the Republic. It is now abundantly clear that the moral legitimacy for war in Ireland had become defunct long before the `94 ceasefire by the PRM. With this inalienable truth now accepted by all, except for a few Lieutenant Onodas, it is evident that in moving forward, Republicanism can and must only operate on political and social levels. There is no need for an “army” of any description and certainly not one that controls from the shadows.

Irish Republicanism is in an abyss, withering on the vine for a variety of reasons, not least being the immersion into the establishment of what was once considered the vanguard of Republicanism. This is not an overt criticism of the PRM, merely a statement of fact about an organisation that found itself outflanked and outgunned, with little or no option but to follow the path chosen for it. The path chosen by the PRM will not bring the Republic, a fact they tacitly demonstrate every time they beg the Brits for a “border poll”. However, the misjudgements of the past should not haunt us nor should they dictate what current Republican strategy might be.

The Sticks were right about many things, as were the IRSP, the SDLP and the Provos. To dismiss the learnings from our history would be a fundamental miscalculation. The Republic and the struggle for that republic is not the preserve of any “republican movement”, no matter what historical legitimacy or continuity may be claimed. A United Ireland (not the Republic) of some description is inevitable but not in our lifetime. It will not come about through a border poll, (that was available in `73), nor will it emerge through demographics, it will evolve generically as the United Kingdom dissolves and through progressive social change that brings to an end the connection felt with the UK.

The notion expressed in relation to a Republican Congress is appealing but what does not tempt is the notion that Unity is the goal and that we can put aside our differences in pursuit of unity. The Republican struggle was never about hoisting the green flag over Stormont and/or Leinster House. It was and remains about building a society where everyone has the liberty/ right to fully reach their potential to be and to do what they individually value the most.

I would contest that there is no party in the administrations north or south, that have either the capacity or the disposition to create such a society and this is the space that is open for Republican to claim. A congress, if it is to be appealing, must have a strong value base that dictates its policy and political outlook. That radical value base has changed since 1798 however it has not been adequately contextualised for 21st Century Ireland.

What does it mean to be a Republican in 2023? What do liberty, equality and fraternity mean now? Liberty from an Irish perspective has always meant freedom from British Rule, primarily. However would “breaking the connection with England” lead to liberty and, if so, liberty from what? In modern Ireland, the real power brokers, do not sit in Westminster, Leinster House or Stormont. The EU, the USA and the multi-nationals now control every aspect of life in both jurisdictions to an extent that the British could only have dreamt of. To continuously blame the Brits is as facile as it is flawed, Republicanism must redefine what liberty actually means. What do the principles of equality and fraternity portend in the 21st century,? Are these euphemistically now referred to as human and civil rights?

While the struggle was never about “civil rights” and focussed on national sovereignty, I would contend that we need to reverse that maxim. Labour must no longer wait. A socialist republic must be a rights-based society, north and south. Only a progressive and relevant social and/or political movement that challenges poverty, discrimination, racism, sexism etc. can lead the way. There can never be any ambiguity, there can be no courting of the landlords in Ireland or bidding of the overlords in the USA and big business.

For a Republic to work the north must work first. This has been the must difficult concept for me to accept, and I sense it is the one that will draw the most criticism. None the less, it is my firm belief that a Republic with peace walls, sectarianism, polarisation and discrimination is not worth one bead of sweat.

Despite all the back slapping last week, the Good Friday Agreement has failed. It has failed because it has rewarded binary sectarian politics and has embedded into Government a right wing conservative agenda that has bypassed the most vulnerable in the north. So when I state the north must work, I do not mean in the way those in Stormont think it should work. I mean in a way where we build a rights based society, one which protects its vulnerable and cherishes all the children equally.

It is only by adopting such an approach that the dreadful sectarianism that exists can be eroded. Tackling this sectarianism should and must be the priority for every republican in Ireland. It is not something we should promulgate by either word or deed. As republicans it is our imperative to provide leadership to what are called loyalist and unionist communities. It is not the Republican way to denigrate these communities by using the same language that the SDLP and others used about us for 30+ years. Loyalists are not illiterate thugs whose views should be ignored and marginalised by society.

As much as it may hurt, we need to embrace all sections of our society, lead and provide alternative visions. I often read comment on social media from people who classify themselves as Republicans, stating that in a post-partition era, there will be a crack-down on Loyalism, that they won`t be allowed to express their culture or traditions and that they will be locked up. The oppressed should never become the oppressor. There is clearly a space in the North for a radical republican alternative, but we should question if this alternative can be one that was embedded in a conflict that created so much hurt.

Regardless of our thoughts on the purity of the struggle, it was and is viewed by our Unionist population as a sectarian assault on their community. This is probably a challenge that is too great for many Republicans to come to terms with, but if the achievement of the Republic requires those who fought the good fight to take a back seat, then so be it. We need republicans to become active in social, community and political activity, challenging the status quo, north and south, not in the hope that we can one day become the status quo but to fundamentally change the trajectory of Irish political and social life.

We could challenge the corruption in our communities where literally millions are being siphoned off into fraudulent organisations and individuals to feed the peace process. We could challenge a right wing Government in the Executive that happily implements Tory policies when in power and protests against their own decisions when not in power.

I am clear we do not need a homogenous, overarching republican movement and I question that we even need a movement. We need political and social activists who are committed to the republic, activists that are prepared to put in the hard work that is required to bring about the social change that is symbiotic with our vision of the republic.

⏩Muiris Ó Súilleabháin was a member of the Republican Movement until he retired in 2006 after 20 years of service. Fiche bhliain ag fás.