Gerry Bradley Remembered

“I’m not another Denis Donaldson!” ~ Gerry Bradley ~

This is an Obituary written by The Pensive Quill on former PIRA Volunteer, Gerry Bradley, and co-author with veteran Irish historian, Brian Feeney, of ‘Insider: Gerry Bradley’s life in the IRA.’

Gerry Bradley’s publication of his memoirs became a highly contentious and thorny issue within the Irish Republican collective. So much so that he and his family were subject to intimidation in their native North Belfast, which extended to graffiti calling him a ‘Tout’ being dubbed on walls.

However, there was not complete castigation from the Irish Republican movement and several high profile Republicans were quick to stand by their former comrade including former Hunger Striker, Gerard Hodkins, who said:

Gerry Bradley's mistake was he wrote a book without going to them and asking their permission … If you wanted to write a book, they would expect to be presented with a copy for them to censor before it goes to publication.

Fellow PIRA volunteer turned writer, Richard O’Rawe, was also quick to jump to Bradley’s defence and publicly show his support stating:

You have to ask yourself - are they (the leadership) the only ones allowed to write books? Is history never to be recorded properly? It's no coincidence that Gerry felt compelled to write his book. And bear in mind, Gerry Bradley put no one in prison

Whether we agree with former PIRA volunteers writing their memoirs we MUST not forget that there was a 40 year ‘Dirty War’ waged here. Whilst such books may be viewed by some as revealing trade secrets, opportunistic, self-serving etc, are we in a position to judge?

We must candidly ask ourselves do WE have the right to deny future generations of Irish Republicans access to the truth surrounding events, the ability to analysis those events, and hence the opportunity to learn from any mistakes?

"Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul." ~ Mark Twain~

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

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Irish Republican Conflict Junkies Unite!!

…..You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Chains…




The State of Norn Irony’s Deputy First Minister and former Chief Irish Republican negotiator during the Peace Process, Martin McGuinness has recent flagged the alarming increasing blight on Norn Irony society of ‘Conflict Junkies’.-so called dissident Irish Republicans…


If a 'Conflict Junky' support group existed, it could be called, F.A. (Fenian Anonymous, formerly Fenian Aspiration). If it did exist, then the following 12 Step Programme could be used to assist those who may feel dismayed or left behind by Sinn Fein’s direction on Irish Unity.

The 12 Steps to Stormont

[via Black Op GFA, (Give’m Fcuk All)]

STEP 1: We admitted we were powerless over Irish Partition and British Rule – that our 40 Year Struggle had become unmanageable due to infiltration by Supergrasses, [Steakknife & Stakeknife(**-See Footnotes), Brian Nelson,Kevin Fulton et al,] British State Collusion, Shoot to Kill, Sectarian Loyalist death squads, SAS Big Boy Rules, etc etc


STEP 2: Came to believe that a Power (John Hume/Tony Blair/Bertie Ahern) greater than ‘ourselves alone’ could restore us to sanity (Sunningdale Mark II).


STEP 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our political aspirations over to the care of God (aka Big Ian Paisley) as we understood Big Ian (Never, Never, Never).


STEP 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD’s) and ‘The Disappeared”.


STEP 5: Admitted to Big Ian, to ‘ourselves alone’, and to John De Chastelain the exact nature of our WMD’s and where they were…


STEP 6: Were entirely ready to have Big Ian remove all these Fenian defects of character and succumbing to wearing sack clothes and ashes after rigorous mental rehabilitation to produce the Good Friday Agreement (later to be watered down to St Andrew’s/Hillsborough Agreements).


STEP 7: Humbly asked Big Ian should we remove our right to Self Determination through Articles 2 & 3..


STEP 8: Made a list of all persons harmed in the 40 Year Struggle via the Police Ombudsman Office & Historical Enquiries Team etc, and became willing to make amends to them ALL (via Eames/Bradley Report) by palming them of with £12K each!!.


STEP 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, EXCEPT Dissident Irish Republicans where we ask their communities on the ‘Divided Island of Ireland’ to ‘TOUT’ on them to the Garda/PSNI.


STEP 10: Continued to take personal inventory of our Irish Republicanism and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. (EXEMPT: Being an ‘alleged’ member of the Irish Republican Army OR Calling our former Irish Republican comrades ‘Traitors, to the Partitioned Island of Ireland’).


STEP 11: Sought through the GFA/St. Andrew’s agreements, and tree hugging with Tony Blair to improve our conscious contact with Big Ian as we understood Big Ian, praying only for knowledge of Big Ian’s British Imperialist will for us and the power to carry that out after ringing Big Ian seven times for consent.


STEP 12: Having had a spiritual awakening (A Road to Stormont Conversion) as the result of these steps of capitulation, we will try to bluff this message (**, See Foot-notes) to other conflict junkies, and to practice these principles as we administer Britannia’s Rule at Stormont HQ (including her imminent Public sector CUTS) on Irish Soil.


Foot-notes:

*- Note, this is not a typo, there were 2 of them !! Click here  for further information.

** - Unlike Richardson’s fertiliser, this MESSAGE has to get a Standard & Poor’s like credibility rating, as it is still currently being tried and tested home and away (Afganistan, Iraq and Palestine).

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Dealing with Norn Irony's Dissident Irish Republicans

Are Dissident Irish Republicans merely 'Conflict Junkies' ?

The State of Norn Irony’s Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuiness, recently launched a tirade against dissident Irish Republicans as he attended the recent Conservative Party Conference 2010 on the British mainland.

Whilst the Conservative conference had more Union Jacks flying than at the Queen’s coronation, Mr McGuiness remained undeterred and pulled no punches in condemnation of the,

‘when the cat’s away the mice will play bomb attack’

on the UK City of Culture 2011.
One of the less than flattering terms he used to describe the alleged dissident Irish Republican bombers was that of ‘conflict junkies’.

From an Island of Ireland perspective, McGuinness’s timing of the use of the phrase ‘conflict junkies’ could not been worse. At the very best such terminology could be described as extremely ill advised and at worst a cynical side swipe which could have resulted in a PR disaster for the Sinn Fein party within their grass root support. No doubt the current ranglings over NI budget has deflected sufficient attention for now.



An Ill Advised Knee Jerk Reaction?



Ill advised, as it came hot on the heals of Brian Cowan’s (& Ireland’s) very global public humiliation by American chat host Jay Lo of Biffo’s ill-fated morning radio interview. Apart from Cowan’s own personal disgrace, the whole affair re-awakened the world’s perception of the Irish ‘binge’ drinking culture persona. Couple this with McGuinness’s outburst; Irish America may not be exactly amused about the situation on the Island of Ireland!!! Furthermore, this latest dissident Irish Republican side swipe coincided with an extensive UTV news segment which was highlighting the ACTUAL and REAL problems of drug and alcohol addiction in the North. The feature UTV news report highlighted the growing concerns of those providing frontline services to those directly affected by drug/alcohol addiction. Their focus of immediate concern was the lack of adequate rehabilitation facilities which will be further exacerbated by the potential threat of imminent austerity measures and CUTS to N.I. front line medical services.



Politically, within the State of Northern Ireland, the irony that he should highlight this ever spreading blight upon post GFA Norn Iron will be neither lost on the Unionist/loyalist nor the dissident Irish Republican/PSF communities respectively.



Or a Cynical Side Swipe at Dissident Groups?

The ‘Junkies’ terminology is at worst cynical, for those hard-line, (and not necessarily dissident Irish Republicans) who will automatically point to McGuinness’s own contribution to the escalation of the 40 year Struggle and ask, what really has changed on the ground??. Back in the day, Martin McGuinness had a fiery and fanatical dedication to the militant cause of Irish Freedom. This is very evident from his speedy and meteoric rise through the ranks to become the (allegedly)  ‘PIRA Chief of Staff’. His unflinching single mindedness towards a military solution earned him the acrimonious title among the unionist community of ,‘IRA godfather of godfathers’!!!!

So much was he revered and admired amongst the ranks of the PIRA, he was plucked from relative media obscurity and selected as part of a PIRA delegation sent to England to meet William Whitelaw during the PIRA ceasefire of July, 1972.

So, to use substance addiction related terminology to judge McGuinness’s pro PIRA rhetoric and the militant gusto of his media interview performances during these times, you could be forgiven for making the assertion;

‘Be Jesus, Wasn’t Martin McGuinness A Serious Boy Back In the Day, he couldn’t be held back from gettin’ at the Brits, at all at all!!!’

The use of the word,' junkies’, denotes a complete lack of Irish Republican ideology behind the military tactics of the dissident groups. Martin McGuinness in a recent TV interview made a point of reinforcing his own Irish Republican credentials whilst emphatically dismissing the results of a poll which showed a 14% level of support for dissidents. But Martin McGuinness is all too aware that Irish Republican history has always swung between periods of conflict and dialogue although with decreasing levels of ferocity.



However, the pendulum still swung??  The highly respected Irish Republican, Gerard Hodgkins, also moved to play down the poll results by making the assumption that a lot of the 14% you wouldn’t want in a Republican movement. That maybe so, but this can be contradicted by the public acknowledgement by British security sources that these new dissident groups whilst being extremely small are extremely close knit. i.e. these new groups have adapted to alleviate the threat of super grass infiltration which blighted the PIRA campaign pre GFA. Such is the perceived threat that the PSNI Chief Constable, Matt Baggott, has been lobbying for access to “more than £200m of special funding from the treasury reserve during the next five years.”  As regards the David Cameron's defence cutting measures, extra monies will be made available to MI5/6 to keep a beady eye on the Fenian hordes in Norn Irony according to a recent report in the Financial Times:

‘International terrorism is another “tier 1” concern. The document points strikingly to the risk of a “significant increase in the levels of terrorism relating to Northern Ireland”. That indicates MI5 believes dissident republican groups are gaining strength – and might be able to mount a significant attack on the mainland. ‘

Could Martin McGuinness himself be pigeon holed as a reformed ‘Conflict Junky’?

 Those of the DUP/loyalist persuasion will point to Mr McGuinness’s own involvement during the 40 year struggle and automatically adopt a ‘kettle-pot’ analogy, since in their mind set ALL Irish Republican’s are tarred of the one brush. They may even see Mr McGuinness himself as a reformed ‘conflict junky’ as they once described him as the ‘IRA Godfather of Godfathers’. Given his transformation in strategies for Irish re-unification from armalite to unequivocal ballot box, they must quietly hope that he doesn’t suffer a relapse given the increasing pressure from dissident Irish Republican groups who are long past the micro group stage. They will also be scratching their heads in wondering why he cannot show more apathy towards dissuading and helping these ‘misguided’ Irish Republicans. In fact, there would be some who will be questioning why the DFM isn’t adopting a more hands on approach through dialogue with these Irish Republican militants.

Au contraire, anyone who had watched a recent DFM interview would have observed how he recognised the political dissident groups (32 CSM and others) whilst saying that the British/Irish governments were in communication with the militant groupings- perhaps a bit Pontius Pilate like? Surely such a self-centred attitude is not in keeping of a reformed 'conflict junky' and could well be construed in some quarters as egotistical??

No one can fault the PSF stalwarts that have stood behind the current leadership through thick and thin since the ousting of Ruairi O’Brodaigh as Sinn Fein President at the 1986 Ard Fheis. Back then Martin McGuinness’s youthful and exuberant speech on abstentionism (Resolution 162) began with the words:

‘I can give a commitment on behalf of the leadership that we have absolutely no intention of going to Westminster or Stormont.’

And concluded by rallying the party faithful with the assertion of:

‘Don’t go my friends. We will lead you to the republic.'

For many Irish Republicans, these words and promises must seem quite hollow now as they reflect on what actually has been achieved. Martin McGuinness and the leadership promised to take the ‘gun’ out of Irish politics. But the big question looming is:

By Sinn Fein’s very involvement in implementing Sunningdale Mark II via the Stormont Executive, are they themselves now complicit in bringing the ‘gun’ back into Irish politics?

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The Sinn Fein Palestinian Moral and Ideological Connection

Should the Deputy First Minister for the State of Northern Ireland, Martin McGuinness, Call For Expulsion of the UK Israeli Ambassador?   

In recent days there have been widespread calls for the Irish Government, particularly the Taoiseach Brian Cowen and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, to expel the Irish Ambassador to Ireland, since the Israeli Defence Force naval personnel upon the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international chartered waters of the Mediterranean.  However, as yet there has been no pressure brought to bear on the NI Stormont Executive to call for the UK government to consider a similar course of action!    

Has Norn Iron's Deputy Dawg Gone Fishing?

In Northern Ireland, sympathies for the Middle East crisis falls along traditional lines with Republicans/nationalists having affinity for the plight of the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip, and with unionists/loyalists supporting Israel.  In the Republic of Ireland, Sinn Fein’s President Gerry Adams, was adamant in his public demand for the Irish government to expel the Israeli Ambassador, Dr Zion Evrony.   This automatically begs the question, WHY has a similar demand from the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, who recently went to great pains to emphasise that he was only deputy in name and hence that he had EQUAL powers to Peter Robinson?

This is not the first time this ideological conundrum has dogged the Sinn Fein leadership in the Republic and in the Occupied State of Northern Ireland.  Several months ago Eamonn McCann flagged the cordial meeting geared to building TRADE links with Israel.     This meeting was attended by FM Peter Robinson, DFM Martin McGuinness and the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Mr. Posnor.

McCann highlighted the severe contradiction in ideological terms between what Sinn Fein professes to do and what it actually ends up doing.   SF has consistently held a firm stance through-out the years in their unequivocal support for the Palestinian peoples.  So much so, that in the aftermath of the 22 War 18 months ago, Gerry Adams himself visited the Gaza strip to get a first hand assessment of the carnage and destruction inflicted upon the region.  SF compiled an extensive report on the 22 Day War following the visit.  Also, similar actions in support of the Palestinian are visible right though the organisation with Ogra Sinn Fein actively promoting Pro Palestinian campaigns on the ground!

On a superficial level McCann makes the observation that there was no onus on Martin McGuinness to even attend this meeting on ethical/moral grounds given his party’s Palestinian stance.  Furthermore, the opt-out option which accompanies such a non-formal constitutional event is often preferred by his counterparts in the DUP who have opted out of meetings in the past.  From the above photograph of the May 2009 meeting(less than 6 months after the 22 Day War), surely as a minimum requirement the roles should have been reversed with regards the obligatory shaking of hands!!

To read Eamonn McCann’s analysis of the impact that this message transmits to socialists within the Sinn Fein movement please read HERE.  Sinn Fein replied to McCann’s article and it and the subsequent SWP response can be read HERE.

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Sinn Féin's Political Dilemma

Sinn Féin's Ideological Cross Roads


I am penning this post in response to a recent article addressing the lack of progression on Irish Unity by Sinn Fein’s Declan Kearney in An Phoblacht. The article was a timely rallying cry to the remaining Sinn Fein activists prior to yesterday’s Ard Comhairle, in Navan, Co. Meath.



Given Mr Kearney’s esteem within the party hierarchy I thought that his views on Sinn Fein’s political agenda might make interesting reading. Alas, after the first paragraph my hopes of gaining a new political insight were severely dashed! Although eloquently written, it fails miserably to mask the fundamental problem and serves only to re-iterate the much vaunted but now lack lustre Irish Unity strategy adopted by Sinn Fein.

Did Sinn Fein have a Political Plan B?

From preliminary scanning its contents, Mr. Kearney’s article seems a mere pseudo attempt to stir ‘Irish Republican’ sentiment whilst remaining in a delusional (Sunningdale Mark II) comfort zone, hell bent on propping up THEIR ‘so far’ failed Irish Unity strategy and further side swiping and dissing the so-called dissident Irish Republicans! However, whilst remaining within these ‘safe’ confines might be music to the ears for their band wagon ex-SDLP supporters, many traditional Irish Republicans, the very bed rock of Sinn Fein’s foundation, are presumably less than impressed. One interesting observation form the entire article is the stark omission of the words ’32 County Strategy’. Instead he periodically refers to a specific Sinn Fein 26 county strategy. This is hardly conducive to a political party which is supposed to have an alleged 32 County United Ireland agenda at its core.

The first paragraph is quite predictable in re-enforcing upon the reader, Sinn Fein’s progress in true martyrdom style. It also underlines that their pinnacle strategy for Irish Unity still lies in their ‘Political Theatre of Dreams’, The Republic of Ireland. This single minded dogged stance has been the core selling point to Irish Republicans over the years and its continuous rehashing is making it increasingly suspect that Sinn Fein had no apparent Plan B! The only mention of the wee six counties comes to the end of the first paragraph.

Even without the benefit of hindsight given the North's political history, how anyone could actually expect Sunningdale Mark II would advance the cause of Irish Unity is beyond most rational thinking. It could also be construed that this constant infatuation with becoming a power house in Irish politics is in fact a form of acceptance of the failure of Sinn Fein’s Northern Ireland political strategy.

Try as it may and even by the authors self confessed attempts to the contrary, this article amounts to nothing but a string of vague clichés masking the lack of any clear political strategic fore-sight. As regards Sinn Fein’s less than impressive showing in the recent Republic of Ireland European elections, Mr Kearney seems to blame everything and everybody else bar Sinn Fein’s own political stance on the major issues. He lays the blame firmly at the door of various problems including; implementation of the North’s Peace Process, the physical construction of the Sinn Fein political machine in the Republic of Ireland.

Also internal questioning by party members and the existence of political opportunists within SF ranks were also blamed. These latter points have been a proverbial thorn in the side of the party in recent weeks both North and South of the border. In the Republic of Ireland, Christy Burke , John Dwyer and Louise Minihan all sited irreconcilable differences with party policy as their principle reasons for leaving. Louise Minihan gave this summation of her political discontent by claiming that;

"Sinn Féin has over the last 12 years moved steadily away from the core values of Irish socialist republicanism and is no longer willing, or able, to challenge the British occupation of the Six Counties or the rotten capitalist system which is causing so much hardship to working families across Ireland today,"

These resignations were quickly followed up by a public lambasting by Taoiresa Ferris in An Phoblacht regarding the party’s irrelevancy to the Southern electorate. Whilst in the North the recent resignation of Irish Republican stalwart Gerry ‘Gaffer’ Foley in Strabane sent shock waves through the Sinn Fein fraternity.

Whilst Mr Kearney’s article highlighted several peripheral issues within the Sinn Fein’s political structure it did little to address the fundamental political ideological clash and re-balancing required between their nationalist and socialist aspirations.

Nationalism –Vs-Irish Socialism

The whole problem appears to stem from SF’s inability to consolidate a meeting of minds between nationalism and socialism factions as they seek to fight on two political frontiers. This internal struggle to strike a balance between these schools of thought was seen by many as a natural ideological progression following the ‘perceived’ solving of the nationalist question following the Peace Process. However, an alarming out shot has been that nobody within the Sinn Fein party wants to step up to the plate and grasp the nettle of socialism which the party leadership insists is its very essence. This unwillingness in socialist aspiration is in stark contrast to the vision of James Connolly who wrote in ‘Nationalism and Irish Socialism – 1897’;

‘If the national movement of our day is not merely to re-enact the old sad tragedies of our past history, it must show itself capable of rising to the exigencies of the moment.’

The recent European Elections were a golden opportunity for a leftist political party to proverbially milk the leftward swing in Irish electoral sentiment in the midst of the worst recession of a generation.

In a recent article in the Sunday Tribune, ‘The Partitioning of Sinn Fein’ one disillusioned SF party activist bluntly summed up Sinn Fein’s woes;

"Look, Sinn Féin has been imploding for quite a while. The big mystery to everybody is how the media has managed to miss the story for so long............Republicanism is in turmoil. You've got the careerists at the top in their Armani suits gagging to be in government in both parts of the island in time for the centenary of the Rising and they'll get into bed with any other party to do it. And then you've got the people on the ground campaigning on housing and drugs and they see an unelected party official in Dublin involved in selling truckloads of illegal Sky TV boxes. The ties with the dissidents haven't been severed. The leadership turns a blind eye to that and goes off hobnobbing with Fianna Fáil."

Prior to yesterday’s Navan Ard Comhairle, many political pundits believed that the wheels had well and truly come off the Sinn Fein socialist wagon. Time will quickly tell in the boiler room of Irish politics if Sinn Fein can muster a unifying political ideology embracing nationalism and socialism. Or will political events that have yet to transpire show that the ducks have well and truly flown the nest!

‘Without a re-organisation of society on the basis of a broader and more developed form of that common property which underlay the social structure of Ancient Erin - is only national recreancy.

It would be tantamount to a public declaration that our oppressors had so far succeeded in inoculating us with their perverted conceptions of justice and morality that we had finally decided to accept those conceptions as our own, and no longer needed an alien army to force them upon us.’

~James Connolly~

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European Election OR Sectarian Head Count 2009?

European Election OR Sectarian Head Count 2009? Sinn Féin's sitting MEP Bairbre de Brún created Northern Ireland electoral history by topping the poll with 126,184 votes. However, both the Dublin and Irish governments will tonight be pondering nervously about the future of their landmark Good Friday Agreement (Sunningdale Mark II). 

The proverbial fly in the ointment comes in the form of Jim Allister, Leader of Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), who polled an astonishing 66,197 first preference votes. The majority of his votes were gained at the expense of his former party the DUP and their candidate Diane Dodds.


Anyone familiar with the political polarisation within Northern Ireland will be well aware that the word European bares little significance with many voters. Instead, all elections, European or otherwise, since the implementation of the world famed (‘truce’) Good Friday Agreement have acted only to further polarize both political tribes. For unfamiliar NI political observers, you must first grasp an understanding of the under currents of colonialism, partition and sectarianism which both, dominate and stifle, the political agenda in Northern Ireland. Also, this has not been a thunderbolt that has just hit our political scene today or yesterday. Many astute Northern Ireland political pundits will agree that unresolved issues have been festering under the surface since that momentous Friday back in 1998. They will also agree rather than dispel old grievances, GFA has only sought to further exacerbate and compound them which has further institutionalised sectarianism within this British state-let. It is not an understatement to say that the Good Friday Agreement has been decaying since its inception, ever since that immortal premise that;

‘Britain has no more strategic interest in Northern Ireland’.

Au contraire, we have been witnessing a steady slip to the right manifesting itself in an increasingly dogged expression of British imperialist interest. This rightward shift has been accelerated by increasing unionist reaction coupled with the capitulation of Irish Republican ideology.

We need look no further than the insular reactions at the European Election count in the King’s Hall, Belfast today. Whilst, Sinn Fein’s Bairbre de Brún made electoral history, she was not exactly greeted magnanimously by her fellow co-elected European candidates on her emphatic success. Instead her announcement of re-election to the European parliament was greeted in a derisory and cacophonic manner reminiscent of the pre GFA Northern Ireland era. Whilst Ms de Brún made her mandatory victory speech, the TUV supporters proceeded to turn their backs whilst twirling their football rattles and jeered. This was further aggravated by the DUP’s Diane Dodds refusal to offer Ms. De Brun a congratulatory handshake! However, the most rapturous applause came for TUV leader, Jim Allister, who even managed to rework that old phrase coined by Gerry Adams as a rallying cry:

"We haven't gone away you know."

Northern Ireland’s new dice with Sectarianism?

While this Sinn Fein electoral victory may seem to superficially reinforce Sinn Fein’s electoral dominance among the Roman Catholic community, it does not hide the fact Northern Ireland may be facing its most turbulent political storm since the GFA. The zealous antics of unionist politicians yesterday in the King’ Hall only bolsters the common perception that ALL Northern Ireland elections serve only as a mere sectarian headcount!

The unprecedented TUV turnout speaks volumes for the waves of bigotry currently sweeping through grass roots disillusioned unionism. To further crank up the pressure on the DUP, Allister buoyed by his achievement, vowed to stand in Ian Paisley's old electoral stronghold in the next general election. The TUV leader jubilantly pronounced that unionists were;

"Fed up with the roll over unionism in the era of Sinn Féin rule"

~Jim Allister~

To further exacerbate Northern Ireland’s political climate, David Cameron has already indicated that he wants to replace the current forced coalition of Sinn Fein and DUP with a,

'voluntary coalition' 

(politics of exclusion) - in other words, unionist majority rule. If this was to be the case then we would most definitely be facing a Sunningdale Mark II scenario.

Much work needs to be done by both sides to prevent the front pages of Northern Ireland, UK and World newspaper from being adorned by sectarian imagery this summer!  A recent article by Jim Cusack in the Irish Independent gave a chilling warning of potential hostility this summer. He draws stark comparisons with this callous murder of Kevin McDaid and that of the sectarian murder of Protestant man, Billy King. Mr King was kicked to death by Catholic rioters outside his home in the Fountain area of Derry in 1969. This murder was regarded by many as an incendiary event in the escalation of what we now describe as the ‘The Troubles’.

Northern Ireland’s re-branding of collusion, for the 21st Century?

The rearing of the ugly head of sectarianism in Northern Ireland society has recently manifested itself in the loyalist mob murder of Kevin McDaid in Coleraine. Tensions still run high in the area despite strong intervention by both communities to quell the atmosphere. Ever since the gruesome attack, there have been strenuous claims by Mr McDaids family that the PSNI could have averted it. Since the mindless atrocity there has been persistent speculation of PSNI collusion in the Co. Derry attack. This resurfaced recently regarding alleged loyalist contact via text message between a PSNI officer and loyalists in Coleraine prior to the attack. The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is now proceeding to investigate the allegations.

One thing we can be almost certain of in Northern Ireland society and that is of history repeating itself. The above allegations bear a startling similarity to the tragic events surrounding the murder of Robert Hamill. Mr Hamill was another Catholic victim of Loyalist mob attack in Portadown in 1997. Again strenuous allegations were made by eye-witnesses regarding alleged police ‘voyeurism’ as the attack unfolded. No-one was ever convicted of Hamill’s murder and his family’s lawyer – Rosemary Nelson - was subsequently murdered in a car bombing attack in 1999.

Northern Ireland Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan, former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Peter Cory, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch found evidence that MI5, British military intelligence and Northern Irish police colluded with Unionist terrorists in the Hamill and Nelson murders.

Where now for the DUP?

The DUP leadership will wake up this morning to a day of confusion, fear and recrimination. The onus is very much on First Minister Peter Robinson to command his party through these uncertain waters. The DUP can look to a variety of reasons for its emphatic and historic fall from grace in Northern Ireland’s European Election 2009.

As a direct result of these European Election results the DUP may now seek to delay the devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to the Assembly.

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Our Brave New World.......

Has Sinn Fein now become a victim of their own countless spin? On hindsight we need look no further than the Blair years and the Good Friday agreement and how they brought us to that point in the first place, lest we forget! To reach that momentous point in our embattled history the SF leadership on numerous occasions re-iterated upon the republican movement 'of not a bullet not an ounce' attitude would be the driving force on negotiating any agreement with the British government.

However, since then the republican movement (the very foundation upon which SF are built) has had to endure anything but! They have been forced to sit back and witness the steady dilution and possible erosion of their core fundamental ideas for which many of them devoted their lives and energies to strive for. The major repercussion is that serious issues and commitments being swept under the carpet by media manipulation and good old fashioned hood winking. Does this strategy of

‘eyes wide shut!’

seem familiar? And hence, this apparent refusal to accept and deal with disgruntlement among the grass roots has all culminated in the inner vacuum, which has unfortunately manifested itself in the happenings over the last few days.

How can Martin McGuinness expect genuine republicans (not the band wagon ones who SF seem so keen to need to keep their votal dominance), to believe a man who in the one hand exacerbates about the hurt the soldiers caused on our streets yet on the other hand can find nothing to say about the fact that his Stormont government is HARBOURING & TRAINING foreign forces here, until they await deployment in Iraq & Afghanistan. This defies all logic and flies in the face of true republican beliefs. In an essence, we are aiding and abetting in the British imperialist attempts to occupy foreign lands. I personally find it despicable that all of our illustrious leaders and self-professed freedom fighters can only sit back and watch unabated at the suffering caused by conflicts in the Middle East! Have they now taken a vow of silence to appease their new bedfellows in Stormont?

Complacency and arrogance that accompanies the notion that

'the job is done boys!'

has befallen the movement as it turns its attention to trying to become a voice in the Republic. But wait a moment; surely their whole '

raison d'etre'

was to deliver 32 counties and emancipate their people! There current strategy, or lack of, seems to be shrouded in mystery to the point that is frankly farcical!

So alas, we find ourselves in our current predicament. Many may feel that my comments are lambasting the leadership of SF as having failed, but this not entirely so. Yes, in some respects without them we probably would not have got to where we are today. But there in lies the conundrum! Where exactly are we today? Are we any closer to a United Ireland, the Holy Grail for republicans? To get to the Good Friday agreement we were bombarded by ‘Road Maps’ and time deadlines. However, since then there has not been a single mention of complete and unequivocal removal of British forces from Ireland. Yet the British government has made their precise withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan a key focal point of their PR machine to their own people.

Over the last few days we have been witnessing a doomsday scenario from all forms of the media. All this is doing is fuelling the flames of resentment and hostility already being felt on the ground. Also, to right of the perpetrators as criminals and cowards is extremely counter productive. This aloof attitude is only acting as a recruitment mechanism and serves only to appease the masses in the short term. Like it or not their core fundamental belief system exists and is there main driving force. Fortunately for now, we are no where near the point of no return but it would be futile, arrogant and extremely fool hardy for anyone to under estimate these mini-eruptions of dis-contentment, especially for the ranks of SF. To prevent a further escalation of unrest and dis-quiet it is time for our leaders to show true leadership as indicative of their forefathers and predecessors. It is time to admit truthfully to their electorate that their original aims and objectives will not be fully achieved, and give a full and frank state of the nation like appraisal to their electorate of where the hopes and dreams of Irish Republicans actually lies.

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Political Solution or Political Illusion Part I

I have always been intrigued through out history about the mystery of illusionists and now they captivated and enthused their audiences. Not to bore you with the details, the art of illusion falls into three broad categories, optical, auditory and tactile, with the former two the best known by most of us.



However, prestidigitation or misdirection is the fundamental backbone of many illusions. The true art of illusion involves focusing the audience’s attention on one object or place while the actual trick is conducted elsewhere.
The art of illusion has always been synonymous with politics through out world history and unfortunately our own shores have not escaped it’s effects.
However, when an entire society subscribes to an illusion, mankind will inevitably correct the transgression, or perish as a whole. Have no doubt; confronting strong proponents of illusions requires eternal vigilance. Vigilance in this context can only mean; confronting a persistent political illusion with a legitimate political vision.

‘Facts are stubborn things; and whatever maybe our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence!’ (John Adams, 2nd American President, 1797–1801)

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So how can the art of illusion be adapted to our current political situation. In one word ‘The Good Friday Agreement’!! In my opinion this agreement provided the imaginary cloak for Britain’s plan to burden us with the next phase of it’s very calculated and visionary imperial agenda!

In my previous letter I made reference to British Imperialism and it’s effect upon the Irish people. But on closer inspection Imperialism can take many guises and not just the military form which we all pre-occupied ourselves with and were subject to up until The Good Friday Agreement. (and to some Republican’s still are!!!)

As the British government will know, through their practices both here and on foreign soils, military imperialism is only the first step in establishing imperial hegemony - (a word I will explain later)- and a very uneconomic one at that! It is costly and, by itself, produces few long-term benefits for the colonizer. Therefore, it must be followed by strategies to persuade the colonized to accept their condition and transfer their allegiance to their conquerors to ensure an uninterrupted flow of benefits from colonized to colonizer without further military intervention. Hence military imperialism transforms itself into linguistic and cultural imperialism.

Hegemony can be best described as the processes by which a dominant culture maintains its dominant position: for example, the use of institutions to formalize power; the employment of a bureaucracy to make power seem abstract (and, therefore, not attached to any one individual); the setting up a police force to control opposition. To the sceptics this will resemble very much our Stormont government of today and on the ongoing debate regarding The Irish Language Bill, The Policing & Justice Bill and cultural and emblems issues. The recent rumblings of disquiet from dissident Republican groups are just the repercussions of when, once insurgent ideology, threatens to become hemogenic.

However, let us not kid ourselves that we are any better off from having no more military imperialism. By their very nature, linguistic and cultural imperialism are more insidious than the military form!! There is a very fine line demarcating political vision and political illusion especially since memory and recollection play such a major part in our nationalist and republican tradition.

So to all you traditional Republican’s out there, I will sign of with an extract from one of two ballads inserted in the play ‘The Freedom of the City’ by Brian Friel: and depicts the aftermath of three IRA volunteers who were shot in the Guild Hall Square, Derry.

“We’ll not forget that sunny evening, nor the names of these bold three
Who gave their lives for their ideal – Mother Ireland, one and free.
They join the lines of long-gone heroes, England’s victims, one and all.
We have their memory still to guide us; we have their courage to recall”

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