The politics of failure

Destroying the past to build a future on sand

The last few days has seen a rush to be seen in the cameras condemning the actions that took place in Omagh on Saturday 2nd April. What is the point of all this hot air and rhetoric other than to boost the egos of those who are making the utterences. The death of anyone is a sad occasion, the sudden death of a loved one is devastating. Make no mistake this was a tragedy in Omagh. It is a tragedy because no-one has learned the lessons of the past.

The purpose of this opinion piece is to express my sadness that there has yet again been another lost life as a direct result of the failure to resolve the conflict between Britain and Ireland. The partition of Ireland is still a crime, it was a crime when it was imposed at the threat of "terrible war" and it is a crime now. As it states in the 1916 Proclamtion - the long usurpation of a right does not extinquish that right. England's involvement in Ireland is wrong and will always be wrong. Having local administrators does not right that wrong. When the United Irish Men declared war on England's occupation of our country, there was a Parliament in Dublin. When Connolly and Pearse stood on the steps of the GPO in Dublin in 1916 and declared war on England there was a strong Irish Parliamenary Party attempting to bring about the peaceful resolution of the British/Irish conflict. In 1922 people voted for the Treaty of Surrender, yet the IRA (then labelled Irregulars) fought on and on and on. Today militant Republicanism standing on that historical platform consider it their duty to "do something". The cause for which militant Republicanism has always declared it was fighting for is still not achieved - the cause for which parliamentary nationalists have always worked towards is achieved. The work of the Irish Parliamentary Party and the SDLP has been generally delivered by Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein no longer represent the Republican position but have taken many people from the Republican position and placed them firmly within the framework of Irish Parliamentary nationalism. The view now of the "armed struggle" by these former combatants in SF appears to be that the entire 30 years of killing and maiming, prison and Hunger Strikes was to get jobs for Catholics! If they truly believe that then the Provisional IRA were merely sectarian killers, murdering for "civil rights" as British subjects. Because you can't have it everyway. Either it was a revolutionary war which was lost or it was a sectarian murder spree (as the enemies of Republicanism always claimed) to get jobs and positions for Catholics. If that is the case Sinn Fein can no longer take pride in the "Long War" - what glory is there in being a gang of sectarian killers? However, if the war in the six counties was part of the continuous war against Britain's involvement in Ireland, if it was part of the same struggle that Ernie O'Malley was involved in, then the present violence fits the same pattern and must be resolved within the same historical framework. It's grim that young Irish people are again killing for a cause that has been failed continuously over a period of over 200 years. Idealism is not acheivable and leaders with their eye on power will always sell the "cause" short. Such is life. The whole thing is perhaps utterly pointless but still gives people a sense of meaning and purpose. SF have no direction beyond political power at any costs. The present leadership are there as a result of the deaths of many many people. SF stand shoulder to shoulder with British police and call on young Irish people to join that same Britsh police force. Really where is it all going? "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."