I
am an Irish republican and have been all of my
life. I have never supported the IRA (either official
or provisional) since I believe in the republican
principles of equality of Catholic, Protestant
and Dissenter. I can see whence the IRA emanated,
as a response to unionist terrorism,pogroms and
discrimination, aided and abetted by the British
government, but their campaign was poorly directed
and should not have been aimed at northern Protestants.
What
I cannot understand is why Sinn Fein sees the
implementation of the Good Friday Agreement as
the road to a united Ireland. It most certainly
is not. Even though consent clearly means the
consent of a majority in the north, it will be
made to mean unionist consent, which effectively
rules out a united Ireland for many generations
to come, until the majority in favour of Irish
unity becomes totally unassailable. In the meantime,
the GFA leaves Irish people of the nationalist/republican
tradition under British rule, denied our right
to freedom from British rule, and living under
an agreement which is clearly operated through
a unionist prism. The GFA serves to reinforce
the second-class status of northern nationalists,
since it requires us to accept the partition of
Ireland (until it can be voted down), leaves our
freedom unattained, and leaves unexplored MANY
avenues which might have given us freedom in advance
of reunification, but which were never addressed.
The piddling nature of the North-South bodies
will never lead to Irish unity, and do nothing
to close the gap between Irish people in the south
and those in the north. The entire country remains
riven and the GFA will not help the edges of the
wounds of partition to grow into one another.
Southerners have no desire it seems to move toward
unity, and certainly have no qualms about leaving
their family in the north to languish under continued
foreign oppression. Unionists seem to have won
out under the GFA in a way which cannot equally
be applied to nationalists, and the British are
trying to back track on their commitments under
the GFA, for example the Irish Language Act. It
seems to me that we are no further advanced than
we were in 1974, which is very depressing, considering
the awful violence it took to bring the current
situation about,a situation which is less advanced
than the Sunningdale provisions were. Why is it
that republicans are now being told to support
the British police force here, to support the
British law courts here, in short to agree to
British rule here? What warped view of 'advancement'
could ever propose such an insult to Irish people
as accepting our oppressors and their oppression
of our people? What lunacy drives such a viewpoint?
