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A Deal Done By Quislings

 

Mick Hall • 15 November 2006

There now seems little doubt that the Sinn Fein leadership will accept responsible for the actions of the British Constabulary within the north east of Ireland. Whether before doing so they call a special Ard Fheis, as they are duty bound to, remains open to question. They may well claim this is too important a decision to be left to party members alone and that only the electorate can decide such a momentous change, of course, which would be yet another neat Adamsite device for ducking responsibility and disenfranchising the SF membership, whilst covering himself with a paper thin veneer of democratic accountability.

Indeed the behavior of the Viceroy Peter Hain, when he announced the UK government would be enacting legislation at Westminster in the coming weeks that will enable him to bring direct rule to an end, all but confirms that Mr Adams and his leadership clique within SF have accepted the demands on policing made of them by the British government and the DUP. Whilst the media and the SF membership still give credence to the much hyped SF special Ard Fheis, those directly involved in the negotiations seem to have moved beyond it when making their plans.

Despite (when out of the earshot of the leadership) the majority of the party's rank and file being opposed to accepting the writ of the PSNI in the north (not least because they are well aware that to do so amounts to recognizing the right of the northern Statelet to exist, and by conceding this right they would be decommissioning at the feet of the British State yet another if not the final piece of the crown jewels of Irish Republicanism) they show little real sign of rejecting the will of Mr Adams on this vital matter. They have become so used to acquiescing to his demands after he has put them through yet another periodic bout of self flagellation, that they have all but forgotten why they became Irish Republicans in the first place.

For if they accept responsibility for the very organization within the six counties which holds the line for the British State against the sharp end of political opposition, then it is difficult to understand how the Provos can continue to argue that they oppose the northern State-let in its entirety.

It is harsh to write this of the Provisional Republican Movement, whose membership down the years has withstood and fought back against the most vicious of onslaughts from the British State. But it is undeniable that under the Machiavellian leadership of Gerry Adams, it has now moved from a Republican position to that of the Redmondites, in that SF's first duty is now the defense of that part of the British State that still occupies a part of Irish soil.

What is so startling about the journey Gerry Adams has taken the PRM on to Redmondism, is that he did not even pause at the Nationalist Halt, where many previous generations of republican leaderships found such a comfortable and profitable stop-over, thus making it their final political destination. Mr Adams' excursion was a non-stopper, straight into the arms of Imperialist Grand Central.

That the British State has historically been extremely astute at co-opting radicals and socialists into its system is a historical fact. However, to date they have not had the same success with Irish Republicans as they have had with home-grown socialists or bourgeois nationalists within the colonies. Even the Free Staters demanded certain guarantees of independent action from the British before signing up. Dev, for all his faults, never allowed the British State to take control of any elements of the State he controlled on Irish soil. The Adamsites appear to be willing to sign up to take responsibility for the occupier's police force, and for little more than a photo opportunity within Downing St, dinner at the White House and a promise of a pot of gold which few within SF's core constituency, beyond political activists and businessmen and women, will see a penny of. The very thought takes your breath away and breaks your heart.

Just as the Redmondites at the beginning of WW1 told their supporters in the Irish Volunteers, 'we must prove to the English we are worthy of independence', by being at the fore of those defending the British Empire in the trenches of northern France and the deserts of Arabia, so too will the Adamsites, when they declare they recognize their master's armed wing on the streets of the north, the PSNI. When Máirtín Ó Muilleoir all but begged for advertising from this quarter when Daily Ireland was still in business, the Adamsites were signalling up they will encourage northern nationalist to join this force and thus become quislings. For all their huffing and puffing about MI5 and the securocrats, SF will have no more control over the Secret State than a plumber in Basingstoke or British Labour Party member in Blackpool.

What they have signed up to is a third rate form of municipal government with an illusion of governmental power. Even the most dim-witted reformist understands these days the aformentioned is in the hands of greedy and reactionary advocates of free market economics, which is rigorously enforced from the Center. Thus the Shiners will not even have the power to replicate the work done in the past by the likes of the Northern Ireland Labour Party and the municipal socialists like Ken Livingstone, George Lansbury and Herbert Morrison across the Irish Sea.

Accepting responsibility for the PSNI is a circle that Irish Republicans cannot square, not if they wish to remain followers of Pearse, Connolly and Mellows. When one takes responsibility for the police service of those who occupy your land by force of arms, you become a quisling. It really is as simple as that. To use sophistry as the SF leadership is beginning to do is sickening, with their talk about accepting the writ of the PSNI being on a par with administering the north's public parks.

If the Shinners wish to act like Redmondites and help the British defend their god awful Statelet, that is for them. If they wish to pose at being republicans when they are amongst their own, whilst doffing their caps to the British when in their presence, again it is up to them. But when they do so, they should not be surprised when others see them as quislings, and act accordingly by crossing the road when they see them coming.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Index: Current Articles



19 November 2006

Other Articles From This Issue:

The Bogeyman
Anthony McIntyre

Believe It Or Not
John Kennedy

Contra Con Artists
Anthony McIntyre

The Wrong Kind of Republican?
Ivan Morley

Equality Agenda: British Rhetoric and Reality
Martin Galvin

A Deal Done By Quislings
Mick Hall

Realignments
Dr John Coulter

Deadline? Pull the other one!
David Adams

Political Policing
Martin Ingram

It's Not The Taking Part
Anthony McIntyre

Who Can Get Dr No to Say Yes?
Dr John Coulter

Equality or Equity
Michéal MháDonnáin

Federalism
Michael Gillespie

Revolutionary Unionism
Dr John Coulter

Who Needs Enemies
John Kennedy

The King's Threshold
Robin Kirk


7 November 2006

When It's Time for Change, No One Is Irreplaceable
Mick Hall

Date Fixed For Flawed Landmark Case
Michael McKevitt Justice Campaign

Souper Sinn Fein
Eoghan O'Suilleabhain

Boo!
Dr John Coulter

St Andrews Agreement & 'the Left'
Davy Carlin

Shotgun Wedding
John Kennedy

...and to create the space for a diversity of views...
Noel Dolan

'Undo the Great Betrayal, Free the Occupied 26'
Dr John Coulter

The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Anthony McIntyre

Power & Powerlessness
Patricia Campbell

The Constantine Institute
Terry O'Neill

Mary Robinson Spotlights Human Rights Abuses in Darfur
William Hughes

Fearless Speech
Anthony McIntyre

 

 

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