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Sabotaging The Fight For Freedom
Liam O Comain • 20.10.03

'If your deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then we will win it with a better deed'.

I begin this with the words of Patrick Pearse and I direct it at the Provisional leadership informing them of our intent.

It was reported by the media at the time that Martin McGuinness shouted at Rauri O Bradaigh when the latter led his followers from an Ard Fheis: 'You are going nowhere, Rauri' or words to that effect. Since then, upon reflection, I'd rather share the company of Rauri in 'nowhere' than spend one second with Martin administering British rule.

Which raises the question of why and how could some of the leaders of the most capable guerilla movement, perhaps in history, abandon republican principle after republican principle and in the process disown their oath or declaration to the Republic. It is a question which perhaps may never be answered but in order to pursue the re-establishment of the Republic it has to be considered.

Does the Provo leadership really believe that their present strategy will in due course bring about an all-Ireland republic? Do they see their approach as a stepping stone to the republic?

There have been others like Michael Collins who saw the first Treaty as a stepping stone towards the republic and although he opposed the Treaty originally Eamon de Valera came to share similar views to Collins.Collins death prevents us from sharing knowledge of how he would have reacted to events in due course but the legacy of de Valera is there for all to see.

The suppression of the republican movement- first by the Free State powers and later by the so called 'republican government'- appeared to endorse the contention of the Fenian, O'Leary, that those former comrades who take a road removed from the revolutionary way become more despotic than the despots themselves...

There also exists the question that if eighty years of southern self-rule was not a sufficient stepping stone towards the republic, then how can one expect an arrangement, which guarantees political consensus and the veto to the Unionists, to unite Ireland in 10 or 15 years ?

There are those who view the Provo strategy as a type of wooden horse of the Troy situation — destroying from within — but since the appearence of the Belfast Agreement there are no signs confirming this. If anything, the Provo representatives through their strong commitment are determined to see the continuing survival of what is a partitionist arrangement.

Does this determination arise from the fact that some of the Provisional leaders have claimed that there will be a united Ireland in 10-15 years? Is it possible that they believe this and have accepted the old argument that the nationalists will by then have become the majority, and that arising from this, freedom and democracy will be realised?

If so, then the Provo leaders are naïve in the extreme, for when did Loyalism or the Brits adhere to democracy in relation to Ireland? Even within the SDLP there are those who do not subscribe to the principle of democracy and are quite willing to accept the status quo in relation to the North, i.e., continuing to be a part of the so-called United Kingdom for the sake of 'good neighbourliness'.

Does Adams and co not realise that the SDLP are not a nationalist party, and that the southern political establishment do not want to know, although they pay lip service to the concept of a united Ireland. In fact, the so-called nationalist consensus was a myth — a con perpetrated by the Southern political establishment, the SDLP, and right wing Irish-America for the sole purpose of sabotaging the military campaign.

This could not have happened, however, if there did not exist within the Provisionals individuals susceptible to the process of the latter’s propaganda or was there more?.Persons who through the exercise of patience, intrigue, macho propaganda, and the arrangement with the British for the release of the prisoners, etc., swayed the ordinary members to abandon the revolutionary objective and in turn become a part of the partitionist set-up.

In fact, some time prior to the revelation of a so-called nationalist consensus, the then SDLP leader, John Hume, paid a visit to my home presumably under another context; but during our conversation I felt that John was visiting under false pretences, and that he was subtly gathering my opinion upon the possibility of the afore named consensus.It was then that he told me that Adams had made the approach to him first via Fr. Reid and if my recall is right this was in 1982...

I began this piece with reference to Martin MacGuinness and I conclude with reference to him.When Martin uses the term 'nowhere' is this a code for 'somewhere' in his mind, and may that somewhere not be a federation between Britain and Ireland upon the present loose parliamentary structure arising from the Belfast Agreement and including the north and south bodies?



 

 

 

 

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The Blanket - A Journal of Protest & Dissent



 

 

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Index: Current Articles



20 October 2003

 

Other Articles From This Issue:

 

The Big Fella and the Big Lad
Breandán Ó Muirthile

 

Sabotaging the Fight for Freedom
Liam O Comain

 

Republicanism: Relevant and Not Going Away
TJ O Conchuir

 

Anti-Racism Network Statement for Endorsement
Davy Carlin

 

From Where Springs Hope
Anthony McIntyre

 

Trashing Free Software
Toni Solo

 

18 October 2003

 

Hold Onto Your Guns
Liam O Comain

 

Loyalist Violence
Newton Emerson

 

Sleeping With the Enemy
Kathleen O Halloran

 

Whatever Happened to the Anti War Movement?
Brendan O'Neill

 

Free Joe & Clare
Davy Carlin

 

Theodor Adorno
Liam O Ruairc

 

The Desaparecidos
Anthony McIntyre

 

The Letters Page has been updated.

 

 

 

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