'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 latters 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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