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The
old saying the pen is mightier than the sword is not
something Irish republicans have been historically
known to especially adhere too. However with the PIRA
ceasefire and the peace process the leadership of
SF in Belfast seem to have taken this up with a vigour.
No, they have not suddenly decided to increase the
use of the pen to get their political ideas across
more proficiently in the democratic arena, but sadly
the reverse. They seem to have come to the conclusion
that it is vital for them to shut down all democratic
debate within their own communities which is beyond
their immediate control vis a vis the peace
process.
Who
is their target, CIRA, RIRA, RSF, 32 CSM? No, none
of these; as SF is well aware, the majority of the
nationalist communities support the ending of the
armed struggle and in any case, everytime one of these
aforementioned breakaway military organisations attempt
to re-ignite the armed struggle, more often than not
in a haphazard or disastrous manner, it simply reinforces
the communities' desire for a peaceful road, by highlighting
the sheer waste in human terms, whether it be dead
or imprisoned volunteers, or the slaughter and maiming
of innocent civilians.
However
as I have said, whilst it is true that the vast majority
of people have no wish to return to the days of the
armed struggle, this does not mean they fully support
SF sitting alongside David Trimble in the on-off mini-government
at Stormont. Indeed, the human mind being what it
is, with its capacity to push the darkest memories
to one side, an ever increasing number of people are
questioning what has been gained from so doing, apart
from rides in ministerial cars and a wardrobe of new
suits for the few. The word Quisling has not
yet been openly spoken, but one cannot but wonder
if things continue as they are, how long it will be
before it appears on the end of a Belfast gable wall.
As
I have already said, this is not something that has
passed the SF leadership by. They could hardly be
unaware of it as questions are beginning to be asked
by rank and file SF members about where this strategy
is leading and when some beneficial results will be
felt on the ground. Apart from, that is, another newly
elected member being fitted for his/her new suit.
Hospitals are still being run down and privatised,
jobs are just as scarce, loyalist intimidation in
certain areas continues and the RUC carries on much
as before. The presence of the British is displayed
in all its wretched majesty every time Blair turns
on or off the GFA tap. To cap it all the relentless
demand from the British and their Unionist allies
for the decommissioning of IRA arms gets shriller
by the day.
Some are even whispering if the armed struggle is
over, why didn't we dump arms as in past campaigns
and perhaps we would not have found ourselves in this
position. Even the one obvious benefit for Republican
activists from the GFA, the release from jail of prisoners
of war, which seemed at first such a major achievement,
has dimmed as they find themselves out on licence,
liable to be recalled at the whim of the secretary
of State, something that never happened at the end
of previous campaigns.
With
all this bubbling below the surface it is hardly surprising
then that the current SF leadership direct all their
anger and bile onto those ex Provisional republicans
who whilst accepting the end of armed struggle oppose
the SF strategy of signing and continuing to support
the GFA. Unfortunately for SF it just so happens that
this group has an able propagandist in Anthony McIntyre
plus also in a number of his angry and able associates
and a vehicle in which to put forth their ideas in
the Blanket web site. This being the case,
the SF leadership has lost all sense of proportion
attacking the Blanket site and those who write
for it with a venom previously reserved for those
who enforced partition in the north of Ireland. In
the process of so doing they have revealed a darker
side to their politics that is both unattractive and
undemocratic. Without appearing too pompous one could
say that those at the top of SF have a lot to learn
of the cut and thrust of democratic debate.
One
cannot but be reminded of the time back in the 1990s
when British Prime Minister John Major sued the tiny
Bournemouth anarchic magazine Scallywag, after
it published details of his private life. By so doing
Major gave Scallywag, which up until then few
outside the city of Bournemouth had heard of enormous
publicity. Incidentally whilst the accusations where
not entirely accurate, Scallywag had the name
of the women they accused major of having an affair
with wrong. There was as we later found out a method
in his seeming madness in suing Scallywag.
I.e. the actual truth of his infidelities with a fellow
MP was hidden for another decade.
McIntyre
via the Blanket accuses the SF leadership of
trying to enforce political hegemony within west Belfast,
this is he claims why a local Belfast newspaper (on
which a number of SF members work at a senior level)
has put pressure on small news outlets that serve
the Irish community both at home and in the USA to
remove articles first published in the Blanket,
plus the removal of links to the latter's web site.
If true this seems to me a somewhat over ambitious
plan on the part of SF doomed to failure, brought
about one can only surmise by fear and megalomania
(the latter is not unusual amongst politicians who
have held leadership positions unchallenged for a
long period of time). After all at the height of the
armed struggle SF could not stop a majority of nationalists
voting for Dr Joe Hendron and in so doing replacing
Gerry Adams as West Belfast's, MP for a time. Whilst
it is true to use Adams words, "they haven't
gone away you know" the muscle nor the calibre
of volunteers is comparable to the past. To put it
bluntly, after the way the leadership dealt with the
Scappaticci affair, only a fool would go out on a
dark night to enforce the will of the SF leadership.
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