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Unfortunately
but frequently The Blanket has, without hesitation,
found itself in the position of giving voice to those
whom wider and more powerful forces would seek to
silence. Often these are the voices of 'dissident
republicans.' On occasion associates of the 'antisocial'
fraternity too have had their say. In such cases The
Blanket virtually never shares the perspective of
those whose voices have broken free from the vow of
silence imposed on them by more powerful institutions.
But their right to speak is as inviolable as the desire
to silence them is malevolent.
Few
seriously dispute that for a number of years there
has been an ongoing systematic campaign by the Provisional
Republican Movement to suppress those other republicans
who are opposed to the Provisionals' political project,
which basically amounts to the naked pursuit of institutional
power characterised by a willingness to ditch every
tenet of republicanism in order to make the journey
into officialdom easier. Rite of passage from a position
of radical critique to one of conservative entrenchment
invariably involves undergoing a certain ritual. Stamping
on former comrades is like a symbolic public act of
circumcision whereby the radical boy becomes a conservative
man - the bloody and sharpened knife has to be brandished
in order to demonstrate that the snip is complete.
For
the most part the Provisional campaign of suppression
is subtle and insidious. But from time to time the
coercion is brutal and public as in the case of Gerry
Adams' West Belfast constituent, Jo Jo O'Connor who
was left dead in the street in front of local people
including children. Only a matter of weeks ago the
case of Brendan Shannon, who now lives under the
burden of a death threat, was raised in the pages
of this journal. So obsessed is Provisional republicanism
with emulating the strategy of the Workers Party that,
with a measure of state and media complicity, there
has been no abatement in its willingness to defend
the process and disregard the peace. Seemingly, the
peace process is not a peaceful process.
In
the early hours of yesterday morning a member of the
32 County Sovereignty Movement was abducted
by armed men in South Belfast. Although the 32 CSM
contends that Stephen Moore's abductors claimed to
be members of the Provisional IRA and that they had
threatened his young girl friend, the father of the
girl has disputed this on both counts. Moore, who
has in the past been the target of police pressure
aimed at coercing him into becoming an informer, was,
according to Marian Price, harangued by a senior Provisional
late last month that if he did not hand himself over
for interrogation at the hands of Sinn Fein's secret
police he would face the same fate as Gareth O'Connor.
The latter vanished while travelling from his Armagh
home to Dundalk Garda station earlier this year. 'Members
of the Provisionals told Stephen he had to hand himself
in to them to be cleared by them. He refused, but
the men told him if he didn’t they would do a
Gareth O`Connor on him.' Apart from being redolent
of the arrogant triumphalism of the Argentine military
(it too lost the war) this has added ballast to the
already weighty suspicion that the Provisionals were
behind the Armagh City man's disappearance. In a poignant
twist, the mother of Gareth O'Connor last night rang
Marian Price to inquire had Stephen turned up yet.
In the view of Marian Price the deluge of relief that
engulfed the woman was audible. Bernie O'Connor was
uplifted to find that Stephen Moore's mother would
not have to face the ordeal that the Armagh family
has underwent since May. She expressed the wish to
Marian Price that the Provisional IRA would disclose
the location of her son's whereabouts.
Despite
all its howling over the years about RUC and prison
service ill-treatment it seems that the Provisional
Movement far from defeating those opponents, has
been both outfoxed and influenced by their methods.
People who try to excuse by way of contextualisation
violently suppressing other voices through recourse
to some grand metanarrative - the peace process -
have themselves become constituted by the very unequal
power relations they profess to oppose. In a
statement from the 32 County Sovereignty Movement
it was claimed that:
Stephen
was stripped naked, had his head and face covered
in duct tape, and then dressed in a white paper
overall. His captors then bound his hands and feet
behind his back and left him in a cold damp derelict
house until this morning. He was then interrogated
about anti-agreement republicans and told he was
about to be shot. Apparently after a commotion outside
Stephen was given his clothes and released.
Also,
according to Marian Price, a woman visited friends
of the kidnapped man in the Lower Ormeau Road and
told them if the press or police were notified 'there
would be serious repercussions.' Local people have
told The Blanket that the woman in question
was a member of Sinn Fein.
Stephen
Moore is a West Belfast man. His constituency MP has
on many occasions faced the accusation that he is
also a member of the Provisional IRA's army council,
an allegation the Sinn Fein president swats away with
limp-wristed conviction; the Sinn Fein cumann in Outer
Mongolia apparently alone in believing him. West Belfast
republicans who dissent from the current Sinn Fein
leadership should not be cowered into a soundproof
corner where their protestations go unheard. Nor should
they play by the rules of the game which the British
and Irish governments are happy to host whereby all
must acquiesce in the regime of deceit which has become
the lifeblood of the peace process. They should employ
a counter discourse which reverses and disrupts the
linguistic falsities and niceties of the political
class by publicly and vociferously stating that they
want parity of esteem. This means openly demanding
from every rooftop that, like other constituents governed
by the British parliament, they cannot be murdered,
mutilated or abducted on the orders of their Westminster
MP. Had Enoch Powell faced similar accusations in
relation to his black constituents in Wolverhampton
there would have been a public outcry. As Liam Kennedy
observes ‘we inhabit a strange, deformed society.'
Finchley, West Belfast definitely is not.
The
Provisional republican leadership could do worse than
pay attention to the words of Danny Morrison who astutely
addressed the matter of internecine bloodletting.
'Most feuds were initiated by leaderships who could
not handle challenge and dissidence. It is important
to persistently engage in dialogue, to listen and
to realise, above all, the humanity of the people
who frustrate, anger, threaten and even attack you.'
Unfortunately, such a scenario seems as far away as
the Provisional IRA army council becoming poverty
stricken.
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