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In
my experience, there are few, if any, political-military
conflicts currently taking place in the world in which
rumour and innuendo plays such a prominent and detrimental
role as it appears to do in the north of Ireland,
and takes flight in quite the manner in which it does
there. Sometimes one's head literally spins trying
to cut through the bull. And don’t think it is
just the Brits who are engaged in such tactics; all
the main players are up to it. Republicans, Loyalists/Unionists,
Nationalists, leading Protestant and Catholic clergy,
senior police officers, and some who are not so senior,
and, one must not forget, the British Armed Forces
and Civil Servants, the Political Party for which
the Secretary of State and his Ministers belong, plus
a host of less prominent propagandists.… Half
the watering holes within the north of Ireland must
be kept afloat from back-handers of one sought or
another emulating from within these circles.…
Every section of the north's political community has
their favourite journalist through whom they try,
and more often than not do, plant stories in the media.
In such a small community as the north of Ireland,
far from having a positive impact on the Peace Process
this continuous spinning has the opposite effect.
When this type of political spinning goes on in the
rest of the EU or in the USA, by and large only the
political elite and those who bother to read the political
pages of the broadsheets get to hear about it. The
general public have become almost immune to it. Thus
whereas much of the Westminster village regards the
likes of Peter Mandelson as a master of the black
arts of politics, spinning against his master's opponents,
the electorate regard him as an over-promoted waster
who continuously returns from the political dead due
to some hold, real or imagined, that they believe
he has over Mr Blair. In other words, they are not
that far from the truth having sussed the game out
and, having done so, want no part of it nor with those
who practice it.
Whereas in the north of Ireland, where in the past
the political stakes have often been a matter of life
or death, people tend to take rumours and innuendoes
more seriously. For if true they may impact on one's
life in a detrimental manner, whereas elsewhere the
most that can happen is this or that politician is
up or down. Add to this the comparatively small population
in the north of Ireland which helps these rumours
and innuendoes quickly filter down to the man/woman
on the street. Thus, whilst they were originally designed
to influence and outwit political opponents, what
also happens is that they often demoralise and confuse
the general public. Unfortunately these political
‘spinners’, once they have sown their seed
of deceit and it has filtered down to their core constituency,
can hardly then turn around to the said constituency
and say 'ignore this, it is all rubbish, we put it
out to outwit the Brits, Prods, Provo’s, Whoever',
for if they were to do this their words would also
quickly find their way into the media, thus exposing
them as the shifty so and so they in reality are.
In other words the end result of all this intrigue
and liquid lunching of pliable journalists can only
be described as a dog's breakfast, which leaves the
average Northern Irish voter confused, angry, demoralised
and, of some importance to the Peace Process, ever
more contemptuous of the north's professional politicians.
From a Republican standpoint it was perfectly understandable
that this type of thing went on during the armed struggle,
when Republicans were either barred from much of the
media or treated by it with the utmost caution. However
this is no longer the situation today. One only has
to look at the current situation within the republican
movement's heartlands to see all this spinning by
the SF leadership is having a counterproductive effect
on the nationalist community's interest. Besides,
this is a battle Republicans cannot win due to the
Brits' overwhelming advantage in controlling and manipulating
the media.
Perhaps it is time Republicans started trusting their
communities politically, as they once did militarily.
Stop all this behind the scenes crap, in which the
Brits seem to come out ahead more often than not,
and instead regard all conversations with journalist
as being on the record. Any negotiations with the
Unionist Parties and the British should also be placed
on the public record. No more secret deals or agreement
by nods and winks, full disclosure of what was negotiated
after each session ends. This would terrify the British
with their double dealing nods and winks and ego puffing
about this or that prominent Republican being equal
to any good staff officer in the British Army, the
bloody cheek of it! The one thing all governments
fear is the cold light of day being let into their
deliberations. Nowhere is this more true than with
the British State's Governance of the six counties.
For SF to allow themselves into being enticed into
playing this game is foolishness on a major scale.
For how, at a later date, can they call for transparency
over such important issues as Collusion, when they
themselves have been party to secret deals with the
British State? If they were to reject all this secrecy,
not only would they be setting a benchmark for any
future reunification negotiations, however far in
the distance they may be, they would also have the
advantage of making the RM, when they issue public
statements to the media, appear more trustworthy than
their opponents and rightly so.
It is a total mystery to me why SF continues to conduct
closed negotiations with the British State. Historically
time and again the British have reneged on binding
agreements made with Ireland's political representatives,
or in the case of the Treaty which brought into being
the Free State and Northern Ireland, forced its signing
with the threat of dire military consequences. The
Provisional Republican Movement has itself been on
the receiving end of such skulduggery, not least with
the deal that was agreed after the first Maze hunger
strike of the 1980s was called off. Yet still Mr Adams
insists on agreeing to any negotiations with the British
state on terms that cannot but be beneficial to the
British. Whereas if SF were to insist on the openness
I have mentioned above, the populations of Ireland
and beyond would be with him.
If anyone doubts what I have written above, I suggest
they watch Andrzej Wajda's movie, Man of Iron
(1981). It covers the birth of Solidarity and has
documentary footage of the 1980 Gdansk shipyard strikes
and the negotiations that the Union's leaders had
with the Stalinist Government of Poland. Solidarity
insisted that these negotiations were open to all
and broadcast live into the shipyards etc. The Polish
Government bureaucrats just could not understand this
demand. If we do this, how can a 'deal' be done, they
helplessly asked. What they misunderstood was that
Lech Walensa's advisers did not want any wretched
'deal,' they had something much bigger and honest
in mind, equality and fairness. And they achieved
it. Of course as they were dealing with lying scumbags
who took their orders from further east it was not
adhered to, but that is not my point here. In any
case the situation in the north is different as the
Brits increasingly appear to want to leave.
Perhaps
they should send a message to Martin and ask him how.
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