Comments on The Pensive Quill: Sinn Fein: A Catalyst For Unionist Unity

Dixie, ‘a long way to nowhere and back to Stormo...

2011-06-19T12:26:00.192+01:00

Dixie,

‘a long way to nowhere and back to Stormont.’

Apt way to put it.

Alec,

‘What we are facing is the creation of a new British statelet, with the inclusion of "republicanism", until such times as the majority consent to something else.’

I see it somewhat differently. The strategy of the British has long been to include republicans but exclude republicanism. That is why there is nothing happening at Stormont today that remotely resembles any of the ideas we shared as activists. When the ideas that SF practice today were raised in the jail they were always in the context of what a defeat would look like or what the Sticks would do. They were never considered republican.

Dixie, as far as I know he worked as an orderly o...

2011-06-13T19:39:19.392+01:00

Dixie,

as far as I know he worked as an orderly on a wing where there were blanket men rather than a blanket wing. Once he decided to wear the gear I don't know what choice he had. By the time the no-wash protest was in place people had a choice. But he did not work on the wing then as far as I am aware.

During the no-wash some of the blanket orderlies were sound. We had two brothers from Lurgan doing our wing and they were decent. There were others as you recall who were the lowest of the low like Donkey Head, the Beechmount rapist and Jimmy Doc who made a point of aiding the screws and hosing us down. So not everybody who was a blanket orderly was a scuz bucket or a decent spud.

I have no knowledge of McCarthy aiding the screws against the blanket men. After he was shot I heard people claim he was sound.

Nuala,

there may well be people who thought it too lenient. I have just never met any. Although to be fair, it was hardly a topic of conversation with me. I never met the guy until I got out.

Alec,

'he went further by working as an orderly in close proximity to the protest. For this he was despised by his comrades possibly leading to grossly exaggerated stories of his behaviour.'

I think this sums the situation up. How big a 'crime' that was is a moot point but in my view it amounts to little.

'I think Dixie makes a fair point by drawing attention to Jim's privileged position in the new patronage based hierarchy within the PRM.'

But he is like so many others. I can only speak from my own dealings with him in the movement after I was released. I found him very fair.

Alfie,

it was difficult enough for them. At the same time a few of them were arrogant bastards and when the protest was over would try the swagger. As tolerant as I was I was having none of that.

Mackers I appreciate what you are saying. My fir...

2011-06-13T02:09:17.811+01:00

Mackers

I appreciate what you are saying. My first experience of someone putting on the gear was in H5 and it was totally demoralising. But Jim was not the typical """squeaky booter", he went further by working as an orderly in close proximity to the protest. For this he was despised by his comrades possibly leading to grossly exaggerated stories of his behaviour.

I think Dixie makes a fair point by drawing attention to Jim's privileged position in the new patronage based hierarchy within the PRM.

The current policies of so called Irish Republican...

2011-06-13T01:23:46.845+01:00

The current policies of so called Irish Republicans(PSF)....It almost reads like something from "pleasantville" where they all start suddenly turning to colour, only in the 'shinners' case it's the colour orange .............. and the more time moves on the more and more they depart from all their beliefs and principles. We all change and mature as human beings but if I matured into a unionist i'd think they was something very wrong ...........

Mackers, there was a lot of people that believed i...

2011-06-12T23:05:17.873+01:00

Mackers,
there was a lot of people that believed it was way too lenient.
There is a huge difference between not being able to endure a protest and downright collaboration.
When I was on remand in 81 I used to sit and talk through the stairs to the girls who had came off the protest.
I never gave it a second thought, I just accepted they must have had their reasons. Some people did not like me speaking to them but that did not bother me either.
But I would never categorize those women like him, never.

Hold on a minute here, we aren't talking about...

2011-06-12T22:56:09.243+01:00

Hold on a minute here, we aren't talking about someone who wore the 'gear'. Many good men couldn't do the Blanket and I know one who wore the gear, got released, returned to the IRA and was shot dead by the Brits.

We are talking about someone who, for extra privileges, aided the screws on the Blanket wings. I don't know if he was as bad as the likes of the former IRA man from Derry, Tommy Murray, who actually put the hose in windows soaking prisoners, but the fact that McCarthy was one of them made him no better.

Theres a big difference between those scum and those men who merely couldn't do the Blanket.

I don't think I would have lasted a day on the...

2011-06-12T22:22:19.441+01:00

I don't think I would have lasted a day on the blanket protest, so I have a lot of sympathy for those who couldn't hack it. They had to endure the shame of their weakness as well as the opprobrium of their comrades.

Alec, he was hardly alone in not leading by examp...

2011-06-12T21:04:29.199+01:00

Alec,

he was hardly alone in not leading by example. Many people were just not up to it. When I came on the protest the animosity towards those who 'wore the gear' was heavy duty. Two years later when people left the protest it was like someone had died. We felt sorry for them. There was no bitterness toward them.

I also know of former blanketmen who now except hi...

2011-06-12T20:58:11.988+01:00

I also know of former blanketmen who now except his punishment was extreme, however, the simple fact he was prepared to work as an orderly whilst his comrades were on protest speaks volumes of the man. Jim was viewed as a prominent republican at the time both locally and in the Crum'. His decision not to go on the protest would have impacted on younger prisoner at the time. He certainly was not leading by example as in the case of young Kieran Nugent.

Nuala, in his defence, I heard quite a few on the...

2011-06-12T20:22:37.505+01:00

Nuala,

in his defence, I heard quite a few on the blanket disagree with him being punished when it happened. They thought it was OTT. I didn't know him in the jail at all.

michaelhenry, the only former blanket orderly cont...

2011-06-12T20:06:38.530+01:00

michaelhenry,
the only former blanket orderly continously talked about amongst republicans is 'filter tip' Mc Carthy.

Dixie,
he held a considerable amount of positions before restorative justice.
Apparently, Jim was able to slide back into the movement all sins forgiven, because he carries a letter from Gerry Adams which totally exonerates him from any wrong doing!

Dixie- I suppose there are no blanket ordelys tha...

2011-06-12T13:03:24.813+01:00

Dixie-

I suppose there are no blanket ordelys that now support the dissidents or are anti Sinn Fein-
Are there volunters who went through the prison protests now in Sinn Fein- of course there are-

Would i have made a good blanket ordely Dixie- i dont know if i could have stuck to the protest or squeaky booted- dont know how you would know then-

John McGirr, Are you sure it isn't Stephen Qu...

2011-06-12T07:47:50.177+01:00

John McGirr,

Are you sure it isn't Stephen Queen rather than Stephen King?

Stephen King used to joke that he was Stephanie Queen. What I liked about him was his refusal to bow down to the religious bullies. He was very open about his sexuality.

Now you have me thinking about Jesus, Queen of Ireland.

Are you sure it isn't Stephen Queen rather tha...

2011-06-12T00:50:29.010+01:00

Are you sure it isn't Stephen Queen rather than Stephen King?

michaelhenry you would've made a good Blanket ...

2011-06-12T00:25:11.082+01:00

michaelhenry you would've made a good Blanket orderly, much like Jim Boots McCarthy and look at where being a Blanket orderly got him...

West Belfast co-ordinator for Community Restorative Justice.

Oh and for the likes of yourself; a Blanket orderly was the lowest form of life during the Blanket protest, someone who aided the screws for a few privileges.

It seems that PSF is full of people these days who would have been Blanket orderlies back then given half the chance.

Dixie- No point in being a dramatic like the Dixi...

2011-06-11T22:59:49.612+01:00

Dixie-

No point in being a dramatic like the Dixie chicks- look what happened to those hen's-

The invasion of the unionist mindset is going well old hand-

Ah michealhenry, when you start cheering on the DU...

2011-06-11T15:09:49.969+01:00

Ah michealhenry, when you start cheering on the DUP in very much the same way that you cheer on your own leadership, you know they've got you!

It might be Macker's reference to Stephen King...I know he's referring to the Unionist and not the writer of horror stories...but why does the likes of yourself keep reminding me of Invasion of The Body Snatchers, in terms of the new Unionist mindset among yourselves?

Am- Stephen king- wonder where the u.u.p are hidi...

2011-06-11T00:09:58.703+01:00

Am-

Stephen king- wonder where the u.u.p are hiding that brain-box- do you remember that public row between the king brain and peter robinson- the one beside the bus which the d.u.p won- wonder what happened to those u.u.p unionists- wonder what happened to their victory-

Mackers, and Stephen King's a right man for th...

2011-06-10T23:24:49.325+01:00

Mackers, and Stephen King's a right man for the horror stories...

Only this is not fiction.

Alec, many of them do know. I have talked to so m...

2011-06-10T21:40:55.591+01:00

Alec,

many of them do know. I have talked to so many unionists over the years. They know who won. Cameron validated it at Stormont for them. Stephen King told me many years ago that the biggest problem unionists had was that they refused to believe that SF could settle for so little - there had to be something else behind it.

Alec, a good example of the 12% plus middle class ...

2011-06-10T21:19:04.588+01:00

Alec, a good example of the 12% plus middle class Catholics who are happy with the status quo is to be found here in Derry. [The Battle of the Bog 'n all that Free Derry Corner, Derry]

Since Marty helped Derry 'secure' the title of UK City of Culture quite a few wanna-be Catholic Brits have come out of the closet.

Sure one of PSF's strongest opponents of the title before Marty backed it; one Maeve McLaughlin was seen on TV clapping like a seal and hugging in the Guildhall once the 'victory' was announced.

Then we had the farce of a Derry guy who wrote and recorded a song about Bloody Sunday, to raise funds for Free Derry Museum [Bloody Sunday] which the local radio stations including Radio Foyle refused to play saying it was too political.

Too fecking political? And hardly a word of rebuke from PSF. In fact if they said anything I missed it!

Then again PSF were for years to the fore in getting the 'London' removed from the city's name. And now after the UK City bollocks any mention of Derry has ~Londonderry stuck at the end. Check out the council website.

As I said; They're becoming more Unionist than the Unionists themselves...

Not a bit wonder old Carson is giving the fingers to the eejits every time they drive pass in their chauffeur driven cars with their portfolios and advisers on the way up to Stormont.

The presence of the British PM at Stormont reveale...

2011-06-10T12:54:17.964+01:00

The presence of the British PM at Stormont revealed the dynamic of government in a very stark way. Not a word of protest nor complaint was uttered by the public representatives of so called Irish republicanism as Cameron lectured them on the future role of local British government. Not a voice was raised against the massive cuts proposed by the Tories; no champion of the working people challenged his plans to destroy the NHS.

The compliance of Sinn Fein in government is clear for all to see. Martin's sterling proformance as DFM has left many republicans dumbfounded and disllusioned and wondering where it all went wrong. Where is the agressive republican strategy to undermine the institutions that we were promised?

Those of us who feared that republicanism would be subsumed by the state to the detriment of the struggle have been proven correct. There is no Sinn Fein road map to a United Ireland. What we are feacing is the creation of a new British statelet, with the inclusion of "republicanism", until such times as the majority consent to something else.

Mackers Interpretation is always subjective. Li...

2011-06-10T11:04:07.416+01:00

Mackers

Interpretation is always subjective.

Like Dixie, I can't for the life of me understand why some unionist fail to see that the position of Northern within the UK is safer now than ever before? The GFA is an internationally binding agreement recognising the constitutional status of NI based on the principle of consent.

What is different about the GFA is that it incorporates Irish Republicanism, if it can now be described as such, into the British state thus nullifying it's oppositional dynamic.

Dr Coulter is correct on one point: so long as a majority of unionist support the union with Britian the position of NI is gauranteed; not to mention the 12% plus middle class catholics who are happy with the ststus quo.

Given that fundamentalist Catholicism is a thing o...

2011-06-10T00:33:48.114+01:00

Given that fundamentalist Catholicism is a thing of the past in mainstream society in the Republic, could Dr. Coulter please explain his reasons for objecting to a united Ireland? I oppose British rule in my country because I believe the people on this island, for good or for ill, have the right to complete control over their own affairs. Occupied Twenty-Six Counties, my bollocks!

Sorry Mackers for saying sorry... But I thought y...

2011-06-09T23:15:05.130+01:00

Sorry Mackers for saying sorry...

But I thought you were saying it was a realistic look?

Anyway, we've come a long way from Gerry Fitt being Deputy Chief Executive to Marty being Deputy First Minister...

A long way to nowhere and back to Stormont.

Dr Coulter should realise that the bogeyman doesn't live under the bed these days. He's made his own bed and is laying on it.

And a very comfy bed it is too; a double bed for him and Peter.