Comments on The Pensive Quill: Limited

Interested: Thank you for your input--I need to le...

2009-10-23T00:58:43.268+01:00

Interested: Thank you for your input--I need to learn.

uilodomhnaill Having read both Bradleys and Clarke...

2009-10-22T21:12:00.765+01:00

uilodomhnaill
Having read both Bradleys and Clarkes books I would say yeah Bradleys book is very worthwhile reading and seems very honest as for Clarkes it reads exactly as I had thought that of a Special Branch man might write , he gave some insight but never the full picture

Although it should have been primary and obvious t...

2009-10-22T13:28:56.981+01:00

Although it should have been primary and obvious to me,it has only just become so... I have yet to see in print the most obvious reason to press the absolute need for a truth commission---the current rhetoric in the media which dismisses revolution as "terrorism". This became startlingly clear to me after a close reading of "The Shankill Butchers". I was reading along,using my usual standard of criminal analysis derived from Yochelson and Samenow's "Criminal Personality",when the nagging reality popped out from the background of the story of Lenny and his classically criminal crew--that the author was equating psychopaths with revolutionaries! often he interrupts his narrative to compare the IRA to the Butchers,almost directly. History will indeed have received a poor record of this era if the IRA is successfully labelled as urban crime!

John:You have it exact--the real beauty,angst,and ...

2009-10-20T23:45:00.545+01:00

John:You have it exact--the real beauty,angst,and irony of history--the humanity of it!

For those interested,a friend of mine ordered Bra...

2009-10-20T17:05:01.226+01:00

For those interested,a friend of mine ordered Bradley's book from Amazon yesterday on my recommendation and was notified that the book is now out of print and unavailable. Glad I ordered sooner!

For some context I have lived in the US for over 1...

2009-10-19T18:06:25.288+01:00

For some context I have lived in the US for over 10 years now and as such have not followed the peace process in the way I would have followed the conflict i.e. closely and sympathetically but from the sidelines in the south (hence my earlier comment about not having been directly involved).

Since last commenting here I have read Anthony's book - an excellent collection of well written, insightful (probably "inciteful" to the party hacks in SF) but utterly depressing articles. I say depressing because when taken together they illustrate the difficulty with truth that the SF leadership and its support structure has. It stands in stark contrast to the clarity of purpose those on the frontline of the armed conflict once appeared to have either outside in combat or within Long Kesh on the blanket or hunger strike.

I have also begun to read Bradley's book and am bemused as to why it would cause any fuss among IRA leadership as it is very sympathetic and almost disarming (poor choice of words I know) - there is a certain humanizing that it brings to the men and women behind the balaclavas. Surely a good thing?

The more I read, the more obvious it becomes how the truth is such a problem for the current leadership. The trouble is that with the truth you only need to say it once and it stands by itself but lies you need to repeat and repeat, massage, refine and recast in order to try and establish them as the truth.

uilodomhnaill, don't think the suppression ext...

2009-10-18T16:21:25.227+01:00

uilodomhnaill, don't think the suppression extends that far

Starry Plough, I don't know if I will ever get...

2009-10-18T16:18:34.602+01:00

Starry Plough, I don't know if I will ever get a piece done about what SF should do. Time is not as free as it once was. I don't think whatever happens will change anything in terms of political fortunes. I doubt if the party in the South is strong enough to cast off its hardly radical northern leadership. If it were to it is then faced with the problem of carving out a new identity for itself. When I speak of reconstituting I am referring to the potential there for the party to push truth issues. At present it is hard to find anybody who takes the party leadership seriously on such matters. I think that sense of distrust has seeped into the electorate in the South. Letting the party leader talk about economics on television is inviting disaster. People in Dublin are much more highly politicised than people in West Belfast. They will not blindly follow.

Same again on writing about republicanism in current times. Time prohibits any real venture into serious writing. I am supposed to be completing a chapter at the minute for an English university whereas I have barely started it. In discussing matters or republicanism today with republicans critical of SF I find myself raising the point that there is no real future for republicanism. As a philosophical project primarily concerned with overcoming partition it has failed lamentably. I don't see how it can be changed.

AM, I'm interested in your coments about SF b...

2009-10-18T15:42:15.676+01:00

AM, I'm interested in your coments about SF being differently constituted. Could you expand on this at some stage. A piece on what you feel SF supporters need to do to help bring about the changes you would like to see in Sinn Féin.

On a seperate point. I've asked this before, but do you have any more thoughts on trying to write a piece on what is/should be Republicansim in the current times.

Thank you. A greater degree of knowledge is my goa...

2009-10-18T15:35:40.677+01:00

Thank you. A greater degree of knowledge is my goal. At my level of understanding every bit helps. An interesting issue popped up when I first ordered Bradley's book. The first seller I went to indicated,a day or two after accepting the order,that their supplier had "...suddenly listed the book as "cancelled, not available",although it had been available in September..." Excuse my cynicism for wondering if this is an effort at suppression. Won't work, if so---it's available at Amazon.

Uilodomhnaill, Border Crossing is the title. I hav...

2009-10-18T13:58:02.555+01:00

Uilodomhnaill, Border Crossing is the title. I have not read it or Bradley's. A friend has my Bradley copy. I merely suggested both as the type of memoir that is going to bring a greater degree of knowledge forward. Clarke illustrates the type of intentions some in the British state had and which I doubt they would welcome being in the public domain.

What is the title please of George Clarke's me...

2009-10-18T13:36:18.741+01:00

What is the title please of George Clarke's memoirs? Gerry Bradley's book is excellent.

Starry Plough, it never occurred to me at anytime ...

2009-10-18T12:36:08.020+01:00

Starry Plough, it never occurred to me at anytime that Sinn Fein would want a truth commission. I could never see what was in it for them. Calls for truth by the party into this or that invite ridicule each time the party president is asked was he a member of the IRA. I think this is why the Brits don't get too annoyed when SF call for these inquiries. SF differently constituted would be a different matter and would pose a more formidable challenge in its calls for truth. As it is now, is the party likely to cooperate with any 'independent' commission that would show the role of some of its key leaders in many of the major violent events? I can't for the world of me see how it will. I think SF will breathe a sigh of relief when the Tories scuttle the good ship Truth. They are no friends of the truth either even if Cameron can not be accused of having participated in X, Y or Z. After that SF can call for truth knowing it will never come. Then it will take to trying to suppress memoirs and narratives that reveal something not conducive to the image the party wants projected.

So do you feel SF want a UN commission because the...

2009-10-18T10:15:51.427+01:00

So do you feel SF want a UN commission because they know they won't get one? My understanding is they said UN or other independent body. Not sure who is meant by that Amnesty or EU.