Comments on The Pensive Quill: Good Friday Review: "Speaking Truth to Power"

I still have to agree that the books title is fitt...

2009-06-01T04:17:02.934+01:00

I still have to agree that the books title is fitting and more than reasonable.
The republican family is now more dysfunctional than at anytime over the past forty years. There was never a great cohesion that held republicans together apart from the mantra of “Brits Out.”
The notion of cautious optimism could be implied, there is hope not for republicanism but an alternative republicanism.
Though giving the disagreement within the anti treaty republicans it would not be unreasonable to say republicanism is now republicanism’s?
That is not to say a new form of republican thought cannot arise, though at the same time it cannot be equated with that we understood as republicanism.
With the rise of PSF and the death of the Provos the main force is now reduced to a political party. The anti treaties republicans are split amongst themselves and offer no political voice or any opposition to PSF and their dominance, and they effectively dictate what a republican is.
The only optimism I could see is if PSF begin to crumble until such a time they shall push their brand of republicanism and it is their political dominance that effectively killed the republican movement. They took a calculated gamble under the guise of peace and won, tough call for anti treaty republicans to argue against.

Thanks for the reply Liam. I will have to sit and ...

2009-05-30T14:12:25.149+01:00

Thanks for the reply Liam. I will have to sit and think a fitting reply.

"I...enjoyed reading the review though found the l...

2009-05-30T13:55:16.040+01:00

"I...enjoyed reading the review though found the last line of the above paragraph a little incoherent. "

I hope to clarify it by using a historical analogy.
In 1922, the 26 cos. state suffered from massive legitimacy deficit, as it was the product of a civil war etc.
There was substantial republican opposition to it.
De Valera went into the state with the intent to overthrow it from within. In the process he became part of the institutions he sought to destroy; but Fianna Fail nevertheless managed to introduce reforms which satisfied the bulk of the population and thus created sufficient legitimacy.
The consequence of this is that the political space for the likes of RSF and O Bradaigh has become more and more restricted and explains why republican opposition is so marginal today.
In the 6 cos, a similar process is at work today. The 6 cos was the 'Orange state' from which nationalists were alienated. The Belfast Agreement was a defeat for republicanism, however the Provos have gone into the state with the intent of overthrowing it from within, became part of the system, but like Fianna Fail managed to introduce reforms (equality agenda) which create legitimacy of state institutions ("It's our Stormont too") for a sufficient majority of nationalists. That means that the space for republican politics is getting smaller.

"Would that not qualify as defeatist?"

My own position is "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" (Gramsci)
That said to argue that the post Belfast Agreement NI is "more stable" and "more legitimate" is not the same thing as suggesting that it is ether "stabilised" or "legitimised" (Robbie McVeigh, Racism and Sectarianism in Northern Ireland, in Sara O Sullivan (ed) Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, Dublin: UCD Press, 2007, p.416) The space for republicanism is thus still there.

"Would it be fair to state, republicanism has not been reduced but completely transformed?"

The Provisional Movement has been "completely transformed" but not republicanism.

"Would it be fair to state we are now following a political party and not republican ideology?"

As I pointed in the review, for the Provos the movement is everything and the principles nothing.

However McIntyre's contention that republicanism i...

2009-05-22T03:25:59.483+01:00

However McIntyre's contention that republicanism is a spent force is more debatable. For McIntyre, it was particular British policies, not the British presence in itself which fuelled the development of provisional republicanism. While the book is a clear product of “defeat, decommissioning and disbandment”, it is much too early to say that it is the “death of Irish Republicanism”. There is still political space for Republicanism, even if it is reduced from what it once was.

I enjoyed reading the review though found the last line of the above paragraph a little incoherent. Would it be fair to state, republicanism has not been reduced but completely transformed? With the main body claiming to be a more progresive party and the mutation of republicanism has spawned once again different forms of republicanism's. Would it be fair to state we are now following a political party and not republican ideology?
Reduced:
(transitive and intransitive verb to become smaller in size, number, extent, degree, or intensity, or make something smaller in this way)
Would that not qualify as defeatist?