tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post846717228896866695..comments2009-03-02T21:17:32.866ZAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-41836981110084925372009-03-02T21:17:00.000Z2009-03-02T21:17:00.000ZWeatie, a beneficial exchange. All the best<BR/><BR/>AnthonyAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-42316952442166484432009-03-02T14:40:00.000Z2009-03-02T14:40:00.000ZThanks again a chara<BR/><BR/>Will leave this one for now but will probably feel compelled to post the odd comment to future blogs!<BR/><BR/>On your last paragraph, I will do my best to teach both of them as much about Irish politics as I think is necessary - and as for the economics - well, I might well be economical with the truth, for I have seen it through the rose-tinted glasses of a Beechmount man who still believes in Republican heroes, and I can't help but live in the faith that the quest for a United Ireland must and will continue. Perhaps one or both of my sons will take up the reigns, and they will be heroes regardless!<BR/><BR/>Slán <BR/><BR/>WestieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-36062135312667344242009-02-28T16:31:00.000Z2009-02-28T16:31:00.000ZWestie,<BR/>You are correct to point to the type of reforms your son will benefit from. And if he does not feel obliged to join an IRA because of political circumstances, all the better. We are indeed in a better place than we were. It is the type of place the SDLP long advocated. All of which should make us think that a reformist strategy from the outset might have been a better way to go. <BR/>It is true that republican activists provided the dynamic for such reforms. It is equally true that from their republican perspective they considered a reformist outcome a failure of their project. Now that it has failed a virtue is being fashioned from necessity.<BR/>We have not achieved a united Ireland and no one has shown how the partition principle can be overcome. So the chances of achieving one are about zilch. And those unsophisticated enough to try to pursue the pursuit of one through use of arms will find the same panoply of draconian British laws employed against them as their forbearers. <BR/>There are as you say Sinn Fein activists involved in doing sterling work. That they do it within an exclusively partitionist framework highlights the failure of their republicanism not their commitment to improving life within their communities.<BR/>The long war has turned into a long wait. The current policy is a departure from the long war rather than the continuation of it by other means. An objective review of strategies and policies is impossible while control is top heavy, leaders are in positions for decades, censorship is pervasive and the instinct is to suppress critique rather than encourage it. <BR/>Other republican groups will achieve nothing. This is not a mere failure of strategy but the systemic failure of republicanism. Their membership is subject to the same criticism as the early Provos took from the Sticks. It comes with the turf. There are no doubt dubious characters involved with them but the Provisionals are not exactly squeaky clean here either. The Robert McCartney murder underscored that point. <BR/><BR/>Good luck to you and your children. Their economic future might become a greater concern for you than their political future. And in that I suppose as parents we will, unfortunately, all sing from the same hymn sheet.<BR/><BR/>AnthonyAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-85998759365674859482009-02-24T16:06:00.000Z2009-02-24T16:06:00.000ZAnthony<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the response.<BR/><BR/>And you are right, it was certainly not posted in anger, and I would replace hurt with thoughtful regret, but nohing worse than this.<BR/><BR/>From a positve perspective, like you, I have young children, my oldest having just become a teenager, and I live happy in the knowledge that he is oblivious to British Army and RUC harassment, and that he isn't likely to be faced with the decision in a few years time about whether to 'get involved' or not. He has also been educated in Irish and is very patriotic in his views, which thankfully, is also unlikely to diminish his career prospects in a way that it might have done in 'our' day. Funny. I always thought that the day when there was no more 'foot patrols', 'open-airs' or 'pigs' would mean that we had achieved a United Ireland!<BR/><BR/>So, I do think that we are in a better position today, and I think that a lot of this progress is attributable to the work and sacrafices of the men and women of the Republican Movement over past decades.<BR/><BR/>I also look to many community groups who are currently doing sterling work on the ground, be it for young people, old people, single parents, safer districts etc. and I see SF members or activists permeatted throughout, and I give credit to these individuals and to those who are positioning them in order to drive social, educational and econmic programmes in our areas.<BR/><BR/>As for the bigger picture, whilst fully taking on board your point about the 'guff' - I still think that the long war can continue successfully via a strategic and political path; and so long as the Republican Movement is prepared to <BR/>regularly and objectively review it's strategies and policies, then I a confident that it is capable of progress and ultmate achievement.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps part of my optimism is driven by a reluctance to think of the alternatives, one being that the RM will lose sight of this ultimate raison d'etre; the other being that I do not see any other organisation who can do justice to such a just cause! Certainly some of the actions and personnel involved with so-called dissident groups fill me more with anger and distain than even thinking about them as an Irish Republican Movement.<BR/><BR/>The debate is healthy so keep writing and I will keep reading.<BR/><BR/>Slán<BR/><BR/>WestieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-47014469771635078952009-02-23T19:44:00.000Z2009-02-23T19:44:00.000ZWestie, <BR/>Thanks for this. It seems to have been said more in hurt than anger. Regrettable as that may be it hardly obviates the need to say what has to be said. I don’t believe it is a question of stupid people although there have been a lot of stupid positions adhered to. I think it is more a matter of unthinking people; people who use faith rather than reason. How else can we explain virtually overnight changes? <BR/><BR/>I don’t believe that ‘anyone who lends their support and allegiance to the Provisional movement is nothing but a dim witted fool who is incapable of demonstrating any intelligence or forming their own opinion based on personal experiences, observations and future projection.’ What I do believe is that lending support to the Provisional movement is done for a variety of reasons. There are many intelligent people in it but I do not think they believe the guff. And those that do … you know my view.<BR/><BR/>For example, when Raymond McCartney, an intelligent man, claims that Ian Paisley becoming First Minister was a gigantic step towards a united Ireland do you really think he believed it? A foolish person might believe it but hardly Raymond. <BR/><BR/>The comments about the clenched fist salute I stand over in full. People who endorse informing so that there may be more republican graves have a brass neck standing at any republican grave.<BR/><BR/>An honestly held opinion need not be an intelligent one. Otherwise we would have to describe creationists as holding intelligent views on the basis that they are sincerely held. <BR/>Good luckAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-61308369679539371852009-02-19T18:08:00.000Z2009-02-19T18:08:00.000ZAnthony<BR/><BR/>I enjoy reading your blogs and they offer a healthy and intuitive input into the 'Irish Republican' debate at present.<BR/><BR/>The one slant that I find quite demeaning is the certainty with which you portray that anyone who lends their support and allegience to the Provisional movement is nothing but a dim witted fool who is incapable of demonstrating any intelligence or formimg their own opinion based on personal experiences, observations and future projection. <BR/><BR/>I think that you would agree more than most that people are entitled to their own viewpoint of republicanism / nationalism, be it past, pesent or future and only history will dictate who contributed to the achievement of a 32 county Ireland if we ever achieve this righteous objective.<BR/><BR/>Comments about saluted fists at Easter or other significant times in our calendar are unnecessary and belittle the many thousands of Irish Republicans who honour our dead with dignity and pride at all times.<BR/><BR/>Imo, there is many a good man and woman who are aligned with the Republican movement, and whilst they may not have sacraficed as much as you have, or be as well read as you are, I don't believe that your argument is strengthened any by dismissing such people and ther own honest opinions.<BR/><BR/>Slán<BR/><BR/>WestieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com