Comments on The Pensive Quill: Against the Odds

Anthony what you said there is bang on!! there is ...

2009-03-29T12:41:00.000+01:00

Anthony what you said there is bang on!! there is no war with the british. I Feel sorry in some Way for That 17 yr Old chid Who has being BrainWashed about this united Ireland. as long as there is british rule in Ireland. we have the right to take up arms.its so sad that this guy goes to jail for life for what? nothing. its a joke!!!

Balor, so you disagree with aspects of what I say....

2009-03-29T09:11:00.000+01:00

Balor, so you disagree with aspects of what I say. Well, it wouldn’t be like you now would it?!! Nothing wrong with disagreeing on this blog.
Whether you shake hands with a PSNI member is a choice for yourself. And the meaning you attach to it is a meaning others are not obligated to share. Everybody who voted for the GFA or supports the consent principle ‘perpetuates British rule in Ireland.’ You might end up shaking only your own hand – well its not that bad but you know the point I am making. O’Dowd, by shaking the cop’s hand per se is not saying that the act is criminal. He can shake the cop’s hand and still view the attack as political. It is through O’Dowd’s discourse, not the handshake, that reveals that he thinks it is a criminal act.
But the question it really boils down to is this: would you rather that O'Dowd shake the cop's hand or that the Continuity IRA kill the cop? You know my view on it.
If a cop shakes hands with you tomorrow is he endorsing your view that the killing of the PSNI man in Craigavon is a political act rather than a criminal one? I wouldn’t imagine it. Why then if you shake his does it mean you are endorsing his views?
I have shaken hands with members of every political party in Britain and Ireland, PSNI members, a former SAS officer, Tory MPs, Labour MPs, loyalists, Irish army officers, prison officers, governors. If a mere handshake by O’Dowd to a peeler makes him a collaborator then I must be an arch traitor with no equal in history.
When I shake hands with SF members, as I frequently do when I bump into those who still chew the fat with me, or have a drink with them, am I endorsing their position, their views on everything?
Everything you say about British justice may well be true but that does not mean that physical force republicanism is any more just.

Mark, given that this position is so far removed f...

2009-03-28T14:50:00.000Z

Mark, given that this position is so far removed from anything I endorse but which unfortunately is probably representative of a broad enough view out there it is perhaps best addressed through a post rather than a comment

George, your points are better made when they are not condescending. Good guy, just contorted - because I don't think the way you think I should think.

‘Once you open the door to shaking hands, interrogating, informing and hanging will follow.’

This seems so logically flawed that a mere empirical observation demonstrates its shallowness. Brendan Hughes and myself and a few others were out one day in South Belfast. We met screws from the blocks. We shook hands and they offered to buy us a drink. We bought them one instead. Same when he got stopped and quizzed by cops on our way into Liverpool. He shook hands with them. Now, are you telling me that if he lived long enough those handshakes would have led to him becoming an interrogator, informer and hangman? I shook Hugh Orde’s hand when I interviewed him. Implicit in your comment is that I will now become an informer interrogator, informer and hangman. Just doesn’t add up.

There are ways to resist a British police force. If they are opponents rather than enemies then it is a simple enough matter to shake their hands. It happens all over the world. Furthermore, the Irish people are not at war with anybody, there is no war between Ireland and Britain, therefore the concept of combatants attenuates. Our enemies are not designated by the Irish nation and as such it is hardly treasonous to shake hands with whoever. And we can hardly expect to be told by the self appointed few that we will have enemies whether we like it or not; that we have no choice in the matter and that they alone shall decide who are enemies and our friends are to be. That would be closer to absolutism than republicanism.

I would disagree with aspects of what you say, I w...

2009-03-27T17:43:00.000Z

I would disagree with aspects of what you say, I would have great difficulty in shaking the hand of a psni officer, who by the force's very existence perpetuates british rule in ireland. I would have difficulty in shaking the hand of a psni officer who is in a force that bugs the private conversations between client and legal representatives in Antrim police station.
The brits wanted to get Colin Duffy by hook or crook, they ballsed it up before when they used loyalist gun runner lyndsay robb as their secret witness until that came out, british 'justice' is a concept that does not exist when dealing with republicanism, its what can we do without getting caught out.

By shaking the hand of a psni officer o'dowd is giving creedence to the british presence in ireland, is justifying and strengthening their position by saying this is normal. By shaking the hand of a member of the 'police force' o'dowd is saying that this killing was a criminal act he is saying this is the police these are the repesentatives of law and order. In the context of britains view on its presence in Ireland yes it is, from the republican standpoint o'dowd is a collaborator and his actions are wrong.

You are a good man but your political logic is get...

2009-03-27T16:16:00.000Z

You are a good man but your political logic is getting contorted. An English police force or one that enforces their rule of law (no matter how well disguised) should always be resisted. Once you open the door to shaking hands, interrogating, informing and hanging will follow--it is an old story and one that Ireland has written and rewritten far too often. "Cooperation" is its beginning chapter. Its ending is deadly and plants the seeds for more defilement and tragedy. Sin e.

George McLaughlin

Anthony, I read your post and only one word comes ...

2009-03-27T15:07:00.000Z

Anthony, I read your post and only one word comes to mind: Amen. This lad has a deeper strength than most could dare to imagine.

It seems that even keeping quiet does nothing thes...

2009-03-27T13:20:00.000Z

It seems that even keeping quiet does nothing these days. If you fail to break them then plant evidence.
It seems that Duffy is now going to be fitted up for killing the two British soldiers.
The people in question are said to have performed an efficient operation and then cock up the burning of the getaway car while leaving part of a glove in it. Hmmm!
It’s akin to making a Oven-roasted lemon and rosemary chicken à la Grecque and then being unable to butter the accompanying bun.

Sh*t or get off the pot Anthony. Either support pe...

2009-03-27T09:27:00.000Z

Sh*t or get off the pot Anthony. Either support peaceful democratic methods, which include co-operating with police investigations into murder, or don't. If the youth had fully co-operated with police after his arrest, there would have been no need for an extended period of detention without charge.