BELFAST (Reuters) - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams appealedto the IRA on Wednesday to use words, not guns, to fulfil itsaims of ending British rule in Northern Ireland.
In a speech cautiously welcomed by Dublin and London butdismissed by others as a cynical election ploy, Adams told theIrish Republican Army it should choose a political anddemocratic solution over weapons.
“In the past I have defended the right of the IRA to engagein armed struggle. I did so because there was no alternative… now there is an alternative,” the president of the IRA’spolitical ally said. “I want to appeal to the leadership of(the IRA) to fully embrace and accept this alternative.”
The IRA declared a ceasefire in its bloody three decadecampaign against British rule in 1997, but violence persists inthe form of “punishment” beatings, stabbings and shootings --hampering progress on reviving home rule in the province.
I wish Ireland could just be one and the Brits go home.
But that’s too simple. If our government wasn’t already established, I doubt the US could come together, had it been broken in two…
If it weren’t all so sad, it would be kind of funny to see Gerry Adams squirm after that contemptible and laughable bank robbery scandal. It’ll take more than benign appeals to forsake violence before he’s taken seriously again.
what the heck does ‘Brits go home’ mean ? Do you mean the British
Army or the pro-British Loyalists who have lived in Northern Ireland
for over three hundred years and who consider themselves British?
Northern Ireland is as much their home as North America is yours.
Both lands were stolen from indigenous peoples and given to settlers from
overseas. A 32 county Ireland is inevitable (and desirable) but it clearly
cannot be forced down peoples throats without another extended period
of bloodshed. Economic growth and opportunity for all will eventually
steal the thunder of the extremists on both sides who maintain polarization
for their own criminal benefit.
For a start, it would help if misguided Irish-Americans stop funding IRA
activities and misguided Scots and English stop funding Loyalist
paramilitaries. These extremist organizations are the true enemy of the
Irish peoples both North and South.
as far as I’ve ever known, “brits out” means the british government, army and administration.
I don’t think that any law-abiding groups would get a raw or prejudicial deal from the Irish government after a reunification.
I think the current system offers hope for it in much the same way that the Free State system offered hope for a full republic. Built in is a proviso for a vote that can be taken not more frequently than every seven years whereby a vote in favor of reunion would cause it to happen.
I think especially if the Scots use their parliament to legislate their way out of the uk within the next 50 years or so that could very much lead the way to a complete dissolution of it.
I’m very interested in this topic but I haven’t a clue where to start.
Can anyone recommend some reading on the history of the whole Irish experience. I hear terms like “republican” but I don’t know what that means. Also the Catholic vs Protestent issue and the whole nasty business with the British.
It seems like there are so many factions I can’t figure out what’s what.
I need to start with an overview. A “whole picture” and work down from there.
The problem is in recommending particular authors…
If, for example, I were to recommend any book written by Tim Pat Coogan, someone’s sure to say, “bollox! Don’t read any shite that gobshite has ever written!”
It would elicit a similar response if I were to recommend any writings by Ian Paisley.
I’ll throw you some titles off of my shelves when I get home, but to give you a
compass to navigate the waters with, ‘Republicans’ want the Republic of Ireland to
cover the entire island of Ireland. Republicans are Catholics (at least nominally, they
may or may not actually practice), but not all Catholics are Republicans. The IRA
(Irish Republican Army) and Sinn Feinn are Republican organizations, the former
paramilitary and the latter political.
“Unionists” want to remain united with Great Britain; in this day and age Unionists
really only refers to the Northern Ireland question, nobody suggest bringing the
rest of Ireland under British rule again (It worked badly the first time.) Unionists are
almost entirely Protestant, but again, may not actually be practicing. The Protestants
are largely of anglo-Irish descent, meaning the descendents of late medieval settlers
from England and Scotland.
In terms of politics, Catholic and Republican are synonymous, and Protestant and Unionist
are synonymous. (Yes, this is a problem for the people - the majority of people - who don’t
want to be drawn into a violent conflict based on what church they attend.)
‘The British’ often means the British army and the government in England, but it also
must be understood that Northern Ireland is part of Britain, by the will of the Protestant
majority there (for the fear, not unfounded, that there would be violent reprisals
by Catholics against Protestants if Northern Ireland was put under the same rule as
the rest of Ireland).
Anyway, ‘The British’ cannot simply pack their bags and leave for fear that the conflict
would continue with the roles of the Unionist militias and the IRA reversed. Any
non-violent transition of Northern Ireland from being a part of Britain to being a part
of the Republic of Ireland will be a long and delicate process.
I think, a few hundred years from now, schoolchildren will only read, “For a time, Northern
Ireland was divided as to whether to be a part of the Protestant nation Great Britain or a
part of Catholic nation the Republic of Ireland.”
I think that you will find that the EU will have a bigger effect on the situation than anything else, any EU citizen (with certain exceptions for the newly joined members) can live and work in any of the member states. In the case of Britain and the Irish Republic you do not even need a passport to move between them (much like yourselves and Canada untill Homeland Security messes it up). EU politics is making both sides into an irrelevance.
In a hundred years I doubt if Britain or Ireland will exist as a political entity in anything but a history book or as designations on a map of the United States of Europe.
