The IRA has just issued their long awaited statement ordering all units to disband arms, end armed struggle (and all ‘other activities’) and devote themselves to peaceful and democratic means from 16.00 today.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4720863.stm
Fingers crossed.
Amazing. I hope it’s true and can continue.
Makes one think there IS some hope for the human race!
Think maybe the London events have something to do with this?
No.
"Republicans had been under intense pressure to end IRA activity after the £26.5m Northern Bank raid in December and the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney in January. "
Susan
Absolutely.
What Susan says is true, but OnTheMoor raises a point. It must be getting increasingly hard to remain convinced that terrorism is a viable way to pursue political aims like those to which the Irish republicans aspire. Pragmatically, it makes more sense to align oneself by turning one’s back on terrorism than by continuing to use it (or even to keep it in one’s gameplan as a real option) in the current climate.
I heard the news today as well.
It’s a momentous occasion.
I wonder if the splinter groups will follow.
The Real IRA have been the most active in recent years.
Mukade
Wasn’t the whole idea of the split in the republican movement that the small groups didn’t want part of the peace process?
You mean recently or way back, Peter?
J.
I have heard that a great deal of the organized crime in Ireland is in the hands of the IRA (drugs, prostitution, extortion, etc.). Perhaps things have got so lucrative that they don’t need to worry about terrorism any more (?).
djm
toes crossed, too
Indeed. Splinters have been the rule rather than the exception, at least as far back as 1921, and there were splinters even before, for various reasons.
One big condition in the peaceprocess has always been that criminal activities are disbanded as well. It was a big issue last december when the IRA did not want to subscribe to that. Both governments made a big point of it and in response Gerry Adams was on television saying ‘you can’t be a volunteer in the republican movement and a criminal at the same time’ (in effect saying there were no republicans mixed up in crime). That was days before the Northern Bank heist and the murder of Robert McCartney followed soon after. Public opinion didn’t take well to that. And they’ve been trying to fix the situation ever since.
On another note: also remember that nearly all prisoners, regardless of the crimes they were convicted of, were released under the terms of the Good Friday agreement.
Last time I was in Belfast I was talking to a few friends there who, believing that most IRA members were thugs, still thought that they had a somewhat “positive” effect of not allowing any foreign gangs to do business there. A visit from the boys from Belfast usually sent Jamaicans or Asian gangs packing. Is there any truth to that?
i heard somebody mention that maybe a certain heist was a bloody big retirement cheque for the big lads.
I have only seen fictionalized versions of what the IRA warriors are like but I do wonder what you would do with your life without the Cause…
What I have is the same as Moor, i.e. from people living in the North, that these guys operate similar to the mob - they enforce their own justice on the streets, they take a piece of any criminal activity going on, and you don’t cross them. Terrorism and flag-waving etc. is apparently on a different level, and makes up for a very small portion of the organization’s activities.
I wonder if some people just make out they’re in the IRA as a scare tactic to enforce various criminal activities. But since this is all street level, you’d think the locals would know who was who. I doubt that we hear half of what is going on.
djm
Thugs are thugs, so the Republican thugs scared off other thugs? Big deal, you could say the same for the mafia in some American cities.
One leading Republican said today that this IRA Statement gives the Republicans the moral high ground. I’m sure the families of all the dead people would beg to differ!
9/11, 7/7, and many other events have made the terrorist tactics of both Republicans and Loyalists a hindrance to their respective causes. Let’s remember that many innocent people have had to die for us to get to this place. If this change of policy sticks, is adopted by the wider Republican movement and the Loyalists then FANTASTIC! If it doesn’t then this statement will just be another cruel blow for the families of the past and future victims of this dispute.
I feel a united Ireland is inevitable once the armed struggle definitely ceases. No UK government was going to give in to the IRA - ever, but now there is a chance for peace, we will see if the UK government wants to off load the Northern Ireland problem. I suspect it might. I just feel for the significant number of Irish people in Northern Ireland who don’t want this. Will their voice be heard?
I’d agree. But I also know alot of people who like their thugs homegrown.
And I think the attitudes of the Orange population is, and has been for the past number of years, much more important than if the Brits wanted out. I get the feeling that the UK would say adios this second if it was possible.
EDIT: Actually, after some thinking, I disagree. I prefer my thugs homegrown too. Neighbourhoods learn to identify the shady ones, and can understand how to deal with them. Not so when a triad decides to set up shop next door.