The Continuity. (Anonymous)
The struggle of the IRA or CIRA and RIRA may be more sporadic but I do hope that whatever happens will allow for the final end of colonialism. IRA has done far too much not simply for Ireland but to assist others in their national struggles for me to not feel great affinity with them. And if ever I have sons I hope they are the men that so many of those men have been. So as not to be sexist, ditto with daughters. British occupation has been worn down over the years. Todya 2/3 of the country surrendered by Britain forms today's Republic of Ireland. There is some governmental representation by the Irish (Catholic) population in the British occupation government. There is continued outflow of the Irish and Northern Irish population into England (and other locales). Even with all the poverty and social ills that come with continued occupation, there has been progress over the centuries for Ireland and its revolutionaries. Continued commitment is a moral one rather than simply the current conditions that make me a continued supporter of CIRA, RIRA, IRA and Sinn Fein, etc.
The danger (and thus in my opinion the need for continued militancy) is to maintain the program and particular values that have been part of the independence movement. Irish revolution still aims to prevent Ireland from becoming independent in name but with none of the social and national platform and values, and just another region choking on debt and led by the dictates of the EU and multinationals (based in more powerful states). This militancy may require the continuation of the armed struggle. But what of peace? I don't see peace as simply the absence of physical violence but also the conditions that cause people to need to use physical violence to obtain justice.
When the Continuity snipers sent those two UK soldiers home in body bags a few months ago, I could not be opposed to that. It was all the more morally justified, actually morally imperative as one of the soldiers was an immigrant (from the Middle East) who was foolish enough to volunteer as an occupying soldier for the UK in NI.
In this on going struggle, I also see cannot entirely despise the Protestants resident in Northern Ireland. Undoubtedly they have been (willing) pawns in the same way that the Irish were used to serve imperialism overseas. But then, I even have (amoral) respect for imperialism itself, even when I find it morally repugnant.
The sentiment "Croppies Lie Down", and the Ulsterman (Protestant) perspective is one of domination, direct and straightforward. There is no lying in them at least, which is more than one can say of most modern imperialism which hides behind ridiculous justifications. Towards those who are direct about what they are doing, and do it for themselves I have a modicum of respect, at least more than I do toward those who operate or use others as willing tools of oppression or those who flee in the face of their own struggle.
The Roman Church has hardly been a friend to Ireland's cause. (It has done far more for the former Irish who immigrated.) Catholicism in Ireland is said to have long been in terminal decline, for good or bad (and I suspect mostly bad). My point here is that the Catholic/ Protestant divide is really a misnomer, or an easy way to track what is a fight between native Irish (who happened to have been historically primarily Catholic) and the settlers, chiefly lowland, Anglo Scots and English from the border country and of course the English elite who by religion were Protestant. (Sometimes Americans get confused with the names, etc.) But it is chiefly an ethnic incursion and colonial or neo-colonial occupation.
So Ulstermen who are killed are fair game but when someone like that British soldier, Sapper Azimkar is shot, I envy the sniper. My only concern is for the sniper and his family and the fear that he will be apprehended.
There is another reason I can't gather the energy to truly despise Ulstermen. Anglo Saxon ethnocentrism seems almost quaint today. (Anglo-Saxon can barely maintain themselves and their identity in England today much less dominate others; their day has apparently come and gone.) Besides, the 'Protestant' population in Northern Ireland numbers under a million people; how many Irish live in England today?
Probably confusing the issue more is that the Irish by circumstance have become Anglicized over the centuries of occupation. In ways it mirrors American slavery (though not as cruel or thorough), people adopted the culture of dominant group both by imposition and because of the benefits that came with assimilation. With so many incursions even the ethnic Irish may be a product of homogeneity. The physical stamp of the English in Ireland is defining and indelible. There is no Derry today without the English- it is part of the original execution of the Ulster Plantation. Most of the cities of Ireland are creations of the English (and earlier the Norman and Norse invasions). Irish institutions also have colonial origins.
Yet the Irish people remain, clinging to their identity and perspective. To me that speaks to a heroic persistence. The work to reconstruct and often to re-imagine and reinvent Irish culture where it was irretrievably lost is an interesting topic in itself. And beyond that, as a rule the people of Ireland have been indefatigable in their support of others who face imperialism.
The global political climate seems against the social aims of the IRA. Lest we forget, the US helped fund British imperialism in Ireland in the last century in no small part out of the interest in studying low intensity conflict, so this is only a change of degrees. Relatively speaking, NI is a small plot of land of limited economic value, and a small population; perhaps outsiders will become disinterested. Frankly neither Irish nor the Ulster nationalism are of any value outside of NI in the new order.
Those who are the Irish people have bravely stood their ground in their land, and fought, survived and even flourished for 500 plus years, so I think they can stick out a few more years to get the remainder of their island and have the real self-determination and the desired social justice in it that eludes so many less powerful nations in this age. Yet history says it will likely be a struggle. Til then, God Bless the (C/R)IRA.
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