Brian Spencer, Alex Kane and Liam Clarke have commented on the past week’s confrontations in Northern Ireland. Spencer asserts Sinn Fein doesn’t speak for Ireland. Kane and Clarke question the lack of tactical thinking in the Unionist base. Excerpts and links to their comment follows.
Spencer – Remember: Sinn Fein doesn’t speak for Ireland
Eamonn Maillie – There’s one thing Sinn Fein can’t get enough of and it’s Unionist disarray. They tried the whole bomb-made uncertainty thing and that didn’t work, so now they’re surreptitiously spreading uncertainty by legally minded means.
And they love it (see here). There’s no better fodder for the Sinn Fein PR machine than unionist protests, splits, street fighting and fits of apoplectic rage. It’s the oxygen that sustains them.
But I have this question: why flatter them with all the attention? Why riot? Why get yourself in a fluster?
My take on the internment fling and the Castlederg parade is to say that these activities are profoundly unIrish. Just as there’s nothing more unBritish than wrapping yourself in the union flag and attacking the police, so there’s nothing more unIrish than wrapping yourself in the tricolour and lionizing terrorists.
I’ve been saying this for a long time: that mainstream society in the Republic of Ireland almost unanimously condemns the bloody history of Sinn Fein and the IRA. For the ordinary man or woman down south, Sinn Fein does not equate with modern, open, tolerant, internationalist notions of being Irish. MORE AT –
http://eamonnmallie.com/2013/08/remember-sinn-fein-doesnt-speak-for-ireland/
Kane: Loyalist rioting is self-defeating
News Letter – It’s not all that often that Theresa Villiers says something that makes sense, but she nailed it on Thursday with her comments about yesterday’s IRA celebration in Castlederg:
“This parade is damaging to community relations and even at this late stage I would call upon the organisers to think again and call it off. There is no doubt that this deeply insensitive parade is causing great hurt and distress to many victims of terrorism in the west Tyrone area and the rest of Northern Ireland.”
So here’s the question – why would the law, or Parades Commission, or the Secretary of State, permit a parade that would be damaging to ‘community relations’?
I accept that people can be offended by all sorts of things and for all sorts of reasons, and there’s probably not much you can do about it. But once you acknowledge that community relations (across Northern Ireland and between all of the parties) will be damaged then the logic, surely, would be to stop or ban the parade? It’s a crucially important question and needs to be addressed when Richard Haass arrives in a few weeks.
But here’s another question: why did an element of loyalism act so stupidly on Friday night? Do they have any idea how much damage they do to the cause they claim to champion? Don’t they realise that any message, grievance or genuine concern they may have is washed away in a tidal wave of negative publicity? MORE AT –
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/kane-loyalist-rioting-is-self-defeating-1-5378076
Clarke: There’s only one winner in the tale of two cities
Belfast Telegraph – Think of the message it would have sent out if North Belfast DUP and other unionist elected representatives had flanked Mairtin O Muilleoir, the Lord Mayor of Belfast, as he reopened Woodvale Park on Tuesday.
We all know the message that was actually transmitted when Mr O Muilleoir was beaten up by an angry mob. “Our thanks to Belfast’s 1st Citizen @newbelfast for taking time to host a US group after being attacked on civic duty. We wish him well,” tweeted the US Consulate in Belfast and it was re-tweeted 45 times the last time I looked.
Joe Biden, the US vice-president, who is predicted to be playing an increased role in Northern Ireland, will have been told about this through the State Department.
Richard Haass, who is chairing all-party talks on contentious issues in the autumn, will have heard it and competitors at the World Police and Fire Games can hardly have missed it.
Most, like the Consulate, which speaks for the State Department, will wish Mr O Muilleoir well. MORE AT –