ira "dissidents" join forces

parkhead_rfb · ira "dissidents" join forces

IRA dissidents join forces in new challenge to the peace process

Suzanne Breen

RECENTLY-defected Provisional IRA members will join forces with Real IRA and Continuity IRA activists at a public meeting in Co Derry on Tuesday in what they believe could lead to a ground-breaking challenge to the peace process.

Widespread disillusionment in Provisional IRA ranks has been followed by a notable increase in political and military activity by dissidents. Real IRA firebombs have destroyed large stores in Newry, while a bomb was planted at the Co Louth home of Ulster Unionist peer, Lord Haughey.

Dissidents, previously riven with in-fighting, said it was time to set aside their differences, draw up a joint strategy, and challenge "Provisional domination".

Real IRA, INLA and Continuity IRA members, who will attend the meeting, said they hoped to develop a way forward and put an end to the marginalisation of dissident republicans. Political activists with no military involvement are also involved in organising the meeting and will be in attendance.

It has been advertised as taking place in Toome, Co Derry . . . chosen because last month up to 40 members of the South Derry brigade of the Provisional IRA defected amidst disillusionment with the leadership's strategy.

Republican sources claim that one of the organisers of Tuesday's meeting is Dominic Og McGlinchey, son of murdered INLA chief-of-staff, Dominic McGlinchey. Sources claim McGlinchey, 29, was until recently a strong Sinn Fein supporter. McGlinchey could not be contacted for comment.

However, Paddy Murray, a former Provisional IRA prisoner currently on bail on Real IRA charges, also claimed that McGlinchey would attend the meeting.

"Dominic is a well-respected republican in Co Derry and it's important he's coming.

He carries a lot of weight in the area."

Murray said dissidents were "regrouping and restrengthening" and gaining in confidence. "The Provos are in big trouble with their own community and they know it.

"It has always been said anti-Agreement republicans have no strategy. It's now time we developed one. There will be nothing that can't be discussed. Unlike the Provos, we aren't leadership-led, we're not a dictatorship."

Murray said ways of moving forward "politically and militarily" would be debated. "This is a republican meeting and, when you invite republicans, you get people from military and political backgrounds. There is likely to be Real IRA and INLA members and plenty of others too."

Despite increasing dissident noises, in nationalist areas the Real and Continuity IRA are regarded as failures because, despite many years in existence, they haven't inflicted security force casualties.

Ex-IRA hunger-striker Marion Price, now a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, said dissident republicanism was strengthening.

"There have been more new faces at meetings. Anti-Agreement ranks are definitely swelling. There has been so much bickering in the past between anti-Agreement republicans. It's time it stopped.

"Far more unites than divides us. For the sake of republicanism, we need to find a common way forward. Unity is strength."

Sunday Tribune

Morph

what is your oppinion on this RFB

parkhead_rfb

apparently this meeting isnt quite as important as is being put forward here according to other forums.

on the general point of the article though then i do think that if anti agreement groups were to unite it would be a good thing. at the moment i dont support any particular group but i remain committed to the ideal of a united socialist ireland.

imo sinn fein are allowing themselves to be pushed too much by unionists and the british government, they are also failing to support their communities at important times.

I do though think that a political rather than a military solution is the way forward at present and hopefully a growing anti agreement movement would simply give sinn fein the push they need.

What people should understand though is that a growth in support for groups such as the irsp wouldnt automatically mean a return to violence as these groups have mostly stated that they would only return to a military path if the situation was to change, at present they also dont see the need to use physical force..

So it may be a bit long winded but then its not a simple situation in ireland at present.

Morph

but in the article it does state that

parkhead_rfb

they are regarded as failures as largely they havent mounted a military campaign and neither have their supporters done anything significant politically.

they could still go for a political solution albeit different from sinn fein.

Morph

but doesn't this hint at a desire fora millitary campaign then?

parkhead_rfb

not neccecarily. sf have dropped support for eire nua. this is a document put forward still by republican sinn fein.

eire nua would see a federal system in ireland with seperate houses in the four provinces (ulster though would be the original 9 counties). this would still leave unionists in the north as a significant power base within the ulster parliament. I am also sure deals could be struck with britain over duel citizenship etc.

so they could go for a greater promotion of this agreement, or even far more focus on local elections. the gfa isnt the only political way forward.

franko

Cymro

This group will basically be people who don't want peace with the UK. And Parkhead, I support the idea of a Federal United Ireland (see we do agree on politics it's just the way you go around it, with your "your with me or against Eire" attitude!) but a Ulster wouldn't be a powerbase for 'Unionists' as the Union would have been lost. The best it would be was a Powerbase for Protestantism who may be worried about living in a 'Catholic State'. This way or may not be justified but giving a powerbase to Unionists wouldn't be the case, otherwise NI would still be part of NI.

parkhead_rfb

Cymro

Parkhead,

You can support those who died on hungerstrike without supporting the terrorists organisations. From what I gathered the hungerstrike was because they where denied certain rights as prisoners, so the principle of protest is correct here. Though I would not say I support the INLA's armed campaign.

So the case stands, the Good Friday Agreement and hopefully the St Andrews Agreement will see the most significant step towards peace that NI has ever seen and deal with the cause of the troubles at the root. The Agreements go further than any pervious agreements have gone, and have also included increases in cross border relations. This is something that has to be supported. If the GFA and St Andrews fails the campaign for peace will certainly take a step back.

Now, if organisations such as the PIRA and Sinn Fein can make some sacrifices to ensure peace then the other groups (many INLA supporters have now gone to the CIRA I gather) simply have to follow. This also gives the Republicans the Moral High Ground which just from watching news items on the peace process is an important aspect for both sides in the argument. The DUP are desperatly trying to get the moral highground but from what I see it seems the Sinn Fein are achieving it far easier, and successfully.

The GFA is far from perfect but it's the most perfect you can get.

Also, I don't think I am splitting hair. Unionism in an order to achieve an United Ireland needs to loose a powerbase in NI. Upon an United Ireland those Unionists in NI, like those in the rest of Eire when the Free State was established will have 2 choices, move to the UK or live with it. I agree with a Federal Ireland, but an Ulster State Parliament will at best be a way of appeasing those who fear their way of life will be affected by being run by Dublin, which is often claimed by Unionists.

parkhead_rfb

just a quick question it may well be semantics but do you also describe the us and british army as terrorists? you have done the same with inla and ira volunteers. The brits and us certainly use terror to get what they want.

I am not aware of any shift from the inla to the cira either. in fact in certain areas i am told the inla are gaining an ascendancy if anything. If you did get that information from the papers i would take it with a very large pinch of salt as i have seen more nonsense about republicans in tabloids than i would care to repeat.

What has happened at st andrews is that the dup have taken their traditional stalling route, the brits allow them and sinn fein give in. next week the dup will have a new stumbling block ready to throw in place. Sinn fein should concede no more untill there is a cast iron guarantee that power sharing will resume. the very fact its been cancelled already goes against the gfa.

Cymro

No, I don't think the British Army or the US Army are terrorists. They are government 'agencies' - an official tool of any state in the world is to have it's own armed forces. They may not behave 'legally', they may behave disgracefully from time to time. But, they are not on the same parr as the IRA, INLA, UDA, LVF, ETA, FARC, Tamil Tigers etc whether you agree with their aim or not.

Terrorists are illegal 'paramilitary' organisations which use armed struggle to achieve a certain aim.

No, my claims that the CIRA is made up of INLA wasn't from news papers. I rarely read news papers. I'm sure it was on the Cain website, been a while since I read it though, but the wording was something like "The CIRA is largely made up of dissaffected INLA members".

And, I know that the DUP like to use stalling tactics, as I've told you before, it's basically the "deny the inevitable" mentality which is deep in the Unionist mindset in Northern Ireland. I suppose that is their right to do that, but in my opinion Sinn Fein have behaved far braver and constructive. Coming to agreement relies on conceding certain issues - same thing goes for Eire dropping it's claim to NI during the GFA. As I said in my previous post it's about securing the moral highground, which at this moment in time I feel Sinn Fein and the republican have.

There should be mechanisms in place which means the right to dissolve the Assembly lies with the Assembly, and through them with the people of NI, who live with the affects of the politics of the province on a day to day basis and people on the mainland, especially politicians shouldn't get involved in something we don't fully understand.

parkhead_rfb

well you and i clearly differ on what constitutes a terrorist. just being "illegal" doesnt make an organisation a terrorist one to me as in a lot of cases those doing the real terrorising are making the laws in the first place.

The israeli army and state are also acting illegaly as they contravine un resolutions, that therefore means an offical states agency must also be terrorist.

The point is though there is no point in sf looking for the moral highground. due to the mass media most who havent looked at the situation in depth will simply label them terrorists, the british government dont really care anyway they just want a nice peace process for another box for tony to tick and all the while there will be no assembly.

sf's duty is to their constituents not the moral high ground, they need to take the best route to get their desires met.

Cymro

The term 'Terrorist' is ambigious, mainly because of the politicsl impact that term can get. I don't think it's realistic to call the Israeli state/government/army terrorists. They may not act within International Law, but International Law isn't the same as domestic law, in that we don't really have a law enforcer because of the way the UN is run with vetos etc.

States can sponsor terrorism - i.e. provide funding for illegal organisations both in their own countires and beyond, as what the US has done time after time along with the UK and most if not all other international powers. I'm not advocating this and not saying it's acceptable, but Terrorist organisations they are not.

I can't stand Blair, but I do think credit where credit is due. People may not agree with the detail of what is being agreed, but he has bought peace a lot nearer than we've ever seen before and got both sides (three sides if you put the UK Gov on a seperate side) are talking if not within grasp of talkng. I feel he actually wants to be seen as the PM that sorted out NI, we all know he wants to be remembered.

The other option is that Sinn Fein don't talk, the Stormont Assembly is still suspended, and eventually disbanded, the UK Government still runs Northern Ireland with direct power, which will benefit the Unionists mentality more than the Republcans, the Police is still what it is - mistrusted by a large chunk of the population etc. But Sinn Fein won't have had to compromise. Yes, that sounds fantastic. The DUP are hoping this is what will happen, as they can happily live with the place being run direct from Westminster, and all this while blaiming Sinn Fein. So it's important that Sinn Fein, as the main party from within Northern Ireland are a full part of the process.

Indeed SF's responsibility lies with the areas they represent, and I would suggest that more people would be happy to give them the benefit of the doubt if it secures the long term aims of them. And, from what I can see this has not been effected. Pulling out of discussions will not reach the effected desires as it will merely put the power back on the side of the Unionists who will follow their own agendas..

Rinty · y

personally I would say, cymro, that SF have been the organisation in the process that have bent the most and shown a willingness time and time again to go a stage further, despite having diffculty persuading all of their support that they are not being duped.

Secondly, its just cannot be as simple as terrorists being the ones who dont have an officially recognised govt behind them and all state forces are not terrorist. Israels actions are without doubt the same as a terror organisation, especially the targetting of civilians and infrastructure and the refusal to allow democracy to take its course in neighbouring countries such as Palestine.

I also take issue with your claim the rfb's position is "either with me or gainst eire" as he has consitently shown by his support for a unted socialist ireland that he is not "with eire" at all.

Cymro

Rinty · t

Cymro