Re: The Cul de Sac called 'Futility' -- Stormont Watch

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Date Posted: Sat, Mar 31 2007, 10:25:10 PDT
Author: Fionnbarra
Subject: Re: The Cul de Sac called 'Futility'
In reply to: The Blanket-Anthony McIntyre 's message, "The Cul de Sac called 'Futility'" on Fri, Mar 30 2007, 19:55:04 PDT

>Letter to The Blanket on above article
>
>I find this article very pessimistic, not least
>because it offers no way forward for people and groups
>who consider themselves to be �traditional
>republicans�. Within that category remain some who
>falsely believe that a return to �armed struggle� is
>the only way to achieve Irish re-unification. Like him
>or hate him, John Hume�s emphasis on �An Agreed
>Ireland� � with all that such implies- has been
>generally accepted [not least by Provo SF] as the
>�best� or �only� way forward. The primacy of politics
>is the key to opening the door to the presentation of
>alternatives to the Stormont Brigade, intelligently
>recognised, not least by the IRSP and its militant
>associates. Eventually, there has to be agreement
>within the electorates, both within the �North� (Six
>and/or Nine Counties) and the rest of Ireland.
>
>To advocate out-Provo-ing the Provos to me, and many
>other anti-partitionists, borders on insanity � who
>really wants a repeat performance of the last 35-40
>years; only the as yet unincarcerated lunatics? Once
>the PSNI become more �acceptable�, no doubt under an
>authoritarian SF Minister for Policing & Justice,
>make no mistake about it, we�ll have uniformed �touts�
>in every nationalist district, and they may end up
>living next door to you, and watching your every move.
>Don�t exclude phone tapping and other means of
>harassment. Even civil rights veterans have been
>targeted by ever-ready �dirty tricks� elements within
>the tabloid press for taking a stand on the
>ill-treatment of prisoners [e.g. 2003], and even death
>threats issued, by supposedly �mis-guided
>republicans�. Even when some �friends� were notified,
>they acted like the three �wise� monkeys. Enough said.
>So much for the new era we find ourselves being
>encouraged to embrace, or at least pretend to rejoice
>at its birth � since a miscarriage was never on the
>cards, such is the lust for power, inflated egos,
>ministerial cars and high London-paid salaries to boot.
>
>Comrade McIntyre should consider a less pessimistic
>analysis, for I and many others sincerely believe that
>anti-Stormont/anti-partitionist republicans should at
>the very least consider some form of co-operation in
>terms of issues and campaigns. I stress �co-operation�
>because I believe that to speak of �Unity� is totally
>Utopian. There are a list of issues and campaigns on
>which co-operation is possible. To do nothing in the
>current political climate is to be guilty of giving
>the Adams-Paisley �experiment� a fair wind. They do
>not deserve that and at the very least the vessel of a
>returned Stormont should be rocked, even occasionally,
>by inclement political weather conditions, from fellow
>readers of your journal of protest and dissent, as
>well as other progressive and/or radical forces within
>the Six Counties and beyond. To do nothing is a
>strategy for fools and defeatists-to do at least
>something positive is the only way to confront our
>current political realities, in the hope that a real
>new dawn does dawn.
>
>Somewhere, somehow, and by someone a beginning must be
>made. At least The Blanket offers some comfort by way
>of keeping afloat a platform for protest and dissent.
>What about adding the term �Co-Operation� to that
>masthead?

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