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>Derry Debate > > > > > > > >Anthony McIntyre • 21 January 2007 > >When I arrived and saw the main hall of Derry's Tower >Hotel filled to overflowing, my first thought was that >Sinn Fein had put the work in and packed the venue. >Later reports of the attendance ranged from 400 to >600. A follow up thought questioned my earlier >prediction that unlike previous events in Belfast and >Toome Sinn Fein would not turn up for this debate. The >party had formally announced its leadership's long >made decision to back the British PSNI and would not >want to go through what for it was the sham of >discussing the issue in circumstances where it did not >control the audience. It was ten or fifteen minutes >into the debate before I realised that my prediction >had in fact been right. > >Trying to peer over the heads from the entrance, it >was not until the second panellist, Gerry McGeough, >had finished speaking that I realised that the body of >the hall was a Sinn Fein free zone. Tony TC Catney >from Belfast had been introduced to the audience by >chair John Kelly as a former member of Sinn Fein and >he opened the night's events. The crowd applauded >politely as the former republican lifer gave a >detailed submission in which he raised his objections >to current Sinn Fein strategy and called on critics of >the party's position to think much more seriously >about the policing debate than heretofore. > >On the panel alongside McGeough and Catney were Tony >McPhilips of Republican Sinn Fein, the 32 County >Sovereignty Movement's Francie Mackey and Eddie >McGarrigle of the IRSP. McPhilips and McGeough had a >clear advantage over the others in that they are >accomplished public speakers. McGeough in particular >knows how to push the buttons in a republican audience >and he showed no dearth of dexterity in hitting them >all at the right moment. Whether it was his dismissal >of the Sinn Fein leadership as inept and bungling or >his description of the RUC abuse of the body of Derry >hunger striker, INLA volunteer Patsy O'Hara, each >utterance prompted rapture. > >Conversely, the remaining panellists delivered their >talks in a rather flat manner. While such >presentations might suit a more reflective academic >audience the gathering at the Tower Hotel was not in >the mood for reflection, preferring instead to have >the emotions stoked and the instincts sated through a >diet of republican rhetoric. > >What I learned from the meeting was that the numbers >of angry people are growing steadily. To see so many >former prisoners there whom I had served time with was >heartening. To a man they echoed the sentiment of sell >out. There was no dissent from the crowd and general >agreement from the panel when it was suggested from >the floor that the Sinn Fein leadership is heavily >infiltrated by MI5. Contribution after contribution >from the standing room only crowd made reference to a >sense of betrayal. > >What I did not learn from the meeting was any outline >for a way forward. True, Sinn Fein has no alternative >to the administration of British rule and has accepted >the British state's alternative to republicanism. Yet, >republicans gathered in Derry showed little sign of >developing the republican strategy they profess to >hold. This gives Sinn Fein the advantage. One of the >elements in the collapse of republicanism and it being >replaced by a non-republican strategy, the peace >process, was the inability of the Sinn Fein leadership >to develop republicanism and shift it out of the >political cul de sac in which it had long resided. >Sinn Fein gave up the ghost, moved out of the cul de >sac but in the process signed up to an internal >solution. Those opposed to an internal settlement show >no sign of escaping the political ghetto. Many seem >content to stay there. > >On the night, the panellist who must have gained more >satisfaction than most was Francie Mackey. Eight years >ago in the wake of the appalling Omagh bomb he would >have been lucky to have an audience of two listen to >him. Then he was pilloried and lambasted the length >and breadth of Ireland. The leaders of the Enniskillen >bombers with brazen duplicity turned up at Omagh to >join in the frenzied assault. That no one ever alleged >Mackey was involved with the bombing seemed not to >matter. His membership of the 32CSM was enough to >demonise him. While he never sought to defend the act >the critics rarely differentiated between his position >and the act of the bombers. In the face of unremitting >hostility he faced press and critics alike, >steadfastly refusing to walk away from the political >perspective he believed in. Mackey's political views >can be challenged but his courage stands unassailable. >To admire him being applauded for his contribution by >an audience so large was not to acknowledge in the >slightest that physical force republicanism has any >place in republican activism, but to recognise the >durability and strength of character of the individual >on the platform. > >The absence of Sinn Fein from the debate gave it the >sound of one hand clapping. It became a political >rally rather than an informed exchange of views. Many >of those who wanted to ask questions of Sinn Fein >seemed incapable of reformulating their question so >that positions could be teased out from the panel. It >was an opportunity missed. The panel were hardly going >to disagree on points of criticism thrown at the >absent Sinn Fein from the floor. It became an echo >chamber for the audience. There was also a disturbing >touch of the evangelical about proceedings. At one >point somebody apologised for having allowed Sinn Fein >to lead him by the nose. No one seemed interested in >challenging the panellists. Gerry McGeough for >instance went unquestioned about views he holds that >many republicans regard as anti-secular, misogynist, >racist and reactionary. Elsewhere McGeough has >vigorously contested such characterisation but the >Tower Hotel event was the venue where the matter >should have been discussed more thoroughly. McGeough >is no shrinking violet and would not have wilted in >the face of intelligent probing. As it was he was >denied the opportunity to set the record straight and >neither he nor the audience appeared to mind. His >listeners seemed content to lift the roof as >McGeough's powerful oratory glided into overdrive. > >It would be a travesty if such a gathering of >republicans were to remain indifferent to these >concerns. The emotion of the evening should not have >acted as a seamless garment that enveloped all before >it. Unless threads are unpicked at such gatherings and >republicans challenge each other the ability of these >events to inform is limited. > >Ironically Sinn Fein shaped the meeting without even >having to turn up. The crowd was fixated with the >party and expended its intellectual energy in >highlighting its shortcomings. This may be an exercise >that writers and critics can afford to pursue but for >people ostensibly seeking to politically advance the >republican project as a viable alternative to Sinn >Fein, it was the 'opportunity to miss an opportunity'. >A former republican prisoner from Downpatrick was >alone in pointing it out and urged the hall to >strategise rather than criticise. > >On the way home to Belfast, pondering the night's >events, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, intense >satisfaction that the power of isolation is >diminishing. On the other, a feeling that Mr McGeough >and colleagues had marched them up to the top of the >hill … and back down seems the most likely destination.

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