There have been a number of different responses to the recent attacks in the Six Counties in northern Ireland, most of them stridenty critical, and for good reason.
The responses and some analyses are listed below.
The responses and some analyses are listed below.
- Sinn Fein
- Éirigí
- Eamonn McCann
- SWP
- Lenin's Tomb
- Socialist Party
- Brian Freeney
- Socialist Democracy (and this)
Comment -- by Dave Riley
When I was monitoring Irish politics in the lead up to the Good Friday Agreement the political twists and turns obscured one simple fact: it was a rotten agreement. While in terms of Republicanism's military orientation is was a cease fire, in terms of Irish nationalist rights it was a rout.
That has to be recognised. The Six Counties continued to be , and are still, separate from the other 26. The Nationalists in the north are second class citizens and the divide along lines of where you live, your surname and your preferred church of worship continues -- still after 10 years. Massive capacity for state oppression continues to exist both in the north and the south of the island.
As Bernadette Devlin McCalistkey and other independent Republicans pointed out at the time -- if Sinn Fein's Good Friday strategy fails (as it surely has) what's plan B?
And Plan B won't be, can't be and isn't this...
As one Nationalist described the impact of the Omagh Bombing -- the last time the miniscule Real IRA was active in a big way: "“If the Good Friday agreement was a defeat for the cause of Irish nationalism, the Omagh bombing has turned it into a rout”.
When I was monitoring Irish politics in the lead up to the Good Friday Agreement the political twists and turns obscured one simple fact: it was a rotten agreement. While in terms of Republicanism's military orientation is was a cease fire, in terms of Irish nationalist rights it was a rout.
That has to be recognised. The Six Counties continued to be , and are still, separate from the other 26. The Nationalists in the north are second class citizens and the divide along lines of where you live, your surname and your preferred church of worship continues -- still after 10 years. Massive capacity for state oppression continues to exist both in the north and the south of the island.
As Bernadette Devlin McCalistkey and other independent Republicans pointed out at the time -- if Sinn Fein's Good Friday strategy fails (as it surely has) what's plan B?
And Plan B won't be, can't be and isn't this...
As one Nationalist described the impact of the Omagh Bombing -- the last time the miniscule Real IRA was active in a big way: "“If the Good Friday agreement was a defeat for the cause of Irish nationalism, the Omagh bombing has turned it into a rout”.
