Would the ‘Real’ IRA step forward

Lately I’ve been trying to catch up with my favourite bloggers and in doing so I came across a post over at Kenny’s Sideshow that made me sit up and pay attention. In essence it asks questions about the motivation behind the renewed interest in the paramilitary splinter group called the Real IRA.

Recently a ‘spokesman’ for the group has given an interview (in The Guardian of all places) saying that financial institutions, bankers and other economic targets are on their list of potential targets. I missed that article at the time but since then there have been similar pieces on the TV media also.

Since reading it I have been mulling over what my take on the recent surge in media coverage and I must agree with Kenny’s premise – that this has the stink of the dirty tricks branch of British Intelligence. Let me give you some background before I continue.

I was born and raised in Nationalist West Belfast and witnessed the recent ‘long war’ as a backdrop to my own growth and development. Supporting the Republican Movement’s struggle against the British state and their various minions was a natural response for me. I was a member of Sinn Fein for some years and was involved in many community campaigns.

I agreed with the announcement of the first ceasefire in August ’94 as a means to pursue a just and principled negotiated settlement. John Major – Mr Gray – was British PM at the time and successfully stymied all efforts to start open negotiations. The London Docklands bombing was the inevitable response. It took nearly 18 months and a new administration led by Tony ‘War Crimes’ Blair before a new ceasefire was announced. Irony indeed!

The Good Friday Agreement was signed in April ‘98 and ratified in May. I voted against the agreement for a number of reasons but I did not support the decision of many Republicans to fragment the Movement and form a break-away group. 2 months later I left my homeland and emigrated.

I can well understand the many Republicans that believed it is impossible to trust in any British Administration with their centuries’ long record of bad faith and loose interpretation of ‘constitutional’ politics and law –perfidious Albion after all. More than 10 years have passed and I feel they have been vindicated by the failure to implement any of the cross border institutions that were promised in the agreement.

Similarly the British have repeatedly suspended the Belfast Assembly on the personal whim of a British minister – illegally as the agreement was a binding international treaty between the sovereign nations of Ireland and Britain. At all times the Unionists have been able to dither, prevaricate and to stall the implementation of the agreement while maintaining many of their traditions and privileges unchanged.

I must admit that I have not kept in touch with this topic except in a superficial manner. For me the enlightening period occurred recently when responsibility for security and policing was planned to be handed over to local control. Since that time I have noticed a sudden upswing in the tempo of attacks by the IRA and their media coverage. Meanwhile power still resides in London.

Still reading or have you gone to sleep yet? My point in this rant is coming.

As much as I respect the motivations of many of the young men and women involved at this moment in time there is absolutely no justification to pursue this armed struggle. The conditions that gave rise to the popular uprising in 69/70 were stark, brutal and all other options had been exhausted.

When the ‘Real’ IRA spit they did so at a time of vast intelligence gathering by the British. They were subsequently subverted and in one fateful, brutal incident 29 people (including 9 children) were murdered in the Omagh Bombing. One victim was a pregnant woman expecting twins. The blame was laid at their door and that is what happens when the spooks control your organisation.

Now they talk about targeting banks, financial institutions and even the City of London. I see the word PATSY writ large in 100 foot high neon lights. The Irish struggle for independence has stretched through the ages. For as long as the money lenders have run England we have fought them without knowing it. They have ever used us as the laboratory for their plans of Empire.

This is not the fight for the IRA. If Irish Volunteers wish to fight and die against global banking tyranny they can do so as we have always done – in the right way. Follow the lead of others or start a new group for that very purpose. Not under the flag of popular Irish resistance to British rule but under the flag of humanity against a foe that would make cattle of us all.

Kenny was right. Arab patsies will be substituted for new Irish ones. Another generation of our people will feel the boot on their face and this time the nodding sheep will agree. The penny dropped today when I read this article. It set the stage in gory technical detail what some expect and hope for.

I don’t know if the boys used a FAE device that day or not. It is a dreadful weapon. Those that it doesn’t kill by blast, it kills by oxygen starvation. I feel that the stage is being set. Naive patriots are being led by the nose and the timing of their ‘success’ suggests that they are not working for their own people but ultimately against them.

As for the discussion of coordinated resistance against the PTB – the time for this sort of action is not yet ripe. The state wants violence so bad that it can smell the blood already. It has long since cooked the law books and trained its lackeys. We must starve them of that. Civil disobedience is the key. Only when they start killing us can we contemplate repaying the favour.

We, humanity, must fight smarter the devil that opposes us. The Irish struggle is but a part of a bigger picture. I fear that the recent developments in Dublin will bring many to their banner. The choice awaits us all – will we blindly strike out or will we use the brains in our heads. Any idiot can start a fight but it takes a wiser man to pick which fight to join.