Already a subscriber? Log in
The dissidents, former IRA men, did not choose the British army as a target to force the ‘Brits out’, but — more subtly — to heighten the contradictions in Sinn Fein’s position on the British state. The party is now deeply engaged in its devolved structures — while simultaneously rejecting its entire legitimacy. Sinn Fein/IRA might have entered government and given up the armed struggle. But they have never confronted or rejected Republican ideology; an ideology that holds that consent does not matter, and that violence is acceptable if it advances the aim of a united Ireland: the so-called ‘mandate of history’. This is why Sinn Fein has tied itself in such knots responding to the attack. It cannot denounce the murder of soldiers because it still venerates a past that was all about precisely that. It cannot say that British troops are not legitimate targets because it still holds that the British army is an occupying force.
The fear that there might be a return to Republican violence has been the dominant anxiety in the peace process since the first ‘complete cessation of military operations’ in 1994. This approach has certainly brought an end to full-blown sectarian violence. But it has also quietly authorised tribal gangsterism, rackets, punishment beatings and ‘no-go’ zones where supposedly disbanded Republican and Loyalist mobs are all but sovereign. A decade and a half of concessions to Republicans also means that the British state is far less able to counter terrorism in the province. The Royal Ulster Constabulary, the finest anti-terrorist police force there has ever been, has been dismantled and replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The informers who so crippled the terrorists’ effectiveness have been sent away. Intelligence-gathering has been handed over to MI5 which has many other things on its plate. Even before these attacks, the PSNI had had to call in members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment to help: a move that Sinn Fein condemned.
The constant appeasement of the men of violence has also undermined the truly demo-cratic, peaceful parties. Within the Nationalist community, support shifted from the mainstream SDLP to Sinn Fein as it became apparent that it could deliver more because the British government was more willing to grant concessions to it. On the Unionist side, the Ulster Unionist Party was effectively destroyed by the British government refusing to enforce the terms of the Good Friday Agreement inasmuch as they made demands of the IRA.
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, has admitted that ‘constructive ambiguity’ is what has kept the peace process going. But no lasting peace can be built on this ambiguity. Adams and McGuinness must now encourage, as McGuinness has in the case of the policeman murdered on Monday, their community to co-operate with the law to catch these killers and to prevent further incidents. If they do not, then it is hard to see how the DUP can sit in government with them without compromising itself in the eyes of its own supporters and the wider world. Amid all the attention on the Republicans, we should remember that the Unionists have a say, too.
Also in Society
Also by The Spectator
Latest
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in