Persia and Pervia

As much as many might find Gerry Adams the most sinister of characters, with something of the night about him, they can hardly deny that he has reservoirs of resilience. Even some of his most critical fellow volunteers from the days when he was a senior IRA leader grant him that much.

His relentless war against truth is a battle he has thus far survived without ever winning. Nobody really believes him although for reasons of expediency some pretend to. Despite having more accomplishments to his name than Harold Shipman, his limitless ability to endure the accusations that follow him around like a bad smell requires more than the average person is capable of drawing from the well of life. Tenacity, as most of us come to discover, is a finite resource. Not in his case. He could survive Ebola, although not before transmitting it to someone else under the guise of treating them. 

Even if much of his stamina is sustained by an insatiable craving for power, Adams has against all the odds, dug very deep to find the reserves with which to advance his political career. No other leader of a political party in Western European can rival his longevity. Yet no one is an island and despite his herculean talent for climbing the greasy pole, his own steam alone would never have been secured his survival. The party structure in which he is immersed provides him with a weighty anchor, ensuring that external turbulence is never allowed to topple him. 

But even Sinn Fein, despite proving more impervious than the Irish Catholic Church, must now be wondering how many more scandals it is capable of withstanding, particularly if they are rooted in sexual abuse. Unlike the Ebola which Adams could survive, there is no vaccine that can halt the march of abuse survivors. With a scandal prone leader the future is going to be a bumpy ride: each time the party is on parade hard rains are gonna fall. 

This daunting thought seemed etched on the face of Mary Lou McDonald today in the Dail where Enda Kenny in sombre tone sliced through the bullying and hectoring of Adams to land a telling, if beneath the belt, blow on the Sinn Fein commander. Adams fumed but McDonald winced. It must have hurt her deeply to hear Kenny imply she was a craven coward who is utterly deferential to her party leader when Máiría Cahill  has shown such courage in tackling the same leader. One Belfast journalist commented ‘The look on Mary Lou's face alone is worth enduring this for.’




Mary Lou McDonald is not a coward. She has held her own with the best of them. What she has foolishly chosen to do is place a premium on loyalty over autonomy. Those watching her performances know that Adams could tell her that he is in fact a 16th century Persian prince and she would go on national television claiming to believe him. 

This blind adherence is feeding the ridicule being heaped upon Sinn Fein. New Sinn Fein is being hampered because its old martial leaders are unwilling to relax their grip. Mary Lou McDonald is Vice President of Sinn Fein and should demonstrate her autonomy not her acquiescence to the President of Pervia.

6 comments:

  1. For marylou to stand on her own on this issue or even just to act as her own leader illustrates what we all know-there is no autonomy within the ranks of SF.

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  2. Floodgates will now open I imagine. God only knows what will come out next.

    Those like Mary-Lou are only where they are out of blind loyalty to Adams. I know people not long in SF in Belfast who are already playing the 'bended-knee' to the leadership 'routine'. It is a collection of mainly Johnny-come-lately's who are well aware that the only way for upward mobility in a party they saw as an upwardly mobile vehicle for themselves, is by arse kissing the leadership. Mary Lou is one step from top-spot. If she challenged Adams she would have to re-learn the art of self thought and analysis. Easier for Prestorious to learn how to walk again without his prosthetic limbs at this stage. SF members are not programmed like that. Not when they enter the party and less and less so the longer they remain in the party.

    BBC Panorama set Adams on his way to 'stardom' in the 70s. The recent programme showing how wee Jap McKinley has turned out may be a prototype for a show on Adams. The BBC made him, and ultimately the BBC may yet destroy him. No scandal will, he is completely sociopathic and impervious to any sense of right and wrong.

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  3. Gerry Adams proved to all and sundry in the country of Ireland and beyond that he is a complete bully , but like all bullies when confronted he starts running scared , what a display of utter arrogance , his attempt at apology for the hurt and abuse was needless to say less convincing than his apology to the garda ,
    As a young lad of 16 growing up in a nationalist area of the north I was to experience how the Provo’s administered the rule of law within my community, all because of my love of motorbikes. Myself and a friend spent many hours riding around the village and the fields of a friendly farmer on our joint owned scrambler motorbike. One day the brother of the local Provo approached us wanting to know if he could ride the bike to which we refused he then starting throwing his weight around so we duly gave him a few slaps and sent him packing , about 2 weeks later while out on our bike we were approached by a gang of 3 heavily armed men who announced themselves as members of the provisional IRA told us to get of the bike and follow them into a field and kneel down while they gave us a kicking and told us we would never be riding the bike again . We were told to count to 100 before leaving the field as we exited the field we saw our bike burst into flames, I understand that this run in with our great protectors is nothing compared to what Mairia Cahill had to endure and is still enduring , I know lots of young people who have similar stories to tell, these thugs ruled with an iron fist.
    If people are still unsure as to how dangerous these guys are they should read Blanket man were the author tells us how Gerry Adams and co let the last 6 hunger strikers die when a deal from the brits was offered
    Mairia Cahill deserves the support of every right thinking decent Irish person

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  4. Anthony,

    'He could survive Ebola, although not before transmitting it to someone else under the guise of treating them.'

    You capture his behaviour brilliantly with this.

    A constant theme in Adams' incessant battle with ungrateful victims has been his unending altruism and benevolance towards them. The turning of political adversity into a demonstration of personal virtue has been a neat trick and tactic used to great effect to date but alas as Mary Lou's demeanour yesterday reveals
    the application of 'Bounder Beard and Moustache Wax' in an attempt to conceal from the electorate the unsavoury history of the hirsuted leader will be like 'Painting the Forth Bridge'.

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  5. What creates such craven loyalty? Fear? I remember reading in Eamonn Collins's book "Killing Rage" how he had once called Adams a 'Stick' and was very promptly warned to keep his mouth shut "or else".

    Obviously the wielding of the big nail studded stick helped to reduce the impact of the various splits down the years, and El Beardo does I suppose deserve some grudging admiration for the way he managed to survive, and indeed thrive, whilst his predecessors were killed or cast aside.

    Nowadays though surely he no longer carries the same power to threaten and cajole. Or does he?

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  6. Robert,

    it is the endless pursuit of power which explains all his behaviour.

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