Amid the flurry of self -righteous “condemnation”, and castigation of anyone not using the exact word after the disgraceful, dangerous and futile acts of a few in Derry last night, maybe it’s time to look at the word and its use here.
From the Oxford English Dictionary Condemn: Express complete disapproval of, censure.
So, if you say something is wromg….is that not the same thing?
What galls me is that a lot of this “condemnation” may seem more about political point scoring than concern for the NIE workers.
I remember Gerry Adams jumping through hoops not to use the word in the early stages of the “Peace Process” and railing against the “Politics of condemnation” and how it doesn’t work.
It seems that most condemnations are qualified.
So, if you “condemn” violence is it unreservedly?
Did you join Cameron, Obama, and Netanyahu in the “Je Suis Charlie” epitome of hypocrisy?
Is it all violence, or can you condemn the “other side” but not “us”?
Is it all violence, or just, as some have said, since The Good Friday Agreement?
If it is, please have a look at this article…and check the date.
SF Refuses to Condemn Killing of ‘Real IRA’ Man
by Suzanne Breen
Irish Times
17 October 2000
Sinn Féin has refused to condemn the killing of Mr Joe O’Connor, the “Real IRA” member shot dead in west Belfast last Friday. No group has claimed responsibility but local people and the victim’s family have blamed the Provisional IRA.
At a press conference in west Belfast yesterday, Sinn Féin’s Mr Gerry Kelly described the killing as “tragic” but refused to condemn it. He said condemning incidents had not worked during the Troubles.
If Gerry Kelly was right in October 2000 is he not right now?
Also please illustrate the massive improvements the 1998 Agreement made on Sunningdale?
Or is it Do as I say, not as I do?
Now, I do not believe threatening a worker to carry a bomb will bring about a United Ireland. You could bomb the Centre of Derry to a shell and David Cameron might manage a fart during his expenses paid lunch (Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s been tried?)
Preaching about the “Will of the People” will not work either. The Will of the People was against the Rising in 1916 and against the IRA campaign of the 70’s to 90’s. Anyone telling you otherwise is living in a revisionist cloud cuckoo land.
What is needed is a genuine political and economic strategy to engage those who believe the current “process” (like violence?) offers only the failed policies of the past. Surely Good people of all political parties and none would be willing to try?
Anyway, I would like to express my complete disapproval of the events with the NIE worker last night, and leave you with the thoughts of Mick Fealty on Slugger O’Toole (2/11/12) regarding the killing of Prison Officer David Black.
The tragic death of David Black is being treated more like an embarrassing detail that no one wants or looks for an explanation . Doubly so, since this is a tactic straight out of the Provisional IRA playbook of twenty years ago.
So we are left with the once despised ‘politics of condemnation’.
No matter that it began life as a construct to prevent SF having to condemn the latest atrocity of the IRA, it seems for politicians of the Peace Process era, that’s all there is…
Fair enough take on the matter Michael. I'm in that CAB as well LOL
ReplyDelete