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Your day has definitely come, Martin McGuinness
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
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Right now, the people of Northern Ireland and the Republic need to see two men standing side by side issuing a joint statement condemning the murders and the murderers of those two soldiers at Massereene.
More than that, right now the families of two dead young men require two living men to stand up and be counted on their behalf.
Those two living men are Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness. First and Deputy First Minister. Our Government.
What's at stake is confidence in our future and not only here, among the brand new buildings, the underpasses, Victoria Square, the new Ulster Hall, the Titanic Quarter; but among the international community who now look again at this place and find two dead soldiers, the first to be killed here in 12 years.
Was that it then? Was that the peace? Were the last 10 years our lot? Are we back in the 1960s after the Border Campaign?
Can we look forward to yet another outburst of republican purism, now that it seems Sinn Fein can’t deliver on its promise to end the war?
We knew that it could happen but it was still a shock. Police tickertape fluttering. The mundanity of a Saturday night pizza delivery. The eyewitness details of six ambulances rushing to the scene. Reporters huddled round a detective. The Prime Minister's promise that the terrorists will not win. And the Taoiseach's. And the First Minister's. And the SDLP's. And the Alliance Party's ...
There was the innate familiarity of the ritual. Sunday could have been any day from the dark 1970s or ’80s. Also, the speculation about what it all meant for the peace process. For the future. For us.
The threat of dissent republicans — after Omagh — was, for most of us, more theoretical than real.
A bomb scare here, a shooting there, but the situation — despite recent warnings — seemed under control. Compared to what went before, it all seemed small-time stuff. It seemed like almost a peace. Not now, it doesn't.
Cowardly as the Antrim attack was, it was as well-planned as the many attacks by the Provos during ‘their' war.
For all the experts puffing away that the dissidents do not have the weapons and the men in the way the Provos did (or do?), recent security assessments have been proved absolutely correct. The dissidents are growing stronger.
Of course, they don't have to be as strong as the Provisionals.
They merely have to be big enough and deadly enough to pose their erstwhile friends, Sinn Fein, a very nasty question: whose side are you really on?
It's a question that unionists will be looking answered, too.
After all, in theory we're in a position where all has been agreed. Power-sharing. All-Ireland institutions. Policing.
If there's any hedge-trimming by Sinn Fein people will rightly conclude the peace process is just a sham.
I suppose their leaders have just about passed the first hurdle and kept the show on the road. Still, while their condemnation may have satisfied all the legalistic necessities many will feel it has more to do with the political logic of the situation than any deeply felt revulsion.
And many will be waiting for SF backwoodsmen to tip the wink to their natural constituency by humming and hawing, calling for ever more ‘confidence building measures' or rambles down republican memory lane, droning on about how there can be no purely military solutions to armed republican resistance.
Even the fact that the party took more than 12 hours, carefully considering the implications of the Massereene attack before issuing any statement, has been duly noted by many people here.
If there is normal politics here, then normal politicians shouldn't equivocate — or indeed calculate — when their fellow citizens and soldiers are gunned down in cold blood, should they?
Their sincere condemnation should be axiomatic.
If SF speaks with a forked tongue on these murders — or prattles on about the dangers of the PSNI overstepping the mark in their efforts to track down the gunmen — unionists will think they have sat down with a bunch of slippery twisters who think a peace process means more one-way concessions.
It is not enough for Sinn Fein to say they support the peace process. They now have to say they want peace.
Pure and simple.
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Comments
49 Comments
The danger to the peace process could not be more pronounced. Taunting, mocking, sneering comments must not supplant serious discussion. Any sane person could see that a split among republicans could be a catalyst for a march to the past, bring with it all the horror.
Prattle, an apt description of this article.
Posted by jerry Sullivan | 16.03.09, 03:11 GMT
I have voted SDLP in every election for 30 years and I believe that Gail Walker's is the most disgraceful writing in any paper in these islands. The Belfast Telegraph ought to be totally ashamed that it gives a platform to her.
Posted by JJ | 14.03.09, 23:41 GMT
This is the third article in a row that i have read here in the Tele, and all of them appear to be written with a narrow Unionist right wing agenda. Shame on you Tele.
Posted by Spot_On | 12.03.09, 21:12 GMT
Yet another sub-standard, sad and ill-judged article.
Surely the Belfast Telegraph can find better journalists??
I've had enough of reading Gail's nonsenese now - I'm simply not going to bother reading the BT in print or online anymore.
Posted by John | 12.03.09, 20:38 GMT
I genuinely cannot believe that the Belfast Telegraph continues to publish articles from Gail Walker. The unending trail of myopic one-sided (Unionist) articles verges on the ridiculous. Article after article reads as if it was from the 60's.
I am not a Sinn Fein voter yet it is blindingly obviously how bitter and discriminatory Gail is to them. Open your eyes Gail and understand this country and this island is for everyone.
Posted by Mr M | 12.03.09, 20:32 GMT
Another ridiculous article from Gail Walker. Are we going back to the 60's and 70's again - judging by your haste to jump on the bandwagon yes and sooner than you think!! Condemn those who carried out the attack and support Hugh Orde's constant struggle to be taken seriously on the potential of dissidents but don't be lazy and just go for a bit of Sinn Fein bashing. God the BT must have better writers than this with some intelligence.
Posted by Lisa | 12.03.09, 12:00 GMT
Gail.It is amazing to me(or maybe not knowing their onesided views) that the Belfast Telegraph would let such a dreadful article be published.Go wake up to yourself and stop trying to antagonise people into kneejerk reactions to your vile views.
Posted by Big Gak Detroit | 11.03.09, 23:03 GMT
Gail, has a point, although too soon maybe? What I want to know however is exactly how much influence do these groups have. Where is the support coming from? which demographics? From what I have been told about Lurgan supporters are by and large dis-enfranchised youth. Would it not make more sense to reach out to them instead of further alienation which will only make issues worse?
Posted by M Spence | 11.03.09, 21:32 GMT
The last Policeman to die happened 10 years ago and he was killed by Unionist paramilitaries, who are still armed to the gills. Maybe that fact slipped your memory, Gail, people might think you are one sided in your judgment.
Posted by Trevor | 11.03.09, 19:30 GMT
This is a good, thoughtful article. I've criticized Ms. Walker in the past but what she said this time is on the ball. Well done.
Southern Nationalist
Posted by barrynla | 11.03.09, 19:17 GMT
'Dont know what all the fuss is about! Any sane and good thinking person should be agreeing with this.'
The author has just used this tragic incident as an excuse to do a bit of Sinn Fein baiting and just stops short of blaming them for the whole thing. Very much fanning the flames.
Too many Seans on this topic. I am not the 'slavery' one and totally agree with Joe from North Belfast.
Posted by Sean, Omagh | 11.03.09, 16:50 GMT
Dont know what all the fuss is about! Any sane and good thinking person should be agreeing with this.
Posted by Millar | 11.03.09, 14:09 GMT
Im disappointed in this. Its a very ignorant article, an A level pupil could have wirtten a more indepth brief about the impact on the peace process and in particular SF's part to play in this.
Posted by Michelle | 11.03.09, 12:22 GMT
Joe from North Belfast - WELL DONE for your response.
I am not an Irish Catholic from that part of Belfast so I am not necessarily privy to the political soundbytes spouted by republican/nationalist politicians in the area, but the "slavery, occupation, injustice & freedom" comments mentioned by Sean - sound like old, dust-covered comments straight from the mouths of Adams full of loathing and mistrust. Of that I am aware.
But just how many people on the street in your area actually buy into, or are duped by such comments?
Posted by mickey | 11.03.09, 12:14 GMT
Dreadful, predictable rubbish .
Posted by dantheman | 11.03.09, 11:29 GMT
Sean "it may be about peace for you, for others it is about slavery, occupation, and injustice and the arching desire to be free."
Sean, you do realise it's 2009, yea?
This desire to be "free" - what do you wish to be free from? Explain how you are not free in your every day life, from the moment you wake up each morning?
Posted by mickey | 11.03.09, 10:43 GMT
slavery, occupation, and injustice and the arching desire to be free.
In what way am I a slave? What injustice so I suffer? I am free
I fail to understand where you are coming from? I am from North Belfast, I am Irish and I am Catholic. I am free. Not one inch of ground in this place is worth the life of a single person. Before you unite a country you have to unite the people.
In what way does the killings unite the people? How does killing that cop make you less of a slave or more free? How does that killing make Ireland a better place? How does that killing deliver justice to your fellow Irish Men and Women?
Posted by Joe | 11.03.09, 09:45 GMT
I can only agree with my Sean. Would BT please try to edit this type of journalism. You just bring out the worst in people like little Mickey and give him a platform to pour more bile into Walkers river (which is already bursting it´s banks).
Posted by robin | 11.03.09, 09:36 GMT
I agree with all those moderate people who desire to develop this delicate but crucial peace process. There can be no going back. Gail Walker´s article is a text written without any level of sensitivity to all involved. Despite historical differences it is clear that the people elected to the assembly and the vast majority of people on the island of Ireland do not support these murders. BT should monitor this type of journalism.
Posted by Seán | 11.03.09, 09:04 GMT
it may be about peace for you, for others it is about slavery, occupation, and injustice and the arching desire to be free.
Posted by sean | 11.03.09, 06:22 GMT
49 Comments