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Lindy McDowell: Why there’s no disguising UDA’s history
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
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The death this week of the gangster/paramilitary Ihab Shoukri was sudden — but not entirely shocking. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword is how one veteran community worker put it.
Although in this case, those who live by the pharmaceuticals die by the pharmaceuticals might be closer to the mark.
In the immediate aftermath of his death, Shoukri’s cohorts have denied claims that drug taking had anything to do with it. But whether or not drug abuse was a direct cause, it’s hard to believe the lifestyle of excess for which Shoukri and his younger brother Andre were notorious did not have some sort of contributory bearing upon his passing.
Every death is a tragedy. Shoukri was 34-years-old and in the prime of life. He was good looking, bright, the son of a mother who by all accounts is regarded as a decent, hard-working woman. For a time Shoukri worked for the local civil service. In another time, in another place might his life have turned out entirely differently?
Who’s to say?
The fact is that he and his brother chose — deliberately chose — a path that brought them power and money at the expense of others.
“It is a human loss to the family. People are dismissing how it affects the family,” one of his sidekicks told a newspaper this week.
It is precisely because the vast majority of us can accept how the death of a man can affect a family that the Shoukri brothers and their ilk revolt so many.
The pair rose to prominence in the UDA. Apart from their own specific crimes, this was — is — an organisation which has brought misery and suffering on an industrial scale upon other families in Northern Ireland.
The UDA styles itself as a ‘defence association’. But the people it murdered — apart from one-time comrades ousted in bloody coups — were mainly innocent, defenceless young lads gunned down from behind.
And they were murdered for one reason — simply because they were Catholic.
They were also easy targets. The UDA in common with other paramilitary outfits here has no great record of taking on rival terror gang leaders.
Their sectarianism is eclipsed only by their cowardice. That, and their greed.
For UDA chiefs have profited quite considerably from the drug-dealing, extortion and gangsterism that has been their stock in trade.
In running their crime empires they have leached off and devastated the very community they claim to ‘defend’ — the Protestant working class.
They ply drugs to the young. They rip off legitimate businesses and intimidate anyone who dares speak out against them. With their extortion rackets they have ensured that new businesses which could have brought jobs to those areas have been repulsed. It’s the same with housing — any project in fact that wouldn’t fork up for their protection scams.
The Shoukris and their cohorts have been part of all that. But they have not been alone.
There is a move — shamefully accepted in parts of the media — to make some sort of distinction between loyalist ‘renegades’ and what we are now asked to accept as ‘mainstream’ loyalists.
The sort that these days gets a hug from the President of Ireland.
Even dressed up in suits (or golfing gear) they are all just different faces of the same vile gangster outfit. What they have been responsible in the past does matter. What they continue to be party to is relevant.
It may not be fashionable but there are still very, very many of us in Northern Ireland who refuse to see a delineation between renegade (or dissident) paramilitaries on all sides and the ‘mainstream’ rest of them. They are all the same. The whole rotten shower of them.
But far from being ostracised by ‘the process’, their very methods have been adopted and officially endorsed.
Is there really all that much difference between the ‘protection’ money extorted at street level — and promises of funding from a compliant, arsenal-licking British government?
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lindy you are the reason why there are witch hunts, its easy to cast judgement on people that the media use for stories, not everything is true that is written or reported..it must be easy to write about someone you dont know or a place you dont know(ballysillan) i knew ihab from childhood and his mum, brothers... he was a great friend..
his death is a great loss to his family and friends...
shame on you
Posted by william wilgaus (junior) | 02.12.08, 16:05 GMT
I believe this article is a disgrace Lindy you would need to have a reliable source to gain relevant and true information and not listen to nonsense and reports in the media. I have read extracts from the mummy's boys and laughed along with many others about the content of the book in relation to the shoukri's. Lindy, Ihab's mother has lost her son just over a week ago, you as a mother should not even be able to comprehend how that feels. No one is saying Ihab Shoukri was entirely innocent in the life he lead, but like any human being he did not deserve to die, and anyone who really knew him would say he was a kind and thoughtful person. Ihab Shoukri had turned his life around and deserved a second chance.
Posted by Sonia | 02.12.08, 00:08 GMT
Lindy McDowell has captured my thoughts on these paramilitaries in entirety. What kind of people, or culture, would posion generations of youth, including their own children, with drugs. Lindy is much to kind to refer to this vile gangsterism as a rotten shower. This jetsam of society is a leprosy which should be reconized and removed from main stream society as soon as possible.
Posted by William McMaster | 01.12.08, 04:50 GMT
I have read this article four or five times , and to be truthful I cannot find one wasted word , bold words YES , brave words YES, truthful words YES , so I shall go now and raise a glass in your honour .
Posted by SAIGEADOIR COLLAC ABU | 29.11.08, 20:56 GMT
Well said Lindy (I mean that seriously, mickey!)
Posted by Jan | 29.11.08, 00:40 GMT
A very fair piece of commentary indeed...as an Ulsterman who has lived in multicultural London for over two decades I can confirm that any of the considerable goodwill directed to my person over the years - both here and abroad - has been off the back of genuine admiration for the good natured, industrious and intelligent Northern Irish people who got on with their lives and spurned political violence and all that went with it. Likewise because of the generally fine raft of ambassadors - both Catholic and Protestant - who have gained considerable public profiles across many mediums. The detritus of Loyalist and Republican paramilitarism have contributed and will contribute NOTHING to any positive perception of our people and our future.
Posted by JS | 28.11.08, 17:28 GMT
I have just read Ms McDowell's comments, and in truth I feel so sad that a journalist has to state the obvious while all our gallant and highly paid MLA's on the hill continue with their three wise monkey impersonations.
The aristos have been tip toeing around a situation that has festered for so long that it is now pure poison.
The country has moved on and the defence of the same country is being policed reasonably adequately.
Private armies have stopped growth for three decades and all of them should have seen the light by this time.
Regrettably, the MLA aristos seem content to sit on their hands with their mouths closed and appear afraid to speak out.
Ironic that a journalist and a president, both female, should show the decision makers what real decision making is all about.
Posted by HC | 28.11.08, 15:56 GMT
My heart goes out to you for finally not slamming the Republicans, Nationalists or the IRA. Yeah, you described the UDA perfectly. Now can you do the same against the UVF?
Posted by McRee | 27.11.08, 21:11 GMT
Well said Lindy
Posted by John | 27.11.08, 13:32 GMT
Well said, they are the scum of the earth. But what goes unreported is the fact that 90% of UDA members have long wanted to turn their backs on this criminal organization but unfortunately there is no escape. You either tow the line, pay them money ( membership dues they like to describe them ) or be forced and intimidated from your home. The only ones who want this organisation for lowlifes to continue it's existence is the remaining 10% who make a nice living out of the rest of the protestant community aided by government paid UDA community workers. I have no doubt the catholic community endure the same parasites.
Posted by Working class Prod | 27.11.08, 13:20 GMT
What a great article! The bully-boys will have a hard time responding to this. The truth always hurts!
Posted by billy j | 27.11.08, 02:24 GMT
It takes some courage to write an article like this. Well done, Lindy - you speak for any reasonable and reasoning person in NI who refuses to be "protected" by scumbags like UDA,UFF, Real IRA and any other name they care to hide behind. It is time they realized they are not wanted here - all they have done/are doing is bring suffering, misery, torment and death to innocent children and adults alike. They're big men behind their masks and in their organisations, and it takes vast amounts of courage I must say to intimidate the likes of a wee lad from Dungiven - to quote just one example... Wasters all and sundry.
Posted by Attilathehun | 26.11.08, 20:51 GMT
Well said Lindy! Very well put.
Posted by R Crowson | 26.11.08, 19:04 GMT
How does anyone forgive a person who derives earnings from dealing junk to kids? A drug dealer is scum regardless of his religion or politics, a social predator on the same scale as a child-stalking paedo. They should never be honored, for it says as much about the people honoring him as it does the individual.
Posted by Scott Richards | 26.11.08, 17:09 GMT
Will this article placate those who suggest the author is biased in her views?
I suspect they'll fall silent.
Posted by mickey | 26.11.08, 16:32 GMT
I could not have said it better. Lindy keep telling it like it is.
Posted by RMS | 26.11.08, 15:49 GMT