“There will be no critique that many, maybe even most, states have been initiated and legitimised in the smoke of gunpowder” – Denis Bradley.
NELSON Mandela was no pacifist. That is not in dispute. However, was Nelson Mandela a terrorist? Now that is a whole different ball game. Not that you would be alerted to that question from the tone and content of recent media reporting. He is portrayed as the nearest thing to a living saint, the saviour of his nation and an example and inspiration for politicians and statesmen throughout the world.
The imminence and reality of his death will augment and further embellish his saintliness while in certain corners of the world, including the North of Ireland, he will be seen by many as a terrorist. Recently we had a soupcon of that in an article in this august paper. I aacknowledge that this is one of the oldest and most clichéd of arguments but one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. It still remains current and pertinent to our historical and moral disputes. When Mandela finally dies, Irish nationalist and republican leaders will hail and celebrate his life and achievements. Smuperlatives will cover pages of newsprint and flow from the mouths of the great anand the good of political life. I would wager that the glowing eulogy will be echoed in Catholic church‘s throughout the land.
There will be little if any critical analysis of his involvement in and support of violence, even if the gospel of that particular day has Christ delivering one of his many warnings against the use of violence as a response to any political or human grievance. Unionist politiicians and Protestant Church leaders will be more flustered. Against the cascade of tributes led by the British prime minister, it will feel churlish to be overly negative so the criticism will be couched in softer wording but there will be the reassertion that those who take up the gun against the legitimate state authority are terrorists in their hearts and in their actions. There will be no crtiquet that many, maybe even most, states have been initiated and legitimised in the smoke of gunpowder. Still less will there be reference to the reality that the greatest acts of terror against humankind have been executed by nation states. The pages of ancient and modern history are dotted with such incidents. The invasion of Iraq by America and Britain is a good exemplar as any of the terrorism of nation states.
I was once advised that the wrong question can be as misleading as the wrong answer. The issue of who is a terrorist is a case in point. During 40 years I saw enough violence emanating from both the state and paramilitary organisations to conclude that they were all terrorists. They all used violence to terrorise a certain constituency to achieve their desired outcome. The wrong question as to who is a terrorist and what constitutes terrorism obscures the important debate that still dominates the core of our political discourse. Irish republicans, particularly Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail, have never confronted the premise that all their violent campaigns to achieve Irish unity have achieved far less than what has been achieved through the democratic process.
Their efforts to morally or politically justify some violent campaigns as opposed to others have been at least limp and probably disingenuous. Fianna Fail says 1916 was good, the modern Provisional campaign was bad. Sinn Fein claims the ‘Provo’ campaign was good, the dissident campaign is bad. The failure or refusal to admit that none of these campaigns achieved their goal and that all of them left deep scars on the Irish people leaves Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail partially neutered in confronting republican dissidents who continue the tradition of violence. Unionists love rotten apples. If I had a pound for every time I heard unionism disown the rotten apples that were in their barrels, I would have a healthy bank account. I have never once heard (in public) an admission that the state itself has strategically used violence. The state manifests itself through its army, in the North of Ireland, the UDR, RIC, RUC, the Black and Tan’s and the security service, MI5, MI6 and the Special Branch etc. Despite Saville, Stalker, Stephens, De Silva, to name just a few, unionism holds onto the myth that the British state was not a combatant in the 40 years of violence. The inability or refusal to face the reality leaves unionism nearly incapable of facing its own past and reaching out to reconcile with its equally flawed and violent neighbours.
With many thanks to : Denis Bradley, The Irish News.
Related articles
- Nelson Mandela doctors: ‘turn off life support machine’ (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
- Nelson Mandela in ‘permanent vegetative state’, court documents show (metro.co.uk)
- Mandela’s health said to be ‘perilous’ (pullingtotheleft.wordpress.com)
- Nelson Mandela, a taste of humility (brettfish.wordpress.com)
- Mandela: Government Denies He Is “Vegetative” (bet.com)
- Support for Fianna Fáil slips in wake of Anglo controversy (irishtimes.com)
- Nationalist Residents Join Forces to Oppose Sectarian Marches (seachranaidhe1.wordpress.com)
seachranaidhe1 