“the Good Friday Agreement represents a significant defeat for republicanism.”

As the Belfast Telegraph predicted, one of those other republican paramilitary groups repeated their claim of responsibility for the murder of Denis Donaldson today in Londonderry. And at the same demonstration, attended by a reported 200 people, RTE notes – “Martin Galvin, a former director of the Irish/American Noraid which helped support the IRA’s campaign during the conflict, was present along with Francis Mackey from the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, which supports the Real IRA.” Btw, they weren’t the only paramilitary displays in evidence over the weekend. The Irish Times report adds.

A [32 County Sovereignty Movement] statement said: “We are constantly asked; what is your alternative? The answer depends on who is asking the question. To those who call us traitors (Martin McGuinness) we say; any alternative but yours. “To those who call us anti democratic we say; let us negotiate without preconditions. To those republicans who genuinely seek an alternative we say; let us construct one together. “We must be clear that the Good Friday Agreement represents a significant defeat for republicanism.”

Except that the Good Friday Agreement wasn’t a defeat for republicanism in itself. It was an acknowledgement of a need to reverse out of the cul-de-sac that movement had driven itself into, as well as providing the means to do so.

Even though some Sinn Féin representatives may deny it, their party president has admitted as much.

The problem has been that that reversal has been accompanied by assertions from the same movement that it was, instead, still driving forward along the same road.

And those legacy issues remain.

But then, some people are “not very interested in [poking through the embers of the last 30 years]”..

Poisonous foundations and all that..

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