Republicanism from the outside

The Blanket this week pulls off an unusual coup for Northern Ireland: an examination of Republicanism from outside its political camp. Thomas Gore believes the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement offers the Republican movement the opportunity to finally realise it’s long term ambition of uniting the Irish people.

…it definitely couldn�t be argued that it had in any way moved society towards the ultimate goal of uniting Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter. In fact, it played no small part in ensuring that the very opposite became the case � as a people, we are now more divided than ever.

Supposedly a tactic, (�let�s create the republic first and then the Prods will surely see the error of their ways�), violence became for far too many (on every side) an end in itself. It succeeded only in driving people deeper into their respective bunkers and some way out had to be found. The Good Friday Agreement became both the route map and the vehicle towards that end.

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty