Conflict – Page 5 – Slugger O'Toole

Outsourcing solutions may be the secret of dealing with more than the past

Brian Walker on December 19, 2014, 4:42 pm

| Readers 720

Well, perhaps amid the encircling gloom the political parties have seen some light at last. The details of the agreement on welfare reform are awaited but it looks as if any new money will come from Westminster mainly to deal with the past which is surely fair. Adds: United Executive request for a total of £2.1 billion over 10 years. Quite a gap with David Cameron’s £1 billion extra borrowing.. but perhaps smoke and mirrors will narrow it once the welfare deal surfaces. Nothing from that …

Is This What A United Ireland Would Be?

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on November 26, 2014, 9:19 pm

| Readers 4712

[Originally posted on my own site, but I thought given the…interest shown yesterday in my status as pro union, that the sluggerverse might get a kick out of this…] I regularly wonder what “a united ireland” would be. Many people call for it, but would the reality be what they expected? Very few people indeed are alive today that remember a united ireland… and the world of 2014 is far removed from the world of 1916…So what would happen? …

Friday Thread: The Struggle for Esteem?

Dead_Air_Radio on October 3, 2014, 1:17 pm

| Readers 1480

Can we make ourselves feel good without making others feel bad? Political philosopher, Cillian McBride, explores this question with people from Tiger’s Bay, a Loyalist community in North Belfast. He talks to them about bonfires, flags and parading, and the challenges posed by cultural practices that neighbouring communities can experience as hostile gestures. He suggests we think about these issues in terms of a struggle for social recognition – a feature that is common among all individuals and societies. Dead_Air_Radiomedia …

Who won the war? More importantly, who if anyone, is creating the peace?

Mick Fealty on September 26, 2014, 2:19 pm

| Readers 1592

So, I have to admit, it slipped my mind that the embargo was up already on the preview of Peter Taylor’s elegiac look on the Trouble when he asked the question few have dared to: who won the war? Now it’s everywhere it seems. This is as much an elegy on the part of a veteran journalist, a last look on the appalling vista he brought consistently brought us right throughout the troubles. There’s some interesting effects in playing old …

Ceasefires and moving on from the political beachheads of 1994…

Mick Fealty on September 2, 2014, 7:40 am

| Readers 983

The trick is to keep moving. If you stop, if you start thinking, you lose your focus. You lose your concentration. You’ll be a casualty. The idea, the perfect idea, is to keep moving. – Dwight D Eisenhower, June 1944 The primary locus of last night’s documentary was the IRA‘s ceasefire of September 1994. Although it only lasted 18 months or so, it’s hard to gainsay Gerry’s observation that ‘it is still the most logical point at which to divide recent history into a …

Art of the Troubles: Culture and Conflict

Soapbox on June 3, 2014, 12:37 pm

| Readers 294

Dr Stefanie Lehner (Queen’s University Belfast); Dr Laura McAtackney (University College Dublin); Dr Cillian McGrattan (University of Ulster) The importance of culture in Northern Irish political life was reinforced in the events surrounding Pastor McConnell over the past week. It is clear that within Northern Ireland, the effects of fear, judgment, prejudice, hate and intimidation make themselves felt in various forms throughout society. Cultural difference, then, shapes and informs the contours of political life – it works to valorise certain …

The British goverment must set a better example before the case for an amnesty is properly heard

Brian Walker on May 28, 2014, 12:20 pm

| Readers 58

Adrian Guelke a South African a Queen’s academic and a leading authority on post-conflict resolution joins the growing list of reputable figures calling for an amnesty. He criticises the two governments for lack of involvement (although the unfortunate Eamon Gilmore can’t be faulted for trying almost right up to the moment of his resignation as Labour leader) Extracts. An unfortunate sequence of events has unfolded that has the potential to threaten the peace, including the failure of the Haass talks, histrionics …

Government shambles revealed over details of OTR links to murder

Brian Walker on May 7, 2014, 7:11 pm

| Readers 65

After republican outrage over Gerry Adams’ interrogation, it’s high time to revive unionist fury over the OTR comfort letters with the revelation that 95 out of 228 beneficiaries were linked by the police to murder. From the tortuous accounts by the Chief Constable Matt Baggott and ACC Drew Harris before the NI Select Committee of MPs today, the DUP can hardly be blamed for failing to realise in full what was going on. Neither did the Chief Constable for most …

The peace process sceptics need addressing as the governments prepare to intervene

Brian Walker on May 6, 2014, 7:13 am

| Readers 49

People who had to catch their breath over Gerry Adams’ arrest are now be having second wind. The former Labour secretary of state Shaun Woodward has called for a referendum over the heads of the local parties on what sort of mechanism they want to deal with the legacy of the Troubles. This may be commended as an initiative for jolting what remains the sovereign government and its Dublin partner into exercising their responsibilities in a low intensity existential crisis. But …

After the Adams arrest there is a way through, you know

Brian Walker on May 5, 2014, 11:07 am

| Readers 67

The IRA is gone, it’s finished.” I want to make it clear that I support the PSNI.” My reading of Gerry Adams’ statement on his release with his anger only just held in check, is that he wants to limit the damage while capitalising on the circumstances. Snap reactions are notoriously unreliable. But the events of the last four days have allowed the rest of us to speculate on what might have happened if he had been charged. Most people’s thoughts I …

After the Adams arrest what do we know and what has changed?

Mick Fealty on May 5, 2014, 6:52 am

| Readers 80

So after four days of being questioned in thirty three taped interviews, Gerry Adams emerged, if not exactly blinking into the light yesterday, then clearly very happy to be back amongst his own activists. As, it must be said, they were to have him back. For a party that twenty years ago was probably the most resilient of any political movement on these islands, Sinn Fein looked strangely lost without Adams’ steady hand at the tiller. In retrospect, the decision to arrest rather than interview under …

Instead of slugging it over the police, the politicians should take responsibility for the past

Brian Walker on May 1, 2014, 6:34 pm

| Readers 55

Does the conspiracy theory work, that Gerry Adams got himself arrested in order to clear his name? Does it square with Martin McGuinness’ charge that the timing is politically motivated? Or are Sinn Fein stunting synthetic rage about the timing in order to make his release an even bigger triumph? Ed Moloney speaking Radio 4 believes there was a logic to the timing of the arrest after the evidence of the Boston tapes, quite apart from elections. However he questions …

If Gerry Adams was ever immune, that immunity has now been lifted. What next?

Brian Walker on May 1, 2014, 2:58 pm

| Readers 124

The Adams arrest raises acute questions about a comprehensive approach to dealing with the past I discussed just before the news broke. Depending on the outcome, the prospects could go either way. The cry of selective or one sided justice from one side produces an inevitable echo. Justice all round is unlikely to become better served, neither are truth or political relations. If the PSNI draw a blank, we’re where we were. If they don’t, we enter the unknown. A heavy burden is placed on the operational independence of the police, …

McConville’s son fears that he or one of his family members “would get shot”.

Mick Fealty on May 1, 2014, 11:52 am

| Readers 66

Two interviews. One with Jean McConville’s son Michael speaking on Good Morning Ulster this morning saying that although he was sure he knew who had killed his mother, he lived in fear of what might happen if he disclosed his suspicions: listen to ‘I know who killed my mother, says Jean McConville's son’ on Audioboo Conor Murphy on Nolan later dodged the point: listen to ‘MPs Conor Murphy & Gregory Campbell clash over Adams arrest #BBCNolan’ on Audioboo Mick FealtyMick …

Everything you need to know about the #Adams arrest [in 13 tweets]…

Mick Fealty on May 1, 2014, 10:30 am

| Readers 74

So whilst we’re waiting for some definite news on the Adams arrest, here’s some of the tweets from last night: – First from the unexpected new voice of liberal Ulster evangelicalism… Kyle Paisley on arrest of Gerry Adams-we should "judge nothing before the time," (1Cor. 4:5) continue reading here.. http://t.co/hsZ2i4xjOI — Eamonn Mallie (@EamonnMallie) May 1, 2014 – Sinn Fein had clearly been preparing the ground for this event since 23rd March… Statement from Gerry Adams about PSNI meeting this …

After the Visit, the greater epiphany?

Brian Walker on April 12, 2014, 12:28 am

| Readers 61

What we saw in Windsor Castle this week was a delayed act of official reconciliation that should have taken place fifty years ago but was held up by the Troubles. It was in reality the unfinished business of closing a sequence of turmoil that began over a century ago, whose shadow is finally lifting only now. Carping like that below fails to recognise that such formalities can only be afforded when the reconciliation they celebrate is safely secured. So what …

Friday thread: Perhaps ‘War’ brings a properly social benefit after all?

Mick Fealty on April 11, 2014, 3:54 pm

| Readers 42

Today’s Friday thread is a talk delivered yesterday at the RSA in London by Ian Morris, author of a new book which posits the controversial idea that, over time, war is actually good for us, not necessarily as individuals but as societies. The presentation is fairly short but it was around this part I think Morris gets to the hub of his thesis… Violence is an evolved adaptation. Pretty much every species has its own way of using violence. Each …

Did the ‘UDA Night’ at Sandy Row spark the “IRA Night” in Whiterock?

Mick Fealty on April 2, 2014, 11:55 am

| Readers 718

After no some little searching, here’s the only reference I can find to the UDA event at Sandy Row Community Centre in An Phoblacht. Interestingly it carries a quote from a Sinn Fein councillor: Laganbank Sinn Féin Councillor Deirdre Hargey has called for a full investigation into the incident. She also noted that as a council building it is open to all sections of the community and being associated with such incidents will only keep people away. Mark Moloney notes… A …

And meanwhile in Larne, the UDA enforces its imaginary paramilitary writ…

Mick Fealty on March 31, 2014, 8:40 pm

| Readers 563

You would imagine these guys are on a one way ticket to prison, but the overweening and assumptive actions of paramilitaries of all descriptions in Northern Ireland has to be the abiding failure of the culture of the Peace Process™. Over the weekend, the UDA [would that be the good or the bad ones? – Ed] ran amok in Larne: A police vehicle was damaged as officers attempted to deal with up to 100 people who had gathered in Sallagh …

In the aftermath of Loughgall: The cover story…

Mick Fealty on February 20, 2014, 9:26 am

| Readers 3006

This from the new women’s blog Vixens with Convictions looks at some new documentary evidence around the SAS/RUC ambush at Loughgall… The full truth around Loughgall will probably never be exposed, however this note, written by someone who had more knowledge than most into events at that time, is of historical value. We have decided that it is in the public interest to explore the questions that it will most likely raise for the reader. Most sources believe that the …