Liam redux

Dissident Republicans draw blood

According to news reports one of the dissident Republican groups has killed two members of the British army of occupation in the north of Ireland. These are the first fatalities for the occupiers in twelve years but come after a number of attacks on police officers and an attempt to blow up Ballykinlar Barracks with…

Liam
2–3 minutes

image According to news reports one of the dissident Republican groups has killed two members of the British army of occupation in the north of Ireland. These are the first fatalities for the occupiers in twelve years but come after a number of attacks on police officers and an attempt to blow up Ballykinlar Barracks with a 300lb bomb in February.

This is political folly and a strategic dead end. The IRA’s campaign which began in the 1970s was initially defensive and commanded a high level of mass support in the north. The British State defeated the Republicans politically and militarily which is why they are now in coalition with the far right DUP. The dissidents’ real target is Sinn Fein. Their calculation must be that  they can attract some Republicans who are slowly drawing the conclusion that their organisation is now part of the sectarian state’s establishment.  In their world view they have passed the real test in establishing a military organisation to replace that disbanded by the Adams’ leadership and have demonstrated that it can attack the British Army.

It’s easy enough to predict what will happen next. The state will ramp up the level of repression. It was already being reported last week that the Special Reconnaissance Regiment is active in the north to conduct surveillance against the dissidents. There will be lots more of that sort of thing, increased policing and a greater role for the army. The dissidents will be penetrated by informers and may just be able to get away with one successful attack every few months. Part of their thinking, and that’s not one of their strong points, is that the harassment and intimidation will radicalise a new generation of militants.

Their fundamental problem is that they are resorting to a strategy that was tested for twenty years and utterly failed. They have nothing to say about why Sinn Fein ended up where it has other than attributing it to the venality of individuals . Going back up the same blind alley with much less support, a far weaker organisation and no politics is going to be a bloody pointless farce.

18 responses to “Dissident Republicans draw blood”

  1. Dave Riley Avatar
    Dave Riley

    Spot on Liam.

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  2. johng Avatar
    johng

    Despite being written some time back, I also think this is neccessary reading today:

    http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021118/mccann

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  3. hasta siempre comandante Avatar
    hasta siempre comandante

    Is it political folly for Iraqis to attack British (or other) occupation troops? Or Afghans to attack them?

    Is it that it is easier to be anti-imperialist when it is thousands of miles away?

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  4. Real IRA claims responsibility for Antrim killings | Politics in the Zeros

    […] Liam Mac Uaid The dissidents’ real target is Sinn Fein. Their calculation must be that they can attract some Republicans who are slowly drawing the conclusion that their organisation is now part of the sectarian state’s establishment. […]

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  5. Duncan Avatar
    Duncan

    Liam’s comments rightly reflect the ineffectiveness of military campaigns, But what should socialists say in their agitational work? The dead end in the north of Ireland has been created by the British, not by these dissident Republicans. Sinn Fein remains a contradictory organisation, because the social rhetoric of its leaders fits in some ways the political space of the European Left Party.

    Furthermore, if it’s a mistaken tactic to shoot at these British soldiers, hours away from shipping out to Afghanistan, what’s the alternative?

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  6. prianikoff Avatar
    prianikoff

    I detect an outbreak of double standards by Seymour, Liam, Ger Francis and John Wight.
    Were the same arguments they usually employ for Israel-Palestine to be employed, they might be writing:-

    “Sinn Fein have effectively become the supporters of a colonial policing operation.
    The cease fire was broken, not by the IRA, but because of the increased surveillance operations on the Catholic Nationalist population.

    The Real IRA have taken up the banner of nationalist resistance and are thus playing a progressive role vis-a-vis Imperialism.
    It’s not possible to build a mass socialist organisation in the North while the national question is unresolved and republicanism is the historic vehicle for that struggle.
    Attacks on their alleged “reactionary Catholic-nationalism” are racist.

    The two soldiers were from the West Midlands and London, not Ireland.
    They were about to be posted to another imperialist occupation in Afghanistan.
    They were put in harms way by the British ruling class, who bear the blame for their deaths by its refusal to withdraw the troops.
    Following that, the Orange sectarian apartheid state must be dismantled and replaced by a 32 County United Ireland.”

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  7. Liam Avatar
    Liam

    Some things you take for granted. My working assumption is that most readers of this site have fairly definite views on capitalism not so different from mine. The same goes for issues of imperialism and the views expressed on what happened in Gaza seem to bear that out. Knocking out a quick reaction to an event is not the same as setting out a full programme for the Irish revolution and while it would have been easy enough to rehash the standard denunciation of imperialism I wanted to make the point that they are offering a less popular and less effective version of something that’s been tried before. I know that Socialist Democracy in Belfast are preparing something and I’ll put that up when it’s ready.

    As an aside, one feature of the statement claiming responsibility shows that even some of the most blindingly obvious mistakes of the last IRA campaign are going to be repeated. Crowing that you shoot people who deliver pizzas because they are part of the enemy war machine will alienate even some of those who see no problem with fighting the British army

    It’s an imperfect analogy but it seems to me that this campaign will be like the Border Campaign that began in 1956 and ended in 1962 with a statement from the IRA saying that it lacked support.

    http://irelandsown.net/bordercamp.html

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  8. John Wight Avatar
    John Wight

    I detect an outbreak of double standards by Seymour, Liam, Ger Francis and John Wight.
    ‘Were the same arguments they usually employ for Israel-Palestine to be employed, they might be writing:-

    “Sinn Fein have effectively become the supporters of a colonial policing operation.
    The cease fire was broken, not by the IRA, but because of the increased surveillance operations on the Catholic Nationalist population.

    The Real IRA have taken up the banner of nationalist resistance and are thus playing a progressive role vis-a-vis Imperialism.’

    Reply:

    This analogy is false. Hamas enjoy mass support as a consequence of their years of work in providing social services and facilities to the poorest strata of Palestinian society. This has earned them the loyalty and support of said people, and their armed struggle in defence of Palestinian human rights and self determination is broadly representative.

    The Real IRA as yet do not enjoy mass support, nor have they emerged organically from a mass struggle. However, this does not mean they won’t gain support. Their tactic is obviously to provoke a major response from the authorities in the form of troops and checkpoints back on the streets, and security measures that will alienate the republican community. They are also intent on placing Sinn Fein in the invidious position of either collaborating with the authorities, and risking the ire of many among their own ranks, or else refusing to cooperate with the authorities and face being ostracised by their unionist partners and the British government.

    This thing is at its very early stages. As of now the RIRA have succeeded in creating a political crisis in reminding all involved that the contradictions that lay at the root of the Troubles haven’t been removed.

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  9. splinteredsunrise Avatar
    splinteredsunrise

    What’s more, to the extent that there is any thinking among the Real Republicans, it’s the usual mixture of “we were defeated due to bad leadership” and “one more heave can do the trick”. It’s perfectly possible to reject the peace process and all its works while still thinking this doesn’t add up to a strategy.

    You see this in the periodic meetings to discuss alternatives to the GFA process. Somebody always stands up and insists on their historic right to take a pop at the Brits whenever they feel like it. Whether taking a pop at the Brits is a sensible thing to do doesn’t seem to occur to them.

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  10. Andy Newman Avatar
    Andy Newman

    it’s a mistaken tactic to shoot at these British soldiers, hours away from shipping out to Afghanistan, what’s the alternative?

    Bruce kent used to argue that the alternatrive to war was not having a war, he is right.

    The alternative in this case was very esay, not shooting the soldiers.

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  11. Andy Newman Avatar
    Andy Newman

    Actually, I have consistently argued that some of the armed actions against Israel are futile and self-defeating, and are often done for motives of jockeying for position and prestige within palestinian and Arab politics.

    Even in the case where there is mass popu;lar support for war it doesn’t mean that every military action is well conceived or sensible.

    But the fact that there is mass support for military action in Palestine is absolutely true. I had a meeting ina trade union office in the West bank where pride of place was given to a portrait of a young union member who had been a suicide bomber for Al Aqsa brigade. Almost everyone in palestine supports armed struggle, the only dispute is over whether it is effective enough, and whether the balance of forces and Israeli reprisals makes it too dangerous.

    In contrast, these shootings in Ireland are a desperatly stupid act by political fantasists.

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  12. John Wight Avatar
    John Wight

    Andy:

    Actually, I have consistently argued that some of the armed actions against Israel are futile and self-defeating, and are often done for motives of jockeying for position and prestige within palestinian and Arab politics.

    Reply:

    Andy, I disagree with you on this. In the context of an unremitting military occupation, immiseration, and the denial or national and human rights, I don’t think that ‘jockeying for position’ is a factor in Palestinian politics. Hamas, according to their own leadership, only entered the 2006 elections under pressure from below as a counterweight to the corruption of the Fatah leadership.

    I view Palestinian military actions, however futile they are, as acts of desperation rather than as cynical attempts to win credibility or status.

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  13. Liam Avatar
    Liam

    Of course the flip side of Andy’s point is that one useful technique to avoid getting shot by strangers is not to join an organisation of professional killers which travels to foreign countries to murder the people who live there.

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  14. Andy Newman Avatar
    Andy Newman

    John

    There is a long tradition in palestinian politics of using guerilla actions to boost the prestige of particular groups, the most famous being the rise of Fatah to undermine the nasserite leadership of the PLO in the 1960s.

    And to think that there is no jockeying for position aming the varoius political tendencies in Plaestine is a shade niave – it dominates almost every aspect fo Palestinian politics, whch is of course also a symptom of desperation.

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  15. Andy Newman Avatar
    Andy Newman

    Liam

    I understand that joining the british army and serving in Ireland a certain inherent willingness to shoulder the dangers that go with the job, and they shouldn’t be in Ireland or Afghanistan.

    i am less clear about how people signing up to deliver Pizzas become the shock troups of imperialist aggression.

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  16. hasta victoria siempre Avatar
    hasta victoria siempre

    After a lull since the 1916 Rising, the War Of Independence started with a minor ambush in a quarry in County Tipperary. So small actions can lead to bigger consequences.

    I suspect the real target of the attack was in fact Sinn Fein, to make them look like the Free Staters of the 21st century, which thay are.

    One concrete result last night of the attack was to affect Channel Five programming. A film starring Brad Pitt was pulled and replaced by an episode of House. The fact that Pitt was playing an IRA man in the film may have had something to do with it. Suddenly a TV channel noted for its militaristic and securocrat output became sensitive.

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  17. entdinglichung Avatar
    entdinglichung

    statement from the blog of Socialist Democracy: http://socialistdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/03/republicans-attack-british-army-base-in.html

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  18. Brief thoughts on the dissident campaign « Splintered Sunrise

    […] though, to be said about the context and the responses. There are some useful points made by Liam, some more by Richard, plenty of intelligent discussion as usual on Cedar Lounge, and if you’re […]

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