The Indomitable Irishry

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Since there're so many Irish (and Brits) in the U.S., we hear a lot about the troubles in N. Ireland. I wonder how much makes it to eastern and northern Europe, though. What are your thoughts on this?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=535&e=5&cid=535&u=/ap/20020717/ap_on_re_eu/northern_ireland_ira_19

The IRA has apologized for killing civilians.

[Digression: I can't help but draw comparisons between this behavior and that of Palestinians. True, Great Britain is a much more benevolent ruler than Israel, but we still see the same dynamic: A hugely powerful government resisted by people that can't possibly fight back with normal military means. But instead of killing civilians, the IRA is sneaky about finding ways to attack military targets. And now they're apologizing for the times in which their members DID kill civilians. And no, you local neighborhood Shralp is by no means an IRA supporter.]

 

Doubt they were sincere Shralp, as much as I would like to believe it.
The IRA have a history for doing more damage than good, a reputation like that doesn't disappear in one sentence.
Ah well.

 

A musical interlude...

"The more that I see
The less I believe
A country split in two, through
Religion, tradition, and greed
The devil's curse it put upon those who try solutions
And those like me too ignorant to find my own conclusions

"And they keep telling me
It's not my concern
But when petrol bombs fly
When cars overturn
When I see children cry
Because their cities are burning
Who's going to show concern?"
--Fun Boy Three circa 1983

Who would have thought that this song about Belfast would be as timely now as twenty years ago when it was written?

I don't understand the conflict -- that is, I don't understand how any conflict should be so intractable. Why has not Belfast been partitioned, or made independent of both Ireland and Britain, or *something* that both sides could live with?

 

I really do wish that people all over the world would realize that they are NOT who their grandparents and their grandparents parents were. That what happened in the past, should be left in the past, and new ways to do things should be disgused and tried.

Obviously, what they are caring on didn't work for their grandparents, what makes them think it is going to work for them.

I think nothing like my parents, and my parents where different from their parents in their thoughts, and so on.

Why does fighting like this continue? Its like the idea of "well, I am fighting you, because you did something to someone in my family, and even though I never really new them, it still makes me mad. And since they wanted to fight you, I want to fight you too."

Just seems silly to me----and of course awful sad.

 

This was written in today's paper about whether the IRA apology was sincere or just a ploy:

"Maybe a useful way to answer the question is with a thought experiment. The year is 2031, and it is early September. Suddenly the TV news hums with word of a statement from the ruling council of al-Qaida. It speaks of regret for the suffering it inflicted 30 years earlier, on September 11.
Would those words heal the families of those lost in New York and Washington? Probably not. But it would say something about al-Qaida's intent to kill again, especially if that organisation had been on a ceasefire for the previous six to eight years? Wouldn't the whole world feel relieved if al-Qaida every said such a thing?"

I think the IRA has made a great step forward, and that both sides in Northern Ireland have done. I was encouraged a few months ago to see a conference hosted for Israelis and Palestinians to speak to one another, with people from both extremes of the Northern Irish conflict, former terrorists of both sides, speaking about their own road to peace.

[This message has been edited by Maldir (edited July 18, 2002).]