Neither republicans nor loyalists defended their communities, despite their claims. It was those in Northern Ireland who kept community ties alive while others tried to destroy them who ultimately won the argument
Both had been convicted of murder, acts that devastated two families. Talking to them, I said that I accepted that the people ofhad got into a conflict that should never have happened, that should never be repeated. Culbert said he could not accept that as he felt, “they would not have achieved what they had if they had not done what they did”. The other man asked me to repeat my words.
‘Everyone I know is thinking about leaving’: Belfast’s immigrant business owners rethink their futures Some years ago, I challenged a leading Sinn Féin member at a public meeting because I believed he was going into schools to repeat the narrative that the IRA campaign of brutal violence was necessary and justified. Returning home, I rang the late. Was I wrong, I asked? He told me, as I knew he would, that “nothing had been achieved by violence that could not otherwise have been achieved peacefully”. Though perhaps not easily.
It could help to address some of the understandable anger at the imbalanced way legacy has been dealt with. We hear about a small number of cases. So we should. But there are potentially 1,400 outstanding inquests. For some, the only meaningful strategy to win constitutional change has been demographics, to outbreed those they oppose, but that requires keeping people in Northern Ireland in trenches alienated from the place they live in. We should constantly remind our young people of the consequences of choosing violence. Yes, genuine civil rights abuses existed, but they were on the road to being dealt with from the early 1970s, if not fast enough.
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