MURDER UNDER A FLAG OF CONVENIENCE

 by adam harbinson

I am neither a political commentator nor a military strategist, but living on this little patch of earth for over 60 years qualifies me to express an opinion on the damnable events of the last couple of weeks. Perhaps the first thing I should say is that I do not belong to the North of Ireland, nor does the North of Ireland belong to me. I live here; I love living here, but my connection is no stronger than that.

To be prepared to lay down your life in the cause of an all Ireland republic is idolatry, and to spill blood in the defence of a line on a map that didn’t even exist when my parents were born is utter folly – Krishnamurti called it the idiocy of nationalism. Why must we divide humanity into English, Chinese, German, Polish and African? Wouldn’t the world be a happier place if we could just be people?

The evil that was unleashed in Massereene and Craigavon recently was wickedness on an unparrelled scale, because it is evil for its own sake. It is a campaign that cannot succeed, for there’s not a shred of righteousness at its heart. It is not founded on a desire for freedom however misguided; it is fuelled by naked hatred and vengeance. It is a sick competition between two deadly factions to see who can create the worst atrocity; but it is so wicked it is doomed to collapse in on itself.

Pundits tell us that the Assembly will crumble, that never before has an armed uprising failed in such circumstances, but such people do not acknowledge that we are in uncharted territory. They don’t see that these fanatics, who claim to espouse the legitimate goal of a united Ireland, have done what the IRA couldn’t do in thirty years and at a cost of over three thousand lives. They have already united Ireland, albeit in revulsion; they have created a degree of harmony among former enemies that would not have been thought possible a very short time ago. Who would have predicted that Sir Hugh Orde, Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson would ever stand side by side at a policeman’s funeral while in the background, off-camera, Sinn Féin’s MLA John O'Dowd shakes hands with a PSNI man on security duty?

When I lived and worked in Derry in the early nineties, I stayed with friends of a churchman I know in Eglinton, just outside the city. The old man of the house asked me if I’d like to go to a prayer meeting with him one evening. I agreed, and so we trundled off to a wee house in Lismacarol where a handful of faithful souls had met every Thursday night for over twenty years to pray for peace in Ireland. Extraordinary faithfulness, but they don’t meet there any more; their prayers have been answered.

The war is over, thank God, although we still have wicked, ruthless men among us – like the poor, they will always be with is – but nonetheless, the war is over. As a nation we’ve changed; there’s been a seismic shift in our thinking; we’ve moved on and left these hate-filled relics behind, but we need to complete the job. We need to gouge these murderous thugs from our society; tell them there’s no place for them anymore, and we can start by having the courage to wear the purple ribbon.

Don’t let evil prosper by remaining silent.