The Royal Congratulatory Outreach and Sinn Fein

One can't be blamed for experiencing cognitive dissonance when reading the congratulatory wishes the President of Sinn Fein extended to the Queen on the occasion of her celebratory jubilee. Why, one may ask, would a representative of a victim nation of colonialism congratulate the sovereign in whose name the victim nation, Ireland, endured centuries of oppression and brutality.

We believe it’s called Stockholm syndrome.

The Irish Diaspora in the U.S. bears no malice to Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor.  What the Irish Diaspora abhors is the millennium of state-sponsored terror endured by Ireland and its people under the symbol and auspices of the Imperial State Crown the Queen symbolizes.

The informed Irish Diaspora, whose lineage goes back to the American Revolutionary War, is mindful of King George III and the malice he bore towards the rebellious colonists in whose ranks were Irish victims of plunder, disease, famine and war. In trying to enslave the colonists and bend them to his will, King George V represented the same Crown that Sinn Fein paid homage to in congratulating Queen Elizabeth II on her Platinum Jubilee

It’s the same Crown that reigned over the Amritsar massacre in India, the Chumik Shenko massacre in Tibet, the Shaji massacre in China, the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre in Peshawar, the al-Bassa massacre in Palestine and hundreds of other such massacres in their other colonies scattered around the world.

If such massacres are a stretch for modern day Sinn Fein politicians to comprehend or lend credence to, perhaps the Ballymurphy massacre in August 1971, the McGurks Bar massacre in Belfast in 1971, the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry in 1972, the New Lodge massacre in Belfast in 1973, the Loughinisland massacre in Co. Down in 1994 and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in 1974, all carried out by servants of the Crown, may be easier to understand as acts of inhumanity and savagery. 

Embracing a Crown steeped in innocent blood is not a required gesture of peace or reconciliation. On the contrary, it smacks of indentured servitude.

The calculus on the part of Sinn Fein with respect to the royal congratulatory outreach is intriguing.  Did the congratulatory message end with “Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servant”?. If not, it should have. After all, leading members of the Sinn Fein organization serve in her Majesty’s government in Northern Ireland.

It’s difficult to contemplate what the latest outreach means, as so many other overt and covert contacts and meetings have taken place since the early 1980s between Sinn Fein and agents of the British Crown.  If the present-day political and economic landscape in Northern Ireland is any indication of what Sinn Fein represents, one can rest assured that Irish unity in not high on their agenda.    

The U.S. Irish Diaspora has less skin in the power game being played out by political parties, particularly Sinn Fein, on both sides of the Irish border. By virtue of our location and circumstances here in the U.S. we are somewhat dispassionate and removed, therefore, we can cast a wary eye on the goings on.

The Civil War parties of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, as separate parties are nearing the end of their run and must merge to survive.  The Labor Party of James Connolly suffered from stagnation down through the years due to poor leadership and decision making despite attracting some of the best minds in Ireland.  With the right leadership they have the pedigree to be a major party in a revitalized and reunited Ireland.  

Sinn Fein, originally the party of Arthur Griffith, adopted the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1919 as their mantra. That remained so for seventy years. After the “Northern Ireland Conflict’ intensified in the 1970s, Sinn Fein put forth a proposed solution for Irish unity that took into account the concerns of the northern Loyalists. In the early 1980s, the northern faction of Sinn Fein broke ranks, scuppered the proposed solution for Irish unity as “a sop to the Loyalists”.  No alternate plan was or has been put forward since. A reunited, sovereign Ireland in not a priority for Sinn Fein.

Based on its lack of commitment to a stated purpose or program other that an intermittent call for a “border poll”, it’s difficult to understand what Sinn Fein has to offer.  It would be fool hardy to support Sinn Fein who have emerged from 30 years of warfare and political conflict not knowing if they have a vision for Ireland as a unified entity.  Therefore, one could justifiably speculate that they are waiting for England to offer something akin to a united Ireland within the British Commonwealth or maybe Irish unity under a dual monarchy such as the party founder, Arthur Griffith proposed as a solution in 1907.   

The Irish Diaspora here in America is not prone to equivocation, flattery or pie-in-the-sky pronouncements meant to mollify or mislead.  Many amongst us have long histories that go back to 1969 and beyond. In other words, we are well aware of the timeline, characters, political initiatives, collusion, hunger strikes, touts and patriots, gombeen men and sleezebags who for good or evil are woven into the historic narrative of Northern Ireland from 1969 onwards. Any attempt by Sinn Fein or their surrogates to rewrite history or turn villains into heroes is anathema to us. If need be, we will be the lone voice to oppose such an outrage.

The Irish Diaspora in the U.S has always been to the forefront of Ireland’s struggle for freedom and sovereignty and will continue to fill that traditional role.

One would imagine that 25-years on from the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Fein would be a leading voice in promoting a solution to the partition of Ireland and its consequential orphan, Brexit. Nothing but “a border poll” have they suggested.  Beyond that nothing.  How would Ireland be unified? No idea.

Have heart. The president of Sinn Fein congratulated the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee for her “lifetime of service”.  No more complaining.  See they did something.

TC