Stakeholder

The riots of the past week share one common denominator-dissident republicans and their back to the future strategy. Condemnation is wasted on these Neanderthals. These politically myopic morons manipulate naive, foolish and alienated young people and fill their heads with sectarianism, hatred, and a nonsensical political ideology more suited to fascists than freedom fighters. To go out on the streets with shot of industrial strength alcohol and dropping a concrete block on the head of female police officer while hiding behind a Primark hoodie or homemade balaclava –is hardly heroic. Their manipulators are more goons than Godfathers, who live in a fantasy world but are no less sinister for that. To make matters worse, often they are not even local to the areas where they are encouraging young people to run amok.

Parents have a responsibility too; as they must take responsibility for the huge amount of teenagers who should not be on the streets rioting. There is no escaping that responsibility and parents who don’t know or don’t want to know where or what their kids are doing on the streets should be hauled into court when and if their children are apprehended.

As for the criminal and anarchist mini-minds behind the rioting but more seriously who are behind the attempted murders of PSNI officers; we should not worry too much about their human rights when trying to get them behind bars. Sinn Fein knows that the politics of condemnation does not work; it did not work against them.  Though in fairness only the most churlish of observers would not praise Sinn Fein and in particular Gerry Kelly and John O’ Dowd for their work on the ground in trying to contain the dissidents action from spreading further within the nationalist community.

Naturally both the police and politicians need to win the hearts and minds of the public but the reality is that there comes a time when the policing ‘velvet glove’ comes off to reveal an ‘iron fist’.  One suspects with fifty officers injured over two nights the Chief Constable knows he is close to taking that glove off.

No-one should be under any illusion particularly in Sinn Fein or the SDLP- that whole nationalist communities cannot be held ransom just because a few hundred hoodlums decide take over their streets. Touchy, feely, words about confidence building measures won’t rid the streets of scum who would run feral and rampant as much on the streets of Limerick or Leeds as Lurgan- if they got away with it under the guise of semi political agitation.

Communities cannot rid themselves of these anti social elements alone. Most people are rightly fearful. It will take police enforcement and judicial will power to lock them away. ‘Tough on crime and the causes of crime’ was the New Labour mantra. The new Justice Minster whimpers on about ‘shared future’ strategies. Does he really believe that those out rioting or planting bombs care one iota about integrated schools, shared sports facilities and community picnics in the park? 

Sometimes politicians like jargon such as ‘flags don’t feed anyone’ but yet many people don’t seem to be suffering any indigestion from trying as mainstream politics gets more polarised not less so since 1994. The truth is that in the political carve up that we endure –people are seeing sectarianism rewarded by each side getting a trade off rather than a trade in. No sacrifices are really being made by the body politic. The mutual veto is a farce which masquerades the reality of our stagnant power-sharing. It’s merely position sharing as power sharing requires shared responsibility .

The war of attrition that dominated the Troubles has merely moved from the streets to Stormont and the public once are again pawns. Some unionist politicians are still too careless with their words and all too often fall into a mindset that belies the truth of their working relationship with nationalists in general and Sinn Fein in particular. This is not sustainable; though is unlikely to change with another election imminent. Leaders cannot lead from the trenches or from behind the barricades. Too few of our politicians are ready to move too far from positions from which they cannot retreat. 

 

 

 

In the poem ‘Invictus’- which Nelson Mandela motivated himself while on Robbin Island- the last two lines say ‘ I am the master of my fate; I am the master of my soul’. Mandela released his mind from prison long before his actual release- perhaps our politicians could follow his lead.