The Squalor of Peace

Posted by Jim on March 4, 2014

 

 

 

Certainly the most energetic proponents of the alleged Peace Process were POW’s and On the Runs. Why would they not be?

A war they had proven their commitment to complete at all and any cost had been concluded by a leadership they were loyal to. It had ended on the pretext of impending victory for the Republican aspiration.

What they did not know was that the leadership they obeyed were less than loyal to them and had sold their futures to the whims of Unionists and the British establishment for petty parochial power and a potential power sharing position in a distant future Free State assembly.

The prisoners who were released early along with all of the thousands who served their full sentences? Their employment prospects thwarted because Sinn Féin had failed to secure the wiping of “criminal Records” (sic). This determines that for many roles they are deemed unemployable; outside quangos, private special interest groups or companies that are controlled by the Sinn Féin network and funded by the British Government.

Prisoners on Licence? We have learned that should they express their Nationhood outside the terms of fascist Stormont they will be systematically removed from society like Martin Corey and interned by a Viceroy; in this instance there is nothing anyone can do, the Viceroy is superior in authority than all of Stormont and it’s various agreements. Loyalty to Stormont is maintained on a threat of return to prison.

On the Runs? On the Runs have been betrayed the most. Gerry Adams conceded on Saturday that there was never any agreement at Weston Park to liberate OTR’s from the threat of prosecution and their exile. There was of course talk of some commitment by the Free State and Britain to resolve the issue but no agreement that could be implemented ; a “pledge” to end pursuance of OTR’s.

So what of these letters? A list was given to the British and the British sent letters to those on that list who were not wanted. A basic legal right any solicitor can secure for anyone pondering their legal status.

Those who are wanted? Well they will be pursued as they always have been and for all the promises and hope that the decommissioning of the IRA and standing down of the Nations aspirations would liberate them from exile and allow them to return home? Gone.

Perhaps now there will be something agreed for OTR’s but not before inquiries in to the massacring of our people in Ballymurphy or Derry cease along with inquiries into Collusion.

It was a dirty war – but compared to the squalor of this so-called peace it stands almost cleansed.