To
Mackers, a friend,
First,
I suppose I'd better nail my colours to the mast.
I voted Sinn Féin in the election, and encouraged
others to vote Sinn Féin, although I am not
technically a member myself. I don't have consistent
enough politics myself, I suppose, to actually commit
to any party. I think it is a good thing to have
alternative debate within republicanism, although
I do think it can sometimes be overly negative.
I
wouldn't have the same pessimistic view of the elections,
and the people involved in them, as you have expressed
in your article. On election day I was proud to
let my two daughters, aged 8 and 4, take part in
the atmosphere. There were no greasy politicians
drooling for votes or kisses, just individuals on
all sides whose life's work and reputations depended
on this election. Only those who knew our daughters,
and who have always been there for us, even dared
cast us a friendly glance, never mind a kiss. They
know, and even my 4 year old daughter knows who
is who. Only fools hand their daughters over to
strangers, and daughters won't be long rebelling
when they don't want kissed.
A
school is a great place for an election. The weans
get a day off, and it is an inviting and neutral
venue for the democratic act of voting. Unfortunately,
our school is not used as a polling booth...probably
because it's a mixture of portacabins, and nobody
speaks English in it, just Irish, which might not
be any consolation to those who are seeking to understand
the origin, development and consolidation of the
evolutionary idea of the proletariat, but there
you go. Having said that, one of those non-drooling,
friendly, but not fawning politicians, Pat Doherty,
actually secured some private American funding to
keep our little school alive when the "powers-that-be"
thought we were a blip in an otherwise perfect education
system. It's a pity we couldn't vote for him in
our Irish speaking school, but I marched gladly
into our local English medium school, and voted
for a man and a party that might bring some change...even
though I will continue to hold him to account for
that change. That is my job, and my responsibility
as an Irish citizen. Pat knows he has to be careful
with us. That is good. We took part in the cavalcade,
my daughters loved it, and they now think politics
is a good thing to be involved in. In a way we are
not actually voting for the candidates at all, we
are voting for ourselves. And all those individual
voices are saying "this is us, we are still
here, and we believe in a united Ireland, we still
believe in what Bobby Sands believed in. It's time
to respect our mandate." That to me is the
importance of the election, not the various candidates.
I
cannot claim to know why a "beaming" Gerry
Adams waved at you, but I do know that sometimes
I wave at people who I have had strong disagreements
with, and I genuinely mean it as a sign of respect
and possible reconciliation, and regret about the
way that things have worked out...a wave is at least
an acknowledgement that we are worthy of attention...there
is an inherent mark of respect in it. So I wouldn't
think it would be just a sentimental act to wave
back...it might actually also be a mutual sign of
respect, in spite of the disagreement.
May
the 5th. Twenty four years ago. I have absolutely
no conception of what was happening in Long Kesh
in the months leading to this date. I was 16 at
the time of the first hungerstrike, which barely
stirred me at all, given that I was not politically
aware at that time. The hungerstrikers originally
were not a major part of my thinking. Gradually
the response of Thatcher and Humphrey Atkins (if
my memory serves me right) began to stir a political
response in me, and I was one of those many young
men who became a republican, as opposed to some
others who were born and bred republicans. It's
hard to know what Bobby Sands and the other hungerstrikers
would have thought of the current political situation,
and I suspect some of them would have been for,
and some would have been against, so I doubt if
any of us can claim to have "more in common
with them" than anyone else. I respect the
fact that you remembered Bobby in your own personal
way, but I also know if the people of Fermanagh
and South Tyrone had all spoiled their vote in 1981
Bobby Sands would never have been elected himself,
and the world would never have received the massive
message it did on that day. So when I was voting
for Sinn Féin, I feel I was continuing what
Bobby Sands asked us to do. Well done Michelle Gildernew,
and thank you for keeping Bobby's memory alive.
To
me it is not consistent to measure all candidates
against what they have in common with Bobby Sands,
be unable to bring yourself even to transfer to
any of them, and then vote for a single SDLP candidate,
no matter how good Margaret Walsh might be. Does
she have anything in common with Bobby Sands? If
republicans were to judge every candidate in relation
to Bobby Sands, I doubt if any of us would ever
vote again, never mind for Margaret Walsh.
Sometimes
when people leave a movement their criticism of
that movement can become more overbearing than their
criticism of the real political foe. This happened
between the various parties in the 26 counties in
the aftermath of the Civil War, it happened when
Fianna Fáil split from Sinn Féin,
and it happened when the Official IRA and the Provisional
IRA split. And these internecine verbal feuds can
last decades. I view these as a drain on the movements
and individuals involved.
This
all said, the article was well written, even if
I wouldn't agree with the tone and thrust of it.
