As an Irish Republican my politics and my ideology compels me to engage with those of opposing political viewpoints, I am committed to doing that

This is a piece from Niall Ó Donnghaile the Sinn Féin Representative for Pottinger / East Belfast and Sinn Féin Press Officer in the Assembly. I have posted pieces from Niall's blog here before and am happy to do so again. Niall's site is an excellent insight into the daily working life of a dedicated Sinn Fein activist and as such is well worth a read.

The main thing I respect about Niall's is his continual efforts to reach out across the divides that exist in the North. This difficult and challenging work must be seen as a crucial part of the party's work and Niall and other people's work on the ground sets an excellent example of what Sinn Féin is and must be about. As he says in the piece below, " as an Irish Republican my politics and my ideology compels me to engage with those of opposing political viewpoints, I am committed to doing that, especially in an area like our own in East Belfast."

http://glormhicairt.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-healthy-discussion-in-east.html

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Last night I attended the latest in a series of panel discussions, jointly organised by the Short Strand Partnership and the East Belfast Mission.

The first was held in the Mission on the Newtonards Road and was entitled ‘Constitutionally different – politically similar’ and then Sinn Féin Mayor of Belfast Tom Hartley and the PUP’s Dawn Purvis were on the panel, the second discussion was held in the community centre in the strand and was entitled, ‘Civil Rights or Civil Unrest’, this time you had Fergus O’Hare, Francie Molloy, Roy Garland and Paul Bew.

More on that here http://glormhicairt.blogspot.com/2009/02/last-nights-debate.html

Last night the discussion centred on the issue of parading; on the panel this time were to authorities on this matter, Sinn Féin MLA for north Belfast Carál Ní Chuilín and senior Orangeman and member of the Strategic Review on Parading, Mervyn Gibson.

While you could get into the minutia of each discussion I don’t think it serves any great purpose; the discussion are had, they are always courteous, civil, tempered and most importantly, honest.

Each one has given me on a personal basis a tremendous amount of consider and think about, not just as a Republican or a member of the Short Strand community but as an individual.

Much like the previous two, last night could have gone on for hours (although obviously people wanted to catch the end of the soccer matches!!) and I think people leave in the realisation that while these discussion aren’t going to suddenly change the world, they do contribute immensely in our endeavours to understand and respect each other.

I am delighted as an Irish Republican that a bus load of people from the Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist community can freely enter the Short Strand and have these discussion; I am equally humbled that I too can now head up the Newtonards Road and have similar discussions in those areas; in a very small way, but deeply recognised by those who take part, it is an indication of just how far we have moved.

I look forward to the next discussion which no doubt will be yet another worthwhile experience for all involved.

A special word must go to Joe and Gary who put so much into organising and facilitating these events; go raibh maith agaibh.

As I have stated on this blog previously, as an Irish Republican my politics and my ideology compels me to engage with those of opposing political viewpoints, I am committed to doing that, especially in an area like our own in East Belfast.

As Carál rightly said last night I’d sooner take the most die hard and have the conversation with them, because ultimately that is where we need to end up anyway!!

Almost immediately after the violence that flared on our streets at the beginning of the month, I and others from Sinn Féin, were on the Newtonards Road, granted it might have been a slightly more ‘heated’ discussion than last night but not by too much. I think there is realisation, as we continually seek to move out of conflict that we can leave the politicking and the cynical, brass neck media opportunities to others; we’ll get things resolved together, without being ‘wishy washy’ about this, but by talking and getting to know each other as people.

Go n-éirí linn!!

The really hard stuff

Over the course of the past while I've posted a piece about racist attacks within the loyalist working class and I asked how can Sinn féin reach out to the unionist working class and attempt to get our message over in person.

I was asked to followed that up with the editorial from An phoblacht on the issue of the racist attacks. I personally found the views in that editorial as very weak as they seemed to see no role for Sinn Féin in dealing with the problem and seemed to suggest that unionism must deal with the issue of racist violence.
My post on Sunday was highlighting the main points Gerry Adams made in his report ‘Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, April 2009" following his recent visit to the area.

In reading this report I cannot help but be fully aware that the situation in the North is not truley one of real peace, and the events that occur at this time of year highlight that very clearly. There exists massive underlying tensions and hostilities and these are at there most obvious in working class areas.

This raises an age old question, is there any way to bridge the divides within the working class and can Sinn Féin play a role in that.

In reading the Adams report a number of points stand out for me;

1. Dialogue has to be a central tenet of any attempt to make peace; to achieve justice, stability, security and peace.

2. There are two ways to end conflict. Either one side convincingly beats the other or all of those involved engage in the more difficult and challenging process of peace making.


3. Peace making is conducted by and between enemies not between friends.
4. This required a serious, good faith effort to engage between political opponents.
5. But in the end it is for Palestinians and Israelis to make the peace.

These three posts I mentioned earlier are to me central in looking at how Sinn Féin needs to move forward in the North. For me if we in Sinn Féin are serious about trying to break out of the sectarian divide that exists in the north then we really have to follow the ideas laid out above. Sinn Féin must reach out to the loyalist working class and continuously try to show that republicanism respects them and offers them something of value. Clearly reaching out to the loyalist working class is not going to be an easy thing to do, but it must be done.
It will be very easy for Sinn Féin to accept its role as being that of "Defenders and representatives of the Catholic community". Indeed some people say that is what Sinn Féin has become. However, there are people within the party who show that this is not the case.
Below is a section of a piece written by Niall Ó Donnghaile, the Sinn Féin representative for East Belfast, and it is this type of action and leadership that Sinn Fein must be involved in if we are to attempt to bridge the gap to the loyalist working class.


I return to the issue of leadership; a number of months back I received a phone call very like the one I got yesterday. On that occasion it was from Joe O'Donnell, a friend and comrade, himself a former Sinn féin rep for this area. Joe has been involved in sterling cross community work with countless representatives throughout East Belfast but particularly with the East Belfast Mission.

Joe informed me that morning that the memorial garden on the Newtonards Road in rememberance of the men killed on 27th June 1970 had been attacked and vandalised with paint. There and then Joe and I took the decision that we needed to stand with the people at the bottom of the Newtonards Road, understanding completely we probably wouldn't be very welcome, and tell them very clearly that those attacking the memorial were not Republican, they weren't motivated by Republicanism and they certainly weren't representative of the Short Strand Community.

So we headed off, now joined by well known community stalwart and activist Bernie McCrory of the Short Strand Community Forum. As we headed to the junction of Bryson Street and the Newtonards Road we collectively took a very deep breath; this was unprecedented, no one had ever crossed this particular line in such an open and public way.

I recall seeing the scores of people, many understandably upset, some relatives of the victims openly weeping, I saw numerous TV crews and photographers who immediately began snapping our pictures. I noticed a number of senior political and church representative who I had met with on numerous occasions before, head away from us as opposed to meeting us in the same fashion they had on other occasions; that was particularly disappointing.

I was approach by a young woman and told to 'get the f**k back over to your own side of the road'. I informed her I was here to condemn what had happened and that we needed to maintain the links so tentatively built up over a difficult period, that that was best for everyone.

A number of ordinary residents understood this, they didn't hide their anger though, and to be fair we didn't expect them to. Many of the relatives told us what was on their minds but again, we understood they needed an outlet, and here we were, three faces from the Short Strand right beside the damaged memorial.

The fact remains that the people who carried that attack out have no political, social or even cultural motivation; they most certainly aren't representative of the people in the Short Strand who know very well the pain and suffering that comes with loss and therefore the respect which must be shown to the dead.

Another sad fact which remains is that during that difficult Sunday morning, those same leaders I mentioned earlier disappeared; they faded into the background or they weren't even present. They allowed us to stand alone to explain the process that we have collectively engaged in to try and bring some sort of peace to the people living along the 'interface' in that part of Belfast.
Once again when I took a walk round to Saint Matthews yesterday morning I did so alone, while a very clear opportunity existed for the leaders within Unionism and Loyalism to take the chance and stand against this attack, that chance was missed, for whatever reason I am not sure.
What remains certain throughout is that the work and engagement will continue, we will continue to meet and address our shared issues, we will continue to sit down and secure a better standard of living for the people who live in what is classed as the 9th most socio-economically deprived ward in the north of Ireland.

However we must also lead and stand up to those who would attempt to tarnish our respective communities, stand up to those so called 'leaders' whose word and deed create the space and the mentality for attacks on Catholic Churches.

I look forward to quieter times ahead, as I write I am aware that the day isn't over yet.
Wherever sectarianism or anti community activity rears its ugly head we must all, collectively have the courage to face it down.

Posted by Niall Ó Donnghaile at 05:23