on Sinn Fein
An erudite post on www.politics.ie from some dude called jurgend, who is obviously a pretty sussed out political theorist.If Sinn Fein was really republican, it would care about uniting catholic, protestant and dissenter. Not just about uniting territory. This 19th century concept of a pure unitary nation-state has led to millions of deaths over the last century.
Sinn Fein should recognise that NI is a divided society; occupation is not the problem, rival national identities are. The only way to reconcile the identities is power sharing accomodation, or a culture of post-nationalism. A 32 county state would alienate northern unionists just as nationalists were alienated from the unionist state. Sinn Fein has tried to monopolise the term republican, but the true history of republicanism is one that is thorougly opposed to sectarianism, and transcends group identity in the name of individual freedom. It is about univeralism and not the tribalism, or the whataboutery that we hear non stop from SF.
Lay down your arms and forget the war, and learn to live peacefully with your unionist neighbours. All extreme solutions to a divided society reinforce the division. If you are a true republican, you will *comprimise* and start concentrating on real forms of social and civic equality, and not this triumphalist and reactionary striving for territorial unity.
posted on 29/6/2004 at 16:35 I see someone here using the term "anti-republican", in reference to people who are anti Sinn Fein.
I am a republican but disagree with Sinn Fein. I am a republican in the sense of putting equality before tribal attachments. I seek a peaceful and secure future for everyone on this island, and I don't think a 32 county unitary state is the means to provide that.
Despite some progressive garb, Sinn Fein never questions the nationalist core of its ideology. True republicanism, in the french enlightenment tradtion, is a universalist ideal. The nationalism of territorial integrity has been well practised in the last century, and we all know where it leads.
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