Comradeship?
BY DANNY MORRISON
www.dannymorrison.com/
A Dublin friend rang the other night to say that he had just been
to the most depressing public meeting in his life. It was
organised by the Irish Republican Writers Group (IRWG),
ostensibly to mark the 20th anniversary of the hunger strike, but
didn't. No plans were announced on how to honour the ten dead
men, but another public meeting was announced for Belfast.
What depressed him was that the night was devoted to one attack
after another on Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin and the great
`sell-out'. Ex-prisoners Tommy McKearney, Brendan Hughes and
Anthony McIntyre were on the platform. It appears they have
nothing else to talk about.
Last year in a series of letters to this paper members of the
IRWG complained about personalised attacks on themselves by other
republicans in order to discredit their criticisms of Sinn Féin.
But as I pointed out back then it was actually the IRWG who
specialised in personal attacks on the integrity of Sinn Féin
leaders, as the intemperate writings in the first issue of their
magazine, `Fourthwrite', proved. Gerry Adams was ``a modern day de
Valera''. Brendan Hughes criticised republicans ``who have big
houses and guaranteed incomes'' and spoke of a confident British
counter-insurgency strategy to ``mould leaderships which they
could deal with'', which isn't far from calling someone a
collaborator.
Brendan was quoted in `The Observer', I think, before Christmas,
once again going on about their big houses, big cars, big
offices, big suits. I asked him why was he attacking Gerry Adams
so much, a former comrade. He expressed surprise and denied that
he was attacking Adams. He told me who he was actually referring
to, a former Belfast man who lives in County Louth and who is now
a relatively wealthy businessman. I pointed out that that
individual left the Republican Movement when the ceasefire was
called. But a few weeks later, Brendan, in an interview, got
stuck into Gerry Adams once again, this time naming him.
Ciara Twomey, the partner of Anthony McIntyre, and a member of
the IRWG, was the main moderator for the Alternative Republican
Bulletin Board (ARBB) which propagated IRGW statements on the
Internet. Last October the British Ministry of Defence issued
gagging notices against several newspapers prohibiting them from
naming an IRA informer working for MI5 whose codename was `Steak
Knife'. It was alleged that in order to protect `Steak Knife'
from a UFF assassination bid in 1987 Brian Nelson, at the behest
of MI5, diverted the UFF to Ballymurphy man Francisco
Notarantonio whom they killed.
After this MI5 story postings appeared on Ciara Twomey's ARBB
speculating who the informer was. Alex Maskey was named as a
suspect. So was Seamus Finucane, Jim Gibney, myself, Tom Hartley,
Eddie Copeland and Martin Meehan. According to the Board's policy
statement its purpose was ``to foster an atmosphere of congenial,
intelligent debate.'' Personal attacks will not be tolerated, it
claimed. Here is a flavour of some of the things it published:
``It [Steak Knife] must be Gerry Adams. His book was a flop... If
it [his money] didn't come from MI5 then he must have stolen it
from the Republican Movement.'' Or this: ``It's not Paddy Doherty.
He works for the Special Branch.'' Or this: ``Can I have £10 on
Martin McGuinness...''
The latter was followed by other posts giving odds on Gerry Adams
and Alex Maskey being the informer. Ciara Twomey is from the USA
and has lived in West Belfast for about a year. When I phoned her
and asked where was the intelligent debate, the comradeship, she
defended the remarks and posted a notice saying that I had
sounded intimidating. When two ex-prisoners complained personally
she closed the Board and claimed that she WAS intimidated. (This
happened shortly after the killing of Joseph O'Connor when the
IRWG carried out its `inquiry', concluded that the IRA was
responsible, which led to named being bandied about.)
The website of the IRWG, however, carries on the tasteless
tradition of the ARBB. It publishes a section called `The Angry
Rebel'. Out of twelve postings nine are anti-Sinn Féin or
anti-IRA, one is anti-British and another is anti-Catholic
Church. Under the spoof `Speech by Sinn Féin Yuppie' it
attributes the following, which says a lot for the author's
perverted mentality: ``We shall never forget you Paddy Sands. Your
death on hunger strike in 1985 was the catalyst for the struggle
which has achieved all the goals we ever wanted.''
d another speech: ``We are here today to pay tribute to those
four men who went 53 days without food during the first H-Block
hunger strike in 1980. The hunger strike leader Raymond McCartney
is an inspiration to us all.'' Raymond McCartney is clearly
singled out because he is still in Sinn Féin. Yes, we are all
thick Paddies in the pockets of MI5 and hadn't the brains to work
out our own peace process or what was in the best interests of
our people.
During a recent television documentary on the history of Long
Kesh, Brendan Hughes, in a reflective piece, said that what he
missed most and felt sad about over the years was the loss of
comradeship. We know what you mean, Brendan.
The Wrong Man
Danny Morrison has adapted his third novel, `The Wrong Man', for
the stage. The book is about an informer inside an IRA active
service unit and the tragic consequences for all concerned.
A reading of the play by professional actors will take place in
the Abbey/Peacock Theatre, Dublin, on Saturday, 3 March, at 11am.
The reading should be completed by 1pm. Everyone is welcome to
attend and to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the play
with the author afterwards. For more information contact: Dublin
(+353 1) 874 8741
* The above article is reprinted with the kind permission of The
Andersonstown News
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