Who are the republicans ?
Republicans deny the right of Ulsterfolk to self-determination and do not accept the legitimacy of the Ulster State. Most take the view that there is only room for one political entity on this island a unitary state with its capital in Dublin. For almost three decades, a republican group the Provisional Irish Republican Army led an insurrection that sought to overthrow the State and forcibly incorporate it into an all-island Thirty-two County Workers Republic. Two main political parties claim to be republican or Irish nationalist Sinn Fin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party. Arthur Griffith founded Sinn Fin in 1906 to advocate a dual monarchy. This was modelled on the system in Hungary where the Austrian emperor was also the Hungarian king. Sinn Fin abandoned this idea under the influence of the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood and embraced the ideals of republicanism. Sinn Fin has had a close association with the IRA since the Irish war of independence after the 1916 Easter
comment on article | email | print Share on: Delicious | Digg | reddit | Facebook | StumbleUpon Violence wasnt introduced into Northern Ireland by the “terrorists”. Ever since the state was created by British imperialism, Northern Ireland has been characterised by repression, sectarianism and grinding poverty. The Catholic population of Northern Ireland was systematically discriminated against. In response to an increase in violent repression the Irish Republican Army (IRA) began a military campaign against the British occupation in the 1970s. By the late 1980s both the British government and the Republicans had come to the conclusion that military victory over their enemy was impossible. The British state hoped to reach a compromise with the Republicans that would make sectarianism manageable for Britain. The history of Irish politics is littered with parties that broke with insurrectionary Republicanism, ditched the gun and made peace with imperialism. Irish Republicanism was born fr
