Modern Sinn Féin is an extremely political and sectarian movement dedicated to the goal of a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland, a state or province it only ever refers to as ‘the North’ or ‘the north of Ireland’ or ‘a rotten little statelet’. It is made of present and past members of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA) and of individuals who may not ever have personally involved themselves in ‘armed struggle.
Sinn Féin’s principal leader, Gerry Adams, moved backwards after 34 years of unmatched Party Leadership. His backwards move may have had something to do with his unscripted statements in Enniskillen in November 2014 when he was recorded saying about Northern Ireland’s Protestant Unionists:
“But what’s the point? The point is to actually break these bastards – that’s the point. And what’s going to break them is equality… That’s what we need to keep the focus on – that’s the Trojan horse of the entire republican strategy is to reach out to people on the basis of equality.” It was harder, if not impossible, for Adams to build an honest relationship with Unionism following this disclosure.
Sinn Féin sees the IRA’s thirty-year ‘armed struggle’ as totally legal and praises those IRA volunteers who perpetrated murders and bombings and in particular those who were killed by police or soldiers while ‘on active service. Sinn Féin recognizes all individuals who were incarcerated for murders and bombings as ‘political prisoners’ and as POWs.
Sinn Féin is utterly blind to the thousands of violations of human rights the IRA committed — its countless killings, anti-civilian bombings and tortures of victims whose bodies were dumped along the border or ‘disappeared’.
Sinn Féin answers exclusively to the IRA’s Army Council and seems to have little or no internal ‘democracy’. It has been tormented by reports of internal bullying and large resignations of activists in the Republic of Ireland So-called ‘leaders’ are appointed internally with the support of leaders of the IRA.
Sinn Féin carries the burden of simultaneously acknowledging and dismissing the state of Northern Ireland. It participates in a form of aggressive, dominant politicking around the Northern Ireland Assembly, while also standing for election to the British parliament at Westminster yet still failing to take its won seats and to represent its electors.
Sinn Féin spent 10 years at the centre of Stormont rule between June 1998 and January 2017 but did a U-turn on involvement on January 9th, 2017, when the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, resigned and crashed the institution only six weeks after jointly issuing the following statement with First Minister Arlene Foster of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP):
“Day by day, slowly but surely, politics here is changing. And it’s for the better. The focus is increasingly now on policies and delivery – on finding the best ways to make people’s lives better. The seeds of this change can be found in the Fresh Start Agreement a year ago and the Assembly election some six months later. Our two parties – along with Claire Sugden as Justice Minister – are now in an Executive facing in the same direction. We made promises to voters that we will keep – taking on the heavy responsibilities that come with elected office, governing in their best interests, tackling head-on the tough decisions. Others decided to duck the challenges and retreat to the Opposition benches. That is a matter for them. We are getting on with the work.”
Sinn Féin has become the party of unabashed U-turns. In a rare foray into public protests over reforms to social welfare in 2015, it urged its MLAs to campaign across Northern Ireland against what it referred to as ‘Tory Cuts’.
However, when it came to the vote in Stormont to ‘Stop Tory Cuts’, Sinn Féin urged its MLAs to vote FOR the ‘Tory Cuts’ – now Sinn Féin Cuts – another dramatic U-turn and unapologetic ‘return to the status quo’.
Sinn Féin and the IRA have together spent three decades condemning any form of Northern Ireland political systems and supported a bombing and murder campaign meant to undermine and destroy Northern Ireland as a viable political entity.
Many of Sinn Féin’s supporters across Ireland had been weaned on the concept of abstention and violent destruction of Northern Ireland and found it hard to reconcile Martin McGuinness’s, now Michelle O'Niell's presence in Stormont as Deputy First Minister. The collapse of the Stormont assembly and Sinn Féin’s subsequent aggressive attitude to its revival sits more readily with Sinn Féin and IRA followers, notably across the Republic of Ireland, than did his humorous involvement.
Sinn Féin’s January 2017 U-turn, demanded a stand-alone Irish Language Act (“ILA” or Acht na Gaeilge) with far-reaching repercussions for Northern Ireland while most of Sinn Féin’s leadership and membership are not fluent in Irish or can not speak it at all, and only 6,000 citizens of Northern Ireland returned census forms using the Irish language in 2011.
Neither one of Sinn Féin’s women leaders, Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill, can speak Irish fluently and looked embarrassed and struck dumb on news videos when challenged with questions posed in Irish by journalists. Martin McGuinness did not push an ILA during his previous 10 years as Deputy First Minister in Stormont, probably because he could not speak Irish fluently either. Gerry Adams also appears hesitant and uncomfortable while attempting to use basic Irish phrases.
Sinn Féin’s abrupt decision to make an ILA a ‘red line’ requirement for the return of Stormont is the cultural equivalent of the IRA’s Canary Wharf attack - an explosive device designed to force a submission by Unionists.
Sinn Féin appears and tries to be all things to all people. They appeared to be a leftward political movement while in the company of Cuban or Latin American or British Labour party allies.
A rightward political movement while in the company of North American Republican party colleagues and wealthy benefactors. A culturally separatist movement while in the company of Basque or Catalan Spanish-hating pals.
A centrist movement in the Republic of Ireland where it aspires to combine with the socially conservative and nationalistic Fianna Fáil party.
A rightist movement in the Republic of Ireland where it would explore collaborating with the much more socially conservative and right-wing Fine Gael party.
A pro-Catholic movement in sections of Ireland where there is a socially conservative electorate and a Sinn Féin looks to be a liberal reforming movement when confronted by LGBT and pro-abortion campaigners.
When it comes to the Unionist or Protestant people of Northern Ireland Sinn Féin appears to want to both date and detest them. This is Sinn Fein, an extreme sectarian movement dedicated to destroying Northern Ireland as we know it. For 40+ years they (IRA/SF) couldn't achieve their goal so now they have moved to the political system, knowing that this is the only way of getting what they want.
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