‘The SDLP & GARC: A Political Marriage or Electoral Divorce?’ by Eugene Meenan

Anyone who followed with any attention the happenings surrounding the parading deal in Ardoyne not so long ago will recall one of the most obscure yet fascinating sights in North Belfast’s recent times – what appears to be a rather cosy relationship between the SDLP in the North of the city and leading members of the Greater Ardoyne Resident’s Collective.

It wasn’t of course that surprising, because a leading SDLP Councillor is the brother of the individual who made death threats against a  local journalist during the whole fiasco. But given the antics of Dee Fennell towards Fr. Donegan, and especially given the extra cosy relationship the SDLP has always courted with the Catholic Church, it was a bit of a ‘pig in a poke’. A political intrigue waiting to happen. We are living in strange times when the polite “bourgeois-wannabes” are teaming up with thugs who scream in the faces of respected local clerics.

It is of course part of a desperate bid to get votes/relevance and keep their only MLA for North Belfast in a job by sucking up to the anti-Shinner wet-the-beds of the flock. I went to university with some SDLP voters and stalwarts, and behind closed and candid doors they always seemed to consider the dissident lot a  lasting embarrassment to this part of the world. I remember one staunch SDLP-voter telling me he would happily have all of them interned without trial.

For all the attention GARC draw to the injustice suffered by dissident republican prisoners in Maghaberry, and there are things which need to be addressed there, they are more than prepared to get behind the rotten zealots who allowed for discriminatory legislation against the employment of republican ex-prisoners. They are more than willing to garner support for a political party which has actively tried to cut off funding and resources to groups and organisations which help all republicans in the community, regardless of their stance on the peace agreements. It’s a really rather stinking move to get into bed with the very same people who couldn’t care less about the physical, social and psychological well-being of republican voters.

You can tell a lot about someone, not just by what they stand for, but by who they stand with when the times get tough. The fact is, the eejits in GARC are signing themselves up to be used and abused by the very people who will cut them loose once they get past the post on polling day. They’re squandering their votes on candidates who look down their noses at them and who for the most part wouldn’t want to live in the working-class areas they ask to elect them.

I’ve been called lots of colourful things by GARC associates and it really just serves to highlight that they can’t have mature political discussion without resorting to abusive antics. At the same time I don’t doubt that there are some decent people in that organisation. And to them I would put a few simple questions. Who genuinely serves your interests? Whose lot and destiny is tied up with yours? Who lives and works in the same community as you? Who has children and grandchildren in the same schools as you? Who has family and friends requiring welfare protections like you? Who goes to the same doctors and hospitals as you? Who watches the same television programmes and vacations at the same holiday resorts as you? Who has the same income levels as you?

So, do you really think the shady Redmondites of the SDLP share the same social-class and electoral interests as you do? Honestly? We often talk of turkeys voting for an early Christmas but in this case it’s more like Rangers opting for another visit by the auditors.