Dear Arlene,
Thank you for your letter of advice, which I received yesterday. It was a thought-provoking correspondence, and I’d like to address a number of the issues which you’ve been good enough to raise.
Firstly, I’d prefer if you addressed me as ‘Michelle’ rather than “Blondie”. Michelle is the name I was given, so it makes sense to use it. It also removes the potential trap of judging people by appearances, which I’m sure you’d agree is not a good idea.
I’m afraid I can’t share your pleasure at the departure of Barry McElduff. As you’ll know if you’ve spoken to DUP councillors or others in the Omagh area, Barry has always gone out of his way to be on good terms with those who hold different political views from him. As to your advice on strengthening one’s argument by appearing alongside victims: I’d like to think my encounters with victims seek to benefit t them, not me.
As to your irritation that Sinn Féin and Barry took nine days to decide that he would resign: most people like to think before they act, especially on a major decision of this sort. And while you clearly have a view of your own refusal to step aside over the RHI scandal as an example of “leaderly action”, I must confess it is not one I share. While not wishing to be offensive, I would think “pig-headed inaction” would be a better description of your RHI stance.
We then come to a matter that you and your party have raised several times – what you call “eulogizing terrorists”. Let me walk you through my thinking on this.
We’re now over twenty years from a bloody and bitter conflict. As with all such, there were at least two sides involved. That the opposing groups will have conflicting views of the struggle is self-evident: if they didn’t, there wouldn’t have been a conflict in the first place. Both sides, it’s fair to assume, believed completely in the validity of what they were doing, otherwise they wouldn’t have risked and in the case of many republicans, experienced imprisonment or death.
For every military monument in the world, there is a group of people who completely disagree with the views and actions of those who fought and died and who are honoured by that monument. But if we’re to emerge from the quagmire of violence and hatred, we all must accept that other people see the past and the present in different terms from us.
The road towards reconciliation lies in respecting the right of those who differ from us to see the world as they do and to honour their dead as they choose. Those who refuse to adopt such a tolerance towards opposing views only succeed in keeping our entire society chained to the past. Which is why, although I respect your right to commemorate the actions of British armed forces down the decades, I’m afraid we in Sinn Féin won’t pretend to share your vision of the past in terms of British military.
I think you touch on a core notion when you speak of republicans “knowing their place.” However, we believe our place is alongside you, not in any junior position or at the back of the Stormont bus. I know it’s hard for some unionist politicians – perhaps even you yourself – to accept that we are entitled to the same rights as you and other citizens throughout the world. Where we can establish equality as the foundation of our society, we will have a chance to move forward. Any notion of republicans having to learn to occupy a subordinate place – for so long the norm in this state – is a notion from the past which I think I can promise you is never coming back.
Finally, an issue you didn’t raise, Arlene: deals. Like equality , good faith and/or trust are vital for the development of a healthy society. I won’t list the various items incorporated in past agreements which have not been followed through on by unionism; but I’ m sure you’ll agree that living up to past agreements is key to building confidence and good relations. So in your own interests as well as those of the population generally, could I encourage you to go back, see what you’ve signed up to in the past, and then deliver on that. Any attempt to move forward with bad faith as baggage is patently impossible.
We all know that this state’s make-up and voting demographics are changing dramatically. Could I urge you, for the sake of unionism as well everyone else here, to sit down and formally come to terms with the major changes implicit in Brexit and in demographic shifts here?
We are your fellow-countrymen and women. There are many aspects of your culture and temperament that we admire and value. Please let’s shape a future where we acknowledge and respect the good qualities to be found in all of us. It is a much more adult way of proceeding, I believe, than commenting on the colour of someone’s hair.
Le gach dea-ghuí/With every good wish,
Michelle
Comments are closed.