The attendance of Michelle O’Neill and Alex Maskey at the coronation of King Charles III has upset some republicans. They see it as a sell-out by Sinn Féin of all that republicanism is about. Some republicans have said they’ll never vote for Sinn Féin again because of it. For them and doubtless others, presence at the crowning of a British king is a very big deal.
I share that reaction to some extent. The whole idea of monarchy is clearly anti-democratic and even laughable. King Charles is the Colonel-in-chief of the British Parachute Regiment which doled out death and grief in Ballymurphy and Derry without any consequences for their brutal actions. So I can see how some republicans would deem it shameful to attend the coronation of Charles.
But in all this, it behoves Irish republicans to distinguish between the incidentals and the central. Yes, naturally many people would see the deaths of Ballymurphy and Derry, along with hundreds of others, as a lot more than ‘incidental’. But bloody as such actions might have been, and absurd though the shenanigans in Westminster Abbey yesterday may have been, they are not central to republican ambitions.
Put simply, republicans and nationalists generally should have one goal: national independence, a self-governing new Ireland. Anything that distracts from or impedes that goal should be resisted in the most effective way possible. Everything else should be secondary to that.
So will Michelle and Alex attending Charles’s coronation distract from or impede national independence? Of course not. It may set our teeth on edge but it’s incidental. Martin McGuinness chuckling with Paisley, squeezing QE2’s hand, Michelle O’Neill attending Charles’s coronation – we may not feel comfortable but they aim to promote reconciliation with unionism and hasten the day of an Ireland reborn. Getting agitated about the purity of republican activities is precisely what unionism wants.
Eyes on the prize.
All well and good, jude, but is the next step the oath of allegiance and asses on seats in The Mother of Parliaments. Remember how Sinn Fein (Gardiner St) finished up.
Being able to distinguish between the important and unimportant and keeping our eyes focused on the big prize. The war is over its now about winning the peace and the hearts and minds of the Irish people to achieve a 32 county free Ireland
The only thing that matters is ending British (mis)rule in any part of Ireland. When that day finally comes, we will still have them as our neighbours. That means a cordial relationship. A little civility goes a long way.