The Only way to lasting Peace is to End State Violence – by Joe McVey

By Jude Collins on December 22, 2024

by Joe McVeigh

Like many Irish people, still alive today in the six north-eastern counties and who lived through the second half of the 21^st century, I know all about State violence. We were on the receiving end of it here in the 6 counties- some more than others. The State forces were well paid and well equipped by the British government to keep control and manage law and order. They were employed here as elsewhere to protect the wealth and power of the state -not the people.

The policy of the British government since partition was to subject the Catholic/Nationalist/republican people to a tyrannical regime which did not tolerate any form of dissent or any demand for justice. In order to do this, successive British governments used the pro-union section of the population thus deepening divisions. This was British colonialism in action.

Poor people belonging to the working class, in most if not all countries around the world, have had a similar experience of State violence -of unjust laws, brutal policing, discrimination and the destruction of their culture and religious practice. State violence can take many different forms –overt and covert.

The colonial powers became rich and wealthy as a result and united to control those who would rebel and fight to recover what was unjustly and illegally taken from them. It was for the poor a matter of survival. There are heroic stories of resistance fighters like Nelson Mandela who eventually won the struggle for justice and took back control from illegal government and big business.

It is obvious that some of the great Bible thumpers in this part of Ireland have never accepted the reality of State violence. Many in the DUP and UUP, who do not accept this historical reality, believe that the State is always justified in suppressing any form of rebellion. These parties have been created by the State and are the main beneficiaries of the State. Some Unionists and Orangemen will never accept it because they prefer to live in a fantasy world in which they believe they are the privileged people. They believe they have a mighty military power at their back and God on their side.

Those who grew up in the north-eastern six counties of Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s, know all about State violence – just like the poor throughout the Third World know all about it.

Unlike the unionists and loyalists and pro-imperialists we understand what is happening today in Gaza where the poor are being subjected by a ruthless colonialist government in Israel which is determined to expand their power and control no matter what the cost in terms of human lives. Already, since October 2023, it is estimated that many more than 100,000 Palestinian people have been massacred -many lying dead under the rubble -whose bodies have not yet been recovered.

The State violence of the Zionists since 1948 is the Primary violence which led to the reactionary violence of the oppressed Palestinian people who have for generations been on the receiving end of State violence.

There is a huge moral difference between State violence and the response of the oppressed people who resort to armed struggle to end their persecution.

In the Bible, Peace means the end of State violence. That should be the moral guiding principle for any Christian leader of indeed any leader in Judaism. There are some courageous Jewish religious leaders who have spoken out against the genocide of the Palestinians people by the Israeli State.

It is that clear distinction which should determine whose side you are on –the side of the State and tyranny or the side of the oppressed people.

The Christian churches in Ireland –mainly through their leaders -have yet to make this leap of faith and make a preferential option for the poor and oppressed at home and throughout the world. They have been much too closely aligned with the State and the agents of the State. The Christian churches and their leaders must always make it clear that they are opposed to State violence in all its many forms. Only then will it be clear that they are no longer aligned with the rich and powerful and the military might of the State.