Stop Romanticising the Armed Struggle

Last night several Twitter users were outraged that I feel we should not march behind UVF banners, or have UVF in 6 foot high letters on our gable walls.  How could it harm unionism, I am asked, because we all support the sacrifices these men made at the Somme in 1916?

Here’s how:

Old UVF – The Truth

 

The old UVF, like the old IRA, was formed to use the threat of violence to achieve the political aims of its masters.  It was created to oppose the British government’s decision to grant Home Rule to Ireland in 1913 and in April of the following year, the UVF successfully smuggled 25000 rifles from Germany with which to fight the British Army!

Unfortunately for the men who joined the UVF, their ‘armed struggle’ took an unexpected turn because the First World War intervened, and  many of the UVF men ended up dying in their thousands as part of the British Army in 1916 at the Somme. They died horrible, tragic, and probably needless deaths – read the poems of Wilfred Owen.

 

 

The Problem for Unionism in 3 years time - 1916

If unionists can march behind UVF bands, can republicans argue for the right to march behind IRA bands?  Don’t forget there is an old IRA, just as there is an old UVF, and the Provos used the  

romanticism attached to the old IRA to justify their murders, just as the modern UVF use the romanticism associated with the old UVF.

In 3 years time, we will see the Irish Republic and perhaps parts of N. Ireland remember the IRA of 1916, without whom the Irish Republic would not exist.  How will we feel if IRA flags are flown across Belfast, even if the date 1916 is added to the flag to emphasis that it is the old IRA being remembered? 

Our use of flags, banners or wall murals celebrating the ‘old UVF’ provides Republicans with the perfect excuse to celebrate IRA bombers. 

 

The Way Forward

 

We need to stop romanticising the UVF in the same way the Republic needs to stop romanticising the IRA.  The same myths were used by both Republicans and Unionists and the British government to persuade young men that it was noble and heroic to kill or be killed in support of a political objective, that those who would prefer the slow, steady surge of politics to achieve the same result were somehow less noble.

The UVF and the IRA were both products of crazy times when young people were fed lies about the glory of war. Both Unionists and Republicans need to stop romanticising the ‘armed struggle’.  How can people brought up praising Wilfred Owen for exposing the old lie ‘Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori’ in relation to the first World War, swallow exactly the same lie in relation to the IRA and UVF from exactly the same times.

Had the people of 1914 and 1916 had the wisdom to solve their problems through politics and compromise, they could have saved us all a lot of misery and death.  Those who opted for the threat of violence as a solution did us no favours; they left an unholy mess for their children and grandchildren to sort out.

They are worthy of our pity but not our praise.  They are certainly not a good example for our children who need to learn how to live together in peace.