tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/ira-9209/articlesIRA – The Conversation2024-03-28T18:54:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2266642024-03-28T18:54:29Z2024-03-28T18:54:29ZThis Town: new drama charts the influence of ska on inner city kids during bleak Thatcher years<p>This Town, the new BBC drama from Peaky Blinders creator Stephen Knight, revisits the Midlands setting, also doubling as a somewhat backhanded tribute to the region and a paean to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Two-Tone-Movement-1688309">two-tone music</a> – an amalgam of ska, punk and reggae – that emerged from it. </p>
<p>The backdrop for Knight’s heroes is the aftershocks of 1970s industrial strife – chiefly Margaret Thatcher’s uncompromising response to the way de-industrialisation drove up unemployment and cut off economic possibilities for working-class young people.</p>
<p>Deprivation, combined with a burgeoning right-wing movement stoking racial tensions and police stop-and-search practices, <a href="https://pasttense.co.uk/2021/07/03/this-week-in-uk-history-1981-uprisings-and-riots-all-over-the-country/">exploded into violence</a> as the Thatcher era gathered steam. The Troubles in Northern Ireland were also still raging, their effects felt via bombings in England.</p>
<p>Some of the more musically minded kicked against these divisions, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-terry-hall-defined-the-sound-of-youth-and-disillusionment-in-margaret-thatchers-britain-196917">channelling their frustration</a> into the fusion of genres at the heart of this drama.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/this-town-first-look-picutures">Billed</a> as a “high-octane thriller and family saga of young people fighting to choose their own paths in life”, it opens with dramatic contrast as it means to go on – lines of poetry interrupted by a riot and an act of racist policy brutality.</p>
<p>Set mainly in Birmingham and Coventry, against the backdrop of 1981’s civil unrest, it uses the formation of a band as the hook for viewers and a potential escape mechanism for its young protagonists.</p>
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<h2>Family, music and violence</h2>
<p>Levi Brown plays Dante, a sheltered aspiring poet whose encounters lead him to reconsider his words as lyrics, reorientating him towards music. At odds with his surroundings, he wanders the urban backdrop with his head in the clouds. (It’s implied Dante’s what would be called neurodivergent today, though the language of his peers is blunter albeit affectionate.)</p>
<p>His cousin Bardon (Ben Rose) tries to complete college, and avoid the gravitational pull of the IRA through his father’s connections. Dante’s brother Gregory (Jordan Bolger), meanwhile, begins the series serving in Belfast with the British Army. Dante and Gregory are black, Bardon is white, but the more notable divide is the sectarian one.</p>
<p>For all this, the “thriller” label is something of a misnomer. Knight’s pacing is unhurried, and the band Dante pulls together emerges only gradually as the events unfold. While the story takes place against a background of violence – from casual to chillingly planned – the fights and eruptions are punctuations offsetting a more gradual set of revelations.</p>
<p>These include the slow journey of the band – comprising Dante, Bardon and their friend Jeannie (Eve Austin) – from stumbling hopefuls to focused professionals. Rather than the ups and downs of a rollercoaster ride, there is a building sense of unstoppability as the characters seek their path. This means negotiating the menacing coolness of IRA operatives and a gloriously over-the-top, finger-chopping psychopath of a nightclub owner. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, family travails and a background of addiction also pervade the grey, drizzly environment – there are a lot of plot strands. It’s a fine balance between giving the personalities space to develop and tightening the screws, which Knight mostly manages without either excessive slowness or by overcomplicating things, aided by some engaging and nuanced central performances.</p>
<h2>Lost in music</h2>
<p>Ultimately though, much of what drives This Town forward, and holds it together, is the music. Intimidating special branch officers, gangsters and IRA bombers aside, it wears its social commentary on the upheavals of the early 1980s comparatively lightly, filtering it through the youngsters’ aspirations to transcend their surroundings via their music. </p>
<p>Knight’s drama is to a large extent about identity, especially self-identity. As Gregory warns Dante: “If you don’t get away, you just become what everybody already thinks you are.” There’s also a telling exchange when Dante wavers as he dons the sharp suit and pork pie hat that came to define the image of two-tone music: “It doesn’t look like me.” “But it is you Dante,” his father assures him. “This is who we are.”</p>
<p>The characters’ identities are framed by their music – from ska, through rock and ballads, to Irish rebel songs. Even though Irish DJ and composer Kormac’s brooding underscore contains elements of dub and 1980s two-tone, the overall soundscape is broader. This focuses on the earlier music of the 1960s and 1970s that culminated in two-tone acts like The Specials as Thatcher’s Britain felt the social strain of her economic reforms.</p>
<p>Acts like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T3UmvutR8k">Bob Marley</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd8aBtRe6mk">The Gaylettes</a> and Desmond Dekker carry the viewer through the narrative. They also speak to the characters’ inner lives. Alternating scenes featuring Dante and Brandon are bridged by the likes of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKacmwx9lvU">The Maytals</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsnsu2tgpR0">UB40</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/diegetic-sound-and-non-diegetic-sound-whats-the-difference">non-diegetic</a> soundtrack – the music outside the frame of the story, inaudible to those inside it – is rich in historical gems. This Town, though, also uses diegetic music, which is explicitly part of the action, to reveal its characters’ psyches, underscoring the themes of identity and escape, as well as the plot. </p>
<p>Central moments hinge on singing as a way to express the feelings of the emotionally blocked protagonists. There’s a showstopping rendition of Over the Rainbow, for example – Michelle Dockery is a trained singer, and it shows.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, there’s a vocal “duel” of sorts, where Brandon and his father sing across one another with Jimmy Cliff’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7dBMYUyRAQ">You Can Get It If You Really Want</a> and Pete St John’s Irish folk balled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd7tr2eivcs">The Fields of Athenry</a>, emphasising the generational split. And all throughout, the departed matriarch – Dante, Bardon and Gregory’s grandmother – is felt and referenced via the birdsong with which she inspired them all as children.</p>
<p>The overall effect is one of deceptive simplicity. Neither quite a thriller nor a straightforward historical account of the emergence of two-tone, This Town echoes the ways in which music is forged by its social context, while shaping and defining the lives of the people who make it. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Behr has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the British Academy</span></em></p>This Town echoes the ways in which music is forged by its social context, while shaping and defining the lives of the people who make it.Adam Behr, Senior Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2160182023-10-19T15:06:20Z2023-10-19T15:06:20ZMartti Ahtisaari: the Finnish peacemaker who played midwife to Namibian independence<p>Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president, died on 16 October at the <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2023-10-16/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-the-death-of-martti-ahtisaari">age of 86</a>. Born in eastern Finland, he was two years old when his family fled from the Russian invasion at the outbreak of the second world war. </p>
<p>A trained school teacher, he moved in 1960 to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/martti-ahtisaari-obituary">Swedish Pakistani Institute in Karachi</a>. In 1965 he joined the Finnish foreign service. His posting as a diplomat in Tanzania <a href="https://finlandabroad.fi/web/tza/current-affairs/-/asset_publisher/h5w4iTUJhNne/content/suurl-c3-a4hetyst-c3-b6-50-vuotta-martti-ja-eeva-ahtisaaren-tervehdys/384951">in 1973</a> was the beginning of lasting bonds to the African continent. Only two years later, he started his commitment to the struggle for self-determination of the Namibian people. </p>
<p>Namibia, then called South West Africa, was under the illegal control of apartheid South Africa. According to the United Nations, it was <a href="https://www.unmultimedia.org/avlibrary/asset/2040/2040311/">“a trust betrayed”</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/understanding-namibia/">Namibia</a> and its <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5079769_Conflict_mediation_in_decolonisation_Namibia's_transition_to_independence">decolonisation process</a> have been among my interests as a scholar. Martti Ahtisaari played a crucial role in the United Nations supervised transition to independence, as documented in his biography, aptly titled <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-mediator/">The Mediator</a>.</p>
<p>The government of Namibia awarded him honorary Namibian citizenship after independence. Upon the news of his death he was locally <a href="https://www.namibian.com.na/a-light-during-namibias-dark-days/">praised as</a> </p>
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<p>a light during Namibia’s dark days.</p>
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<p>Namibia’s President Hage Geingob described him as a friend of the Namibian liberation struggle and a leading peacemaker. Through the United Nations, he “<a href="https://neweralive.na/posts/namibia-mourns-ahtisaari-fondly-remembered-for-impact-on-namibias-journey-to-independence">played a pivotal role in midwifing the birth of a new Namibia</a>”.</p>
<p>Ahtisaari’s work in Namibia was the beginning of a long and successful engagement in international conflict mediation. Many more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/martti-ahtisaari-obituary">diplomatic achievements</a> in various parts of the world followed. </p>
<h2>Ahtisaari and Namibia</h2>
<p>Ahtisaari’s involvement in Africa began in 1973 when he was appointed <a href="https://finlandabroad.fi/web/tza/current-affairs/-/asset_publisher/h5w4iTUJhNne/content/suurl-c3-a4hetyst-c3-b6-50-vuotta-martti-ja-eeva-ahtisaaren-tervehdys/384951">Finland’s ambassador to Tanzania</a>. At the time, the anticolonial movements of southern Africa had offices in Dar es Salaam, home to the headquarters of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41394216">African Liberation Committee</a> of the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/organisation-african-unity-oau">Organisation of African Unity</a>. </p>
<p>In 1975 he was <a href="https://archives.unam.edu.na/index.php/unin-united-nations-institute-for-namibia">appointed</a> as a <a href="https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/about/people/martti-ahtisaari/">senator to the council</a> of the United Nations Institute for Namibia. The <a href="https://archives.unam.edu.na/index.php/unin-united-nations-institute-for-namibia">institute</a> was established in Lusaka by the <a href="https://africanactivist.msu.edu/organization/210-813-508/#:%7E:text=In%201966%20the%20United%20Nations,United%20Nations%20Council%20for%20Namibia">United Nations Council for Namibia</a>, officially inaugurated in 1976. Its mandate was to prepare for Namibia’s independence by drafting blueprints and training staff. Geingob, at the time representing the South West African People’s Organisation (Swapo) liberation movement at the United Nations, was appointed <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/160803">as its director</a>.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://nai.uu.se/library/resources/liberation-africa/interviews/ben-amathila.html">behest of Swapo</a>, Ahtisaari was appointed as UN commissioner for Namibia in March 1977 and relocated from Dar es Salaam to New York.</p>
<p>In July 1978 the UN Security Council asked the UN secretary general to appoint a special representative for Namibia to ensure independence of the country through free elections under the supervision of the UN. With support of the US-American diplomat <a href="https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/member/donald-f-mchenry/">Don McHenry</a>, Ahtisaari was again the choice. As McHenry was quoted in Ahtisaari’s <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-mediator/">biography</a>:</p>
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<p>I thought why don’t we kill two birds with one stone. Ahtisaari was clearly sensible to the views of the Africans but he was at the same time very practical and got results. He was, then, the very man for the job.</p>
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<p>Ahtisaari henceforth wore two hats related to Namibian affairs. His term as commissioner ended in April 1982. In 1987 he was appointed as the UN under-secretary general for administration and management on the condition that he retained his role as special representative for Namibian affairs.</p>
<p>In 1978 UN Security Council <a href="https://peacemaker.un.org/namibia-resolution435">Resolution 435</a> was adopted as the blueprint for Namibia’s transition to independence. But it was shelved after being blocked by US under President Ronald Reagan and the UK under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The resolution was finally implemented more than a decade later, after the global realignments following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-30-years-ago-resonated-across-africa-126521">end of the Cold War</a>.</p>
<p>The United Nations Transitional Assistance Group (<a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/untag.htm">Untag</a>) was tasked with implementing Resolution 435 from April 1989 to March 1990. Under Ahtisaari, with Botswana’s UN ambassador <a href="https://www.un.org/osaa/content/former-special-adviser-he-m-legwaila-joseph-legwaila-2006-2007">Joseph Legwaila</a> as his deputy, Untag accomplished the mission.</p>
<p>This was due in large part to the skills and credibility of Ahtisaari. As special representative for Namibia more than a decade before the implementation of Resolution 435, he had gained the trust of a variety of stakeholders. This gave him personal leverage, which he was able to apply in critical situations.</p>
<p>Under Untag supervision, a <a href="https://www.parliament.na/constituent-assembly-1989-1990/">constituent assembly</a> was elected in Namibia in November 1989, <a href="https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=a5fa370c-004f-c92d-0ba3-7b3ca48aab38&groupId=252038">chaired</a> by Geingob. In early 1990 its members adopted the country’s constitution as the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=9565">normative framework</a>. Independence was declared on <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45316527">21 March 1990</a>.</p>
<p>Ahtisaari remains publicly remembered locally by a school and streets bearing his name.</p>
<h2>Mediation beyond Namibia</h2>
<p>Ahtisaari’s merits during his international career translated into a successful campaign in domestic politics. Serving his country in government first as foreign minister, he became in 1994 Finland’s president for a six-year term until 2000.</p>
<p>But his heart remained in international conflict mediation. Upon leaving office, he founded the <a href="https://cmi.fi/about-us/">Crisis Management Initiative</a>, an independent non-governmental organisation.</p>
<p>Ahtisaari played an active role in Serbia’s withdrawal from Kosovo in the late 1990s. During the Northern Ireland peace process at the same time, he monitored the Irish Republican Army’s <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41249341.html">disarmament process</a>. In 2005 he was brokering the autonomy for <a href="https://www.c-r.org/accord/aceh-indonesia/delivering-peace-aceh-interview-president-martti-ahtisaari">Aceh province in Indonesia</a>. The same year he was appointed by the UN secretary general Kofi Annan as <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/serbia/secretary-general-appoints-former-president-martti-ahtisaari-finland-special-envoy">special envoy for the future status process for Kosovo</a>.</p>
<p>Among the numerous honorary recognitions of his role in mediating conflicts, South Africa <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/national-orders/order-companions-o.r.-tambo-0">awarded him in 2004</a> the Order of the Companions of Oliver Tambo (Supreme Companion) for</p>
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<p>his outstanding achievement as a diplomat and commitment to the cause of freedom in Africa and peace in the world.</p>
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<p>In October 2008 he was <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2008/press-release/">awarded the Nobel Peace Prize</a> </p>
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<p>for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts. </p>
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<p>Explicit reference was made to his role in Namibia’s transition towards independence. Between 2009 and 2018 he was a member of <a href="https://theelders.org/who-we-are">The Elders</a>. Founded in 2007 by Nelson Mandela, this group of independent global leaders works for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet. </p>
<p>As Geingob <a href="https://www.observer24.com.na/geingob-pays-tribute-to-ahtisaari-as-a-friend-and-a-peacemaker/">declared</a>:</p>
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<p>today, we are not only mourning the loss of Ahtisaari, a friend and one of us, but we are also reaffirming the rich legacy of peace and the outstanding international public service of a Nobel peace laureate with an indelible association with Namibia.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henning Melber is a member of SWAPO since 1974.</span></em></p>Ahtisaari’s role in Namibia was crucial. But he left a major legacy in pursuing peace in various places of conflict in his later life too.Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113072023-08-10T15:41:29Z2023-08-10T15:41:29ZThe personal details of Northern Ireland’s main police force have been leaked – three reasons why that’s incredibly dangerous<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542149/original/file-20230810-25-hntwlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=101%2C135%2C3653%2C2898&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Damien Storan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Data breaches are not a good look for any institution or organisation. But depending on the nature of the data leaked and the organisation, some breaches can be more serious and have greater consequences than others.</p>
<p>This is certainly true of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66447388">accidentally published information</a> about all its police officers and civilian personnel in response to a <a href="https://www.psni.police.uk/latest-news/update-data-breach-investigation">freedom of information (FoI) request</a>. This included a spreadsheet containing their names, their roles and where they were based. </p>
<p>The document was available online for several hours on the FoI website What Do They Know before being taken down. The PSNI is conducting an investigation into how this happened.</p>
<p>It has been reported that the spreadsheet contained approximately 345,000 pieces of data relating to every police officer. In confirming the breach, the PSNI attributed it to “human error” and stated that they were taking the matter “extremely seriously”. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/dissident-republicans-claiming-to-be-in-possession-of-leaked-psni-information-chief-constable-says-12937320">PSNI chief constable Simon Byrne</a> said in a press conference that dissident republicans claim to have some of the information and that the force is considering whether officers need to be moved from their places of work for their safety.</p>
<p>The data breach is said to encompass all serving staff including specialist firearms units, the <a href="https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-departments/operational-support/tactical-support-group">tactical support group</a> (which is responsible for public order and riot control) and those assigned to the <a href="https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-departments/crime">specialist operations branch</a> who command and assist in complex investigations. </p>
<p>A remarkable wealth of information about PSNI personnel has been leaked, by any stretch of the imagination. Of the many reasons why this is so serious, three stick out in particular. </p>
<h2>1. Risking violence</h2>
<p>A data breach of this nature is likely to leave any police force red-faced, yet for the PSNI the consequences extend far beyond public embarrassment. The long and contested history of problems with policing in Northern Ireland means that there are both practical dangers and specific sensitivities that even the most well-crafted apology won’t be able to assuage.</p>
<p>The most immediate problem is that the personal information of serving police officers is now potentially in the public domain. This raises the question of who might have accessed this information and what they might do with it.</p>
<p>Today’s levels of violence in the north of Ireland are incomparable to the past but the threat of violence against serving police officers remains. This threat comes mainly from armed Irish republican groups who have rejected the peace process and Good Friday agreement.</p>
<p>To them, PSNI officers represent “legitimate targets” because they uphold the constitutional status quo of post-Good Friday agreement Northern Ireland. Unlike other nationalists and more moderate republicans who have come to accept reformed policing, for these armed groups the PSNI remains a “British” police force tasked with enforcing partition on the island of Ireland.</p>
<p>The live nature of the threat to PSNI officers was brutally reiterated this year when <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/john-caldwell-northern-ireland-police-detective-released-from-hospital-after-being-shot-several-times-in-front-of-son-12862006">PSNI detective chief inspector John Caldwell</a> was <a href="https://theconversation.com/omagh-police-shooting-why-attack-comes-at-a-difficult-time-in-northern-ireland-200592">shot in County Tyrone in February</a>. Several of the people due to be tried for his attempted murder are <a href="https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/dci-john-caldwell-attempted-murder-27013359">also accused of being involved with the IRA</a>. </p>
<p>Crucially, Caldwell was targeted while he was off duty and packing up after leading a youth football training session. The people who attacked him appear to have known where to find him outside of work, clearly illustrating how personal information about PSNI officers could be used to devastating effect. </p>
<p>To make matters worse, it has been reported that the details of <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/psni-apologises-to-officers-and-civilian-staff-after-major-security-breach/a1823676448.html">40 PSNI staff based at MI5</a> are included in the breach. Personnel of this nature would surely represent prize targets to Irish republicans. </p>
<p>Any attack on these people that resulted in injury or death would be seen as a huge propaganda coup at a time when the armed campaigns of these groups are sporadic and stuttering.</p>
<h2>2. Stoking community tensions</h2>
<p>At the same time, the data breach speaks to a more difficult question around just how accepted the PSNI are in certain working-class communities. The struggle to recruit officers from working-class Catholic, nationalist, republican backgrounds is well documented. </p>
<p>Anyone from this background within the PSNI is unlikely to tell anyone beyond their closest family and friends what their job is. This is partly because of the security threat but also because of the problematic relationship their community had with the PSNI’s predecessor force, the <a href="https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/137233744/IPSRedraftMainText.pdf">Royal Ulster Constabulary</a>.</p>
<p>Yet the PSNI is also experiencing difficulty recruiting from working-class Protestant, unionist, loyalist areas too. Ongoing political tensions, including <a href="https://factcheckni.org/articles/did-unionism-always-oppose-the-northern-ireland-protocol/">Brexit</a>, disputes about which <a href="https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/identity/flag-2012.htm">flags should fly over public buildings</a> in Northern Ireland and the policing of <a href="https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/psni-confirm-eight-arrests-during-27316038">Orange Order parades</a>, have put these communities at a remove from the PSNI. It is unlikely, then, that officers from within these communities would make their jobs publicly known either.</p>
<h2>3. Reviving unresolved grievances</h2>
<p>Some will also have been reminded of the past by this data breach, which has echoes of the deliberate intelligence leaks that used to come out of the <a href="https://www.policeombudsman.org/PONI/files/5c/5ce315c0-ca34-45c3-9dcc-7f4c2d2c4658.pdf">Royal Ulster Constabulary</a> during the years of conflict. The force passed the personal details <a href="https://twitter.com/RelsForJustice/status/1689183802407460864">of nationalists to state agents</a> within loyalist groups, who are accused of then murdering them. </p>
<p>This remains at the core of grievances over state collusion during the Troubles. While this latest data breach is different in nature, it nonetheless rubs at a sore spot for victims still waiting for truth and justice.</p>
<p>The leaking of personal details about every serving PSNI officer is without doubt an unmitigated disaster for the PSNI, politically and organisationally. While the force has apparently set up a “gold group” – the highest internal emergency response – significant damage has already been done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Hearty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The attempted murder of an off-duty officer just a few months ago is clear evidence of what can happen when the personal information of PSNI staff becomes public.Kevin Hearty, Lecturer, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1919242023-01-04T06:09:53Z2023-01-04T06:09:53ZNorthern Ireland reconciliation bill highlights complicated role of Catholic Church during the Troubles<p>It has now been more than two decades since the signing of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-belfast-agreement">Good Friday agreement</a> in 1998, formally ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But the most recent attempt by the British government to “deal with the past” – <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3160">the legacy and reconciliation bill</a> – is itself provoking conflict. </p>
<p>The bill, currently going through the House of Lords, seeks to “promote reconciliation” by establishing an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery. It plans to limit criminal investigations, legal proceedings, inquests and police complaints, extend the prisoner release scheme, and provide for experiences to be recorded and preserved and for events to be studied and memorialised.</p>
<p>Victims’ groups, Northern Irish political parties, the Irish government, and Americans and Europeans involved in the peace process are all against the bill in its current form, especially the effective amnesty for unresolved Troubles killings. Nonetheless, the bill is still widely expected to become law early next year. What will the Catholic Church do if it does?</p>
<h2>Conflict, religion and politics</h2>
<p>Northern Ireland endured almost three decades of the deadly <a href="https://emu.edu/now/peacebuilder/2009/02/a-brief-history-of-the-troubles/">Troubles</a>, which many outside of the country believed was caused by religion. Throughout the conflict, the British government regularly met with religious leaders to ask their opinions on policy initiatives and to gauge the mood of the people.</p>
<p>British Catholics and Protestants alike wrote to Catholic bishops demanding action to end the violence. But when their efforts failed, it was thought a lack of application on the bishops’ part rather than a lack of influence was to blame. However, even a rare public intervention from the Pope was not enough.</p>
<p>John Paul II’s much-celebrated <a href="https://www.irishpost.com/life-style/on-this-day-in-1979-more-than-a-million-irish-people-greeted-pope-john-paul-ii-in-dublin-193994">three-day visit</a> to the Republic of Ireland in September 1979 included addressing a 250,000-strong crowd 30 miles from the border at Drogheda. But his appeal for “all men and women engaged in violence” to “return to the ways of peace” fell on deaf ears.</p>
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<p>Attempts to stop the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/maggie-scull-republicans-and-historians-remain-divided-over-hunger-strikes-1.2470176">1981 Maze Prison hunger strike</a> through meetings with the queen and the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, were unsuccessful. The sending of a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07907184.2015.1084292?tab=permissions&scroll=top">papal envoy</a> to speak with lead hunger striker <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ira-militant-bobby-sands-dies">Bobby Sands</a> and British government officials, also ended in failure.</p>
<p>Catholic bishops faced regular questions from the British press asking why IRA members had not been excommunicated. Officially excluding someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian church is not common practice in the modern era.</p>
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<img alt="The cover of a book showing a cartoon of a bishop and some Northern Ireland paramilitaries holding their guns in the shape of a cross." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501516/original/file-20221216-13-uen3rp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-catholic-church-and-the-northern-ireland-troubles-1968-1998-9780198843214?cc=gb&lang=en&">OUP</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>As the blatantly sectarian cartoon on the cover image of my <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-catholic-church-and-the-northern-ireland-troubles-1968-1998-9780192871398?lang=en&cc=gb&fbclid=IwAR2Gcamdf5b7UlF-TIaFnmzdcPGRgp_KjMMfsZ1AU2N4YZQ4K_Jo3tqVLao">book</a>, The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland Troubles 1968-98, demonstrates, there were those in the British press who perpetuated the idea that republicanism and Catholicism were willing bedfellows. But the church knew that excommunicating IRA members could isolate sections of the Catholic community who felt the republican paramilitaries provided protection from perceived corrupt police and British Army forces.</p>
<p>Those who conflated the conflict with religion viewed the lack of excommunication of republican paramilitaries as the church’s compliance and support for violence. This reluctance to tackle the excommunication issue led to missed opportunities for unity.</p>
<p>Hopes for interfaith cooperation were dashed by other issues, too: chiefly the Church’s insistence on <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-60241606">segregated education</a> for Catholics, and the 1970 Vatican apostolic letter <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19700331_matrimonia-mixta.html"><em>Matrimonia Mixta</em></a> which emphasises that children born of “mixed” Catholic and Protestant marriages should be raised Catholic.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0708/1151996-northern-ireland-paramilitary-funerals-troubles-bobby-storey-provisional-ira/">IRA paramilitary funerals</a> were another dilemma for the Catholic Church. Irish priests who ministered and conducted these ceremonies were regularly accused of condoning, if not actively supporting, violence. Differing Catholic and Protestant church practices and theologies around death, funerals, and the afterlife exacerbated inter-community tensions. </p>
<p>For Catholics, the dead would be judged when they met their maker and not by those on earth. Therefore it was difficult for the Irish Catholic Church to deny IRA members a funeral and requiem mass. In the late 1980s, Bishop Edward Daly of Derry attempted to ban the bodies of republican paramilitaries being present at their requiem mass but quickly had to reverse his decision when republican mourners brought the coffins to the cathedral and were granted entry. </p>
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<p>A carrot and stick approach emerged among the Catholic clergy. Some priests acted as mediators between the Provisional IRA and the British government, resulting in the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261972045_'Everyone_Trying'_the_IRA_Ceasefire_1975_A_Missed_Opportunity_for_Peace">1974-75 ceasefire</a>. Priests were supposed to embody neutrality and had historically adjudicated between different Irish groups.</p>
<p>During the late 1980s and early 1990s, priests like Father Alec Reid and Father Gerry Reynolds provided rooms in the Clonard Monastery for Sinn Féin’s <a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Adams">Gerry Adams</a> and the SDLP’s <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1998/hume/facts/">John Hume</a> to meet privately. At the same time, priests like Father Denis Faul publicly denounced the IRA’s violence. However, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/clerical-child-abuse-an-irish-timeline-1.880042">revelations of clerical child abuse</a> in the 1990s shattered the moral authority of the Catholic Church and drastically reduced institutional church involvement in the peace process.</p>
<h2>Reconciling or deepening divisions?</h2>
<p>Depending on the final shape of the Reconciliation and Information Recovery bill, will the Catholic Church back the oral history projects? Will it support researchers writing thematic reports? Will it be inspired to open its own archives? Or will it boycott the bill in solidarity with victims’ groups?</p>
<p>Archbishop Eamon Martin, the Roman Catholic primate of all Ireland, along with the queen, took part in a <a href="https://www.thejournal.ie/ni-event-amagh-5580013-Oct2021/">service of reflection and hope</a> in Armagh in 2021 alongside Protestant church leaders to mark the centenary of partition and the creation of Northern Ireland. But the <a href="https://president.ie/en/the-president/michael-d-higgins">president of Ireland</a>, Michael D. Higgins, <a href="https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/09/16/news/service-of-hope-to-be-held-to-reflect-on-events-of-1921-in-ireland-2449424/">declined the invitation</a>, saying he was “not in a position to attend”.</p>
<p>While this may indicate a willingness for the Catholic Church to be a part of the legacy process, Archbishop Martin and another Church of Ireland archbishop, John McDowell, jointly warned the bill would “<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/11/22/primates-of-all-ireland-say-legacy-bill-will-deepen-divisions-in-northern-ireland/">deepen divisions</a>” in the north.</p>
<p>Should the bill go forward in its current form, Church leadership will either have to back the British government or push against it, a doubtless tricky position for an institution declining in influence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Scull received funding from the Irish Research Council as a postdoctoral fellow between 2018-2020.</span></em></p>In a fraught and complex situation the Catholic Church sought to mediate the conflict where it could, but drew much ire and criticism for not doing enough.Margaret Scull, Adjunct Professor of History, Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1925502022-10-19T16:54:26Z2022-10-19T16:54:26ZOoh, ah, up the ‘Ra: why Ireland’s women footballers are under fire for singing after their historic win<p>The Irish women’s football team has qualified for their first Fifa World Cup, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/oct/11/scotland-republic-of-ireland-womens-world-cup-playoff-match-report">beating Scotland 1-0</a>. In the aftermath of the match, the team celebrated by cheering and chanting in the locker room, including the line “Ooh, ah, up the ‘Ra”, from <a href="https://www.irishsongs.com/lyrics.php?Action=view&Song_id=453">The Celtic Symphony</a>. Originally performed by The Wolfe Tones in a tribute to Glasgow Celtic Football Club, the song repeats the allegedly pro-IRA line throughout.</p>
<p>The response to the controversial chant has sadly overshadowed the team’s historic win. Manager Vera Pauw has apologised, and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63242412">Uefa is now investigating</a> “potential inappropriate behaviour”.</p>
<p>In my view, as a researcher of language and identity in Irish culture and politics, the words as a celebratory football chant are not meant to be taken literally. Those who repeat them are probably not consciously glorifying such inexcusable atrocities as the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/remembering-the-unthinkable-1.124630">Enniskillen bombing</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-62135584">attacks on civilians out shopping</a> and countless other horrors that occurred at the hands of the IRA. </p>
<p>In this instance, “Ooh, ah, up the 'Ra” may well represent nothing more than a statement of counterculture. For better or worse, it has become a slogan of resistance against authority. But the words mean different things to different people, including the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/10/12/irish-team-being-persecuted-and-bullied-for-singing-ooh-ah-up-the-ra-songwriter-says/">song’s composers</a>, who say the words are simply quoted from graffiti that appeared on a wall near Celtic’s Parkhead stadium. </p>
<p>But many of <a href="https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/national/victims-of-terrorism-appalled-at-pro-ira-chants-from-republic-of-ireland-womens-football-team-3876847">Northern Ireland’s unionists</a> have reacted negatively – and opinion has been mixed in the Republic of Ireland as well. To some, it represents glorification of the modern IRA whose actions have had lingering consequences for many victims of violence and their families, not just in Ireland but in <a href="https://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/2022/03/20/remembering-tim-parry-and-johnathan-ball-29-years-after-the-warrington-bombing/">Great Britain too</a>. </p>
<p>But to many on the Irish side, the outcry represents much of the hypocrisy at the heart of sport’s relationship to politics. This includes, for example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/poppies-are-a-political-symbol-both-on-and-off-the-football-pitch-68113">wearing the poppy</a>, a symbol that to some celebrates and even venerates the militarism that colonised lands have endured for centuries. Most British people do not see it the same way. </p>
<h2>A dormant volcano erupts</h2>
<p>From the Belfast “Good Friday” Agreement in 1998 up to the point of Brexit, there was also a sense that the Irish question had become something of a dormant volcano – quiet, but likely to erupt at any time. Unfortunately though, that agreement was but <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14608944.2017.1397618?cookieSet=1">a sticking plaster on a very deep wound</a>. Many of the issues around language, culture and identity remained largely unresolved. This locker room controversy has caused the volcano of (Northern) Irish politics to erupt afresh.</p>
<p>The idea that these girls were voicing support for a decades-old campaign of violence is a bit far fetched, in my view. More likely, they were chanting a catchphrase detached from context, a throwaway line commonly found in pub singalongs or graffiti. </p>
<p>It is a two-fingered salute to authority, as feasibly popping up in Plumstead as Parkhead or Portadown. I have even seen an instance of the word “IRA” appearing in anti-monarchy graffiti in Woolwich, where the <a href="https://853.london/2020/04/02/kings-arms-finally-set-for-demolition-45-years-after-iras-woolwich-bomb/">IRA once bombed a pub</a>, the type of incident most younger people today probably know very little about. </p>
<p>That though, is not to say the chanting should have happened. It shouldn’t, but not necessarily for many of the reasons being espoused. Social media lends itself to loss of context. In this age of soundbites and snapshots, there’s often a disconnect between surface features of language and deeper meanings beneath. </p>
<p>Jean Paul Sartre, the French writer and philosopher, suggested that words are like <a href="https://thisisidiom.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/words-are-like-weapons-they-wound-sometimes/">loaded weapons</a>. We should use them wisely and use them well. This was a bad case of firing off at the wrong time. The team has genuinely offended some, while possibly giving others a perceived opportunity for <a href="https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2022/10/15/news/mp_lockhart_calls_for_severe_consequences_for_ireland_players_links_dressing_room_singing_to_1974_bombing-2861937/">political point-scoring</a>. </p>
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<p>Situations like this detract from serious debate on Irish unity, which has been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63094415">reenergised since Brexit</a>. The use of language is crucial and even definitive in a time when closer conversation is needed across divides. Personally, I would have no interest in chanting such lyrics in any sporting context, even if at a Celtic match. They are too loaded and <a href="https://sluggerotoole.com/2021/12/16/paddy-keilty-is-an-honest-faithful-story-teller-who-should-be-listened-to/">alternatives are plentiful</a>. </p>
<p>One of the greatest games I ever saw an Irish team play was the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJyo1nQU9oE">1988 European Championship win over England</a> when Ray Houghton, a Scotsman, scored the winning goal. Then, the only words I felt like chanting were “C’mon you boys in green.”</p>
<p>Maybe what’s needed is a song for their female counterparts. The girls in green may have accidentally blotted their copybook, but it shouldn’t distract from their achievements. </p>
<p>It also shouldn’t diminish the right that the Irish have to remember their history of colonisation and resistance. All sides suffered in the conflict of past decades. But maybe the time has come to make songs and chants more inclusive, so that everyone can join in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KicvV5X4SAY">chorus of a new Ireland</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What should have been a moment of celebration has been overshadowed by political debate.Paul Breen, Senior Lecturer and Senior Digital Learning Developer, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1893262022-10-17T16:11:57Z2022-10-17T16:11:57ZHow a photograph uncovered my grandmother’s republican activism during the Irish revolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487358/original/file-20220929-20-nmk8bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=273%2C280%2C1887%2C1242&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The executive of Cumann na mBan in February, 1922. The author's grandmother can be seen on the second row, third from the right. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ucd.ie/archives/collections/depositedcollections/items/collectionname,235170,en.html">UCD/Sighle Humphreys archives</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The memories I have of my paternal grandmother, Máirín Beaumont, mostly involve sweets. She lived with me in Dublin until her death in 1972, when I was five. Our house, a long bungalow by the sea, was divided in two with my grandmother living in the top end and my family (dad, mum and three sisters) occupying the bottom end.</p>
<p>I would regularly flee to the top end to seek refuge and comfort from my maimeó (Irish for granny) following some misdemeanour or an altercation with my older sisters. This resulted in the doling out of sugar cubes or butterscotch sweets from what seemed to be an endless supply hidden away in her kitchen cupboards. </p>
<p>Following her death I cherished these memories. Her presence remained strong in our house as we were surrounded by her furniture, pictures, books and the tokens passed on to us grandchildren as keepsakes (mine was a wooden crocodile that sits on my desk today).</p>
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<img alt="A grandmother holds hands with her granddaughter." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485862/original/file-20220921-23-qz6r34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485862/original/file-20220921-23-qz6r34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485862/original/file-20220921-23-qz6r34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485862/original/file-20220921-23-qz6r34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485862/original/file-20220921-23-qz6r34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485862/original/file-20220921-23-qz6r34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485862/original/file-20220921-23-qz6r34.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The author with her grandmother in 1971.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caitriona Beaumont</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Years later in 1988, when I was researching the history of the Irish women’s movement during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s as part of my MA in Modern Irish History at University College Dublin (UCD), I was surprised to discover that in her later life my grandmother was a leading member of not one but two of the women’s organisations I was studying: the National University Women’ Graduates Association (NUWGA) and the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA). As I combed through the UCD archives it was wonderful to recognise Máirín in a photograph of past presidents of the Women Graduates Association, where she had served as president from 1951-52. </p>
<p>But a much bigger surprise awaited me. Around 2016 my cousin shared another photo with the family that belonged to his mother. Here, in a grainy sepia image was my grandmother, in her early twenties, smiling directly at the camera. She is perched on a bicycle holding a fishing rod in one hand and a rifle in the other. The shock of seeing my maimeó, someone I had always associated with love and comfort, proudly brandishing a rifle and decked out in her Cumann na mBan (Women’s Council) uniform was profound. This wasn’t the grandmother I remembered. </p>
<p>Cumann na mBan was the Irish women’s republican paramilitary organisation which was set up in 1914, and from 1916 it was affiliated to the Irish Volunteers (later the Irish Republican Army, or IRA). I had been aware Máirín was a member of it in her youth, but I knew little else. I learnt a bit more when I contributed to <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/beaumont-mcgavock-mairin-mary-a0525">the entry</a> for my grandmother in the Dictionary of Irish Biography where her involvement in Cumann na mBan is briefly mentioned. Despite this public record, her support of nationalism – which advocated the use of force – was not something we discussed at home. This was not an uncommon experience within Irish families in the wake of the Irish Civil War (1922-23) and during The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1969-1998). </p>
<p>The situation changed earlier this year when I was asked to speak at a UCD <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePcMggGHSPM">symposium</a> about the February 1922 Cumann na mBan convention that led to a spilt in the organisation between members who accepted, or rejected, the 1921 <a href="https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Documentation-Discoveries/Artefact/The-Signing-of-the-Anglo-Irish-Treaty,-1921/7a49e7e5-7cf7-4218-b3b4-c974d4adafa6">Anglo-Irish treaty</a>. This was the treaty agreed between the British government and representatives of the new Irish Republic which brought about an end to the Irish War of Independence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Side by side images of the same woman many years apart" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485891/original/file-20220921-7766-tbz6j6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C1044%2C496&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485891/original/file-20220921-7766-tbz6j6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485891/original/file-20220921-7766-tbz6j6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485891/original/file-20220921-7766-tbz6j6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485891/original/file-20220921-7766-tbz6j6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485891/original/file-20220921-7766-tbz6j6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485891/original/file-20220921-7766-tbz6j6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On the left Máirín Beaumont poses for a picture in her Cumann na mBan uniform, next to photo of her taken in 1954.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caitriona Beaumont</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The symposium was prompted by the Irish Government’s <a href="https://www.decadeofcentenaries.com/about/">Decade of Centenaries</a> programme which set out to “ensure that this complex period in our history, including the struggle for independence, the civil war, the foundation of the state, and partition is remembered appropriately, proportionately, respectfully and with sensitivity”. In this new context I felt it was the right time to talk about my grandmother, her role in Cumann na mBan and how she fared in the aftermath of the Irish Civil War. But I was in for another big shock. </p>
<h2>Words from the past</h2>
<p>Deep in the <a href="https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000727087">digital archives</a> of the National Library of Ireland I discovered that maimeó had spoken at the February 1922 convention of Cumann na mBan. None of the family had been aware of this fact. As a member of its executive my grandmother, known by her maiden name Máirín McGavock, made an impassioned speech rejecting the peace treaty with the British government. Here, Máirín told fellow delegates that she could not accept the amendment made by <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/power-jennie-wyse-a7454">Jennie Wyse Power</a>, founder member of Cumann na mBan, which acknowledged that the treaty “would be a big step along the road” to achieving a republic and that Cumann na mBan members should remain neutral and leave “it to the people to decide the issue”. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Dismissing this compromise Máirín expressed her support for the resolution put forward by <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/macswiney-mary-a5295">Mary MacSwiney</a> that, “the executive of Cumann na mBan reaffirm its allegiance to the Republic of Ireland” and so <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/sister-against-sister-how-the-treaty-split-cumann-na-mban-1.4857547">rejects</a> the treaty. Despite acknowledging that the treaty would bring a pause in the fighting she argued that, “we should not get any breathing space if it means going into the British empire”, and went on to ask:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… are we to stand tied while the life of the country we love is at stake? If we accept this treaty we will never get a republic. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Reading these words it suddenly dawned on me that my own grandmother was one of the anti-treaty women <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-0424.00142">branded</a> as “furies”, “die-hards” and “avid begetters of violence”, by politicians, the Catholic clergy and the press in the wake of the Irish civil war.</p>
<h2>Who were the ‘die-hards’?</h2>
<p>On January 1 1923 the president of the Irish Executive Council, <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/cosgrave-william-thomas-a2077">William T Cosgrave</a>, reflected in his new year’s day speech to the nation that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… unhappily in Ireland the ‘die-hards’ are women, whose ecstasies at their extremist can find no outlet so satisfying as destruction - sheer destruction. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These words demonising republican women who refused to accept the Anglo-Irish treaty and who supported the anti-treaty side in the Irish civil war, were a common feature of political and public debate in the years following the establishment of the <a href="https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/post-war_societies_great_britain_and_ireland?version=1.0">Irish Free State</a>. Sociologist Louise Ryan has <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-0424.00142">written extensively</a> about the negative representation of republican women deemed to have picked the “wrong” side in the civil war.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486077/original/file-20220922-23143-nlqzgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A newspaper clipping." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486077/original/file-20220922-23143-nlqzgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486077/original/file-20220922-23143-nlqzgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486077/original/file-20220922-23143-nlqzgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486077/original/file-20220922-23143-nlqzgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486077/original/file-20220922-23143-nlqzgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1059&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486077/original/file-20220922-23143-nlqzgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1059&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486077/original/file-20220922-23143-nlqzgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1059&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Part of William T Cosgrave’s speech published in the Irish Times in January 1923.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Irish Times</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Embedded in these frequent expressions of nationalist rhetoric, a pre-requisite for nation building, women who rejected the new Irish state were classified as transgressive and disorderly. Such negative portrayals were in sharp contrast to the preferred and dominant representation of Irish women as respectable, law abiding wives and mothers. It was these “true” Irish women, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-0424.00142">according to Ryan</a>, who embodied the nation and acted as “the keepers of traditional culture”. </p>
<p>The photograph of my grandmother holding a rifle, and her speech to the 1922 Cumann na mBan convention, strongly suggests that she too would have been viewed as one of these “disorderly women” – someone who was a threat to “social order and stability”.</p>
<h2>Máirin’s witness statement</h2>
<p>Yet, more revelations were to follow. On May 10 1950 my grandmother gave a witness statement to the Irish Bureau of Military History. The bureau was set up in 1947 to gather <a href="https://www.militaryarchives.ie/en/home/">primary source material</a> for the revolutionary period from 1913 to 1921. In her witness statement Máirín, then aged 56, gave a vivid account of her first encounter with the Irish Volunteers and her subsequent involvement with Cumann na mBan. </p>
<p>It is interesting that she agreed to provide a statement as many anti-treaty activists refused to engage with the bureau, regarding it as a “free state” project. It is also fascinating that she was comfortable documenting her support of physical-force nationalism while at the same time taking on leading roles in the NUWGA and the ICA. This suggests to me that she was proud of her earlier activities as a member of Cumann na mBan and her support for the anti-treaty side. </p>
<p>Reading her <a href="https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0385.pdf">witness statement</a>, I wasn’t sure what to think when she recalled that in 1915, as a student living at Dominican Hall, Dublin, she was asked to store two violin cases containing ammunition and revolvers for the Irish Volunteers.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We kept them in our room in the hostel for some time … and they were called for just before we went home for our Easter holidays, 1916.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The timing of this suggests the arms were used in the <a href="https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/easter_rising_great_britain_and_ireland">1916 Easter Rising</a>. To me this description of my grandmother storing arms was reminiscent of a scene from a classic Hollywood gangster movie – not something I ever imagined my maimeó to be doing. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Black and white photograph of a group of men." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485914/original/file-20220921-24-hyjnav.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485914/original/file-20220921-24-hyjnav.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485914/original/file-20220921-24-hyjnav.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485914/original/file-20220921-24-hyjnav.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485914/original/file-20220921-24-hyjnav.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485914/original/file-20220921-24-hyjnav.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485914/original/file-20220921-24-hyjnav.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eamon De Valera and his party having had successful talks with the British government on the formation of an Irish Free State in 1921. From left to right: Eamon De Valera, Count Plunkett and Arthur Griffiths.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-ireland-independence-irish-treaty-1921-108858587.html?imageid=537F497F-995B-4B37-BBDC-AA75237B17E9&p=308342&pn=1&searchId=721e66cb980afb6da1eac920d70b7fd8&searchtype=0">PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Máirin said that she was not in Dublin for the Easter Rising as she was spending her university holiday in Belfast. Returning to Dublin after the rising she joined <a href="https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/reels/bmh/BMH.WS1752.pdf">a branch</a> of Cumann na mBan set up in UCD and became an active member serving alongside approximately 75 other women. Among the activities she participated in was fundraising for the families of those imprisoned for their role in the rising and visiting republican prisoners in Dublin. On one occasion she visited Count Plunkett, father of <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/plunkett-joseph-mary-a7389">Joseph Plunkett</a>, one of the executed leaders of the Easter Rising who had been incarcerated in Richmond Barracks, Dublin. </p>
<p>Like many members, Máirin was trained in first aid and basic nursing skills. She recounted how from October 1918:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…the bad flu [the 1918 flu pandemic] raged so violently that nurses and doctors were scarce and Cumann na mBan offered the services of its members who had Red Cross training, as voluntary nurses.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She also noted that, “naturally there was no political distinction as regards the people we nursed”. The work was arduous with shifts in the evenings and overnight. In particular my grandmother remembered being on duty the night of November 11 1918 when the Armistice was signed marking the end of the first world war. Violence broke out on the streets of Dublin when the Sinn Féin headquarters was attacked by British sympathisers, which must have been frightening for the nurses on duty that night.</p>
<p>Throughout 1919 and 1920, my grandmother recounted how she continued her “usual” Cumann na mBan activities: drilling (practising military marches and manouvers), first aid and home-nursing. Although she made no direct reference to the War of Independence she did mention that throughout this time she was working as a teacher at Scoil Bhríde, “which was a great centre of political activity and a meeting place for many well-known republicans”. This included <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/blythe-ernest-de-blaghd-earnan-a0753">Ernest Blythe</a> and <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/mellows-william-joseph-liam-a5795">Liam Mellows</a> both active members of the Irish Volunteers. Blythe went on to support the Anglo-Irish treaty and was later appointed as a government minister while Mellows opposed the treaty and was executed by firing squad in December 1922 for his part in the Irish civil war. </p>
<p>Máirín described how dispatches were left at the school “to be forwarded through town and country by lines of communication organised by Cumann na mBan”, as the IRA leadership “found the post utterly unsafe” – no doubt due to British army interference. My grandmother explained how these communication lines “consisted of Cumann na mBan girls walking or cycling from branch to branch in the towns and villages”.</p>
<p>In November 1920 Máirín was co-opted onto the executive committee of Cumann na mBan. As a younger member of the executive she was expected at “weekends to hold district council meetings”. Recalling one such meeting, in Bruree, County Limerick, she highlighted the hardship endured during these trips which, it must be remembered, took place at a time of war:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sometimes we had to spend nights without sleep as we were afraid or unable to get into hotels.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Curfews which were “imposed at a very early hour in some towns where the IRA were active” made it even more difficult for her and fellow organisers who had “of course, to be back at our work on Monday mornings”.</p>
<p>My grandmother was also mixing with many leading republican figures. In another newly discovered family photograph my grandmother is one of the guests attending the August 22 1921 wedding of leading IRA activist <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/barry-thomas-bernadine-tom-a0472#:%7E:text=Barry%20was%20a%20leading%20figure,and%20an%20explosives%20expert%2C%20Capt.">Tom Barry</a> and Cumann na mBan executive member <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/de-barra-leslie-mary-a0395">Leslie Price,</a> at Vaughan’s Hotel, Dublin. This wedding photograph is a who’s who of Irish political life and my grandmother is sitting on the far left of the picture. Among the guests seen here is <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/de-valera-eamon-dev-a2472">Éamon De Valera</a>, then president of the Dáil and <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/collins-michael-a1860">Michael Collins</a> who would lead the pro-treaty provisional government in 1922 before being shot and killed by anti-treaty forces during the Irish civil war.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Old sepia wedding photo from the 1920s." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488749/original/file-20221007-12-jaq4b1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488749/original/file-20221007-12-jaq4b1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488749/original/file-20221007-12-jaq4b1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488749/original/file-20221007-12-jaq4b1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488749/original/file-20221007-12-jaq4b1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488749/original/file-20221007-12-jaq4b1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488749/original/file-20221007-12-jaq4b1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author’s grandmother pictured on the front row at wedding attended by Ireland’s most prominent republican figures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caitriona Beaumont</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Women’s rights</h2>
<p>I found a 1921 pocket diary of my grandmother’s among her papers at our home in Dublin that provides further insight into her Cumann na mBan activities at this time. For August 1921 (following the truce in hostilities) an entry indicates that she was travelling through the northern county of Tyrone holding what would appear to be daily recruitment meetings.</p>
<p>The agenda for these meetings outlined the basics required to set up a Cumann na mBan branch. Key activities included: providing first aid, field dressings, food and safe houses for wounded combatants. “Discipline, punctuality, silence and courage” were listed as prerequisites for all new members. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An open diary with writing in it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485173/original/file-20220918-28294-2t01r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485173/original/file-20220918-28294-2t01r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485173/original/file-20220918-28294-2t01r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485173/original/file-20220918-28294-2t01r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485173/original/file-20220918-28294-2t01r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485173/original/file-20220918-28294-2t01r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485173/original/file-20220918-28294-2t01r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Máirín’s diary listed some of her Cumann na mBan activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caitriona Beaumont</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Six months later it was as a member of the Cumann na mBan executive in 1922 that Máirín came to give her speech at the February convention. In confirming her rejection of the treaty she stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am not an enthusiast about women’s rights but I believe that women have as much right to declare their opinion as the men have. We are an independent body of Irishwomen.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She claimed that Cumann na mBan was as entitled to have an opinion on the treaty as the Sinn Féin leadership and members of the Dáil (the Irish parliament). It is clear from her words that she feared the views of Cumann na mBan were being sidelined by those within the republican leadership and provisional government who supported the treaty. Despite her claim not to be enthusiastic about women’s rights she argued that, “women came through things that were perhaps as great, or greater, than the men”, and so were “entitled to declare our opinion”.</p>
<p>As a feminist historian reading these words I am in no doubt that my grandmother was fully cognisant of attempts to “silence” women in public life. Although many may disagree with her stance on the treaty and her willingness to engage in further hostility, I am proud that she wished to defend the right of women to express their views, regardless of the risks involved, on the future of the Irish nation.</p>
<h2>The Irish Free State</h2>
<p>Máirín’s beliefs, and the stand she was taking, also need to be understood in the context of the time. The Irish Free State was born out of violence, division and turmoil. The island of Ireland had been under British colonial rule for over 800 years, punctuated by a number of attempts – political and revolutionary – to break free from British control. The <a href="https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/easter_rising_great_britain_and_ireland">failed 1916</a> Easter Rising (an armed insurrection against British rule) and subsequent execution of its leaders, reignited demands for an independent Ireland, free of all ties to the United Kingdom and the British empire.</p>
<p>The part played by Cumann na mBan in the Easter Rebellion was significant. This went beyond the activities of a number of now very well known women. Included in this select group is <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/markievicz-constance-georgine-a5452">Constance Markievicz</a>, who in 1918 became the first woman elected as a Member of Parliament to Westminster, although as a republican she refused to take her seat. Historians <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Unmanageable_Revolutionaries.html?id=kvBtzgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Margaret Ward</a>, <a href="https://obrien.ie/no-ordinary-women">Sínead McCoole</a>, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Cumann_Na_MBan_and_the_Irish_Revolution.html?id=f8mfAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">Cal McCarthy</a> and <a href="https://www.calton-books.co.uk/books/margaret-skinnider-by-mary-mcauliffe/">Mary McAuliffe</a>, among others, have shared the stories and documented the experiences of around 200 “ordinary” women who took part in the rising. </p>
<p>They came from different walks of life and included teachers, nurses, students, trade unionists, feminist activists and factory workers. These women were active in roles as varied as snipers, cooks, first-aiders and couriers. After six days of fierce fighting the Easter Rising was suppressed, leaving some 500 dead and Dublin city centre in ruins. </p>
<p>Three years after the rising violence erupted once again with the outbreak of the <a href="https://www.theirishstory.com/2012/09/18/the-irish-war-of-independence-a-brief-overview/#.YyczSuzMJcA">Irish War of Independence</a> (1919-1921). The growing popularity of Sinn Féin, a radical political party calling for full Irish independence, culminated in its winning 73 out of 105 seats for Ireland, in the UK’s December <a href="https://theconversation.com/sinn-feins-sudden-rise-to-power-in-1918-was-long-seen-as-a-youthquake-now-theres-a-different-explanation-107819">1918 general election</a>.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sinn-feins-sudden-rise-to-power-in-1918-was-long-seen-as-a-youthquake-now-theres-a-different-explanation-107819">Sinn Féin's sudden rise to power in 1918 was long seen as a 'youthquake' – now there's a different explanation</a>
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</em>
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<p>Cumann na mBan was instrumental in supporting this election victory with members canvassing locally for Sinn Féin candidates, including my grandmother who supported the election campaign of Sinn Féin member Desmond FitzGerald, who was elected MP for the Dublin Pembroke constituency. The success of Sinn Féin, and the shock defeat of the more moderate Irish Parliamentary Party, who supported devolved government (home rule) for Ireland, marked a step change in Irish politics and Anglo-Irish relations.</p>
<p>From 1919 to 1921 a guerrilla war was waged across Ireland. Atrocities were committed on both sides with an estimated <a href="https://www.theirishstory.com/2012/07/02/the-irish-civil-war-a-brief-overview/#.YyX9duzMJcB">2,000 deaths</a>. </p>
<p>Just as they had done in 1916, Cumann na mBan members played an active role, and risked their lives, in supporting republican forces during the War of Independence. Across the country, women provided a network of safe houses for IRA men on the run from British forces and acted as intelligence agents and messengers, enabling the sharing of military information between IRA units. One leading member, <a href="https://www.dib.ie/biography/clarke-kathleen-caitlin-bean-ui-chleirigh-a1707">Kathleen Clarke</a>, recounted how she smuggled £2,000 of gold, strapped about her body, from Limerick to Dublin, thereby <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1395833">avoiding discovery</a> at British checkpoints along the way.</p>
<p>The War of Independence ended in a truce in July 1921, followed by the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty in December that year. Under the terms of the treaty a 26-county Irish Free State would be established as a self-governing dominion within the British empire. The six-county unionist majority (representing Protestant interests) Northern Ireland State, which remained part of the UK, was also established with its own devolved government sitting in Stormont, Belfast.</p>
<p>On January 7 1922 the Irish parliament voted to approve the treaty by a narrow majority. Taking a pro or anti-treaty stance split the ruling Sinn Féin party. This resulted in the pro-treaty provisional government, led by Michael Collins, being in direct opposition with members of its military wing, the IRA. Civil war followed with two further years of violence and the creation of divisions within Irish families, communities and political life that continue to resonate today. </p>
<h2>‘Sister against sister’</h2>
<p>Another photograph was to supply a final surprise about Máirín. It was taken on February 5 1922, four weeks after the Anglo-Irish treaty was officially approved, when Cumann na mBan called a special convention to discuss the terms.</p>
<p>The photo is of the executive committee and shows my grandmother standing in the second row, three from the right, with Constance Markievicz, Mary MacSwiney and Jennie Wyse Power sitting in the front row. I had seen this image before and was convinced the woman whose face was shadowed by the large hat was my grandmother. But I couldn’t be sure until my cousin found Máirín’s own copy among a stack of old family photographs. On the back, she had written out who was who, including herself. I was delighted that I had recognised her.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Group photo from the 1920s and handwritten caption below" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488756/original/file-20221007-7794-nvtne3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488756/original/file-20221007-7794-nvtne3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488756/original/file-20221007-7794-nvtne3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488756/original/file-20221007-7794-nvtne3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488756/original/file-20221007-7794-nvtne3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488756/original/file-20221007-7794-nvtne3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488756/original/file-20221007-7794-nvtne3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mairin Beaumont (McGavock) at the 1922 Cumann na mBan convention and below her own writing on the back of the photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caitriona Beaumont/UCD archives</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Around 600 women attended the meeting. Following a debate, during which my grandmother spoke, the executive confirmed its anti-treaty stance and its allegiance to the Republic of Ireland. Leading pro-treaty members, including Power, then split from Cumann na mBan and in March 1922 established a new organisation, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/sister-against-sister-how-the-treaty-split-cumann-na-mban-1.4857547">Cumann na Saoirse</a> (The League for Freedom).</p>
<p>The Irish Civil War raged on until mid-1923 with a repetition of the guerrilla tactics seen during the War of Independence. Former allies found themselves on opposite sides and prominent leaders were killed or executed, including <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/podcasts/the-beltel/the-beltel-who-killed-michael-collins-41928763.html">Michael Collins</a>. In May the anti-treaty IRA agreed to a ceasefire with its fighters returning home.</p>
<p>As John Borgonovo, lecturer in history at University College Cork, has <a href="https://www.calton-books.co.uk/books/women-and-the-irish-revolution/">documented</a>, members of Cumann na mBan were active throughout the civil war and were integrated with republican forces around the country. Members established kitchens and first aid dressing stations and in more rural areas acted as look-outs and carried messages and supplies during the fighting. </p>
<p>Borgonovo argues that many members who found themselves on the losing side in the civil war “transitioned to non-violent opposition in the free state”, joined formal political parties or moved “to different forms of agitation or civil engagement” with others “withdrawing from public life altogether”. </p>
<h2>Contribution to society</h2>
<p>Back in 1988 when I uncovered her roles in the NUWGA and the ICA, I was excited and proud of the fact that Máirín had joined organisations seeking to enhance the lives of women and girls.</p>
<p>Máirín was born on December 7 1894 in Glenarm, County Antrim, one of four daughters of William and Annie McGavock. She was educated at the Catholic Dominican College, Dublin, and then enrolled on the BA Languages Degree at UCD. She was awarded her BA in 1915 followed by an MA in German in 1916. In 1917 she graduated with a higher diploma in education. That same year, she joined the founding staff as a teacher at Scoil Bhríde, an Irish language secondary school for girls in Dublin.</p>
<p>Throughout her life my grandmother remained committed to her twin passions: education and Irish language and literature. As a fluent Irish speaker she was passionate about the language and its importance in safeguarding Irish culture and identity. She remained active in education into middle age in her role as an external examiner in education for the National University of Ireland. </p>
<p>Frustratingly I haven’t yet been able to find any sources indicating what my grandmother was doing during the Irish Civil War. What I do know is that in 1923 she married my grandfather, Sean Beaumont, a lecturer and founder of An t-Éireannach newspaper and they went on to have three children, Máire in 1925, Helen in 1927, and my dad Piaras in 1933. She continued to work as an external examiner following the birth of her children and at the same time became active in a number of civil society associations, including the Dublin Playgrounds Committee which oversaw the provision of child guidance, home visiting, playgrounds and nurseries to less well-off families. </p>
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<p>I was thrilled to learn that in the 1950s she was elected president of the NUWGA, following in the footsteps of significant Irish women including: Alice Oldham, and professors Mary Hayden, Agnes O’Farrelly and Mary Macken. From the 1920s the NUWGA participated in a number of high profile campaigns to safeguard the rights of women. This included protesting against a <a href="https://www.ictu.ie/blog/marriage-bar-ban-employing-married-women">marriage bar</a>, which compelled women to resign their jobs on getting married, protecting the right of women to serve on juries and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09612029700200154">campaigning against</a> discriminatory gender clauses in the draft 1937 Irish Constitution. </p>
<p>Having the opportunity to research the life story of my grandmother has transformed how I think about her, and the other women branded as furies and die-hards. Regardless of the negative portrayals, my grandmother did make a significant and meaningful contribution to Irish society.</p>
<p>The young woman smiling out at me from that old photograph, fully committed to the fight for an independent Ireland, survived the turmoil of the revolutionary period. She went on to make her mark in the new Irish state through her role as a housewife, teacher, activist and promoter of the Irish language. She did this despite being on the “losing side” and maintaining her life long objection to the Anglo-Irish treaty.</p>
<p>I now have a much better understanding of my grandmother and feel so much more connected to her. It is amazing that she was a part of the histories of female activism I have been researching and writing about for the past 34 years. The success of the Decade of Centenaries is making space for all the histories of the Irish revolution. This ensures we remember everyone who has contributed, including the women branded as furies and the die-hards.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitriona Beaumont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The discovery of a photograph of my grandmother perched on a bicycle holding a rifle was the first of many revelations about her life.Caitriona Beaumont, Professor of Social History, London South Bank UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1840742022-06-06T09:29:39Z2022-06-06T09:29:39ZInside a reintegration camp for Colombia’s ex-guerrilla fighters: ‘Words of reconciliation are our only weapons now’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466299/original/file-20220531-12-1tn9em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Olmedo Vega spent 35 years as a FARC guerrilla commander before moving to the Agua Bonita demobilisation camp. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Juan Pablo Valderrama</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>The election of Iván Duque four years ago was a threat for us. But we will continue to follow the peace agreement regardless of who is the next president of Colombia. We are more determined than ever to comply with the peace accords, and this is the reason they want to kill us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJTwgO0dnq0">Olmedo Vega</a> spent 35 years as a guerrilla commander during Colombia’s armed conflict – one of the longest the world has ever seen. “The FARC is my family – I grew up with the guerrillas. But now I really want to commit to this new life here in Agua Bonita, along with my old comrades.”</p>
<p>Over the past four years, we have carried out 42 in-depth interviews with former guerrilla soldiers in Agua Bonita and some of the other 25 Territorial Spaces for Training, Reintegration and Reincorporation (ETCR in Spanish), developed by the Colombian government and the UN to resettle thousands of former FARC fighters after <a href="https://theconversation.com/santos-got-the-nobel-prize-for-not-giving-up-on-peace-heres-why-all-colombians-won-66689">the historic</a> 2016 peace agreement.</p>
<p>We sought to understand <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21647259.2022.2065792">the barriers faced by ex-combatants</a> as they try to reintegrate into civil society. With President Duque’s reign almost over and his successsor due to be <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-61628589">elected on June 19</a>, the result has major implications for the future of Colombia, the survival of the peace agreement, and the prospects of all those former combatants who have committed to a life without conflict.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>After six decades of fighting, it is estimated that almost 20% of the population is a <a href="http://www.centrodememoriahistorica.gov.co/micrositios/balances-jep/descargas/balance-sujetos-victimizados.pdf">direct victim of Colombia’s civil war</a> – <a href="http://centrodememoriahistorica.gov.co/descargas/informes2016/basta-ya-ingles/BASTA-YA-ingles.pdf">including</a> almost 9 million internally displaced people, 200,000 enforced disappearances, up to 40,000 kidnappings, more than 17,000 child soldiers, nearly 9,321 landmine incidents, and 16,324 acts of sexual violence. </p>
<p>For the almost 13,000 former FARC guerrillas, the end of the conflict initiated a process of “disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration” into Colombian society. But while positive steps were taken on both sides, <a href="https://indepaz.org.co/observatorio-de-derechos-humanos-y-conflictividades/">more than 300 massacres</a> have been recorded since the peace deal was signed on September 26 2016. Some <a href="https://colombia.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/04.04.22_eng_infographic_reportmar2022.pdf">316 FARC ex-combatants</a> and <a href="https://indepaz.org.co/">1,287 human rights defenders</a> have been murdered during this period of “peace”, putting the agreement under <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1068371">increasing threat</a>.</p>
<h2>‘A place to have a dignified life’</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Paginas/ETCRs/AETCR_agua_bonita.aspx">Agua Bonita</a> (“Beautiful water”) guerrilla demobilisation camp is located on a small plateau on the edge of the Amazon basin, about an hour’s bumpy drive from Florencia, capital city of the Caquetá department in Colombia’s Amazonía region.</p>
<p>Since 1970, Caquetá had been the headquarters for both FARC and the guerrillas of <a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/popular-liberation-army">the Popular Liberation Army</a> (EPL). It is a geographically strategic corridor for illicit drug trafficking (particularly related to the production of cocaine), the transport of illegal weapons and the smuggling of kidnapped people. It is also one of the first places where guerrilla groups <a href="https://unmas.org/en/programmes/colombia">used landmines</a> to wrest territorial control from the Colombian army.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466085/original/file-20220530-20-af9in0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Agua Bonita’s high year-round temperatures and humidity mean it is a ‘heaven’ for fruit growing. Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>In 2017, when ex-FARC combatants first arrived in the empty area where Agua Bonita now stands, they worked with local builders for seven months to construct 63 houses using glass-reinforced plastic and average-quality plywood. Local workers from Florencia and the nearby towns of Morelia, Belen de los Andaquíes and El Paujil helped them build the camp.</p>
<p>“At the beginning, it was difficult to work side-by-side with the local builders because of our stigma as <em>guerrilleros</em>,” recalled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enPwRjHr4cg">Federico Montes</a>, one of the community leaders. “But after six months of working with us every day, a couple of them moved with their families to live here!”</p>
<p>Agua Bonita is situated amid one of the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems in the world; home to around 40,000 plant species, nearly 1,300 bird species and 2.5 million different insects. Red-bellied piranhas and pink river dolphins swim in the waters here – yet in both 2019 and 2020, Colombia was named the world’s <a href="https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-09-15/colombia-the-worlds-deadliest-country-for-environmentalists-in-2020.html">deadliest country for environmentalists</a> by human rights and environmental observers Global Witness.</p>
<p>According to Montes, Agua Bonita’s high year-round temperatures and humidity mean “the weather is perfect to grow yucca, plantain, cilantro and pineapple. And if you are feeling more adventurous, you can have trees of <a href="https://thefoodhog.com/araza-fruit-eugenia-stipitata/">araza</a>, <a href="https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/copoazu/">copoazu</a>, <a href="https://tipbuzz.com/yellow-dragon-fruit/">yellow pitaya</a> and other Amazonic crops. We are in the middle of a fruit heaven here.”</p>
<p>The community started with a population of more than 300 ex-FARC combatants. These days, it boasts a library with 19 computers and four printers, a bakery, convenience store and restaurant, a football pitch, health centre and community centre with a daycare facility for toddlers. Former combatants farm eight hectares of pineapple cash crop and have their own basic processing plant for fruit pulp. They also have six 13-metre-long fish tanks, a big hen house and dozens of large communal gardens.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Brightly painted hut in Colombia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466077/original/file-20220530-18-9pr3mr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the many thought-inspiring murals painted on the houses of Agua Bonita. Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>One of the main attractions for visitors is the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/misiononucol/albums/72157702429996671/">vibrant murals</a> painted on the 65 modest houses, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AguaBonitaFestival/">portraying</a> everything from local flora and fauna to guerrilla leaders and FARC paraphernalia. The most recurring features are the words “peace”, “reconciliation” and “hope”.</p>
<p>“Our main aim,” said Montes, “is to create a place to have a dignified life, where all together can be free, safe and secure, living in proper houses with access to health, employment, and education.”</p>
<p>Yet since the establishment of Agua Bonita in 2017, <a href="https://indepaz.org.co/observatorio-de-derechos-humanos-y-conflictividades/">29 ex-combatants</a> have been killed in the area. According to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJTwgO0dnq0">Olmedo</a>: “During the government of Duque, there has been a shortage of food, goodwill and economic support in Agua Bonita – a total lack of governmental support. But the presidential elections are giving us hope for a better future.”</p>
<h2>‘A lot of stigmas and negative attitudes against us’</h2>
<p>In the run up to his election in June 2018, Duque, as leader of the right-wing Centro Democrático party, fiercely opposed the peace agreement with the FARC, vowing to renegotiate what he described as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/colombia-elects-a-conservative-who-promises-to-correct-its-peace-accord-98273">“lenient” deal</a> while pledging not to “tear the agreement to shreds”.</p>
<p>After four years in charge, Duque – Colombia’s <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/26/duque-most-unpopular-colombian-president-poll">least popular president</a> in polling history – has <a href="https://www.wola.org/analysis/colombia-peace-accord-is-not-weak-its-duque-who-insists-on-weakening-it/">undermined</a> the implementation of the peace agreement, and further <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/02/17/from-old-battles-to-new-challenges-in-colombia-pub-83785">polarised</a> the country and its politics. Levels of respect for human rights, security, quality of life and poverty <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/colombia">have all worsened</a> under his militaristic tenure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466309/original/file-20220531-12-gidpl3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Olmedo Vega: ‘I believe in the peace process because now we have the opportunity to study.’ Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Olmedo Vega, 49, has lived in Agua Bonita from its earliest foundations. When we met him, Vega was taking part in a <a href="https://kidnappingworkshop.net/caqueta/">video letter exchange project</a> with young people from Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city. “Some of the questions from these students were really difficult to answer,” he told us. “There are a lot of stigmas and negative attitudes against us as ex-FARC members. ‘Terrorist’, ‘murderer’, ‘killer’, ‘scumbag’ … these are the words some people used to introduce me.”</p>
<p>But these days, Vega is proud to call himself a student too. One evening, during dinner, he asked us: “What did the arrival of an American astronaut on the Moon mean politically?”</p>
<p>As we fumbled for an answer, he interrupted to say: “I am studying four hours every day to get my qualifications: two hours in the morning, two in the afternoon. We are 30 comrades working so hard to sit the ICFES (Colombian A-level exams) next September. This is why I believe in the peace process, because now we have the opportunity to study. I want to be a doctor in the future, this is my dream. I want to help people, and to build a more equal society in Colombia.”</p>
<p>That evening, Vega offered us <a href="https://youtu.be/0XCMwqJ-lO0"><em>cancharina</em></a> for pudding and the sugar cane drink <a href="https://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/aguapanela-sugar-cane-drink/"><em>agua de panela</em></a>, a FARC <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-farc-ate-colombia">culinary tradition</a>. And he talked about one topic repeatedly: the murder of his best friend, Jorge Eliecer Garzón, <a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/asesinan-firmante-paz-colombia-20211017-0007.html">by paramilitary groups</a> in 2021.</p>
<p>“Jorge was my pal. He taught me how to be a good <em>guerrillero</em>, a good comrade. He strongly believed in the power of peace and reconciliation. I cannot understand why he was assassinated in front of his family in that bakery.”</p>
<p>Expressed as a cold statistic, Garzón was <a href="https://twitter.com/Indepaz/status/1449719441911164938/photo/1">ex-combatant no.290</a> to have been murdered since the signing of the peace agreement. The <a href="https://www.urosario.edu.co/Documentos/Facultad-de-Ciencia-Politica-Gobierno-y-Relacione/Observatorios/Crimen-organizado/DOCUMENTOS_OCCO_2_A_Criminal_Peace-18-nov-min.pdf">reasons for these killings</a> vary, from preventing the political participation of ex-FARC members to asserting control of areas for the production and international distribution of cocaine. In general, security and justice for demobilised FARC fighters has never been a priority for the Duque administration, and paramilitary groups have taken advantage of this.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colombias-fragile-peace-deal-threatened-by-the-return-of-mass-killings-154315">Colombia's fragile peace deal threatened by the return of mass killings</a>
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<p>At one point in the evening, Vega recalled: “Jorge used to say to me: ‘You must believe in how peace can change the world. But to heal and be in peace, I do not need to forgive what these paramilitary groups have done to us. Jorge didn’t deserve to be murdered. After his killing, I was broken.”</p>
<p>Mostly, however, Vega remained conciliatory, and positive. “We are more determined than ever to comply with the peace accords – this is the reason they want to kill us. We need to defend the peace agreement. Words of reconciliation and hard work are our only weapons now. I am feeling positive. This is the best way to honour the memory of Jorge.”</p>
<h2>The spectre of political assassination</h2>
<p>Colombia’s current presidential campaign has been haunted by the spectre of <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220514-colombia-elections-the-spectre-of-political-assassination">political assassination</a>. <a href="https://colombiafocus.com/candidate-profile-gustavo-petro">Gustavo Petro</a>, the leftist former guerrilla and ex-mayor of Colombia’s capital Bogotá, had to call off public appearances after his campaign received first-hand information regarding assassination plots by paramilitary groups. His running partner, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/25/francia-marquez-colombia-vice-president-black-candidate?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other">Francia Márquez</a>, a black environmentalist, also received death threats.</p>
<p>Petro led the presidential election first round on May 29 with 40% of the votes. His rival in the run-off on June 19 will be <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombias-king-tiktok-hernandez-ready-run-off-after-shock-result-2022-05-30/">Rodolfo Hernández</a>, a businessman-politician who is viewed as a right-wing conservative and populist outsider.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two political candidates on stage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466087/original/file-20220530-22-nh4943.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gustavo Petro and his running partner, Francia Márquez, have both received death threats during this election campaign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bogota-colombia-november-22-2021-gustavo-2161317985">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Colombia is the only major country in Latin America that has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-12/colombia-election-front-runner-beefs-up-security-over-violence-threat">never had a leftist leader</a>. The country’s right-wing parties and liberal establishment appear determined to maintain this record, amid campaigns that have been regularly accused of <a href="https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/the-race-for-colombias-next-president-5865/">racism, sexism and classism</a> against Márquez in particular.</p>
<p>Yet according to a recent <a href="https://noticias.caracoltv.com/politica/elecciones-colombia/encuesta-invamer-resultados-y-analisis-5-de-diciembre-2021">survey</a>, 79% of Colombians believe the country is on the wrong track. Political parties have a collective disapproval rate of 76%, with the Colombian Congress only marginally less unpopular.</p>
<p>The successful reintegration of thousands of ex-FARC guerrillas into civil society remains one of many daunting challenges for the next Colombian government. Reintegration problems encountered by ex-combatants worldwide have <a href="https://www.igi-global.com/book/handbook-research-transitional-justice-peace/137136">included</a> a lack of educational opportunities, the absence of suitable career options and insufficient psychological support.</p>
<p>In Colombia, we have identified <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21647259.2022.2065792">three crucial aspects</a> that are challenging successful reintegration for FARC ex-combatants: a lack of participation in the civilian economy, a lack of access to educational opportunities, and a failure by the authorities to exercise “equal citizenship” that guarantees social and civic reintegration.</p>
<p>At stake is the entire future of the peace agreement, and with it, prospects for reducing poverty, inequality and other dynamics of economic exclusion. Three generations of Colombians do not know what it means to live in a peaceful society. The reintegration of ex-combatants is crucial to building a general understanding that reconciliation is key to creating a new Colombia, where violence is not the answer to overcoming your problems.</p>
<h2>‘The stigma makes it impossible to get a job’</h2>
<p>The access road to Agua Bonita is not easy. There is no public transport, and the roads are extremely precarious. The poor transport infrastructure of Caquetá in general severely hampers the <a href="http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/125507/1/TFM-ECO_Gonz%C3%A1lez_2018.pdf">productivity of this region</a>.</p>
<p>While the camp – which operates entirely as a cooperative – has not suffered from trade boycotts, unlike some other reintegration camps, raw materials can take months to arrive here. And the twin spectres of discrimination and unemployment loom large over residents here.</p>
<p>“I have plenty of stories of people saying to me: ‘You cannot get a job because you don’t deserve it, just get out of here,’” Vega told us. “I have to fight against this stigma every day, and it is worst when I have to apply for a job because sometimes people have the wrong idea about us. I am a proud ex-combatant that just wants the peace of Colombia and a decent job!”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466078/original/file-20220530-20-7ku22s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Residents of Agua Bonita struggle with poor transport links and a lack of jobs. Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XxbY31Yd1g">Daniel Aldana</a> is one of the youngest ex-combatants living in Agua Bonita. He has been trying to get a job since 2019 but, due to the extent of criminalisation and stigmatisation of ex-FARC guerrillas in the region, he said it is almost impossible for him even to secure an interview.</p>
<p>“When the employers saw my identity card had been issued in La Montañita [the nearest town to Agua Bonita], they said I needed to have a ‘special selection process’. That means they will double or triple-check with the authorities if I have a police record or if my name is on a terrorist database list. If you say you are from Agua Bonita, the people say you are a terrorist. This stigma is making it impossible to get a job here.”</p>
<p>Aldana is not alone. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=havQkGEhXeM">Jorge Suarez</a>, a builder who spent more than 13 years as a FARC commander, recalled going for a job interview in Florencia. “It was so humiliating. ‘Assassin’, ‘murderer’ and ‘scumbag’ were just a few of the words the people at the recruitment agency used to refer to me. Never again.”</p>
<p>Suarez added: “The problem is that people don’t trust us. We have done everything to show that our intentions for a peaceful future are real, yet so far we are getting only two things back: no proper jobs, and tons of bullets.”</p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colombias-cash-for-kills-victims-could-number-10-000-civilians-96316">Colombia's 'cash-for-kills' victims could number 10,000 civilians</a>
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<p>Such experiences are not unique to ex-combatants living in Agua Bonita. Esteban Torres, a former guerrilla doing his reintegration in the <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Paginas/ETCRs/AETCR_pondores.aspx">Pondores</a> camp (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/FARCGuajira/">ETCR Amaury Rodríguez</a>) in La Guajira, told us he had experienced the same negative reaction.</p>
<p>“In Riohacha City, when I was looking for a job, the people said to me: ‘Well, you look like a nice bloke, but you have blood on your hands. You will never have a job here because you have the blood of innocent people on your hands, and you are a terrorist – a disgrace.’”</p>
<p>Torres continued: “That is when you realise that this is a long-term process. We need a process to remove the stigma against us from Colombian people’s hearts.”</p>
<h2>Lessons from Northern Ireland</h2>
<p>As well as our interviews with former guerrilla soldiers in Colombia, we also conducted 12 in-depth conversations with ex-combatants in the conflict known as <a href="http://qpol.qub.ac.uk/can-there-be-an-official-history-of-the-troubles/">The Troubles</a>. Despite Northern Ireland’s <a href="https://education.niassembly.gov.uk/post_16/snapshots_of_devolution/gfa#:%7E:text=The%20Belfast%20Agreement%20is%20also,Northern%20Ireland%20should%20be%20governed.">peace agreement</a> having been in place for nearly a quarter of a century – and the country’s very different societal context – we found many of the raw grievances raised by ex-FARC combatants mirrored by these former political prisoners in Northern Ireland, all of whom asked to remain anonymous.</p>
<p>While we heard common themes expressed by loyalist and republican interviewees alike, we highlight some republican voices here as these ex-combatants were dedicated to a form of counter-state insurgency that resembled the aims of the FARC’s armed struggle against the Colombian state. </p>
<p>One former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, (P)IRA, spoke about his difficulties finding meaningful employment, despite the fact that he had gained educational qualifications during his time in prison. “I could only get low-level jobs. In prison I had studied so I had qualifications, but I was still only working as a kitchen porter or doorman. </p>
<p>"No one would employ an IRA guy,” he continued. “In one job, I was asked to leave because people found out about my past. They weren’t comfortable working with me any more.”</p>
<p>Another ex-(P)IRA combatant explained the complexity of simply filling out a job application form. “A job application asks: ‘Do you have a criminal record?’ If we say ‘no’ because we claim we don’t have a criminal record – we are not criminals – then we have lied and can be dis-employed, which has happened to many people. But if we say ‘yes’, then we will not get through the vetting procedure.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-good-friday-agreement-belongs-to-the-people-not-the-politicians-94535">The Good Friday Agreement belongs to the people, not the politicians</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21647259.2022.2065792">Our interviews</a> also highlighted a common resentment about the forms of legally structured discrimination that former combatants in Northern Ireland have experienced.</p>
<p>“We can be stopped from travelling to certain places, and certain jobs are completely off limits to us,” explained another ex-(P)IRA member. “Even our ability to spend money is restricted; we can’t purchase home insurance and car insurance. It’s an inhibitor. We can’t get business loans … It all adds up to making things more difficult for us than for everyone else.”</p>
<p>Many of our interviewees had either worked or volunteered for community-based organisations that sought to diffuse inter-community tensions in Northern Ireland, and to steer young people away from participation in violence. In general, an incredibly small number of ex-political prisoners on both sides have returned to political violence, and very few have been convicted for other forms of violent criminality. Yet despite this, the loyalist and republican ex-combatants we spoke to complained of being largely denied equality of citizenship, and still face blockages to participation in the civilian economy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466089/original/file-20220530-22-8arffe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Esperanza: ‘Those of us who go to war break stereotypes set for women, so society resents us.’ Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Society resents us’</h2>
<p>More than a decade ago, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt4wNiypacE">Esperanza</a>* served as a commander and learned about equal rights as she fought side-by-side with the FARC men. But as soon as she stepped into civilian life, she told us she lost her autonomy again.</p>
<p>“Historically, this is a patriarchal culture. Those of us who go to war break traditional roles and stereotypes set for women, so society resents us. I used to give orders and command 100 armed men, and now they are expecting me to do a cooking course! What the hell?”</p>
<p>Problems highlighted by Esperanza and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcq7IKbxOsI">Tania Gomez</a>, another female ex-combatant living in Agua Bonita, include an absence of suitable career options for women, and a lack of psychological support and understanding of their needs and interests following the war. Such concerns are leading female ex-combatants to drop out of the reintegration programmes.</p>
<p>When the Colombian Reintegration Agency offered Gomez the chance to do a sewing and childcare course, she recalled saying to the official: “Are you kidding me! After 10 years of fighting against the Colombian Army every day, you want me to open a kindergarten? I didn’t join FARC to become a substitute mother, I am a revolutionary!”</p>
<p>For female ex-combatants, after long years as a fighter, the idea of “mainstream” family life can be very unappealing. “What would my life be like in the future if I follow this path?” Esperanza asked us. “Just at home with a husband, kids and playing ‘happy house’ forever? No way! I wouldn’t last a day doing that!”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466082/original/file-20220530-12-yzyr6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tania Gomez: ‘I didn’t join FARC to become a substitute mother.’ Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reintegration process has clearly failed to achieve genuine gender inclusiveness. When we asked <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeUS-uMXflc">Nelcy Balquiro</a> why she joined the FARC 11 years ago, she said without hesitation: “I wanted to change the world and become somebody. I wanted to be part of something important. My dream now as a civilian is to empower everyday women about their rights and fight this patriarchal system. As a female ex-FARC commander, this is now my more important <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/27/feminists-farc-colombia-female-inequality">political mission</a>.”</p>
<p>Discussing the wave of violence that is killing ex-combatants, Balquiro countered immediately: “Nobody says anything about the murdered females – once again the spotlight is on men! Nobody is saying a word about Maria, Patricia, Luz and the other <a href="https://news.un.org/es/story/2022/01/1502572">10 women</a> who have been murdered [since the peace agreement] – it is shameful.”</p>
<p>Balquiro wants to fight for equal pay and the right to work outside the home. She argued that “feminism is a main part of being a female ex-combatant. We are fighting now for Colombian women to have freedom from abuse and male exploitation.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466090/original/file-20220530-24-t8etu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nelcy Balquiro: ‘My dream now as a civilian is to empower everyday women about their rights.’ Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘We are dreaming of peace’</h2>
<p>Colombia’s outgoing leader Iván Duque will be widely remembered as a <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/mundo/america/wola-acuerdo-de-paz-no-es-debil-es-duque-quien-insiste-en-debilitarlo/">president that did nothing</a> to implement the peace agreement. Colombia’s election now offers a critical opportunity to address the problems amplified by four years of governmental neglect and lack of political will.</p>
<p>Simón* is a FARC ex-combatant living in the <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Paginas/ETCRs/AETCR_la_fila.aspx">Icononzo</a> camp (ETCR <a href="https://en-gb.facebook.com/ETCR-Antonio-Nari%C3%B1o-Icononzo-Tolima-105455094848401/?ref=page_internal">Antonio Nariño</a>) in the Andean region of Tolima. “I don’t want to live in fear for another four years,” he said. </p>
<p>“The feeling that paramilitary soldiers can kill you at any moment, working in <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/colombia-20/conflicto/militares-disfrazados-de-guerrilleros-y-otras-denuncias-en-el-operativo-militar-en-putumayo/">alliance</a> with the actual government, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/apr/13/colombia-army-raid-putumayo-investigation">like what happened in Putumayo recently</a> … it’s becoming unbearable. This presidential election is the opportunity to build new roads, new ways, and leave the torturous one that we are having now.”</p>
<p>According to Esteban Torres from the <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/reincorporacion/Paginas/ETCRs/AETCR_pondores.aspx">Pondores</a> camp: “The implementation of the peace process is similar to [Colombia’s traditional festival], <a href="https://www.colombia.co/en/colombia-travel/tourism-by-regions/guide-barranquilla-carnival/#:%7E:text=Barranquilla's%20carnival%20is%20the%20biggest,colorful%20celebration%20of%20Colombian%20culture.">Barranquilla’s carnival</a>. Those who live it, enjoy it – and we want to continue the party. [Our goal] is not just to stop killing each other any more in Colombia; it is about creating a new culture of peace, a new rhythm.</p>
<p>"Duque almost killed the party. He didn’t know how to dance along with people that don’t like guns and his extreme-right perspectives. He just likes the rhythms of war. But now we have the opportunity to start tuning good vibes once again and change our future as new citizens of Colombia. My hope is to restart the party!”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466084/original/file-20220530-24-xtvg6v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Despite their struggles, the residents of Agua Bonita are still dreaming of peace. Photo: Juan Pablo Valderrama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the six-decade conflict, the Colombian state helped to create and sustain an image of FARC combatants as bloodthirsty barbarians. The new government will need to take brave and imaginative steps to break down these deep-rooted conceptions. There have already been some important initiatives, such as the <a href="https://kidnappingworkshop.net/caqueta/">letter exchanges</a> between former FARC combatants and Colombian civilians. However, much more must be done if the Colombian state is to avoid the long-standing forms of discrimination still being expressed by ex-political prisoners in Northern Ireland.</p>
<p>It’s also important, in time, to remove legal barriers to equality of citizenship. Understandable measures taken in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, such as the need to carry forms of personal identification that highlight an ex-combatant’s background, need to be subject to sunset clauses – to be lifted, for example, if an individual has met certain requirements that demonstrate their dedication to peace. Similarly, criminal records directly related to participation in the conflict might also be erased once ex-combatants have demonstrated their commitment to the agreement.</p>
<p>In addition, former combatants need to feel some control over their own reintegration. Many participated in combat from a very young age, and possess few skills beyond those learned in situations of violence. Peace can be very difficult for them to navigate. This needs to be recognised and incorporated into the thinking of the Colombian peace process as it develops under the new government.</p>
<p>On the last day of our visit to Agua Bonita, we asked Olmedo Vega what his biggest wish for the future is. “From the bottom of our hearts,” he said, “it is not to leave us alone. We have suffered war, and [since then] we have grown in hope and love. We carry on our backs the historical responsibility of generating reconciliation. We are dreaming of peace.”</p>
<p><em>*Some interviewees asked only to be identified by their first names</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Camilo Tamayo Gomez is a senior adviser in transitional justice for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Hart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The outcome of Colombia’s presidential election has major implications for the survival of its historic peace deal, and the prospects of former combatants who have committed to a life without conflictCamilo Tamayo Gomez, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of HuddersfieldGavin Hart, Lecturer in Criminology, Liverpool Hope UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1757062022-03-29T14:23:25Z2022-03-29T14:23:25ZNorthern Ireland terror threat downgraded but Brexit tensions and threats of renewed violence remain<p>The signing of the <a href="https://education.niassembly.gov.uk/post_16/snapshots_of_devolution/gfa#:%7E:text=The%20Belfast%20Agreement%20is%20also,Northern%20Ireland%20should%20be%20governed.">Belfast Agreement</a> in 1998 brought an end to decades of extreme political violence in Northern Ireland. But more than 20 years later, the peace process still faces threats and both loyalist and republican paramilitary groups <a href="https://www.ircommission.org/sites/irc/files/media-files/IRC%20Fourth%20Report%20web%20accessible_1.pdf">continue to operate</a>. </p>
<p>Since 2016, annual security statistics in Northern Ireland have shown a <a href="https://www.psni.police.uk/inside-psni/Statistics/security-situation-statistics">general decline</a> in terrorist activity against the state and its institutions. And the UK government also recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/22/northern-ireland-terrorism-threat-level-lowered-for-first-time-in-12-years">reduced the threat level</a> from Northern Ireland-related terrorism from “severe” to “substantial” – meaning an attack is considered to be “likely” but not “highly likely”. This is the first time in 12 years that the threat level has been lowered.</p>
<p>But difficulties surrounding the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-53724381">Northern Ireland protocol</a> – the post-Brexit arrangements for cross-border trade between the UK and EU – have unsettled significant sections of the unionist and loyalist community. Just days after the threat level was lowered, a loyalist paramilitary group was blamed for a <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/uvf-blamed-for-north-belfast-bomb-hoax-aimed-at-simon-coveney-41488066.html">bomb hoax</a> that led to Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney being evacuated from an event in Belfast. </p>
<p>Loyalists opposed to the protocol view border checks on trade flowing between Great Britain and Northern Ireland as an assault on the fabric of the union that comprises the UK. They view the protocol as a mechanism that could encourage a united Ireland.</p>
<p>Irish government statistics show that trade between north and south has <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/brexit-fuels-major-pick-up-in-north-south-trade-1.4648388">increased since Brexit</a>, bolstering the argument that the protocol is strengthening economic ties between the north and south. Loyalists and unionists view this as a <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/kill-protocol-or-the-union-is-finished-tuv-chief-tells-rally-41335367.html">stepping stone</a> towards closer political union.</p>
<h2>Potential for violence</h2>
<p>During the Troubles, customs posts became targets for IRA attacks. The mere threat of a <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/varadkar-warns-eu-a-hard-border-risks-return-to-violence-of-the-past-in-ireland-37436007.html">return to such violence</a> was enough to end discussion about reinstating a border on the island of Ireland after Brexit. Some loyalist groups appear to have taken inspiration from this turn of events and believe that <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-irish-sea-border-loyalists-violence-b1796322.html">threatening violence</a> against border infrastructure in the Irish sea will help them challenge that border too.</p>
<p>Mainstream loyalists have <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/loyalists-believe-dissident-faction-is-behind-newtownards-bus-attack-wjklw7g3c">suggested</a> there is potential for dissident loyalist paramilitary groups to formally organise in violent <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dissident-loyalists-blamed-for-threats-against-port-staff-in-northern-ireland-amid-anger-at-brexit-protocol-btbcmrr9p">opposition</a> to the protocol. </p>
<p>Since early 2021, waves of protest and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56664378">sporadic street violence</a> have occurred across Northern Ireland, some of which the police have <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/sinister-and-disturbing-protests-against-ni-protocol-hijacked-by-loyalist-paramilitaries-40529097.html">claimed</a> were orchestrated by pro-British loyalist paramilitaries. In April 2021, violent clashes between rival communal factions in Belfast were seen as some of the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56664868">worst rioting</a> since the 1969-1998 conflict. These clashes stemmed from anti-protocol demonstrations in Belfast.</p>
<p>A lack of progress at the political level has further exacerbated protests. In February, thousands of people <a href="https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/loyalist-protest-rally-hears-of-grave-treat-posed-by-ni-protocol-3575906">gathered</a> in the small County Armagh village of Markethill to hear anti-protocol speeches. </p>
<p>Polarisation and rivalry among unionists was evident at the rally. DUP MP Sammy Wilson was <a href="https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/markethill-protocol-protest-sees-sammy-23153268">heckled</a> by some parts of the crowd over the DUP’s apparent softening on the border question, allowing the Westminster government to impose economic checks at the sea border. </p>
<p>Northern Ireland Assembly elections are approaching in May and whichever government emerges from that contest needs to come up with a solution to the border question. Division among unionist parties makes that difficult, if not impossible to achieve.</p>
<h2>Dealing with instability</h2>
<p>Recent policing operations have succeeded in combating terrorism from a security perspective. Still, ingrained politics firmly embedded in Northern Ireland’s post-Troubles society continue to stir up debate. The threat of violence from dissident republican organisations remains, and antagonism from sections of the unionist community has also <a href="https://politicalviolenceataglance.org/2021/12/13/will-violence-return-to-northern-ireland/">markedly increased</a> following the implementation of the protocol.</p>
<p>As the protocol issue has festered for so long, some unionist and loyalist factions will accept nothing short of its complete removal. The DUP has also recently called for the protocol to be <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/dup-leader-donaldson-facing-questions-over-best-of-both-worlds-stance-on-ni-protocol-41360997.html">scrapped</a> in its entirety. </p>
<p>The difficulty for the UK and EU governments is finding an alternative that deviates from the use of border infrastructure, either at the ports of Belfast and Larne or at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Without this, the threat of violence in Northern Ireland will remain.</p>
<p>Defusing tension within Northern Ireland is crucial to ensuring the continued success of the peace process. While the Northern Ireland protocol forms a small but crucial piece of a very large Brexit agreement between two major economic trading blocs (the UK and the EU), the fallout could reignite one of the world’s most intractable sectarian conflicts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dale Pankhurst receives funding from ESRC NINE DTP. He is also a member of a political party in Northern Ireland.</span></em></p>Why the Northern Ireland protocol poses real challenges to peace in the region.Dale Pankhurst, PhD Candidate, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1701212021-10-18T14:16:32Z2021-10-18T14:16:32ZThe Battle of Algiers: an iconic film whose message of hope still resonates today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426899/original/file-20211018-20-10uc2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yacef Saadi (R), military leader of the FLN National Liberation Front networks of the autonomous zone of Algiers, poses after being captured at the end of the "Battle of Algiers".</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Saadi Yacef, the Algerian revolutionary leader who fought for his country’s liberation from French colonial rule, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/movies/saadi-yacef-dead.html">died on 10 September 2021</a>. Yacef is perhaps one of the better known of Algeria’s resistance fighters because of the role he played in the creation of the film <a href="https://www.criterion.com/films/248-the-battle-of-algiers">The Battle of Algiers</a>, directed by the renowned Italian film maker <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0690597/">Gillo Pontecorvo</a>. </p>
<p>The Battle of Algiers was filmed in 1965 as a co-production between an Italian creative team and the new Algerian FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) government, whose representative Yacef produced the film and stars as the character of Jaffar.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426939/original/file-20211018-83508-1vdqq9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426939/original/file-20211018-83508-1vdqq9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426939/original/file-20211018-83508-1vdqq9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426939/original/file-20211018-83508-1vdqq9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426939/original/file-20211018-83508-1vdqq9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426939/original/file-20211018-83508-1vdqq9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426939/original/file-20211018-83508-1vdqq9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Battle Of Algiers, lobby card, Jean Martin, 1965.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by LMPC via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the most extraordinary films ever made, The Battle of Algiers is an emotionally devastating account of the anticolonial struggle of the Algerian people and a brutally candid exposé of the French colonial mindset. Many French people were unhappy with the representation of their army and country in the film. It was <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13698010701618596?queryID=%24%7BresultBean.queryID%7D">not officially censored in France</a>, but the general public and all cinemas boycotted it. It was seen as anti-French propaganda.</p>
<p>In later years, the film was screened to groups classed as revolutionaries and terrorists, apparently becoming a “<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/battle-of-algiers-transposed-into-palestinian-key/">documentary guidebook</a>” in the Palestinian struggle, and for organisations such as <a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/342-the-battle-of-algiers-bombs-and-boomerangs">the Irish Republican Army and the Black Panthers</a>, who examined its detailed representation of guerrilla tactics.</p>
<p>It was also shown in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/weekinreview/the-world-film-studies-what-does-the-pentagon-see-in-battle-of-algiers.html">the Pentagon in 2003</a>, in the middle of the Iraq War. US Counterterrorism experts <a href="https://www.criterion.com/films/248-the-battle-of-algiers">Richard Clarke and Mike Sheehan</a> suggest that the film showed how a country can win militarily, but still lose the battle for “hearts and minds”.</p>
<p>What relevance does The Battle of Algiers hold today, 55 years after it was first released?</p>
<p>The message of the film is ultimately one of hope: the oppressed multitude will eventually triumph because their cause is just. The images of revolutionary crowds in the film recall the jerky, grainy footage that has emerged from a wave of recent protests in the last decade, from the <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/">Black Lives Matter</a> movement to <a href="https://rebellion.global/">Extinction Rebellion</a>. Pontecorvo thrillingly captures the power and possibility of large gatherings of citizens, who come together to demand rights, putting their bodies at risk to create social and political change.</p>
<p>Additionally, the film refuses to condemn any of the agents in this conflict. As Pontecorvo has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWwI3WxU4Dk">stated</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>in a war, even if from a historical standpoint, one side is proven right, and the other wrong, both do horrendous things when they are in battle.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A film of contrasts</h2>
<p>Shot in black and white, the film is difficult to classify in terms of style. Its military action sequences and tactical montages remind us of films like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/">Zero Dark Thirty</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2057392/">The Eye in the Sky</a>; indeed, it is almost impossible to film a scene of politically-motivated <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/723807/summary">torture</a> without having The Battle of Algiers as an implicit or explicit point of reference.</p>
<p>The collective aspect of the film’s creation, and the socialist ideals that inspired it, link it to what’s called <a href="https://thirdcinema.blueskylimit.com/thirdcinema.html">Third Cinema</a>. This was a kind of revolutionary cinema, a cinema of the “Third World”, that was designed to overthrow the systems of colonialism and capitalism. </p>
<p>The Battle of Algiers is also an example of Italian neorealism, a major film movement coming out of mid-twentieth century Italy. The neorealists made films that opposed Mussolini’s fascist regime, and they focused on the hardships of the working class in Italy. Neorealism was a moral and aesthetic system: it brought art and politics together to expose the ills of society and bring about social change.</p>
<p>The Battle of Algiers was shot entirely on location in Algiers, and Colonel Mathieu was the only professional on set. Pontocorvo selected the other actors from the local population based on their faces and expressions.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426926/original/file-20211018-28-12w4yqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426926/original/file-20211018-28-12w4yqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426926/original/file-20211018-28-12w4yqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426926/original/file-20211018-28-12w4yqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426926/original/file-20211018-28-12w4yqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426926/original/file-20211018-28-12w4yqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426926/original/file-20211018-28-12w4yqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Algerian rebel Ali La Pointe (Brahim Haggiag) is set upon by the Europeans in a scene from the movie</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other elements of the neorealist style was the use of techniques that create a documentary aesthetic such as the hand-held camera. Pontecorvo also uses extracts from real-life FLN and police communiqués, letters, and title cards. And he used newsreel stock, which was cheaper, but also added to the sense of verisimilitude in the film.</p>
<p>Although he believed the Algerians cause to be just, Pontecorvo wanted to create a nuanced and fair account of the war. Therefore, he sets up a series of contrasts to reflect this opposition between French and Algerian. This is present in the original musical score by <a href="http://www.enniomorricone.org/">Ennio Morricone</a>: while groups of French soldiers rampage through the Casbah to the sound of jaunty military drums and horns, a haunting flute theme accompanies sequences which feature Algerian civilians. </p>
<p>Contrast is also evident in the use of light and shadow: there are strong chiaroscuro effects, perhaps reflecting the themes of right and wrong in the film. Pontecorvo also uses shadow to highlight the covert operations of the Algerians: Ali La Pointe’s face is filmed with deep shadows, and the face of Colonel Mathieu is always brightly lit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426932/original/file-20211018-26-vgl9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426932/original/file-20211018-26-vgl9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426932/original/file-20211018-26-vgl9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426932/original/file-20211018-26-vgl9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426932/original/file-20211018-26-vgl9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426932/original/file-20211018-26-vgl9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426932/original/file-20211018-26-vgl9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">French paratroop Colonel Mathieu (Jean Martin) walks past a cheering throng in a scene from the movie</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Space provides another important contrast in the film. Frantz Fanon, a famous theorist of the Algerian revolution, describes the colonial world as a world “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/719495">cut in two</a>” because of the stark divide between the coloniser and the colonised. In The Battle of Algiers, the wide boulevards of the European quarter are juxtaposed to the narrow, winding, labyrinthine alleyways of the Casbah. Space is also divided vertically and horizontally – the European quarter is flat, while the Casbah is steep and sloping. </p>
<p>This opposition of space highlights the gap between rich and poor, coloniser and colonised.</p>
<h2>The question of bias</h2>
<p>The biggest contrast in the film is of course between the French and Algerians. The embodiment of French and European values in the film is Colonel Mathieu. He is a suave figure, confident and controlled in army fatigues, stylish sunglasses and slick speech – he has more dialogue than other characters in the film. A number of critics have argued that Mathieu is far ‘too cool’, given that he is a practitioner and a proponent of torture.</p>
<p>Yet Colonel Mathieu is not depicted as an ogre: above all, he embodies reason. We see this in his statements about the use of torture, when he uses solid rhetorical devices to justify it. He says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…do you think France should stay in Algeria? If you do, you have to accept the necessary consequences. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is persuasive as a logical argument – if you want French Algeria, you have to accept the actions that result in this outcome – torture.</p>
<p>If Mathieu and the French have reason, what do the Algerians have? </p>
<p>Firstly, they have raw, visceral emotion and the power of the group. The victory at the end of the film is a victory of the masses, embodied in two figures – the martyr Ali La Pointe, the illiterate everyman who becomes a hero for the revolution, and the gyrating, anonymous Algerian women, whose gaze outwards to the future closes the film.</p>
<p>This takes me to the final point about what the Algerians have on their side – the power of historical right. We see this through Pontecorvo’s use of chronology – the narrative proceeds as a flashback, until we leap forward in time to the euphoria and mania of the end of the war and the triumph of the revolutionaries. Pontecorvo here glosses over the fact that the real Battle of Algiers was lost by the Algerians, and jumps into a future of eventual victory in the war. </p>
<p>This is how he views the process of history – the masses, with moral right on their side, will eventually win.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170121/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Flood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The film showed how a country can win militarily, but still lose the battle for ‘hearts and minds’.Maria Flood, Lecturer in Film Studies, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1603062021-05-06T12:27:19Z2021-05-06T12:27:19ZDirty protests: why Irish republican prisoners smeared their cells with faeces to make a political statement during the Troubles<p>For almost thirty years (1969-1998) Northern Ireland was gripped by <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-troubles-26976">violent conflict</a>. Republicans wanted an end to British rule and Unionists and Loyalists wished to preserve their citizenship and place in the United Kingdom. Bitterness and animosities intensified on both sides and reciprocal atrocities spiralled. Almost 4,000 lost their lives, thousands more were injured, and the economy and social fabric were torn apart. </p>
<p>Those convicted of paramilitary offences came into the prisons in their <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Irish-Political-Prisoners-1960-2000-Braiding-Rage-and-Sorrow/McConville/p/book/9780415693103">hundreds and then thousands</a>. Insisting they were soldiers, they behaved differently from ordinary prisoners. They were at first mainly members of the IRA, but significant numbers of Loyalists soon followed. Both factions rejected the legally established prison rules which they said criminalised them and their cause. They particularly objected to the requirement that all should wear a uniform and perform prison labour. The resultant standoff launched a series of bitter struggles.</p>
<p>In the search for peace, significant concessions had been made on prison rules in the summer of 1972. These conferred <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07y99w1">“special category”</a> status on people who had committed crimes of a paramilitary nature. The various privileges associated with this status met most of the paramilitaries’ demands. Amid continuing violence, the UK government decided to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lx4dj">withdraw the 1972 privileges</a> from all whose offences were committed after March 1976. After due process and sentencing, the people convicted after this date began to arrive in the prisons a few months later. Their rejection of the ordinary prison regime initiated almost five years of intense protests. </p>
<p>Most of the newly arrived Republicans refused to wear the uniform (Loyalists accepted it). No other clothing was permitted and so protesters went semi-naked, covering themselves in a blanket: this was the strip strike.</p>
<h2>Extreme measures</h2>
<p>It eventually became clear that this approach put no pressure on the authorities. With this realisation, the dirty protests commenced. This new form of action was so extreme, entailing such an astonishing degree of self-inflicted hardship for the participants, that even the hard-line secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Roy Mason, gave it grudging acknowledgement as “a brilliant stroke”. </p>
<p>The authorities and the protesters settled in for the long game. Months and years of close and semi-naked confinement followed. Cells were less than 100 square feet, and the protesters smeared every hard surface with excrement, into which they worked particles of rotting food. Urine was used to dilute the mixture before it was spread. </p>
<p>Beyond most people’s imagining, this world of faeces-handling, unremitting stench, and contamination was frequently shared with a cellmate. There was no cell sanitation, so each performed bodily functions in front of another. They slept on mattresses on the floor because their organisation decreed that they should destroy all cell furniture. Even the mattress covers were torn apart to spread the foul mixtures. </p>
<p>There were short, out-of-cell periods. The law stipulated a minimum amount of exercise. In addition to this, there were trips to the visiting room and periodic extractions for medically mandated washing and haircutting. These were resisted with varying degrees of force, and there were regular tussles and sometimes violent battles with staff. Both sides alleged brutality.</p>
<p>This was the nightmare of the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Irish-Political-Prisoners-1960-2000-Braiding-Rage-and-Sorrow/McConville/p/book/9780415693103">dirty protest</a> in the Maze prison, outside Belfast. It lasted for 40 months and was the most remarkable campaign in any prison anywhere, certainly in the 20th century, and possibly at any time. It was the springboard for the better-known 1980-81 hunger strikes and created an indirect but certain path to the protracted peace process that began in the mid-1980s, after the collapse of the hunger strikes. </p>
<h2>A peace deal</h2>
<p>What was it all about? There were of course explicit and covert agendas. Physical force republicans, going back to the 1860s, always insisted that they were not criminals. They had no kinship with murderers, robbers, rapists, thieves, blackmailers, and the rest of that unholy tribe. Charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced, criminals was exactly what British and Irish governments insisted they were. Democratically enacted laws and rules determined their treatment, not fanciful and self-serving proclamations. </p>
<p>From the ordeal of the dirty protests, a core group emerged who had, beyond question, demonstrated remarkable qualities of will and endurance. They had also undergone intense – apparently lifelong – bonding and arrived at a commonality of beliefs. Many had joined the dirty protest and left; others had never taken part: exact numbers are elusive. But those who had seen it through acquired among the followers of their cause, and broader ranks of sympathisers, a reputation for fidelity and self-sacrifice. This was the prerequisite for the hunger strikes.</p>
<p>When the final strategic compromise had to be delivered in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/good-friday-agreement-37019">1998 Good Friday Agreement</a>, the approval of this core was essential. They gave it, thus helping to deliver the peace that for a generation they had resisted. The qualities that had been manifest in the dirty protests found another purpose.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seán McConville has received partial funding from the UK and Irish governments. All other funding for the twenty-five year research and writing work (for the three volumes) came from non-government funding agencies - Leverhulme, Guggenheim, Atlantic Philanthropies, etc.. These grants helped to produce three volumes: Irish Political Prisoners 1960-2000: Braiding Rage and Sorrow Routledge, 2021 being the final part of the trilogy. </span></em></p>Why would a group of people decide to spend months and years living semi-naked in squalid conditions?Seán McConville, Professor of Law and Public Policy, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1589192021-04-16T15:18:24Z2021-04-16T15:18:24ZLine of Duty: why there are so many Northern Irish coppers in British crime dramas<p>There are few TV shows that light up social media quite like Line of Duty. At the core of the action is Northern Irish police officer Ted Hastings, played by Adrian Dunbar, a celebrated film and television actor from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh.</p>
<p>Hastings isn’t the only copper hailing from Northern Ireland on our screens in recent years.</p>
<p>Before the return of Line of Duty, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sm37">Bloodlands</a> filled its coveted Sunday 9pm slot on BBC One. A crime drama set in Northern Ireland, the ghosts of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/The-Troubles-Northern-Ireland-history">the Troubles</a> hang over Jimmy Nesbitt’s DCI Tom Brannick as he attempts to solve a case that eluded him during the peace proceedings. Before that, one of the most talked-about television crime dramas was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00wrk40">The Fall</a>. Starring Gillian Anderson, Met officer Stella Gibson is sent to fix a bungled investigation in Belfast. </p>
<p>From Peaky Blinders to Luther, the figure of the Northern Irish police officer has become a mainstay of popular TV on both sides of the Irish Sea. The continued interest in Northern Irish officers in popular culture suggests that there is an intriguing tension in this figure for audiences: one that not only makes great TV but also helps viewers understand Northern Ireland’s complicated history and how it has shaped the present.</p>
<h2>Policing between Britain and Ireland</h2>
<p>The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 led to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/northern-irelands-police-transformation-may-hold-lessons-for-the-us-141259">reforming</a> and renaming of the Royal Ulster Constabulary as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). This was created as a new “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/patten_report/report/chapter1.stm">police service</a> capable of attracting and sustaining support from the community as a whole”. This meant a drive to hire more Catholic officers so the force could be “representative of the society it polices”.</p>
<p>Despite the new force, the police are still hugely controversial in Northern Ireland. Policing has been a sticking point at several key moments in the ongoing peace process. </p>
<p>The nationalist community, who align themselves with an Irish identity and often Catholicism, distrust the force due to the discrimination <a href="https://theconversation.com/northern-irelands-police-transformation-may-hold-lessons-for-the-us-141259">Catholic recruits faced</a> during the Troubles. There are also emerging details of collusion in the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/o-loan-report-on-ruc-collusion-1.1291638">murders of Catholic civilians</a> during the Troubles. </p>
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<p>The unionist community, who are traditionally more supportive of the PSNI, mostly protestant and support Northern Ireland being part of the UK, have also disagreed with police tactics. In March 2021, First Minister Arlene Foster called on the chief of police to resign after it was announced that there would be no prosecutions following the funeral of republican Bobby Storey, which was allowed to go ahead despite COVID restrictions. Foster described a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56566468">crisis of confidence</a> in policing over the incident. </p>
<p>While there has been a sustained decrease in levels of violence since 1998, sporadic outbreaks are still a feature of life. We have seen this in recent days after eight consecutive nights of rioting in the capital Belfast, the worst spate of violence <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e736f653-1847-4ae5-89dd-3e35bb9bc4db">in years</a>. </p>
<p>Such tensions have provided fertile material for writers of film and literature and it is perhaps this that lies behind the uptick of cultural representation of the various experiences of policing in Northern Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. At a time when the situation is so fractious, fictional portrayals of Northern Irish officers allow these issues to be explored and offer nuance behind the headlines. </p>
<p>In The Fall, Chief Constable Burns says: “Policing is political here”. This is also clear in Bloodlands, where having paramilitary connections seem to influence procedure and the various tactics the police use “to keep the peace”.</p>
<p>Many of the officers on screen have a “past” in the conflict – in some cases, it drives the narrative (Bloodlands); in others, it adds backstory to a plot focused on current events (The Fall). </p>
<figure>
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<p>For those watching in England, Scotland and Wales, a Northern Irish police officer is an ambiguous figure. They are, ostensibly, a British citizen upholding the law, but their complex backstory, marked by their familial or professional experiences of the conflict, makes them distinct. They are at once an insider and an outsider.</p>
<h2>An Irish policeman abroad</h2>
<p>Line of Duty examines the complexities not only for Catholic police officers but also the generations of people who left Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles through Ted Hastings. </p>
<p>Hastings (“the epitome of an old battle,” as he says himself) was the product of a <a href="https://loveacrossthedivide.com/project/">mixed marriage</a>, with a Protestant father and Catholic mother. He trained in Northern Ireland becoming one of a few Catholic officers in the early days of the PSNI, transferring to England due to the escalating sectarian violence and anti-Catholic harassment in the force. </p>
<p>Years of watching corruption and being the target of harassment made him well placed to weed it out as head of Anti-corruption unit 12 (AC-12). Ted’s motivations can be summarised by his continued admission: “We’re only interested in one thing here and one thing only, and that’s catching bent coppers.” Knowing that he has been shaped by a background where he witnessed devastating cover-ups, allows us a deeper understanding of his single-minded determination to root out corruption. </p>
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<p>While his complicated past is an asset in his line of work, it’s also a hindrance. Despite moving across the Irish Sea, he can’t fully extricate himself from all that happened in Northern Ireland. Darker episodes of his time on the PSNI have been used against him, to discredit or implicate him in other crimes, in attempts by criminals to evade being caught by Hastings and his crack team at AC-12. </p>
<p>Against this potent, controversial context, Superintendent Ted Hastings is almost universally admired. Much of this admiration is down to Dunbar, who added several Northern Irish dialect phrases – “<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/line-of-duty-superintendent-ted-hastings-catchphrases-tedisms_uk_5cc7069ae4b08e4e34855984">Ted-isms</a>” such as the much-loved “now we’re sucking diesel” – to the script that elevated him to cult status. </p>
<p>While other characters are more often literally in the “line of duty”, Ted’s presence is centred around the station and his exasperation with the political manoeuvrings at HQ. He acts as the heart around which the plot turns, with reliable outrage at “bent coppers” and a commitment to “the letter of the law”. </p>
<p>One can see why, at <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/northern-ireland-oped/">present</a>, a police officer devoted to anti-corruption would be attractive to audiences. As this season draws to its conclusion and we fear for the future of Ted and AC-12, the presence of the Northern Irish police officer on screen allows audiences to better understand what is happening in Northern Ireland and humanise the complex debates around the future of policing in Britain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158919/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Magennis works for the University of Salford.</span></em></p>The spectre of the Troubles provides fertile drama for cop shows.Caroline Magennis, Reader in 20th and 21st Century Literature, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1479752020-10-22T13:16:36Z2020-10-22T13:16:36ZRight-wing extremism: The new wave of global terrorism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364095/original/file-20201018-21-1dfcfoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C62%2C4605%2C2840&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this April 2020 photo, protesters carry rifles near the steps of the Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing, Mich. A plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor has put a focus on the security of governors in the United States.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In April 2020, the United Nation’s Secretary-General, António Guterres, addressed members of the <a href="https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/">Security Council</a> by warning them that the COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061502">could threaten global peace and security</a>. </p>
<p>If the health crisis was not managed effectively, he feared that its negative economic consequences, along with a mismanaged government response, would provide an opportunity for white supremacists, right-wing extremists and others to promote division, social unrest and even violence to achieve their objectives. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364399/original/file-20201020-21-1jw14bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is seen speaking at a podium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364399/original/file-20201020-21-1jw14bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364399/original/file-20201020-21-1jw14bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364399/original/file-20201020-21-1jw14bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364399/original/file-20201020-21-1jw14bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364399/original/file-20201020-21-1jw14bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364399/original/file-20201020-21-1jw14bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364399/original/file-20201020-21-1jw14bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was the focus of kidnapping plot by right-wing extremists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Michigan Office of the Governor via AP, Pool, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In early October 2020, less than a month before the United States federal election, the FBI thwarted <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/michigan-whitmer-plot-1.5755273">an alleged terrorism plot</a> by right-wing extremists to kidnap the Michigan governor, storm the state capital building and commit acts of violence against law enforcement. </p>
<p>Their aim, according to court documents, was to start a “civil war leading to societal collapse.” To date, <a href="https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2020/10/08/view-mugshots-for-13-people-charged-after-fbi-uncovers-plot-to-kidnap-michigan-gov-whitmer/">14 men have been arrested on charges of terrorism</a> and other related crimes. Several of them are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/08/wolverine-watchmen-michigan-militia/">linked to the Wolverine Watchmen</a>, a militia-type group in Michigan that espouses anti-government and anti-law enforcement views.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1316718199862448129"}"></div></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/worldwide-threats-to-the-homeland-092420">FBI recently briefed U.S. senators</a> on the evolving concern of domestic violent extremists, groups whose ideological goals to commit violence stem from domestic influences such as social movements like <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-is-metoo-coming-to-my-workplace-eight-things-you-can-do-now-99661">#MeToo</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-failure-of-multiculturalism-led-to-the-rise-of-black-lives-matter-144463">Black Lives Matter</a> and government policies. </p>
<p>The composition of many of these organizations are right-wing terror groups whose grievances are rooted in racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, anti-LGBTQ sentiments, Islamophobia and perceptions of government overreach. Given the wide range of grievances, these groups are defined as being complex, with overlapping viewpoints from similarly minded individuals advocating different but related ideologies. </p>
<h2>Toxic masculinity</h2>
<p>Feminist researchers believe the rise of disenfranchised middle-class white males is leading to increased <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1097184X17706401">toxic masculinity</a> within society, as evidenced by the increased popularity of the so-called <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/08/anti-feminism-gateway-far-right/595642/">manosphere</a> to share extremist ideas and vent their grievances. Law enforcement agencies are concerned that the manosphere and similar online communities are radicalizing young men to commit violence to achieve their goals.</p>
<p>This concern is valid, with plenty of evidence to support it.</p>
<p>According to the University of Maryland’s <a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_GTD_GlobalTerrorismOverview2019_July2020.pdf">Global Terrorism Database</a>, there were 310 terrorist attacks resulting in 316 deaths (excluding perpetrators) in the United States alone from 2015 to 2019. </p>
<p>Most were right-wing extremists, including white nationalists and other alt-right movement members. This alt-right movement also contains the incel (involuntary celibate) members who are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1751459">a growing threat</a> to women.</p>
<p>But the increase in right-wing terrorism is not just a U.S. problem. The UN Security Council’s Counterterrorism Committee says there’s been a <a href="https://www.un.org/sc/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CTED_Trends_Alert_Extreme_Right-Wing_Terrorism.pdf">320 per cent increase in right-wing terrorism globally</a> in the five years prior to 2020. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364392/original/file-20201020-17-2wft1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A short-haired white man in a grey sweatshirt sits in a courtroom dock." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364392/original/file-20201020-17-2wft1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364392/original/file-20201020-17-2wft1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364392/original/file-20201020-17-2wft1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364392/original/file-20201020-17-2wft1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364392/original/file-20201020-17-2wft1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364392/original/file-20201020-17-2wft1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364392/original/file-20201020-17-2wft1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 29, sits in the dock in a New Zealand courtroom for sentencing after pleading guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism for an attack on a mosque in March 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(John Kirk-Anderson/Pool Photo via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recent terrorist attacks in <a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-mosque-shootings-must-end-new-zealands-innocence-about-right-wing-terrorism-113655">New Zealand (2019)</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50003759">Germany (2019)</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/world/europe/norway-mosque-attacker-convicted.html">Norway (2019)</a> are indicators of this trend. The Centre for Research on Extremism at the University of Oslo <a href="https://www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/english/topics/online-resources/rtv-dataset/rtv_trend_report_2020.pdf">reports that both Spain and Greece</a> are growing hotbeds for right-wing terrorism and violence. </p>
<p>Canada isn’t immune to these violent extremist ideologies. Many sympathizers to these causes reside in Canada, and as such there is always a risk for attacks. But the Canadian government is taking notice and has listed <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx#60">Combat 18 </a> and <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx#59">Blood & Honour</a> as right-wing terrorist organizations.</p>
<h2>A major global security threat</h2>
<p>Right-wing extremism is of such concern that when the top international security policy-makers met at the <a href="https://securityconference.org/assets/user_upload/MunichSecurityReport2020.pdf">2019 Munich Security Conference</a>, they ranked it among space security, climate security and emerging technologies as the top global security threats. </p>
<p>It would appear as though the world is at the dawn of a new age of terrorism that’s different from before. Famed terrorism researcher David C. Rapoport argued in his influential thesis “The Four Waves of Rebel Terror and September 11” that modern terrorism can be <a href="http://anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0801/terror/">categorized into four distinct waves</a>. </p>
<p>The first “Anarchist Wave” began in the 1880s in Russia with the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-16941-2_5">Narodnaya Volya (“The People’s Will”)</a> conducting assassinations of political leaders. It continued until the 1920s, spreading across the Balkans and eventually into the West, influencing the creation of new terror groups within different countries. </p>
<p>The 1920s saw the beginning of the “Anti-Colonial Wave” coming out of the remnants of the First World War, when groups like the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/566849?seq=1">Irish Republican Army (IRA)</a> began using ambush tactics against police and military targets to force political change. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Masked men in black walk along a street carrying unfurled flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364398/original/file-20201020-15-eua5c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364398/original/file-20201020-15-eua5c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364398/original/file-20201020-15-eua5c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364398/original/file-20201020-15-eua5c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364398/original/file-20201020-15-eua5c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364398/original/file-20201020-15-eua5c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364398/original/file-20201020-15-eua5c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The IRA’s Derry Brigade in Derry, Ireland, year unknown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Flickr)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1960s, the “New Left Wave” was created. This third wave emerged from the perceived oppression of Western countries within the developing world (like Vietnam and the Middle East). Its tactics included plane hijackings, embassy attacks and kidnappings perpetrated by groups like the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/25765949.2018.1534405">Palestine Liberation Organization </a>(PLO). </p>
<p>Finally, the 1990s witnessed the birth of the “Religious Wave” in which terror groups like <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1057610X.2013.802973">al-Qaida</a> used religious ideology as a justification to overthrow secular governments with martyrdom tactics like suicide bombings. </p>
<p>What all these waves have in common is that they last for a few decades and become infectious over time, spreading across the globe as new groups learn and adopt the successful tactics of previous ones.</p>
<h2>The fifth wave?</h2>
<p>This brings us to today’s right-wing terrorism. </p>
<p>Already observers have signalled the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jihadist-plots-used-be-u-s-europe-s-biggest-terrorist-n1234840">decline of violent Islamic movements</a> and the rise of far-right extremist activities. Is right-wing violent extremism the new fifth wave of modern terrorism? </p>
<p>If so, there’s no doubt the negative societal impacts of COVID-19 will only help accelerate the radicalization of its adherents.</p>
<p>And if the duration of the previous four waves have taught us anything, it’s that this new one could be around for many more years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Spence does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Is right-wing violent extremism the new fifth wave of modern terrorism? If so, there’s no doubt the impacts of COVID-19 will only help accelerate the radicalization of its adherents.Sean Spence, Doctorate Student - Security Risk Management, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1013862018-08-22T08:52:00Z2018-08-22T08:52:00ZRussian trolls targeted Australian voters on Twitter via #auspol and #MH17<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233019/original/file-20180822-149472-zlpnao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2724%2C1734&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Network map of accounts within #auspol tweets mentioning or linking to Russian propaganda outlets, Sputnik and RT, May 4 – July 30, 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Russia was behind an enormous effort to influence politics in the US and the UK, but was Australia targeted too? In this series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hacking-auspol-58635">Hacking #auspol</a> we explore how covert foreign influence operates in Australia, and what we can do about it.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-were-sharing-3-million-russian-troll-tweets/">New</a> evidence shows that the infamous Russian “troll factory”, the Internet Research Agency (IRA), targeted Australian politics on social media between 2015 and 2017 – and that other Russian outlets may continue to conduct influence operations.</p>
<p>Russian intervention in the 2016 US election has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/russian-election-hacking">generated considerable attention</a> around the world. But while that attack was <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/did-obama-blow-it-on-the-russian-hacking-us-elections-vladimir-putin-donald-trump-lisa-monaco/">unprecedented</a> in scope, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/08/22/us/ap-us-facebook-investigation.html">Russia is not the only perpetrator</a> of foreign influence, and the United States is not the only target.</p>
<p>The recent passage of legislation by the Australian Parliament targeting foreign lobbyists and strengthening regulations around espionage are a response to growing concerns about <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6018">foreign influence operations in Australia</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/weaponized-information-seeks-a-new-target-in-cyberspace-users-minds-100069">Weaponized information seeks a new target in cyberspace: Users' minds</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>What Russian interference in Australia looks like</h2>
<p>In its effort to aid US lawmakers <a href="https://www.justice.gov/file/1035477/download">investigating</a> Russian influence on US politics, Twitter identified <a href="https://democrats-intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ira_handles_june_2018.pdf">3,841 accounts</a> suspected of operating out of the <a href="https://democrats-intelligence.house.gov/social-media-content/">Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg</a>. Researchers from Clemson University in the US <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-were-sharing-3-million-russian-troll-tweets/">released 3 million tweets</a> from those accounts last month. </p>
<p>Our analysis of this data set shows how these accounts targeted Australian politics – particularly in reaction to the Australian response to the downing of flight MH17. Some 5,000 tweets mention the terms “#auspol”, “Australia” or “MH17” – with “Australia” the most common of the three. </p>
<p>Examples of their interventions in #auspol include: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>@ALFREDTHREE: Tony Abbot used and manipulated terror threat as a political weapon </p>
<p>@ADRIENNE_GG #My4WordNewYearsResolution. Give The Government Hell. #AusPol. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These are not retweets, but original tweets from IRA troll accounts, and both have an objective of undermining support for the government. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233029/original/file-20180822-149484-1t2zya6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233029/original/file-20180822-149484-1t2zya6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233029/original/file-20180822-149484-1t2zya6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233029/original/file-20180822-149484-1t2zya6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233029/original/file-20180822-149484-1t2zya6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233029/original/file-20180822-149484-1t2zya6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233029/original/file-20180822-149484-1t2zya6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Topic coverage by Internet Research Agency human-controlled ‘troll’ Twitter accounts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The jump in activity focusing on MH17 correlates with the Australian government’s response to the Russian missile attack on MH17, when Australia deployed fighter aircraft to operate in Syrian airspace where Russian aircraft were also operational. During this period, the <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2017/07/explaining-australias-sharp-turn-to-information-warfare/">Australian Defence Force (ADF) was also confronted by Russian military cyber operations</a>. </p>
<p>The spike that occurs in February 2017 actually has nothing to do with politics and instead refers to a hashtag game. These Russian accounts encouraged people to come up with Australian names for popular US television programs. Examples include, “@AIDEN7757: Gallipoli of Thrones #MakeTVShowsAustralian”, “@ERICARUTTER: Sheila the explorer #MakeTVShowsAustralian”, and “@CALEBPAAR: American Drongo #MakeTVShowsAustralian”. </p>
<p>While this may seem like innocent fun, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=bNQotAEACAAJ&dq=messing+with+the+enemy&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj297ucyOncAhUGW7wKHQvWAzoQ6AEILDAB">it is also a technique of spy craft</a>. “Assets”, in this case, Australian citizens, are recruited on neutral, non-political terms before they are shifted towards political topics. </p>
<h2>#auspol targeted during budget and by-elections</h2>
<p>Studies of Russian Twitter trolls show that they are distinct from other actors in that they tend to link to and promote <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.09288">official Russian propaganda outlets</a>. </p>
<p>To better understand the role played by these accounts in Australian politics, we collected tweets using the hashtag #auspol from 4 May to 30 July 2018. That period runs from the lead-up to the 2018 budget through the by-elections held the end of July. The #auspol hashtag <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/90463/">has been used on Twitter to aggregate discussions about Australian politics</a> since June 2010. </p>
<p>The purpose of this research is not to identify specific troll accounts, but to identify how Russian propaganda materials are becoming involved in social media discussions about Australian politics. </p>
<p>For this analysis we focus on <a href="https://sputniknews.com/">Sputnik</a> and <a href="https://www.rt.com/">RT</a> (formerly Russia Today). We call these outlets propaganda for two reasons. Firstly, they are recognised as such by the United States Department of Justice which has recently required them to <a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/415464-sputnik-content-provider-fara/">register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act</a>. Second, these outlets <a href="https://www.rt.com/on-air/">describe themselves</a> in terms of their propaganda function with RT explaining that their purpose is to: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[acquaint] an international audience with the Russian viewpoint.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233030/original/file-20180822-149472-uavmaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233030/original/file-20180822-149472-uavmaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233030/original/file-20180822-149472-uavmaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233030/original/file-20180822-149472-uavmaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233030/original/file-20180822-149472-uavmaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233030/original/file-20180822-149472-uavmaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233030/original/file-20180822-149472-uavmaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Network map of accounts within #auspol tweets mentioning or linking to Russian propaganda outlets, Sputnik and RT. Data collected via Twitter’s streaming API, filtered for #auspol from 4 May until 30 July, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The above network map of #auspol tweets which mention Russian propaganda outlets, or link to their reporting, indicates that these accounts appear most commonly in discussions with News Corporation media platforms. There is also a wider international focus including <a href="https://theconversation.com/sergei-skripal-attack-russian-embassy-is-fuelling-tensions-with-some-very-undiplomatic-tweets-93407">Russian diplomatic delegations</a>.</p>
<p>These results contrast with the normal #auspol mention network, which contains a much broader range of domestic political actors and media organisations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233028/original/file-20180822-149481-6l205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233028/original/file-20180822-149481-6l205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233028/original/file-20180822-149481-6l205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233028/original/file-20180822-149481-6l205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233028/original/file-20180822-149481-6l205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233028/original/file-20180822-149481-6l205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233028/original/file-20180822-149481-6l205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Network map of the top 50 Twitter handles within #auspol with accounts that mention Russian propaganda removed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Targeting the Australian right</h2>
<p>The data suggest that Russian influence operations may be targeting the political right in Australia at this time. There is also an emphasis on international topics, such as terrorism, and UK, EU, and US politics.</p>
<p>The hashtag #abledanger (and the typo #abeldanger) also figures prominently. It refers to a blog that promotes conspiracy theories about American politics.</p>
<p>The hashtag network map of #auspol without Russian propaganda references looks considerably different. It reflects domestic political concerns such as the budget or debate over My Health Record, refugee policy and districts that were holding by-elections. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233026/original/file-20180822-149484-uhih06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233026/original/file-20180822-149484-uhih06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233026/original/file-20180822-149484-uhih06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233026/original/file-20180822-149484-uhih06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233026/original/file-20180822-149484-uhih06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233026/original/file-20180822-149484-uhih06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233026/original/file-20180822-149484-uhih06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">#auspol hashtag mention map without Russian propaganda mentions or links. Data collected via Twitter streaming API, filtered for #auspol from early May until 30 July.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Building relationships to sow division</h2>
<p>There are two ways to think about how information is exchanged in the public sphere. One is a rational model, where claims are backed by evidence. The other is a narrative model, where people reason through stories that resonate with them. Many contemporary theories of democracy rely on the rational model, but foreign influence operations make use of the fact that people behave more in line with the narrative model.</p>
<p>Disinformation, in this context, is not so much the distribution of falsehoods for political effect, but rather communications designed to manipulate a target audience in a manner favourable to the perpetrator. </p>
<p>In early 2015, Twitter accounts affiliated with the Internet Research Agency focused almost as much on nonpolitical topics as they did on political topics. These accounts are human-controlled accounts, so-called “trolls”, and they operate differently from bots. </p>
<p>Bots are automated to promote specific topics, hashtags, so they often lack the nuanced communication abilities of human-controlled accounts. This makes them less effective in strategically moving an audience than troll accounts run by humans. </p>
<p>By contrast, troll accounts are able to develop relationships, and it’s often through these relationships that <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/social-calculus-of-voting-interpersonal-media-and-organizational-influences-on-presidential-choices/4605211FD617AAB1F9686F774CFBC5CB">political opinions are developed and voting decisions made</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/regulate-social-media-platforms-before-its-too-late-86984">Regulate social media platforms before it's too late</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Adversarial actors, such as Russia, try to shift the identifications of a target audience from one political affiliation to another. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Information-Warfare-Howard-Gambrill-Clark-ebook/dp/B076H1XRP7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534458201&sr=8-1&keywords=clark+and+information+warfare">One way of doing this</a> is to break identifications with governing organisations by promoting a sense of insecurity and danger. </p>
<p>For example, there was a tragic case earlier this year where a man killed himself along with several members of his family. The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-11/seven-people-found-dead-in-margaret-river-murder-suicide/9751482">ABC reported</a> the news with the headline: “Margaret River Murder-Suicide: Seven People Found Dead at Home Near WA Holiday Town”. Meanwhile, the Russian news outlet Russia Today (RT) <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/426426-australia-mass-shooting-deaths/">reported</a> the news with the headline: “Seven People, Including 4 Children Shot Dead in Southwestern Australia”. </p>
<p>Whereas the ABC headline alerts readers that there is no ongoing threat, the RT headline leaves it open, despite having the same information as the ABC buried down in the text of the article. </p>
<p>The difference seems minor, but there is increasing evidence that repeated messaging like this can have the effect of eroding support for political authorities and institutions. It helps build a narrative that these institutions are incapable of addressing the needs of their citizens. </p>
<h2>Russian influence operations continue</h2>
<p>These data should not be overstated. Of the 632,398 #auspol tweets collected from early May until 30 July, only 119 mentioned or linked to Russian propaganda outlets. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the Russian tweets shed light on Russia’s propaganda efforts in Australia. The data set indicates that they are trying to cultivate an audience here through memes, hashtag games, and Aussie cultural references. And the network maps suggest they are trying to move Australians’ views on foreign affairs, particularly by targeting reporting on News Corporation outlets. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-researched-russian-trolls-and-figured-out-exactly-how-they-neutralise-certain-news-100994">We researched Russian trolls and figured out exactly how they neutralise certain news</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Democracies are, by their nature, open political systems. That makes them particularly vulnerable to influence efforts by foreign adversaries. The attacks on the 2016 US election have provided adversaries with a playbook to engage in operations against countries like Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A lot of attention has been focused on Russia’s efforts to influence American politics, but Australia has also been a target – and continues to be a target – of covert foreign influence.Tom Sear, PhD Candidate, UNSW Canberra Cyber, Australian Defence Force Academy, UNSW SydneyMichael Jensen, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/878322017-11-23T12:19:17Z2017-11-23T12:19:17ZNo Stone Unturned and why Irish nationalism makes for better cinema than the loyalist cause<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196134/original/file-20171123-18001-gu966j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No Stone Unturned.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The new film from acclaimed documentary-maker Alex Gibney, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/12/no-stone-unturned-review-documentary-alex-gibney-northern-ireland">No Stone Unturned</a>, has been shocking audiences across the world since its release.</p>
<p>The documentary is an investigation into the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/15/northern-ireland-loyalist-shootings-loughinisland">1994 loyalist paramilitary killing of six people</a> in a pub as they watched the Republic of Ireland play in the World Cup. The film claims to prove collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the British state in the undertaking and cover up of the killings and names the people responsible. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fqelW7Rhi-4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Gibney’s decision to investigate this incident over other historic crimes, such as those committed by republican paramilitaries, has added to the oft-repeated gripe from Northern Irish unionists that their community has either been ignored or maligned by filmmakers. </p>
<p>In response to the documentary, Ben Lowry writes in the pro-unionist newspaper, <a href="http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/ben-lowry-film-world-isn-t-telling-the-other-side-of-the-story-about-ira-terror-1-8229428">The News Letter</a> saying: “There seems to be no-one out there in the film or documentary world who wants to depict the other side to this narrative.”</p>
<p>An examination of films which deal with Northern Ireland’s years of conflict suggest that there is truth in Lowry’s claim. Nationalist characters and themes are generally treated more favourably in film and appear much more frequently. So why is Irish nationalism seemingly attractive to filmmakers, and unionism not? </p>
<h2>From Noraid with love</h2>
<p>It is often suggested that the explanation for this cinematic deficit is because of <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/the-movie-stars-who-gave-money-to-sinn-f%C3%A9in-1.2126056">Hollywood funding republican propaganda</a> in the same way as <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/sinn-f%C3%A9in-s-evolving-funding-stream-from-irish-america-1.2125866">Irish-America funded the IRA</a> during the conflict. Films produced by Hollywood in the 1990s certainly add weight to this assumption. </p>
<p>But since 9/11 the idea of the idealistic freedom fighter committing acts of terrorism appears to have lost its appeal – there have been no Hollywood-financed movies about the Troubles since then.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196135/original/file-20171123-17985-ko834w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196135/original/file-20171123-17985-ko834w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196135/original/file-20171123-17985-ko834w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196135/original/file-20171123-17985-ko834w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196135/original/file-20171123-17985-ko834w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196135/original/file-20171123-17985-ko834w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196135/original/file-20171123-17985-ko834w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Still from No Stone Unturned.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fine Point Films</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is not to say that examining sources of funding cannot still provide a possible explanation. Most of the films about Northern Ireland and the Troubles have received funding from the Republic of Ireland and mainland Britain. Very few films are funded solely from sources within Northern Ireland. This significantly undermines the autonomy Northern Irish unionism and loyalism have over representations of themselves.</p>
<h2>Cry Freedom</h2>
<p>A better explanation is that the unionist position is not as easy to articulate as the nationalist position – and not as well understood universally. Unionism’s desire to remain part of the United Kingdom has failed to pique people’s interest in the same way as the nationalist desire for a united Ireland. </p>
<p>In constructing a narrative, nationalists are able to draw on parallels with national liberation movements from elsewhere in the world. In contrast, the unionist narrative is much more unique – with the only parallels ever drawn being with the <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/node/163324">unseemly apartheid South Africa</a> and the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dup-george-galloway-ku-klux-klan-northern-ireland-democratic-unionist-loyalist-deal-tory-government-a7809921.html">Ku Klux Klan</a>. Needless to say, both these comparisons are rejected by unionists. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196115/original/file-20171123-17982-ly0kc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196115/original/file-20171123-17982-ly0kc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196115/original/file-20171123-17982-ly0kc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196115/original/file-20171123-17982-ly0kc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196115/original/file-20171123-17982-ly0kc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196115/original/file-20171123-17982-ly0kc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196115/original/file-20171123-17982-ly0kc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alex Gibney collecting a Peabody Award for his film Taxi to the Dark Side.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peabody Awards via Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the fact remains that loyalists seem unable to articulate their position with the same confidence as republicans. So the difficulty that outsiders face when trying to articulate the unionist perspective makes it difficult to represent properly in film. The same thing would also make it difficult for loyalists to attempt to make their own films to compensate for this cinematic deficit.</p>
<p>Attempts to articulate the unionist position also tends to result in the unionist narrative being perceived as a story defending a troubled status quo. These don’t make for traditionally attractive narratives. Certainly not when compared to the republican narratives of justifiable rebellion and the underdog fighting against injustice. This sort of thing is a staple of traditional storytelling.</p>
<h2>Art is for Catholics</h2>
<p>And the fact is that unionists are not known for engaging in the arts. As playwright, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/apr/10/artsfeatures.northernireland">Gary Mitchell</a>, who has remained close to his unionist roots and still lives in the loyalist Rathcoole estate in north Belfast told The Guardian back in 2000: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Protestants don’t write plays, you see. You must be a Catholic or a Catholic sympathiser, or a homosexual to do that. No one in our community does that because playwriting is a silly pretend thing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unionists traditionally worked in manual labour – either in the linen factories or in shipbuilding, whereas nationalists have been more likely to study the arts and humanities, work in theatre and – importantly – <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qFCgBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA210&lpg=PA210&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false">make films</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LhObLyzld4w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This imbalance shows no sign of abating. Stephen Burke’s film, Maze, about the 1983 mass breakout of 38 republican prisoners from the high security Maze prison went on general release in September 2017. Another in the pipeline, H-Block, to be directed by Jim Sheridan – director of the Oscar winning, In The Name Of The Father – was postponed due to problems in securing funding, but producers are confident they will start filming in spring 2018.</p>
<p>That’s not to say there have been no films about unionists – but if you have seen one or another of 4 Days in July, Nothing Personal, Resurrection Man or T2: Trainspotting you are unlikely to come away romanced by the loyalist cause. Other films such as Five Minutes of Heaven and ‘71 offer a more empathetic portrayal of loyalist characters. Ultimately, however, these films still show the loyalist cause to be flawed, unjust and lacking in the credibility often afforded to nationalism and republicanism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gallagher receives funding from the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland. </span></em></p>Why are there so few films about Northern Ireland’s unionists?Richard Gallagher, PhD Researcher in Film Studies, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/783612017-05-25T14:51:00Z2017-05-25T14:51:00ZIt happened here: once again Manchester must define what comes after a devastating attack<p>Cities get under your skin, imprint an individual and collective civic pride that defines your identity and sense of community. Though I grew up in nearby Buxton in Derbyshire, Manchester – or more accurately – Greater Manchester has been my home for nearly 25 years. The city has powerfully moulded my life through education, culture, politics, sport, and its people. </p>
<p>Like many, I woke up on Tuesday morning to the awful news that 22 people – many children – had been murdered and scores more seriously injured in this most cowardly of acts. And it had happened in our city. </p>
<p>It was a beautiful day in Manchester, the sun shone and the skies were blue. But people in the “rainy city” did not grasp a rare opportunity to bask in the warmth of the late spring sunshine with their usual enthusiasm. Instead they grieved – privately and publicly – for those who lost their lives and were injured by the devastating bomb attack on concert-goers leaving the Manchester Arena.</p>
<p>Since then, I have felt numb, struggling to find the words to convey my sense of grief, anger and despair. And I am not alone. </p>
<p>Attending <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-40039889/manchester-attack-mother-s-emotional-appeal-at-vigil">the vigil</a> on Tuesday night outside Manchester Town Hall and the growing memorial in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/25/manchester-crowd-spontaneously-sings-dont-look-back-anger-following/">St Ann’s Square</a>, I have come to realise that the trauma of the recent terrorist attack will take a long to time for the city to come to terms with. </p>
<h2>IRA attack</h2>
<p>Of course, this is not the first time that Manchester has experienced the trauma of a terrorist bombing. I remember the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/23/manchester-attack-victims-needs-years-support-haunt">IRA attack in June 1996</a> well. I lived near to the city centre in Salford at the time and can remember the shock waves of the bomb shaking my student tower block and making my hair stand on end.</p>
<p>Although 200 people were tragically injured in the attack, no one died. This is in part because someone – presumed to be from the IRA – <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ira-widens-bomb-campaign-manchester-shoppers-hurt-as-attacks-on-commerce-switch-away-from-london-1561326.html">telephoned a warning</a> to the Samaritans branch in Manchester. This allowed over 80,000 people in the city centre to leave before it exploded. </p>
<p>Over the weeks and months that followed the attack, there was widespread shock across as the city as people attempted to come to terms with what had happened. The devastation of the area around the Arndale Centre quickly became a hinterland within the city – and a powerful daily reminder of the impact of terrorism. </p>
<p>Like many who live in Manchester who have Irish heritage, I also remember the concerns of a potential <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/why-did-ira-bomb-manchester-11425439">anti-Irish backlash</a>. </p>
<h2>A city reborn</h2>
<p>But fears of a backlash were quickly dispelled as political and public response towards the city’s sizeable Irish communities was nuanced and mutually restorative. Crucially, there was no attempt by populist politicians to stoke anti-Irish sentiment. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/sum.htm">Northern Irish peace process</a> that began in 1997 further desensitised the political resonance of the bombing. And although the IRA bomb was not the genesis of the regeneration of the city centre, it did provide a significant stimulus and it underpinned the civic narrative of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-refusing-to-build-memorials-for-terror-attacks-is-a-bold-political-statement-61556">city reborn</a>. </p>
<p>But the bomb on the night of May 22 was different. We probably won’t see significant change in the global political circumstances that most likely drove the suicide bomber and his collaborators to undertake this most craven attack. And the ability of the UK government to have the capacity to bring peace <a href="https://theconversation.com/political-chaos-in-libya-makes-it-a-haven-for-radical-terrorist-groups-78281">to Libya</a> or the Middle East more widely is limited.</p>
<p>So the Manchester Arena bombing will likely become the latest in a growing list of atrocities linked to the ongoing “<a href="https://www.globalpolicy.org/war-on-terrorism.html">war against terror</a>” that is so difficult to see a conclusion to. And this will make the process of coming to terms with what has happened and reconciliation more difficult. </p>
<h2>Politics of fear</h2>
<p>Much has been said about the unique and resilient nature of a shared “Manchester spirit” and an associated “northern grit”. Since the attack, the response of the city has been at times breathtaking in its warmth, inclusivity, and resolve. But while these are qualities that I recognise and embrace with pride, they might prove not to be uniform or universal in their appeal or expression. </p>
<p>It is likely that the Muslim community of Manchester will be castigated and asked to take collective responsibility by some – in a way that the Irish community was not in 1996. Fears abound that some populist politicians and far-right bigots will use the bombing to exacerbate tensions with the Muslim community, and some have already resorted to more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/24/muslim-leaders-in-manchester-report-rise-in-islamophobic-incidents">direct means of recrimination</a>. </p>
<p>To recover, the city will need to adopt an innovative approach which builds on the current outpouring of collective emotions and draws on its civic reputation and identity. </p>
<p>This will require the creation of open and safe spaces for all communities to engage in appropriately sensitive but honest dialogue. Such an approach will also need to embrace the fact that the devastating impact of the bomb has been felt well beyond Greater Manchester, and has affected the lives of many, both in the UK and across the rest of the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Mycock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The IRA also targeted Manchester but this latest bombing is very different.Andrew Mycock, Reader in Politics, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/783622017-05-25T14:46:36Z2017-05-25T14:46:36ZTerrorism in Britain: a brief history<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/manchester-attack-a-sophisticated-operation-that-increases-pressure-on-security-services-78206">The attack on Manchester</a> Arena is the deadliest on British soil since the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33253598">July 7 bombings</a> of 2005, in which four suicide bombers killed 52 people in central London. </p>
<p>It is also the latest event in a long history of terrorism in Britain. And it is a history that transcends the narrow political and religious dimensions often associated with it today.</p>
<p>It is almost impossible to pinpoint the very first act of terrorism carried out within British territory. The most famous incident in early modern history is probably the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/11209784/9-things-you-never-knew-about-Guy-Fawkes.html">gunpowder plot of 1605</a> when Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the House of Lords. And although he is the best remembered (on November 5), Fawkes did not act alone. He was part of a larger network of 13 conspirators who sought to destroy parliament and trigger a popular uprising.</p>
<p>In the second half of the 19th century, European anarchism introduced the idea of “<a href="http://example.com/">propaganda by deed</a>” as a tactic of anti-government resistance. This consisted of the assassination of government officials and bomb attacks in public places such as cafes and theatres. </p>
<p>Although anarchist attacks were actually more common in continental Europe, England was an important hub for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jul/25/radical-history-britain-edward-vallance">anarchist thought</a>. The less restrictive laws of the United Kingdom made it a haven for radicals fleeing political repression in their own countries. </p>
<p>In the same period, the heavy death toll of the Great Famine in Ireland from 1846 to 1852 prompted calls for Irish home rule and resulted in the formation of networks of radical revolutionaries, <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/british-and-irish-history/fenian-movement">the Fenians</a>. </p>
<p>Although the largest Fenian campaigns were waged in Canada and in Ireland itself, attacks within England included the bombing of Clerkenwell Prison in London in 1867, in which 12 people were killed and more than 100 injured. The result was a severe backlash by British authorities and the public, which undermined the <a href="http://www.ippr.org/juncture/commemorating-the-rising-history-democracy-and-violence-in-ireland">political reforms</a> that would have made future attacks less likely.</p>
<p>In 1909, the Indian revolutionary <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/madan-lal-dhingra">Madan Lal Dhingra</a> assassinated a British official on the steps of the Imperial Institute in London. This followed a number of assassinations and bombings in India, as militant networks of anti-colonial radicals attempted to destabilise British imperial rule by initiating a “reign of terror”. </p>
<p>Dhingra was apprehended and executed, but his brazen attack in the middle of London provoked panic within metropolitan Britain. It also resulted in increasingly intrusive surveillance of Indian students in London. This in turn fuelled the fire of Indian nationalism, most famously manifested in Gandhi’s non-violent independence movement.</p>
<h2>A nation scarred</h2>
<p>More recently, the IRA conducted a sustained insurgency against the British government from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. The bulk of the violence took place within the political and religious tensions of Northern Ireland. Belfast looked like a war zone, with hundreds of lethal attacks carried out by both the IRA and pro-British groups. The IRA also carried out acts of terror in England, including a truck bombing in <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-ira-bomb-20-years-11425324">Manchester in June 1996</a> that injured 220 people and caused some £700m of damage.</p>
<p>Terrorism, by definition, seeks to spread terror. It might be tempting to consider the early 21st century as a period of unparalleled and incomprehensible acts of senseless violence. But it is not. Sadly these kinds of acts are not new. </p>
<p>This does not mean we should resign ourselves to living in perpetual dread as we await the next attack, whether it’s in Britain, France, Russia, Australia, Egypt or America. Nor that we should exacerbate the situation by lashing out against those who may make easy targets for retaliatory anger. But as we try to process the grief and rage that are natural reactions to the attack in Manchester, reflecting on the lessons of the past may be the surest route towards building a more peaceful future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph McQuade receives funding from the Gates Cambridge Trust. </span></em></p>The deliberate spread of fear and violence goes back hundreds of years.Joseph McQuade, PhD Candidate and Gates Scholar, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/781422017-05-22T16:21:42Z2017-05-22T16:21:42ZWhy it’s unfair to single out Jeremy Corbyn over MI5 surveillance<p>The Telegraph newspaper has been making loud noises about its <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/19/exclusive-mi5-opened-file-jeremy-corbyn-amid-concerns-ira-links/">“exclusive”</a> that Britain’s Security Service (MI5) opened a file on Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the early 1990s.</p>
<p>Corbyn was being investigated because of concerns about his “support for the Republican cause” in Ireland. A former insider with links to the investigation told the newspaper:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If there was a file on someone, it meant they had come to notice. We opened a temporary file and did a preliminary investigation. It was then decided whether we should open a permanent file on them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was unclear whether a permanent file was actually opened.</p>
<p>MI5 wasn’t the only organisation monitoring Corbyn. Peter Francis, a former officer in the Metropolitan Police’s controversial Special Demonstration Squad, revealed in 2015 that Corbyn was one of a number of Labour MPs – including Tony Benn, Peter Hain, Dennis Skinner and others – watched for their links with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32044580">“radical causes or protests”</a>.</p>
<p>Claims about Corbyn’s links with Sinn Féin and the IRA have become centre stage in the general election campaign. When interviewed by Sky News, the Labour leader refused to single out the IRA for its role in The Troubles, <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/jeremy-corbyn-labour-wants-fair-immigration-based-on-the-needs-of-our-society-10886500">saying that</a> “all bombing is wrong”. Corbyn’s team has defended his stance suggesting that links to Republican groups were to “bring about a peace process”.</p>
<h2>Controversial stance</h2>
<p>Corbyn’s links to prominent republicans is the subject of ongoing controversy. In 1984, shortly after the IRA killed five people in a bomb attack on the Conservative party conference in Brighton, Corbyn and fellow left-winger Ken Livingstone invited prominent figures in Sinn Féin to the House of Commons.</p>
<p>Then, two years later, Corbyn was arrested when attending a picket in London arranged by the Republican Troops Out Movement to protest the trial of Brighton Bomber Patrick Magee. In 1988, following the killing of eight IRA gunman in an SAS ambush at Loughgall, Corbyn told the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/19/exclusive-mi5-opened-file-jeremy-corbyn-amid-concerns-ira-links/">Wolf Tone Society</a>: “I’m happy to commemorate all those who died fighting for an independent Ireland.”</p>
<p>During the IRA’s campaign of violence, it’s suggested the Labour leader was involved in at least 72 events linked to <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/election-2017/abbott-declared-support-for-ira-defeat-of-britain-rp79dvvmk">pro-republican groups</a>. Other members of Corbyn’s frontbench team – the shadow chancellor, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/18/john-mcdonnell-apologises-for-ira-comment-labour">John McDonnell</a>, and <a href="https://andrewgilliganblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/diane-abbott-backed-victory-for-the-ira-see-the-document/">Diane Abbott</a> have also come in for criticism for similar comments they’ve made.</p>
<h2>Eyes on Labour</h2>
<p>That MI5 opened a file on Corbyn isn’t a complete surprise, despite The Telegraph’s exclusive. We know that MI5 kept files on many people involved in certain movements at the time. These included trade unionists, those involved in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and other “radical” issues. In fact, there’s a long tradition of Labour MPs having MI5 files.</p>
<p>In the 1920s and 1930s MI5’s blanket surveillance of left-wing groups meant that a number of Labour MPs elected in 1945 had files on them. Stafford Cripps, wartime ambassador to the Soviet Union and a future chancellor of the exchequer, had an MI5 file owing to his support for the Communist-backed Popular Front Movement. Fears about Communist penetration of the Labour party meant that many left wingers were watched.</p>
<p>In 1947, MI5 provided the then-prime minister, Clement Attlee, with a list of several Labour MPs suspected of being crypto-Communists or “fellow travellers”. It included some of the party’s most visible figures – among them <a href="http://www.wcml.org.uk/our-collections/activists/bessie-braddock/">Elizabeth “Bessie” Braddock</a> and political writer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/mar/27/archive-1950-professor-harold-laski">Harold Laski</a>, who was briefly party chair. MI5 also monitored suspect Labour MPs in the 1950s and 1960s; the agency’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/oct/05/three-labour-mps-history-mi5">authorised history</a> reveals that in the late 1960s, defector <a href="https://spyinggame.me/2012/09/18/the-frolik-defection/">Joseph Frolik</a> helped uncover links between Czech agents and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/oct/05/three-labour-mps-history-mi5">three Labour parliamentarians</a>. </p>
<p>MI5’s monitoring of MPs took a blow in the 1960s with the <a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04258/SN04258.pdf">Wilson Doctrine</a>. This banned the “tapping of the telephones of members of parliament” without Downing Street’s permission. Successive governments upheld the policy, though subject to strain in recent years.</p>
<p>Ironically, Harold Wilson himself was the subject of an MI5 file, held under the pseudonym “Norman John Worthington”, stoking conspiracy theories that the service tried to undermine him. The <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/6257345/MI5-secret-file-on-Harold-Wilson-KGB-contacts-made-him-a-suspect.html">file</a> was opened when Wilson first became MP and remained open during his tenure as prime minister from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. However, he wasn’t the target of active surveillance.</p>
<p>Allegations about MI5’s surveillance of Labour MPs continued. In 1985, the MI5 whistle-blower Cathy Massiter revealed the service’s widespread monitoring of left-wing groups, especially the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuAzSDhZXk">National Council for Civil Liberties</a>, which had close links to the Labour party. Massiter’s claim that Patricia Hewitt, NCCL’s general secretary, and the organisations legal officer and Labour MP Harriet Harman were watched sparked a case before the European Court of Human Rights forcing the introduction of the 1989 Security Service Act.</p>
<p>Another MI5 former insider <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/216877.stm">David Shaylor</a> alleged in the 1990s that his service held files on Labour MPs, vetting them before elections. The names of Harmen and Joan Ruddock, CND’s chair between 1981 and 1985, were sent to the Labour party leadership. Livingstone was labelled a “dangerous subversive” and, like Corbyn, suspect because of links to Sinn Féin.</p>
<p>Others included Jack Straw – ironically a future home secretary and foreign secretary, responsible for MI5 and MI6 – who was considered a “communist sympathiser”. Peter Mandelson was also reportedly the subject of “two thick volumes” because of links to the Young Communist League while at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/news/08/0826/secret.shtml">university</a>.</p>
<p>The suggestion that MI5 investigated Corbyn aren’t really a surprise. MI5’s history shows it has monitored other Labour MPs because of links to left wing and radical groups. These claims are yet another chapter in the stormy relationship between Labour and the security service. That said, the story has reignited a debate about Corbyn’s links to Irish republican groups just weeks ahead of the election, potentially damaging further his image with the British electorate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78142/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Lomas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The security services have had eyes on many Labour MPs over the years.Dan Lomas, Programme Leader, MA Intelligence and Security Studies, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/754902017-04-04T07:52:33Z2017-04-04T07:52:33ZThe media must respond more responsibly to terrorist attacks – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163624/original/image-20170403-21938-1o8yf0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C517%2C3264%2C1915&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Obsessional coverage of attacks plays into the hands of terrorism. Responsible reporting is what is now called for.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/606881063?src=pUnuk-COt0lgZDtRopywdA-1-0&size=huge_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two days after the Westminster attack on March 22, the journalist Simon Jenkins cautioned against overreaction to such assaults, claiming “the actions of the authorities and the media in response to Wednesday have ramped up the hysteria of terror”. Writing in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/24/coverage-westminster-attack-media-politicians">the Guardian</a>, he argued that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This was ostensibly a random act by a lone player without access even to a gun. To over-publicise and exaggerate such crimes is to be an accomplice after the act. London’s response to the Westminster attack is an open invitation to every crazed malcontent to try it again.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jenkins’s arguments raise vital questions, not least what it is about non-state terrorism that actually changes politics and society. For the historical reality is that it is not terrorism, but how we respond to it, that most decisively changes the world. Does day after day of public obsession about the perpetrator and the terrible incident offer a constructive contribution?</p>
<p>Terrorism <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/does-terrorism-work-9780199607853?q=Richard%20English%20professor%20of%20politics%20Queens%20university&lang=en&cc=gb">historically</a> tends not to achieve its perpetrators’ primary goals. What it does tend to do repeatedly is to achieve publicity and, through it, fear. Anyone wanting to publicise a cause swiftly and dramatically, or to find renown and redemption through political martyrdom, will have watched the aftermath to the London attack and – if anything – been encouraged to emulate it.</p>
<p>The situation becomes more messy and unjustifiable the more you consider it, because the United Kingdom doesn’t react to all such terrorist attacks equally. A police officer was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38742705">shot in Belfast</a> in January this year, without a fraction of the attention devoted to London’s appalling experience on March 22. Perhaps it was the lack of fatality in Belfast that day, but prison officers in Northern Ireland have died after terrorists attacked them in recent times, receiving only <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-35813224">marginal national coverage</a>.</p>
<p>This disproportionate attention to some attacks is a gift to terrorists and their apologists, and that is made clear when looking at the varied reactions to terrorism across the globe. It is, of course, ludicrous to claim that the West is engaged in a war on the Muslim world. But when the UK media and populace react with endless obsession to Western deaths, and with <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-react-differently-to-terror-attacks-depending-on-where-they-happen-57389">comparatively muted responses</a> to Muslim victims, then it is hard to convince people internationally – or even domestically – that UK policies in relation to terrorism are as benignly intended as they surely are.</p>
<p>And proportionality is a wider issue. The attack in Westminster was a merciless, unjustified assault on innocent people. But the genius of terrorism is to magnify comparatively low levels of violence into extraordinarily memorable politics. </p>
<p>The chances of dying in the UK as a result of stress or poor diet are far greater than the chances of being killed by a terrorist; but the terrorist threat can seem more worrying because of its easily memorable set of triggers and reminders. And those triggers become even more memorable when society decides to treat them as the UK did recently. So what is to be done?</p>
<p>There is a need for clear reporting of events that are as significant as a politically violent attack in London. And one of the treasures of democratic society is that it facilitates and relies upon the freedom of journalistic expression and reporting.</p>
<h2>Keeping things in proportion</h2>
<p>But three things are needed if the UK is to get this response to terrorism right. First, a sense of proportion is required. The reaction to the London attack was way out of tune with the political significance of the event, and utterly disproportionate when set against other threats facing the UK. Journalistic reportage needs to stress responsibly how low the threat from terrorism remains in the UK. </p>
<p>And when considering terrorist violence and its consequences, complete honesty is necessary. Journalists need to keep pointing out that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-obeidallah/isis-defeat-muslims_b_10825028.html">most of the victims of Islamic State violence are Muslims</a>, and that the spin-off violence in Western Europe is an horrific side effect, despite appalling consequences for its few victims. </p>
<p>Second, the media need to ensure that nothing in the coverage pressurises politicians into counter-productive over-reaction. The responsibility of politicians is to minimise the dangers of terrorist attack. And here the record has been mixed. In the wake of 9/11 there was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/07/islamist-terror-threat-out-proportion-former-mi6-chief-richard-dearlove">an exaggeration</a> in both the United States and the United Kingdom of the threat that was posed by al-Qaeda to the West.</p>
<p>A consequence of that was an over-militarised reaction, one part of which was the Iraq endeavour. It is important to recognise that in the mutually shaping relationship between non-state terrorists and their state opponents, the chaotic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/25/tony-blair-is-right-without-the-iraq-war-there-would-be-no-isis">aftermath of the Iraq invasion</a> was one of the main reasons for the emergence of IS in the first place.</p>
<p>Third, we need to stress the importance of high grade journalism. The reduction in the numbers of people buying high quality newspapers in Britain in recent decades has led to a <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Acrobat/VIRTUOUS/CHAPTER4.PDF">diminution in the amount of first-class journalism</a> available. Together with the digital revolution in accessing information, this has made serious minded media debate on issues like terrorism more difficult.</p>
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<p>But there’s no need for despair about the options. There remain superb, independently minded journalists (Jenkins among them), and the supposed shift to a “post-fact” world has been exaggerated. But it is striking how often in recent times authoritative sources of uncomfortable evidence or analysis have been dismissed by politicians, with unsubstantiated assertion offered instead.</p>
<p>Journalism that challenges and relies on hard-tested evidence to back up its arguments must be encouraged. That is a societal choice. And it is one of high importance not merely in relation to terrorism, but to issues such as climate change, Scottish independence, Brexit, and much else besides. </p>
<p>In relation to terrorism itself, as a society it is important to reflect on what terrorist violence does and does not achieve. Here, the media’s role as an informing voice and as a space for discussion and for respectful, constructive disagreement is absolutely essential.</p>
<h2>Echoes of the IRA</h2>
<p>The waves of media coverage of former IRA leader Martin McGuinness’s life included some very valuable contributions. But much of <a href="https://theconversation.com/martin-mcguinness-and-the-power-of-political-symbolism-74947">the high-profile coverage</a> of his transition from IRA violence to peace process politics ignored the most important aspect of that shift: namely, that McGuinness and other key Irish republicans recognised by the late 1980s that the violence which they had expected to bring them victory was in fact generating only bloodstained stalemate. Hard-headed and pragmatic, they embarked on a jagged and well-constructed journey towards more peaceful politics. </p>
<p>People often assume that Northern Irish politics demonstrate the victory of extremes. In fact, the opposite is nearer the truth. It was only after the IRA effectively ceased their campaign of terrorist violence that their political party Sinn Féin became the dominant nationalist grouping in the North of Ireland. And there lies one of the paradoxes of terrorism. Yes, it seizes headlines and publicity; but the longer a campaign proceeds, and the more effective the state becomes at containing it, the more difficult it is for the terrorist organisation to make progress towards its central political goals. </p>
<p>Like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11183574">ETA</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/al-Qaeda">al-Qaeda</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13331522">Hamas</a> and the <a href="http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0618">PLO</a>, the IRA found that year after year of violence generated a self-sustaining and high-profile struggle. And it certainly made their cause one that enjoyed international recognition. But many people – including, decisively, many within their own community – came to find the violence repellent, and opted admirably for supporting a strong but peaceful alternative republicanism in Sinn Féin instead.</p>
<p>This is not a pattern that can neatly be assumed to apply elsewhere. Ultimately, every terrorist organisation is unique and must be understood as such. But, as I argued in my recent book: <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/does-terrorism-work-9780199607853?q=Richard%20English%20professor%20of%20politics%20Queens%20university&lang=en&cc=gb">Does Terrorism Work? A History</a>, it is comparatively rare for terrorists to succeed in achieving their central, primary goals.</p>
<p>Much more common is the securing of a diluted version (autonomy rather than independence; greater power within a state rather than secession from it), something which might be considered a partial strategic success. This can be far from negligible. But it tends not to be the cause for which the group ostensibly killed and suffered. Partial strategic success might also involve the achievement of secondary goals, whether revenge, or the sustenance of resistance into another generation.</p>
<p>Terrorism understandably prompts strong emotions and this can be the enemy of calm debate. But the key thing to pursue is a public discussion which makes terrorist atrocity less likely in the future. To stress that terrorist organisations are highly unlikely to achieve their goals, and to recognise that their publicity will often backfire against them politically, is a vital element of reflection.</p>
<p>Most important of all, journalists and politicians must aim for proportionate and effective response rather than the polarising effects of overreacting. And it is worth remembering how strongly states can endure even determined terrorist campaigns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard English does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the aftermath of Westminster, how much reporting was constructive and how much was simply publicity for terrorists?Richard English, Professor of Politics, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748202017-03-21T10:45:29Z2017-03-21T10:45:29ZMartin McGuinness: the IRA commander who walked down a political path<p>During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, some Ulster unionists blamed the Catholic education system for promoting an Irish nationalist identity among the minority population. This, they argued, helped fuel a republican insurgency from the early 1970s. As a leading figure in the insurgency, Martin McGuinness was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/feb/06/life1.lifemagazine3">unequivocal</a> when asked about his own experience of being taught in the Catholic system: “They didn’t make me a republican; the Brits made me a republican.”</p>
<p>It was not Irish history that politicised McGuinness and led him to join the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Rather events in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s drove him – specifically the state’s violent response to a civil rights movement calling for an end to Catholic discrimination, and in particular seeing the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/8/newsid_2496000/2496479.stm">killing of a neighbour by the British army</a> in July 1971.</p>
<p>Henceforth, McGuinness became a committed IRA member. He gained a particular reputation as a deadly sniper. Young Catholic women in his home town of Derry would even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/feb/06/life1.lifemagazine3">goad the British soldiers</a> who supervised their every movement on the streets: “McGuinness will be out tonight. McGuinness will be out tonight …” McGuinness was also feared within republicanism as a strict disciplinarian, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/19/martin-mcguinness-the-man-who-helped-steer-ira-away-from-terrorism">foreswearing alcohol and other vices</a>, and appearing cold and unemotional towards the movement’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/feb/06/life1.lifemagazine3">brutal response to “touts”</a> – those suspected of collaborating with the security forces.</p>
<p>However, McGuinness’ abilities early marked him out as more than just a military man. Aged just 22, he was airlifted to London as part of an IRA delegation to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/feb/06/life1.lifemagazine3">engage in talks with the British government</a>. Though these talks failed, when the British reopened a channel of communication with republicans in the late 1980s, McGuinness was now lead negotiator for Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA.</p>
<p>It was a role he maintained through the crucial talks leading to the IRA ceasefire of 1994, and then <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-belfast-agreement">the Good Friday Agreement of 1998</a>. Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief of staff, vividly recalls the time during these negotiations when the <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/people/37395/day-mcguinness-came-no-10">Sinn Féin leader first visited Downing Street</a>. Entering the Cabinet Room, McGuinness paused to comment: “So this is where all the damage was done.” Powell was taken aback by such a frank apparent reference to the IRA’s audacious near assassination of John Major via a mortar attack on Number 10 in 1991. “Yes”, Powell responded: “The windows came in but no one was injured.” “No”, replied McGuinness, “I meant this is where Michael Collins signed the treaty in 1921.”</p>
<p>Powell’s anecdote illustrates the very different positions from which the British government and Sinn Féin approached the Northern Ireland problem. For the former the focus was republican violence, and how to end it. For the latter the focus was on the historical injustices that motivated republican violence, and how to redress them. McGuinness had of course been referring to the treaty which partitioned Ireland and so created Northern Ireland.</p>
<h2>A key partnership</h2>
<p>When Sinn Féin and Ian Paisley’s DUP became the largest parties in their respective communities in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the terms of that deal meant that they had to agree on how to share power in Northern Ireland. Thus, a former IRA commander and a former firebrand preacher now jointly led the Northern Ireland government. The media had a field day, dubbing the pairing the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/jennymccartney/3643620/Paisley-and-McGuinness-chuckling-in-power.html">Chuckle Brothers</a>, as a distinct camaraderie was displayed by Paisley and McGuinness.</p>
<p>Arguably, this showed the leadership skills of the two men. A deal between two sulking adversaries would have been harder to sell to their respective constituencies, and it was far better to have the media mock them than to pull at the loose threads of the political accord they had made. Meanwhile, the personal accord between Paisley and McGuinness seemed to grow into something genuine. Their past actions had, understandably, seen them portrayed as wholly serious individuals, but this masked the streak of humour which McGuinness and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/feb/06/life1.lifemagazine3">the man he called “Big Ian”</a> clearly shared. Their bond was most evident when Paisley retired. To mark the occasion, McGuinness presented him with a self-penned poem inspired by the author’s passion for <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/people/38327/mcguinness%25E2%2580%2599s-farewell-ode-rev-paisley">fly-fishing</a>. To describe McGuinness as a multi-layered man would seem a gross understatement.</p>
<h2>Taking a risk</h2>
<p>McGuinness’ <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18607911">handshake with the Queen</a> in 2012 was seen as another crucial milestone in the peace process – the Queen’s cousin, Lord Mountbatten, was killed by the IRA in 1979. Again, leadership was evident on both sides.</p>
<p>But perhaps more powerful than McGuinness’ meeting with the Queen was the moment in 2009 when he branded republican dissidents as “traitors to Ireland” after they <a href="http://www.irishnews.com/news/2017/01/21/news/widow-of-murdered-officer-stephen-carroll-hails-mcguinness-for-denouncing-traitors--895619/">killed a police officer</a>. Shaking hands with the Queen was a potent symbol of peace-making; McGuinness’s condemnation of dissident violence had much greater practical effect. His unambiguous, impassioned statement helped protect the lives of all police officers, but particularly Catholics, whom dissidents cynically targeted as a way of undermining the transformation of policing achieved as part of the Good Friday Agreement. If dissidents could discourage young Catholics from joining the reformed service, they could hope for a return to the status quo ante – a partisan, Protestant police force, from which many Catholics had turned to the IRA for protection.</p>
<p>McGuinness spoke for the overwhelming majority of nationalists by making clear that the police were now a service for all the people of Northern Ireland. Dissident attacks on the police were thus an attack on the people they served. Everyone must therefore stand in defence of the police. It was arguably his greatest contribution to the peace process. He faced numerous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/24/martin-mcguinness-death-threats">death threats</a> afterwards, so it may also have been his bravest.</p>
<h2>The settlement</h2>
<p>It is because of such developments that the British media recently tried to draw a line between McGuinness and the other leading republican of the modern era, Gerry Adams. Republicans, of course, are well-used to British tactics of divide and rule, and for Adams and McGuinness, the secret of their political success was actually their unity of purpose. That, in turn, maximised the unity of the republican movement through its various compromises over recent decades. Together they achieved what no single leader in the long history of Irish republicanism ever did – embracing politics without a major split in the movement. Dissident factions splintering away are manageable, but history shows that a more significant divide will mean a continuation of conflict.</p>
<p>The media might also recall that it previously depicted McGuinness as the real hardliner. He was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38690431">“the soldier”</a> keeping faith with the republican rank and file, and keeping a lid on the ambitions of Adams, “the politician”. Certainly, the two men brought different qualities to the table at different times, but together they combined to provide an exceptional mode of leadership which jointly steered an essentially unified republican movement away from armed struggle towards peaceful politics.</p>
<p>Others, however, choose to focus only on the earlier part of McGuinness’s career. Like his other political partner, Ian Paisley, who many nationalists feel instigated the Troubles by orchestrating opposition to the civil rights movement, McGuinness will never be forgiven by some people.</p>
<p>For victims of violence on either side of the conflict, the focus on the past is wholly understandable. There were, after all, voices on both sides of the divide who, from the very outset, consistently argued for a more peaceful way towards change in Northern Ireland. However, ultimately, figures such as Paisley and McGuinness both helped lead more intransigent minds down that political path.</p>
<p>As long as future generations are prepared to continue with the same endeavour, the most enduring legacy of the former firebrand preacher and the former IRA commander will be a peaceful, just, and democratic settlement in Ireland.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74820/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter John McLoughlin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The former deputy first minister was once a feared IRA sniper but became a central figure in the move towards peace.Peter John McLoughlin, Lecturer in Politics, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/593282016-05-12T13:12:49Z2016-05-12T13:12:49ZWhy has the British government raised the Irish terror threat level?<p>It has been 21 years since Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, voiced the famous soundbite that the IRA “<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ira-has-not-gone-away-adams-warns-ministers-ira-has-not-gone-away-1596152.html">haven’t gone away, you know</a>”.</p>
<p>During two decades of relative peace in Northern Ireland, Irish republican violence has almost entirely fallen off the radar for the British public. Organisations such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State have long since been seen to pose a far greater security risk.</p>
<p>Yet the UK home secretary, Theresa May, announced that the official <a href="https://www.mi5.gov.uk/threat-levels">Northern Ireland-related terrorism threat</a> has been raised from moderate to substantial in Britain. In Northern Ireland, the threat is rated as “severe”. This means that an attack in Britain is seen as a “strong possibility” and in Northern Ireland, an attack is “highly likely”.</p>
<p>All this evokes memories of the dark days between the 1970s and 1990s when a ring of steel was erected around London and the IRA brought the battle across the water. However this throwback to past decades has not just appeared out of the blue. It has been shaped by a number of factors, both historical and contemporary.</p>
<p>The threat has been building up in Northern Ireland for a number of years. There have been <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-10866072">attacks on police and prison officers</a> and the security forces fear the emergence of a new dissident super-group that brings together the various republican factions. If such a group emerged it would then lay claim to being the authentic face of the Irish republican tradition rather than the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/northern_ireland/2001/provisional_ira/default.stm">Provisional IRA</a>. </p>
<p>Concern about this is particularly high in 2016. This year marks the centenary of the Easter Rising in Dublin – the armed insurrection against British rule that eventually paved the way for independence in 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties.</p>
<p>But it is also the date sold by Sinn Fein as the critical point in its <a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/well-have-a-united-ireland-by-2016-says-mcguinness-25922555.html">contemporary ambitions for Irish reunification</a>. And through much of the 1990s and early 2000s this goal appeared to be semi-realistic, if ambitious. Sinn Fein, the main voice of Irish republicanism, was on the rise at a time when the Catholic population was increasing too. </p>
<p>At the very least Sinn Fein and many political commentators anticipated that by 2016 close to 50% of the vote would be republican/nationalist. However, this vote began to stall at around the 42% mark in the mid 2000s. In the recent <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2016/northern_ireland/results">Northern Ireland Assembly</a> elections, held on May 5, it fell back to 36%. That’s the worst combined share of the vote for these parties since the early 1990s.</p>
<p>The slide is partly due to voter apathy, but there also appears to have been an increase in Catholics voting for the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2016-northern-ireland-36252478">Alliance Party</a>, which now has eight seats in parliament. This group deems itself to be neither unionist or nationalist and has never been hostile to the idea of Irish unification by consent. There has also been an increase in people voting for parties such as the Greens and the <a href="http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/">People Before Profit Alliance</a>.</p>
<p>The main reason for the drift away from nationalism and republicanism, however, appears to be the failure of Sinn Fein and the SDLP (the other main nationalist party in NI) to present a clear vision that reflects the aspirations of voters. They have not offered much on either bread-and-butter issues or a realistic approach to unification.</p>
<p>This has possibly also acted as a spark for the dissidents whose vision has always been clear and brutal. They want an end to British government involvement in Ireland, and the right of self-determination for their people. They do not believe Sinn Fein’s strategy is working and are prepared to resort to violence to achieve reunification. They know very well that attacks in Britain will generate hysteria and division. Such attacks might also generate forms of repression that will harden attitudes among Northern Ireland’s Catholics, as happened in the 1970s after such events as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildford_pub_bombings">Guildford pub bombings</a>. </p>
<h2>Loss of support</h2>
<p>Times are different though. My own research due to be published later this year suggests relative happiness with the status quo of power sharing among today’s Northern Irish Catholics. It seems that although 80% of them, including some Alliance Party voters, still aspire to a united Ireland, they don’t want to see it happen through violence. There simply isn’t an appetite for violence or any immediate demand for unification among the Irish nationalist population, north or south of the border.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that within the tradition of physical force republicanism there is a belief that a mandate for violence is not required. They cling to those events of 1916, where an apathetic Irish population was roused into calling for independence after the British overreacted to the insurrection in Dublin. Maybe it is important, then, for the rest of Britain to heed the lessons of history too – and not overreact to the decision to raise the terror threat. </p>
<p>The solution will not be found in any ring of steel around London. It will have to be found in the long term by the political parties and the people of Northern Ireland.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The home secretary has announced that the threat of terrorism related to Northern Ireland is now highly likely in Britain.Paul Breen, Senior lecturer, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/581212016-04-26T10:01:34Z2016-04-26T10:01:34ZIreland in 1916: the Rising, the War and controversial commemorations<p>This week marks the centennial of the Easter Rising – the armed insurrection that would trigger nationalist Ireland’s final battle for independence from Great Britain.</p>
<p>The first of July will mark another centennial, that of the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles in human history, in which over <a href="http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Historical_Information/1916_Commemorations/Irish_Soldiers_in_the_Battle_of_the_Somme.html">3,500 Irish soldiers</a> were killed. </p>
<p>For 100 years, the Rising has occupied center stage in the historical memory making of republican Ireland and the global Irish diaspora. But the role of Irish soldiers in World War I had been all but forgotten – until now. </p>
<p>As a historian of Ireland and the British Empire, I seek to understand not only these events themselves, but also the discrepancies in the ways they have been studied and remembered. </p>
<p>Why has it taken so long to see their interconnections?</p>
<h2>The Rising that shook the empire</h2>
<p><a href="https://profilebooks.com/a-nation-and-not-a-rabble.html">On April 24, 1916,</a> a band of radical republicans forcibly seized and held key positions in Dublin. </p>
<p>Frustrated by the failure of Britain to implement Home Rule – a form of devolved self-government, not unlike what Scottish “Yes” voters <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/world/europe/scotland-independence-vote.html?_r=0">sought </a> in 2014 – as well as by the Irish majority’s seeming contentment to remain within the United Kingdom, the rebels sought to awaken the Irish nation and wrest the country from Britain’s imperial grasp.</p>
<p>It was an opportune moment, the rebels reasoned. Britain was otherwise engaged – in fighting World War I, or what would become known as the “Great War” because it was quickly becoming the biggest and most horrendous war the world had ever seen. </p>
<p>The rebellion, at least in the immediate term, was a failure. </p>
<p>Inadequately armed with outdated weapons and vastly outnumbered, the rebels were no match for the British Goliath. They held out against the British counterassault for only six days. The leaders were quickly executed. Approximately, 1,800 Irish men and women were detained in prison camps in Britain. The Irish public failed to lend the rebels their support. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120101/original/image-20160425-22360-13s2os6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120101/original/image-20160425-22360-13s2os6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120101/original/image-20160425-22360-13s2os6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120101/original/image-20160425-22360-13s2os6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120101/original/image-20160425-22360-13s2os6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120101/original/image-20160425-22360-13s2os6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120101/original/image-20160425-22360-13s2os6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dublin’s General Post Office after the Rising.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Life_goes_on..._(6937669789).jpg">National Library of Ireland</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nevertheless, the Easter Rising became the catalyst for Ireland’s final, successful struggle to extract itself from the union and the empire. </p>
<p>Due in large part to Britain’s heavy-handed response, the Rising helped spark the Irish War of Independence, which culminated in the partition of the island of Ireland and, ultimately, in the establishment of <a href="http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1948/act/22/enacted/en/html">the Republic in 1948</a>.</p>
<h2>Remembering the Rising</h2>
<p>For the last century, the Rising has been the subject of countless acts of remembering. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie/Memorials?warId=8">Memorials</a> to those who sacrificed themselves for national independence pepper the cities and counties of Ireland. </p>
<p>Creative artists working in wide-ranging media have found fertile ground in its tragic heroism. </p>
<p>Poets, including those among the rebels themselves, have memorialized its events and protagonists in verse, the most famous of which was penned at the time by <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/poetry/soundings/easter.htm">W.B. Yeats:</a> </p>
<pre class="highlight plaintext"><code> I write it out in a verse
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
</code></pre>
<p>This year, extravagant productions combining song, verse, image and dance are celebrating the Irish “Spirit of Freedom” at home and abroad, performing, for example, at <a href="http://www.celticnights.ie/tour-dates/">56 venues</a> across North America. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PHImMYutwCo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.sundance.tv/series/rebellion/blog/2015/10/sundancetv-to-co-produce-five-part-series-rebellion">Rebellion</a>, a new TV miniseries, a three part <a href="https://1916.nd.edu/">Irish-American documentary</a> and a feature film, <a href="http://www.therising.ie">“The Rising,”</a> all portray the Easter Rising on screen. </p>
<p>In terms of official commemoration, the Easter Rising stands as the <a href="http://www.ireland.ie">centerpiece</a> of the Irish Republic’s ongoing <a href="http://www.decadeofcentenaries.com">“Decade of Centenaries,”</a> an extensive program of public and private commemorations of the landmark events that occurred between 1912 and 1922. </p>
<p>In many ways, the emphasis on the Easter Rising is appropriate. As the nonpartisan <a href="http://www.decadeofcentenaries.com/initial-statement-by-advisory-group-on-centenary-commemorations/">Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations</a> acknowledges, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the State should not be expected to be neutral about its own existence.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But with so much focus on the dramatic events of the Rebellion, it is easy to lose sight of some of the fundamental complexities of Irish history, in particular the fact that hundreds of thousands of Irish were fighting on behalf of the very empire against which the Easter Rebels took their stand. </p>
<h2>Forgetting the war</h2>
<p>Historian David Fitzpatrick <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/bo/academic/subjects/history/british-history-general-interest/military-history-ireland">estimates</a> that there were 58,000 Irish soldiers, officers and reservists already serving in the British Army and Royal Navy when the war broke out in 1914. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120079/original/image-20160425-22364-tb6go3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120079/original/image-20160425-22364-tb6go3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120079/original/image-20160425-22364-tb6go3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120079/original/image-20160425-22364-tb6go3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120079/original/image-20160425-22364-tb6go3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120079/original/image-20160425-22364-tb6go3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120079/original/image-20160425-22364-tb6go3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A World War I recruiting poster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WWI_Irish_recruiting_poster_LOC_cph.3g10979.jpg">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A further 148,000 Irish recruits joined up during the war. British Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener created three “Irish Divisions” – the 36th (Ulster) Division for unionists and the 10th (Irish) and 16th (Irish) Division for nationalists. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.historytoday.com/richard-s-grayson/first-world-war-when-enemies-united">Irish soldiers</a> fought, suffered injuries and died in all the theaters of the war, from Gallipoli to Nablus. By the end of the war, unionists and nationalists, Protestants and Catholics, were fighting side by side. </p>
<p>However, for most of the 20th century, Irish participation in the Great War was an unapproachable topic within the Republic of Ireland. </p>
<p>Memorials in Dublin’s Catholic churches were hidden away. The <a href="http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/dublin/warmemorialgardens/">Irish National War Memorial Gardens</a> were established only in 1948. They were the target of Republican bombs and allowed to fall into a dilapidated state. </p>
<p>Even among professional historians – both Irish and British – the subject of the involvement of Irish men and women in the First World War received scant attention, especially when compared to the extensive scholarship concerning the Easter Rising.</p>
<p>As Irish President Michael Higgins <a href="http://www.president.ie/en/media-library/speeches/keynote-address-by-president-michael-d.-higgins-at-the-theatre-of-memory-sy">recently observed</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>For years the First World War has stood as a blank space in memory for many Irish people – an unspoken gap in the official narratives of this state. Thousands of Irish war dead were erased from official history, denied recognition, because they did not fit the nationalist myth and its “canonical” lines of memory.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Intertwined history’ and ‘ethical remembering’</h2>
<p>This state of affairs is finally starting to change although, of course, exactly what to remember and how to remember it have generated controversy. </p>
<p>This state of affairs has finally started to change. Of course, given that grappling with Irish participation in the war presents “difficult truths”, exactly what to remember and how to remember it have generated controversy.</p>
<p>In 2010, then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen delivered <a href="http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/News/Archives/2010/Taoiseach's_Speeches_2010/%22A_Decade_of_Commemorations_Commemorating_Our_Shared_History%22_Speech_by_An_Taoiseach,_Mr_Brian_Cowen_TD_Institute_for_British_Irish_Studies_UCD,_20_May_2010_at_11_00am.html">a speech</a> in which he expressed deep sadness over</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the two parts of the island losing touch with each other and with our shared heritage. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cowen urged the recovery of shared interests, perspectives, and history – not only between the Republic and Northern Ireland but also, more widely, between the peoples of Ireland and Great Britain. </p>
<p>Queen Elizabeth’s <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/galleries/2014/0408/607419-queen-elizabeth-in-ireland/">2011 state visit </a>to Ireland and President Higgins’ <a href="https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/great-britain/news-and-events/2014/historic-first-state-visit-to-the-uk/">visit to Britain</a> in 2014 – the first ever by an Irish head of state – were seen as promoting this way of remembering. </p>
<p>The notion of “shared history,” however, generated <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/many-are-annoyed-at-idea-of-a-royal-presence-in-dublin-2016-in-context-of-a-shared-history-1.1788712">understandable criticism</a>. It appeared to gloss over centuries of Irish oppression at the hands of the British as well as the extreme enmity and violence between nationalists and unionists for most of the 20th century. The Troubles alone <a href="http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/index.html">cost</a> 3,489 lives between 1969 and 1998. </p>
<p>What offers more promise are alternative ways of remembering such as “intertwined histories” and “ethical remembering.” </p>
<p><a href="http://www.historytoday.com/john-gibney/ireland-easter-rising-or-great-war">“Intertwined history”</a> maintains the distinctions between unionist and nationalist, North and South, British and Irish but it acknowledges their histories as inextricably linked.</p>
<p>In a 2012 editorial remembering the Ulstermen’s 1912 rebellion in the cause of union with Great Britain, the <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/by-all-means-necessary-1.540996">Irish Times asked:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Can we find with the passage of time, in our growing understanding of the interconnectedness of our stories, in the sense that each plays into the other, transforming it in turn, a means of celebrating our different narratives?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>“Ethical remembering” is President Higgins’ term for how the Irish should be approaching their histories. <a href="http://www.president.ie/en/the-president/michael-d-higgins">Higgins</a>, who is not only a politician but also a scholar and a poet, has become a tireless advocate for more sensitive, accurate and inclusive ways of remembering.</p>
<p>At the Abbey Theatre’s <a href="https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/behind-the-scenes/backstage-blogs/the-theatre-of-memory-symposium-review/president-michael-d-higgins-opens-the-theatre-of-memory-symposium/">Theatre of Memory Symposium</a>, he proposed the occasion of the centenaries as an opportunity “to re-appropriate the repressed parts of our history, to include in our narratives the forgotten voices and lost stories of the past.” </p>
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<p>Such a project must involve, he argues, a reliance on the work of professional historians as well as an appreciation for historical complexity and a willingness </p>
<blockquote>
<p>to examine more closely the entanglements between the Easter Rising and the Somme and the great dilemmas of those who were involved in these respective events. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>First steps</h2>
<p>There is, in fact, already evidence of the Republic’s commitment to these alternative strategies for remembering. </p>
<p>In 1998, the Irish government helped sponsor the building of the <a href="http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/memorial-island-of-ireland-peace-park.htm">Island of Ireland Peace Park</a> in Messines, Belgium to commemorate the soldiers of Ireland who died, were injured, or went missing during the Great War.</p>
<p>In 2006, the government finally held <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1522946/Ceremony-remembers-Great-Wars-Irish-dead-of-WW1.html">an official commemoration ceremony</a> for Ireland’s Great War dead. </p>
<p>The official <a href="http://www.decadeofcentenaries.com">Decade of Centenaries Programme</a> includes many events exploring and commemorating all aspects of the war. Perhaps most significantly, many of Ireland’s prominent cultural institutions, such as the national broadcaster <a href="http://www.rte.ie/worldwar1/">RTE</a> and the <a href="http://www.nli.ie/WWI/">National Library of Ireland</a>, have embraced their role as custodians of Great War documents and memories and developed impressive websites devoted to providing public access to a wide range of primary sources.</p>
<p>It is a hopeful sign for Ireland’s future that it now seems possible thanks in large part to the peace process of the 1990s, recent scholarship and Irish leaders like President Higgins – to appreciate the intertwined histories of Irish republicanism and of Irish association with the British Empire. </p>
<p>The true test of Ireland’s commitment to “ethical remembering”, however, is on the horizon, when the centennial of the Irish Civil War arrives in 2022.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58121/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Harland-Jacobs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For 100 years, the Easter Rising has occupied center stage in the memory making of republican Ireland. But the role of Irish soldiers in World War I had been all but forgotten – until now.Jessica Harland-Jacobs, Associate Professor, History , University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/541972016-02-05T14:33:47Z2016-02-05T14:33:47ZHow much did British intelligence know about the IRA during the troubles?<p>The <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/bomb-that-spells-more-bloodshed-republican-attacks-on-shankill-roads-loyalist-heartland-are-sure-to-1512763.html">October 1993 Shankill Road IRA bomb</a> was one of the most notorious atrocities of the Northern Ireland conflict. Its intended target was the leadership of the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association as they met above Frizzel’s fish shop on Belfast’s Protestant Shankill Road on a busy Saturday lunchtime. Yet, the UDA had rescheduled its meeting at short notice – and the bomb exploded prematurely, killing nine Protestant civilians and one of the bombers, Thomas Begley.</p>
<p>The story is far from over. The <a href="http://www.irishnews.com/news/2016/01/25/news/the-ira-commander-at-time-of-shankill-bombing-was-a-police-informer-393891/">Irish News</a> recently headlined with the allegation that the IRA commander who planned the Shankill bomb was “working as an informant and passed information to his handlers that could have potentially prevented the atrocity”. Details on the double life of the agent, who was codenamed “AA”, were revealed in decrypted police files stolen during the <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/castlereagh-breakin-allowed-to-happen-to-protect-ira-informer-claims-exspecial-branch-officer-34175895.html">IRA break-in</a> at Castlereagh RUC station in 2002.</p>
<p>These revelations raise three immediate questions. Did British intelligence forces have information on the attack but fail to prevent it? Was the RUC investigation into the bombing compromised to protect the identity of an informer? Have victims’ families really received justice for the loss of their loved ones? </p>
<p>When probed on these questions at a recent event at Queen’s University Belfast, the current chief constable of the PSNI, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-35413553">George Hamilton</a>, dismissed claims of an advanced warning and emphasised that he is “100% convinced that the police service at the time had no knowledge of the Shankill bombing that could have prevented it”. A complaint has nevertheless been lodged with the Police Ombudsman asking for AA and his relationship with either RUC Special Branch or MI5 to be investigated.</p>
<h2>Agents of misfortune</h2>
<p>That security forces use informers and agents to infiltrate armed groups is not a new phenomena and it is <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/half-of-all-top-ira-men-worked-for-security-services-28694353.html">well known</a> that British intelligence forces had informers inside republican and loyalist paramilitary organisations. In addition to gathering intelligence, informers can, for example, hamper the activity of paramilitary groups, weaken and undermine the armed group by spreading mistrust and paranoia and play a role in encouraging the movement towards demobilisation and engagement with peace processes. </p>
<p>The more thorny question relates to the <a href="http://www.caj.org.uk/files/2012/12/05/The_Policing_you_dont_see,_November_2012.pdf">permitted conduct of informers</a> and whether they operate within the law. Most fundamentally, informers cannot act as agent provocateurs – they cannot engage in crime nor induce others to do so. Moreover, informers cannot take lives and where unlawful deaths occur, the state must investigate in a way that is compliant with their obligations under domestic and international law.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110359/original/image-20160204-3006-farear.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110359/original/image-20160204-3006-farear.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110359/original/image-20160204-3006-farear.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110359/original/image-20160204-3006-farear.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110359/original/image-20160204-3006-farear.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110359/original/image-20160204-3006-farear.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110359/original/image-20160204-3006-farear.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110359/original/image-20160204-3006-farear.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Atrocity: victims of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keresaspa via Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Shankill bombing now joins a list of atrocities where the involvement of informers and agents is alleged. Also on that list are the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/17/newsid_4311000/4311459.stm">1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings</a>; the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/5/newsid_2500000/2500393.stm">1976 Kingsmill massacre</a>; the activities of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/may/12/northernireland.northernireland1">Freddie Scappaticci</a> – alleged to be the army’s most high-ranking agent in the IRA and accused of involvement in up to 50 murders – and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/2944007.stm">Brian Nelson</a>, an army agent within the UDA responsible for passing on the names of IRA members who were subsequently murdered. Beyond these most high-profile cases are potentially hundreds of individuals who died as a result of state collusion with loyalist and republican paramilitary groups.</p>
<p>While the depth and extent of such collusion is unknown, the available evidence makes for uncomfortable reading. In 2003 <a href="http://www.cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/collusion/stevens3/stevens3summary.pdf">Sir John Stevens</a> reported that “informants and agents were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes”. Former Police Ombudsman, <a href="https://www.policeombudsman.org/PONI/files/9a/9a366c60-1d8d-41b9-8684-12d33560e8f9.pdf">Nuala O’Loan</a>, found that collusion between state security forces and informers was “systemic” and that due process was undermined to protect informers suspected of murder. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/246867/0802.pdf">Sir Desmond de Silva’s</a> documentary review into the death of Pat Finucane contains details of a high-level RUC-Northern Ireland Office meeting in 1987 where it was acknowledged that placing informants in the middle ranks of terrorist groups “meant they would have to become involved in terrorist activity and operate with a degree of immunity from prosecution”. </p>
<p>Taken cumulatively, they point to state complicity in murder and impunity at the highest level.</p>
<h2>Legacy of mistrust</h2>
<p>Yet, the allegations keep on coming and the accountability gap is widening, not closing, with the passage of time. For the British state, there is the question of to what extent did it allow its own citizens to die – while for the IRA, to what extent were volunteers and supporters sacrificed by agents in the ranks? More broadly, where does responsibility lie and who is the victim and <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-northern-ireland-not-every-murder-is-treated-the-same-42569">who is the perpetrator</a> – the bomber and gunman or their security force handler who did nothing to prevent murder?</p>
<p>Such questions fall under the heading of “legacy issues” – a neat phrase for the unanswered questions that are a result of Northern Ireland’s eclectic and disjointed approach to dealing with the past. Nearly 18 years on from the signing of the Belfast Agreement, there is, as yet, little consensus on how best to deal with the past. The proposals contained in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/390672/Stormont_House_Agreement.pdf">Stormont House Agreement</a> – the latest iteration of this debate – have stumbled on the British government’s insistence that a “national security” caveat will control information entering and leaving one of the proposed legacy bodies, the <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/historical-investigations-unit-will-be-set-up-as-planned-31428624.html">Historical Investigations Unit</a>.</p>
<p>In this vacuum, the past continues to infiltrate the present. On a daily basis it appears that protection, denial and obfuscation are often privileged over truth and justice. For victims and survivors – and a still fragile society – revelations such as those concerning the Shankill bomb reinforce hurt and trauma and undermine the gains of the peace process. If impunity is to be countered and truth and justice delivered, full political commitment to an open, transparent mechanism that is capable of shining a light into all areas of the past is a must.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54197/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cheryl Lawther receives funding from the AHRC.
</span></em></p>Fresh allegations have highlighted the uneasy relationship between paramilitary groups and the security services during the Troubles.Cheryl Lawther, Lecturer in Criminology, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/537982016-02-03T11:10:21Z2016-02-03T11:10:21ZWhy are so many Americans struggling to save for retirement?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110064/original/image-20160202-6966-gtt9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most Americans will be pinching pennies after they retire. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Retirement pennies via www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-beats-bernie-sanders-by-slim-margin-in-iowa-1454438068">marked</a> the beginning of the presidential primary season, and economic fears such as jobs and wages have taken center stage on the campaign trail. </p>
<p>Yet one of voters’ biggest economic problems has thus far received short shrift from the candidates: Americans’ growing inability to save for retirement. </p>
<p>A handful of Republican and Democratic candidates <a href="http://crr.bc.edu/newsroom/featured-work/2016-presidential-candidates-views-on-social-security/">have laid out proposals for Social Security reform</a>, but none have adequately addressed the substantial and growing deficit in total retirement savings.</p>
<p>The retirement crisis is real, as I’ve also been documenting for the past 15 years and most recently in my new book, <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137395627">Retirement on the Rocks</a>. More than half of us won’t have enough savings when we retire to maintain our current standard of living and will have to make substantial spending cuts once we stop working. </p>
<p>How did we get here, what are the consequences and how can we fix the problem? </p>
<h2>An inability to save</h2>
<p>The share of households with working-age adults that could expect to have to make substantial and potentially harmful cuts to their spending in retirement has <a href="http://crr.bc.edu/briefs/nrri-update-shows-half-still-falling-short/">spiked</a> in recent decades, rising from 31 percent in 1983 to 52 percent in 2013, according to the National Retirement Risk Index at the Center for Retirement Research. </p>
<p>Some groups are particularly likely to have <a href="http://research.upjohn.org/up_press/214/">insufficient retirement savings</a>. Communities of color, single women and those with less education, for example, tend to be less prepared for retirement than white households, single men and those with more education. </p>
<p>For example, 60 percent of African Americans and Latinos near retirement in 2010 <a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100291230">were deemed likely to struggle economically</a> when they stopped working, compared with only 45 percent of whites. </p>
<h2>Why aren’t we saving enough?</h2>
<p>This crisis is a result of the extended period of economic uncertainty we’ve lived through for the past 30 years.</p>
<p>Wages have become <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-great-risk-shift-9780195335347?cc=de&lang=en&">more volatile</a>, while the <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/about/projects/bpea/papers/2011/unemployment-insurance-and-job-search-in-the-great-depression-rothstein">duration of unemployment</a> and underemployment has also gone up. As a result, people have less discretionary cash, requiring them to set aside more for emergencies – and less for retirement. </p>
<p>But that’s only part of the economic uncertainty story. </p>
<p>Even when people do manage to sock away money for their later years, these savings have become less stable. The stock and housing markets have been <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/%7E/media/Projects/BPEA/Spring-2005/2005a_bpea_baker.PDF">going through cycles of boom and bust</a> with increasing frequency in recent decades, destroying wealth and adding a layer of confusion and uncertainty to people’s decisions about their futures. </p>
<p>Record-low interest rates since the financial crisis are making matters worse. </p>
<h2>Five policy shortcomings</h2>
<p>At a time of such growing volatility in the labor, financial and housing markets, logic suggests that people should reduce their exposure to risky assets. </p>
<p>Yet when it comes to retirement savings, exactly the opposite has happened. This is due to five clearly identifiable policy shortcomings, which have led to greater economic risk exposure at a time of ever-rising risks.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Social Security benefits <a href="https://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/ProgData/nra.html">have decreased in value</a> as the age at which people can receive full benefits has increased. At the same time, the <a href="http://www.pentegra.com/announcements/IssueBrief-_who_killed_the_private_sector_db_plans.pdf">decline</a> of defined benefit (DB) pension plans has further eroded people’s retirement security. In their stead, people have saved more and more with retirement savings accounts, <a href="https://www.ici.org/pdf/per12-02.pdf">such as 401(k) plans</a> and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). These individualized accounts <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137395627">offer fewer protections</a> against labor and financial market swings than is the case for Social Security and DB pensions. </p></li>
<li><p>Congress <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2015/10/30/124315/the-inefficiencies-of-existing-retirement-savings-incentives/">has increasingly made</a> private employers the primary gatekeepers controlling access to good retirement plans, giving them additional tax benefits for doing so. However, since the 1980s, companies <a href="https://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_405_Oct14.RetPart.pdf">have reduced contributions</a> to their employees’ retirement savings accounts and increasingly ended such benefits entirely. In 2012, the last year for which data are available, <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137395627">employers contributed</a> an average of US$1,765 (in 2013 dollars) to workers’ 401(k) plans, down from $1,947 in 1988.</p></li>
<li><p>Existing savings incentives such as tax breaks are fairly inefficient. The largest incentives are offered to high-income employees working for an employer that offers retirement benefits – the people who arguably least need the help in saving more. At the same time, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2015/10/30/124315/the-inefficiencies-of-existing-retirement-savings-incentives/">the smallest incentives</a> go to lower-income employees, especially those who work for an employer that doesn’t offer retirement benefits. A high-income earner who expects to pay lower taxes in retirement than during working years <a href="https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/29075443/ExistingRetirementIncentives-brief.pdf">will reap about twice</a> as much as a low-income earner for the same contribution to an IRA or 401(k) plan.</p></li>
<li><p>Savings incentives in the U.S. tax code are unnecessarily complex. A dozen <a href="http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/modernize_retirement_savings">savings incentives</a> exist, in addition to specific incentives for <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2013/07/19/70058/the-universal-savings-credit/">housing, health care and education</a>. This complexity often confuses people and keeps them from saving enough or from saving at all. The share of households without any tax-advantaged savings <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137395627">increased from 18.9 percent in 2001 to 23.5 percent in 2013</a>, despite the more widespread efforts to get people to save more.</p></li>
<li><p>And finally, while policymakers focused their efforts largely – and ineffectively – on getting people to save more, efforts to actually protect those savings from <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/%7E/media/Projects/BPEA/Spring-2005/2005a_bpea_baker.PDF">increasingly volatile market swings</a> fell on the back burner. As a result, people <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/WellerMiddleClass.pdf">invested ever larger shares</a> of their savings in stocks and houses, just as the odds those assets would lose value went up. As <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/WellerMiddleClass.pdf">people borrowed record amounts</a>, they exacerbated the risk associated with a market downturn even further.</p></li>
</ol>
<h2>The consequences</h2>
<p>Exact data on how people handle insufficient retirement savings are hard to come by. It seems clear, though, that there are a number of strategies people use to “<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2014/08/06/95222/keep-calm-and-muddle-through/">muddle through retirement</a>.” </p>
<p>Some people will live with economic hardships, from not being able to pay for their utilities to simply living in poverty. Others will rely on help from local governments, charities and family members, and some will even move in with their adult children. Others will simply delay retirement and keep working, even as physical and mental difficulties develop. </p>
<p>As a result, many people will struggle economically and possibly suffer from worse health than otherwise would be the case, government budgets and charities will be strained and economic growth could slow. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2015/01/26/105394/the-reality-of-the-retirement-crisis/">bottom line</a> is that the retirement crisis is large, becoming more severe and potentially harming the economy.</p>
<h2>Addressing the shortcomings</h2>
<p>The good news, though, is that policy can tackle the retirement crisis in doable steps by addressing the five identifiable shortcomings described above. After all, the retirement crisis is in large part a result of inattentive and wrongheaded policies.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Congress could update Social Security, especially for vulnerable populations, which would increase households’ protections from labor and financial market risks. For instance, policymakers could create a <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/oact/solvency/provisions/charts/chart_run277.html">meaningful minimum benefit</a> that would ensure nobody who paid into Social Security for 30 years would receive a benefit less than 125 percent of the federal poverty line – currently $11,354 per year for an adult 65 or older. Other updates could include <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/oact/solvency/provisions/charts/chart_run275.html">improvements to the survivorship benefit</a> and a <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/oact/solvency/provisions/charts/chart_run249.html">new benefit</a> for beneficiaries who reach age 85. </p></li>
<li><p>Congress and state legislatures could create low-cost retirement savings options that are not dependent on employers choosing to offer a retirement benefit. The exact details of such an alternative to employer-provided retirement benefits could vary from state to state, especially since the federal government is <a href="http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/ebsa/EBSA20152218.htm">currently in the process of developing guidelines</a> for states to establish retirement savings for private sector workers. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2013/07/19/70058/the-universal-savings-credit/">Congress</a> and <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2015/11/18/125712/laying-the-groundwork-for-more-efficient-retirement-savings-incentives/">state legislatures</a> could redesign savings incentives that would offer more help to lower-income savers than is currently the case. This could include a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2013/07/19/70058/the-universal-savings-credit/">refundable tax credit</a>, rather than a deduction from taxable income that disproportionately benefits higher-income earners. </p></li>
<li><p>Simplification of savings incentives should be part of a policy effort to make tax incentives for savings more effective. This would mean <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2015/11/18/125712/laying-the-groundwork-for-more-efficient-retirement-savings-incentives/">streamlining existing incentives</a> and making them easier to use. </p></li>
<li><p>Finally, Congress and state legislatures should make protections against market swings an integral part of savings policies. This could <a href="https://www.umb.edu/editor_uploads/images/centers_institutes/institute_gerontology/wellerFeb2011.pdf">include</a> automatic risk management of retirement savings accounts and incentives to diversify savings – not putting all eggs in one basket.</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, Congress and state legislatures should make risk protections an integral part of savings policies. This would <a href="https://www.umb.edu/editor_uploads/images/centers_institutes/institute_gerontology/wellerFeb2011.pdf">include</a> comprehensive, concise and comparable risk disclosure in retirement savings accounts, and new incentives to balance risks between savings in financial assets, such as stocks and bonds, and savings in nonfinancial assets, such as housing.</p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Restoring a dignified retirement</h2>
<p>The retirement crisis in the United States is real and getting worse. It will have severe effects on Americans, the government and the economy unless policymakers respond to this challenge. </p>
<p>The bad news is that past policy decisions have substantially contributed to this crisis. The good news is that policies can change, if the political will exists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53798/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Weller has received funding from AARP for his research on risk exposure and retirement savings. He is a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute and a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the National Institute on Retirement Security. </span></em></p>The presidential candidates are largely ignoring one of the biggest economic issues facing Americans: more than half are struggling to save enough for retirement.Christian Weller, Professor of Public Policy and Public Affairs, UMass BostonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/495162015-10-21T14:53:33Z2015-10-21T14:53:33ZWhy the Provisional IRA still exists in Northern Ireland<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99184/original/image-20151021-15440-97iv4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmyharris/2259496010/in/photolist-4rEvrL-4rArNp-4rArov-4rEuRm-bMaHTx-7kjVCj-7ki5uT-9kd35i-9AMxN3-pSCpS-pSCpV-4NUb2d-4NUbbm-4NUaym-5wF8rN-5wAN3H-4Rq5Ev-GyT2-4Q1A9U-6seDTm-bMaLbD-sCJtt-6b4M6y-6aZqGP-6aZG7a-6aZExp-6b4Qm3-6aZiN2-6b4uMo-6aZoar-6b4Ats-6aZwQ6-6aZxoR-6aZGUi-6b4EkG-6b4BYU-6aZjmT-6aZk1v-6b4SLC-6aZyA8-6b4L5b-6b4DpA-6aZzFZ-6b4TcW-6b4sgW-6aZnpF-6b4vwJ-6b4y5C-6aZtLx-6aZpV8">Jimmy Harris</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been revealed that the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34584424">Provisional IRA</a> – the paramilitary group that fought for Northern Ireland to become separate from the UK – still exists, despite the IRA agreeing to disband in 2005.</p>
<p>An independent review, submitted to the British government, found the Provisional IRA and its leading decision-making body, the army council, continue to operate, albeit in a “much reduced form”. It concludes that they are not a security threat, but that the army council oversees both the Provisional IRA and Sinn Fein with an overarching political strategy. </p>
<p>This announcement follows a break-down in the Northern Irish political system. Unionist officials have resigned from their posts partly in response to allegations that Provisional IRA members were responsible for <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34009501">the murder of Kevin McGuigan</a>.</p>
<p>While the findings may seem contradictory to the goals of long-term peace-building in Northern Ireland, it is important to put them in context.</p>
<p>It won’t be news to many people that the Provisional IRA and other paramilitary organisations still exist in some form in Northern Ireland. My <a href="https://www.academia.edu/11972381/_From_Terrorists_to_Peacekeepers_The_IRAs_Disengagement_and_the_Role_of_Community_Networks_in_Preventing_Terrorism_">own research</a> in 2013 showed loyalist paramilitary organisations still recruit young people in areas of Belfast. Local leaders representing the main groups – the Provisional IRA, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11090412">Irish National Liberation Army</a>, the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8442746.stm">Ulster Defence Association</a> and so on – were found to be meeting on a regular basis.</p>
<p>In terms of conflict transformation and peacebuilding, maintaining these organisational structures has played a positive role in peacebuilding, which should be recognised.</p>
<p>The following points are made in full awareness that a continued paramilitary presence is neither ideal in a democracy nor for the victims of the Troubles. Maintaining networks of this kind can be detrimental to the peace process, with issues of criminality being notable. But it can also play a positive role in peacebuilding. It is important to recognise this to not make pressures for change which are counterproductive to overcoming the political stalemate in Northern Ireland.</p>
<p>When peace was agreed in 1998, the Provisional IRA’s membership was by and large integrated into Sinn Fein – the political party that now partially governs Northern Ireland. </p>
<p>However, in addition to a political route, former combatants also gravitated toward grassroots work, through prisoner advocacy groups and community peacebuilding groups. These consisted of former combatants and many still identify each other with their respective former organisations. Resources are mobilised through the old networks and command structures, albeit informally.</p>
<p>Maintaining command structures has enabled a cross-community network of paramilitaries to respond to violence at interface areas in Northern Ireland. Local leaders can call upon members to step in to prevent violence from escalating. This has been particularly important in cases where the police have difficulty in engaging with communities. One former Provisional IRA member commented on such an occassion:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What would have happened is the police would call and say ‘listen we are a bit stressed. Can you go up, there’s a riot taking place’. We’d go up and there’s two jeeps sitting there, and the police sitting in the jeeps saying ‘we can’t get out of the jeeps for security reasons, we don’t have the riot gear on’. And we’d say ‘hang on, are you kidding me’. So we’d have to go in and say ‘hang on you are not doing it on these people’s behalf’ or have a wee discussion why they shouldn’t be doing it. So on both sides [Republican and Loyalist] you’d have to intervene.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The former combatant networks expanded to include regular meetings between representatives of the key Belfast organisations. These meetings were crucial in dispelling rumours of imminent attacks on Orange Order parades by the INLA and by building resilience to dissident attacks. By maintaining these lines of dialogue and a command structure, leaders could return to their own groups to prevent retaliatory violence. If both sides could agree that further violence was not the solution to a given problem, they would return to their respective communities to discourage retaliation. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/11972381/_From_Terrorists_to_Peacekeepers_The_IRAs_Disengagement_and_the_Role_of_Community_Networks_in_Preventing_Terrorism_">One interviewee</a> present at meetings of senior paramilitary figures in Belfast revealed how talks like these played a vital role in calming tensions between republicans and loyalists when the army barracks was attacked in 2009. Such meetings were crucial for building trust, and the group leaders then went back to their own communities and kept a lid on any possible counter-attacks.</p>
<p>More recently, former combatant networks have played an active role in discouraging violence <a href="http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/prison-to-peace-evaluation-report.pdf">within schools</a> in Northern Ireland and have functioned as a means to build trust between young people and the police.</p>
<p>Such important interventions would not have been possible without maintaining a command structure at an informal level. There is even a strong argument to be made that once conflicts end it is almost inevitable that networks will continue to exist. This is because <a href="http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=jss">loyalties build up between members</a> during the conflict that are difficult to break and they have an incentive to stick together – a key strength of the Northern Irish peace process is it provided a route for these networks into peacebuilding.</p>
<p>The maintenance of command structures among the paramilitaries, including the Provisional IRA, has been one factor by which former combatants have contributed to peacebuilding. There is a fair-minded argument that such transitional mechanisms are no longer required, although it is still important to see command structures as an opportunity for peace, and not just a risk to be removed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49516/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gordon Clubb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It has been revealed that the Provisional IRA – the paramilitary group that fought for Northern Ireland to become separate from the UK – still exists, despite the IRA agreeing to disband in 2005. An independent…Gordon Clubb, Lecturer in International Security, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/472132015-09-08T14:51:15Z2015-09-08T14:51:15ZNorthern Ireland: how an over-reaction to one murder brought politics to a halt<p>Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has decided to abandon meetings of the Northern Ireland Executive “except in exceptional circumstances” because of the <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/peter-robinson-no-further-meeting-of-the-northern-ireland-executive-unless-exceptional-circumstances-31507501.html">alleged involvement of the Provisional IRA</a> in the recent murder of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-33896234">former IRA man Kevin McGuigan</a>. </p>
<p>This is a dramatic move, and it epitomises both the gravity and the absurdity of Northern Ireland’s tense <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-northern-irish-politics-40443">post-conflict politics</a>, which still pits factions who want to stay in the UK (unionists, loyalists and mainly Protestants) against those who want unification with the Republic of Ireland (nationalists, republicans and mainly Catholics) – and in which the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/4172307.stm">distinction</a> between establishment unionists and more militant loyalists is as blurred as ever.</p>
<p>Since the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/31/newsid_3605000/3605348.stm">first ceasefires in 1994</a>, Northern Irish politics has been constantly in crisis, so much so that it would be a crisis if there was no crisis. Crises are useful; they provide reluctant parties with face-saving mechanisms, and allow them to stick with the difficult balance of power regardless of their rhetoric. </p>
<p>This paradox would be funny if the stakes weren’t so high. Appeals to ethnic-tribal constituencies whip up emotions in supporters, all to provide an excuse to continue with power-sharing for the sake of peace. </p>
<h2>Off the hook</h2>
<p>On this occasion, the comedy has been ably provided by the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which has withdrawn its one minister from the executive – the last hurrah of a party that has already <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34093058">made itself largely irrelevant to the peace process</a> by its lukewarm commitments to working with Sinn Fein. Under Mike Nesbitt, the UUP has tried to out-DUP the DUP in its appeal to traditional unionists – but the DUP is rather good at doing that itself. </p>
<p>What’s more, the UUP managed to let the DUP off the hook by allowing its leader, Peter Robinson, to appear relatively statesmanlike with his suggestion that withdrawal from the executive was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/31/first-minister-criticises-uup-for-quitting-northern-irelands-power-sharing-deal-ira">the last rather than the first resort</a>.</p>
<p>Even by Northern Ireland’s standards, this is an exceptionally unedifying farce. The DUP has <a href="http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/northern-ireland-news/uup-attack-dup-rivals-for-hokey-cokey-stance-on-power-sharing-1-6944616">not yet withdrawn from power-sharing</a>, and the functions of the executive will continue apace behind the scenes.</p>
<p>And in the midst of this faux crisis about the re-emergence of the Provisional IRA, no-one has mentioned the evidence of the rude health and enviable wealth of the loyalist paramilitaries. </p>
<h2>One crisis too many?</h2>
<p>In recent years, mainstream unionist politicians have drawn flack for sharing platforms with members of the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), particularly during <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20651163">flag disputes</a>. The UVF is an organisation <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/murder-of-loyalist-bobby-moffet-is-to-show-uvf-wont-be-messed-around-28538782.html">allegedly responsible for one murder</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/18/ulster-volunteer-force-ceasefire-police">several shootings</a> </p>
<p>More than that, unionist politicians actually brought members of loyalist parties aligned to the UVF into the heart of the negotiation process during the short-lived United Unionist Front, which was designed to develop a “graduated response” to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-30387161">impasse on parading</a>. </p>
<p>Nesbitt has even <a href="http://www.irishnews.com/news/2015/08/29/news/nesbitt-defends-loyalist-paramilitary-engagement-244993/">defended his associations with Loyalist paramilitaries</a>. What is good for the goose in Northern Irish politics is not good for the gander.</p>
<p>So far, so ridiculous – but there is something deeply serious at work here too. This is really two crises rolled into one. </p>
<p>Sinn Féin will not agree to a budget because it <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/06/northern-ireland-sinn-fein-westminster-public-sector-welfare-cuts">resists</a> the Cameron government’s prescribed cuts to the welfare bill, and seems perfectly willing to see its Northern Ireland power base collapse to avoid implementing the cuts. The DUP, meanwhile, is all too ready to implement them. </p>
<p>On the face of it, this threatens to utterly collapse the whole power-sharing structure – and the British government’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34164806">threat</a> to impose the welfare cuts from London, which smacks of a return to direct rule, may well prove one crisis too many. </p>
<p>But of course, it isn’t. If Sinn Féin really did conspire to bring down power-sharing, direct rule would be the likely outcome anyway. This is the apogee of Northern Ireland’s politics: a crisis threatening the very survival of power-sharing is the only way the entrenched parties can manage to coexist without giving up their irreconcilable positions.</p>
<h2>Playing to the gallery</h2>
<p>On top of all this, there’s the question of Kevin McGuigan’s murder and the Provisional IRA – a murky matter made sensitive by a serious unionist over-reaction. </p>
<p>After all, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, who <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/22/psni-provisional-ira-northern-ireland-kevin-mcguigan-republican">believes</a> that the murder involved Provisional IRA members but was not sanctioned by the organisation, has made it clear that he considers the Provisional IRA <a href="http://www.u.tv/News/2015/08/22/IRA-exists-but-not-for-paramilitary-purposes---PSNI-43500">wholly committed to the peace process</a>.</p>
<p>So why, with no serious suggestion that the Provisional IRA planned the murder on an organisational level, are the unionists raising such a ruckus? In one sense, it’s a brazen political ploy. Executive meetings are abandoned, allowing the British government to implement its welfare cuts without the democratic accountability the executive provides.</p>
<p>On another level, the unionists are using the confected IRA threat to resist the normalisation of Northern Ireland’s post-conflict politics. In a recent issue of The Irish News, the commentator <a href="http://www.irishnews.com/opinion/columnists/2015/08/27/news/real-peace-never-part-of-the-plan-in-unionism-243063/">Fionnuala O Connor</a> recognised just how uneasy unionist politicians are with the whole idea of “normal” politics. </p>
<p>Northern Ireland is still dominated by sectarian identity politics, and its leaders play to ethnic-tribal constituencies rather than pursuing any moral vision of a shared society. </p>
<p>The DUP’s goal is less delivering a shared, united community than trumping the UUP – and the spectre of the Provisional IRA serves wonderfully the purpose of reproducing the identity politics of the past. Those who want a better future, it seems, can go hang while the battle over sectarian unionist loyalties rages on.</p>
<p>Herein is Sinn Féin’s problem. The party has not sufficiently convinced enough people that the war is over, which it needs to do if it wants to squash the farcical idea that the Provisional IRA wants to return to war.</p>
<p>The DUP and Sinn Féin need each other, because there is nowhere else for each to go. But even as they both recognise this, they will not admit it. Ethnic tribal divisions still triumph, and prop up a paradoxical status quo – at the cost of a better future for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Brewer receives funding from The Leverhulme Trust and the ESRC.</span></em></p>Stormont’s parties refuse to conduct politics in any mode besides crisis mode.John Brewer, Professor of Post Conflict Studies, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.