Left Archive: The Workers’ Party against Terrorism, The Workers’ Party, c. 1990 December 5, 2016
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To download the above please click on the following link. wp-terr-leflt
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Many thanks to the person who forwarded this to the Archive.wp-terr-leflt
This short leaflet which is undated is entitled the Workers’ Party against Terrorism – A Democratic Convention in defence of Public Life.
It asks;
Are all those who act as representatives of the public interest in NI prepared to continue to as powerless spectators and side-line commentators while gangs of vicious psychopaths dominate our society and create a terror-laden climate against public life here?
It continues:
The WP is not alone in saying that simple denunciations of violence are not enough, but we do say that it si essential to look beyond condemnation to a positive programme of action for peace…
And:
The WP in the past has called for the formation of a Democratic Convention. It has note been possible for the WP to organise such a body unilaterally… it requires the committed involvement of a broad range of political figures and groups, of trade unions, of the different churches, of people active in social and cultural fields within the community…
It calls for rejection of terrorism, support for the police and opposition to forces who ‘promote prejudice’. It also calls for support for the Peace Train Organisation.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
Grrrrrr!
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I get where it was coming from at least broadly – a revulsion at violence but the reference to supporting the police seems at this remove to be the triumph of optimism over experience and even at the time I remember it seemed way wide of the mark – to me at least. And moreover what traction did such appeals have, little to none.
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Just on the physical document itself, it’s interesting it uses the party logo everywhere as an end-marker/fleuron thing.
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Great stuff. Still proud to have been a member of a Party that stood for peace and against terrorism during those terrible years. And happy to see that a few short years after this particular initiative, the slow learners finally learned.
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The Peace Train lot were, to use the vernacular, ‘useful idiots’. It’s no coincidence that they included known southern loyalists, and ignored British and loyalist violence (as well as the underlying causes of the conflict).
Also; when did the OIRA disarm? Anyone got a date for their decommissioning?
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OIRA – the real undefeated army
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The OIRA or elements of the WP or whatever it was may have been doing some or even all of the things you allege, Roddy. The PIRA and the INLA and the UVF and the UDA were all killing and maiming people. Vicious, naked sectarian murder by both sides. All those dead people, all their surviving but still suffering relatives and friends.
The WP call was Stop The Killing. The Peace Train the same. Jesus Christ, apologists for sectarian murder make me sick.
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Ah bollix. That one above was in answer to Roddy.
This is for EWI – “useful idiots”?, I invite you to say that to my face the next time we meet.
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I was going to let this go with my “grrrr” comment but no it is not “great stuff”.The WP at that time was up to it’s neck in rackateering and thuggery on the streets of Belfast ,often involving dividing up areas with the sectarian butchers of the UVF They even went as far as swapping weapons on occasion.Urging support for the most discredited police force in Europe ,a police force that was so corrupt that it had to be effectively disbanded for any peace settlement to occur and organising “peace trains” again involving front men for loyalist killers and the most despicable elements of politics north and south.
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The thing about uniting against terrorism – as I wrote in 2005 – is that it’s not a political position. Everyone can agree that indiscriminately killing people so as to influence a larger group of people and achieve a political end is evil; as I said in the linked blog post, “one of its distinguishing qualities is that of being unforgivable”. But:
like other forms of violence, acts of terror are always meaningful. The act was committed by a certain group, with its own aims and its own history; certain targets were chosen; the effect of the act was to shift the balance of power in particular ways; some causes were furthered and others hindered. In practice, this means that ‘unforgivable’ is not the end of the story. From London to Madrid to Algiers to Deir Yassin to Fallujah to Srebrenica to the via Fani to Brighton to Omagh to the Milltown Cemetery, we have always to ask (we cannot help asking), unforgivable and… what?
The fact that opposition to terrorism isn’t political also means that there’s no political programme that consists of opposing all terrorism equally.
If your opposition to terrorism has political implications – to reduce the amount of terror in the world, we should change this and this – the chances are that you’ve brought those conclusions to your stance on terror, not derived them from it.
I was bright in those days!
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So the attacking of the British government at Brighton was indiscriminate?
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No, but the second Warrington bomb was. I think that whatever one’s stance on the past everyone can be happy that those days are gone.
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Just in case there is any confusion, I never want to see another shot fired or another explosion ever again ,either here or in Britain but there has been some total horseshit talked on the subject of “terrorism”.Every political formation on this island bar possibly the greens has at some point in it’s history supported armed groups which have committted unspeakable acts both here and abroad.Every legitimate conflict and uprising worldwide has seen actions carried out that can never be justified and to try and pick and choose as to what constitutes “terrorism” is contemptible.The only grouping that would have any credibility on the issue on this island would be the quakers.
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Although Bulmer Hobson put a dent in their reputation for non-violence when he helped found the Irish Volunteers.
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-Castro told Gerry Adams that “progressive struggles would never again be won by armed actions” but by “ideas and mobilisations”….
and that he saw climate change and neo-liberalism as the greatest threats to humanity.-
http://www.irishnews.com/news/worldnews/2016/12/01/news/gerry-adams-recalls-conversations-with-fidel-castro-813891/
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Joe ,the wp was saying “stop the killing” whilst operating joint enterprises with the sectarian butchers of the uvf,joint enterprises which financed these butchers and supplying these butchers with guns they swapped.They were also urging support for the RUC which was up to it’s neck also in collusion with these butchers.,so please stop your hypocritical hand wringing.
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Are you going to set “groupB” on EWI?
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Lads and lasses, I’m going on me Christmas holliers early. I’ll see yis in the New Year. Peace and goodwill to all.
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Well if you’re going on holiday early finish the damned book! But we love ya Joe.
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Have a good one, Joe.
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Nollaig shona duit.
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“Washington, D.C., police arrested a North Carolina man armed with an assault rifle on Sunday afternoon in front of Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria that had been targeted by fake news stories….
One or more shots were fired, according to interim D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham, but no one was injured. A total of three weapons were retrieved after the man was left the restaurant and surrendered. Welch, police said, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon….
For weeks, Comet Ping Pong has been the victim of baseless news stories about Hillary Clinton trafficking children in the local D.C. restaurant’s back rooms.”
http://www.politico.com/armed-man-arrested-near-dc-pizzeria-targeted-by-fake-news
Gen. Michael Flynn “had twice used Twitter to promote similar, only slightly less outrageous hoaxes in the past month, including a claim that Clinton’s campaign manager takes part in occult rituals in which bodily fluids are consumed…
, said former State Department policy adviser Peter Singer, one of many people who publicly lambasted Flynn after Sunday’s shooting.
“We are talking about some of the most bizarre conspiracy theories out there. We are down the rabbit hole. How can you take him seriously when he is discussing people in D.C. drinking human blood? ..
While Flynn never promoted the pizza rumors himself, his son Michael Flynn Jr. has done so directly, including Sunday night.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michael-flynn-conspiracy-pizzeria-trump-232227
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Sorry, wrong thread. Should be on ‘what you want to say’
http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/the-age-of-donald-trump-and-pizzagate
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