Defending the workers… February 11, 2019
Posted by guestposter in Uncategorized.trackback
Braney remained under surveillance and had no previous convictions until he was caught again two years later intimidating and threatening a man in Co Meath who had put in a claim against his employer.
The man had fallen off a roof after the overhang gave way. His employer didn’t pay his wages and he needed to pay his hospital bills.
Braney and another man, Ciaran Maguire from Kippure Park in Finglas, travelled to the village of Longwood in August 2017 and told the man they were the IRA.
He was threatened that if he didn’t drop the claim he would be shot. Both men were sentenced to more than four years in prison.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
The RIRA/NIRA formation, at least in the case of the Dublin/Cork/Limerick adherents, reminds me more and more of the INLA/IPLO in the late 1980s and 1990s. Gangsters posing as revolutionaries. (P)IRA had its own dubious rackets and fringe element, and plenty of mainstream abusers of their position and muscle in the (P)RM, but nothing like the RIRA/NIRA grouping.
The thing that puzzles me is that most Saoradh people seem pretty genuine in their “revolutionary republicanism” and that includes the ones whose role shades into more direct action. Yet, for the sake of the income required to sustain their movement, they are prepared to turn a blind eye to the criminal gun-culture craziness in Dublin and elsewhere that RIRA/NIRA is part of.
And there are some very dangerous people, some genuine and well-known sociopaths, now hiding under the RIRA/NIRA flag, whether formal members or adjuncts.
Surely they themselves can see that all this is counterproductive to their own cause? If cause they have?
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It’s amazing the contradictions, as you say. And as you say it’s weirdly like the INLA/IPLO, a layer of very committed left wingers and then… not. I’d have deep concerns for anyone who got roped in.
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Military wings seem to be a bad idea in general, no?
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“This book discusses the development of ‘dissident’ Irish republicanism and considers its impact on politics throughout Ireland since the 1980s. …
It shows that the ‘dissidents’ are much more than traditionalist irreconcilables left behind by Gerry Adams’ entry into the mainstream. Instead the book suggests that the dynamics and trajectory of ‘dissident’ republicanism are shaped more by contemporary forces than historical tradition and that by understanding the “dissidents” we can better understand the emerging forms of political challenge in an age of austerity and increasing political instability internationally.”
http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719096983/
“The book was launched at Linenhall Library last night by Ms McGlinchey’s former academic mentor and Queen’s University professor Paul Bew, known as Lord Bew.”
https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/02/02/news/hardline-republicans-contribute-to-unique-new-book-1542089/
‘This book provides insight into the Provisional-‘dissident’ divide regarding tactics-versus-principles, a debate which strikes fundamentally to the heart of republicanism. …
This book locates ‘dissident’ republicanism historically, within the long trajectory of republican struggle, and demonstrates the cyclical nature of key debates within the republican leadership.’
https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/publications/unfinished-business-the-politics-of-dissident-irish-republicanism
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A friend of mine was at the launch – said it v interesting – a lot of old line republicans there (ie pre 60s thinking)
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Pre 60s, that’s going back awhile, more than 50 yrs. Maybe some lessons have been learned in the interim. Brexit exposes the reality of partition and so the perennial Irish question is again at issue. With the UK leaving the EU, whether by a hard or soft exit, NI will be pulled towards Britain and ROI towards Europe; and this will affect politics, North and South, and East and West. It will be interesting to see how Irish republicanism, traditional and otherwise, reacts.
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