Originally Posted by
Tengah Type
Can we please ressurect Nelson Mandela to produce a new "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" as in South Africa. That seems to be the best way ( in recent times )
to accept that all sides are equally to be responsable for the past "Troubles" and to let "Bygones be Bygones".
I had high hopes that this is what might have come out of the GFA, but it seems that was far too big a stretch. Much good has come from the GFA, though, I think the only major issue is the one-sided nature of the cancellation of past crimes.
Originally Posted by
Readthebigbreach
Northern Ireland is not a two sided sectarian soccer match. It has a population of over 1.5 million people. The vast majority have never held a weapon or inflicted violence on another human. The vast majority simply want to be left alone to mind their own business and make a living for themselves and their family. This man was one of them. A bigot imposes an identity on his victim to allow his uncontrolled emotional thinking to compensate his lack of reality.
I agree, and having some in-depth knowledge of many of the finer points of criminality involved (my family live within a couple of km of the border with South Armagh) I despair at the way the media had always tried to emphasise The Troubles as being a two sided sectarian war. The British media, in particular, rarely seemed to report on the massive amount of organised crime going on, most of it not specific to one sectarian group or another, just criminals taking advantage of the no-go areas and the general break down in law and order. By contrast, the criminal stuff, particularly associated with cross-border activities, was never out of the news when we were still living near the border.
I've also long felt that the RUC was far from being squeaky clean. As another has pointed out, the UK armed forces there were effectively under some degree of control by the RUC, but as a police force there were parts of the RUC that were as corrupt as hell. I knew one fairly senior RUC officer for a time (married a cousin of mine) and remember going to his house one evening and being shocked to see a massive UVF flag hanging on the wall in his hall. The UVF at was a prohibited terrorist organisation, yet here was a n RUC police officer more or less openly telling anyone that visited that he was either a member or a supporter. Nothing to do with religion, either, he didn't believe in a god any more than I do.
The whole thing is a bloody mess. No one side is right or wrong, all are as bad as each other. Looking at the demographic changes in the population and the impact of Brexit it would not surprise me at all to find that the idea of re-unifying the island of Ireland starts to look more attractive. I've no view one way or the other about that, but can see that there are a lot of issues caused by Brexit than may well cause some to question very long held beliefs.