Fenian Notes

John Hume has sullied Republicanism and served to divide and conquer. He is not a man of peace. To show this what follows reveals what Hume is all about. Some of the facts have been stated in previous pieces, but the attempt has been made to solidify the egregious role Hume played over the years:

John Hume is caricatured as some kind of saint by the American media and fearful politicians, but is Hume the subtle devil instead and a British one at that. Whenever the British make a serious mistake in judgement or an intentionally insensitive decision, Hume becomes their ultimate apologist, especially in the States to offset Republicans.

One would think that a politician trying to co-opt the Gandhi pacifist mantle would be an activist, but not so with Hume. You will not see Hume leading the mob in demonstrations against injustice, but you might find him having tea with the perpetrators.

The Hume phenomena is a creation of London and Dublin and he serves their purpose(s). Since Hume took command of the SDLP it has been a beacon of British rule. It is a full member of the British political establishment, and successive British prime ministers are assured that no matter what they do, the SDLP will never encourage resistance.

While Gandhi confronted the British by active resistance, taking physical beatings and imprisonment as a courageous pacifist, John Hume is not to be found near the gap of danger, Hume is not a leader, but a reactor to events presented to him.

On this side of the Atlantic, he has set out to divide the Irish-American community with some startling success. John Hume first came to the US in the mid ’70s to undo what the Irish lobby had accomplished in the name of Irish Republicanism.

Hume has no political philosophy only to continue to strive and serve within the British system. He has never declared himself to be on a course to destroy the British administration in the north. No action on his part has been anti-British.

One would not be stretching the truth to say John Hume is a British nationalist. He is very comfortable with Tony Blair both personally and philosophically.

The actions of John Hume must be carefully evaluated because he has had a destructive effect on the progress of Ireland to re-unite. The crafty Hume has played many hands to prevent Irish unity.

In the 1970s, the Irish American activist groups were Republican and openly sympathetic to both political, Sinn Féin, and military, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), American supporters organised politically and were somewhat successful which alarmed Dublin and London.

Hume was used by the British and Free State to spread disinformation among members of the US Congress to diffuse the Irish lobby. Hume was well financed with money emanating chiefly from Dublin. Too close an association with London would only hurt the efforts against Irish Americans.

What the Brits and Free State hoped to accomplish was to demonise Republicanism and to present a pacifist non-violent Irish nationalism that could be manipulated and controlled. Hume, with no agenda other than self-perpetuation, was given entree to top US politicians by the two governments pulling the strings.

Hume pigeonholed people like Tip O’Neill, Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd among others and persuaded them that there was illegal activity being conducted by those who had been lobbying them. These men were easily persuaded because they really didn’t want to stick their necks out and do the right thing, instead, they opted for the safety of non-controversial uncommitted support.

As far back as the ’70s groundwork was being laid for a slowly evolving group of high-placed politicians who would demonise any activity by Republicans which they stated resulted in violence. On the reverse side, atrocities by the British were lightly cited, noted, perhaps criticised, then ignored.

The sainthood of non-violence was meant to be set as criteria for visas, for access to government officials, and for favourable treatment by the media. All this was manipulated by US, British and Free State intelligence groups.

In the Free State it was the Special Branch, in the US, it was the CIA/FBI; and the Brits, in control, had MI5, MI6 in full operation.

LINK MAN

The Hume non-violence-non-philosophy used peace as an ultimate goal of the so-called “troubles” and submerged Irish unity as a non-attainable goal although nationalists could discuss it as a dream. But was peace really a concern?

Irish Republicans, real true ones, want a permanent lasting peace with justice with self-determination for the 32-county Island. This is real peace.

The “peace process” on the other hand, talk peace, but is that what they really want, or is it peace in a narrow self-serving context that only perpetuates the ascent of another disaster. British and NATO tacticians benefit militarily with experimentation on Irish laboratory experiments which the North has been. This is cynical, but sadly true.

The present peace process is bogus, unlike prior attempts that had a permanent long-range solution to insure tranquillity that would terminate recurring hostilities. The Provos of the 1970s talked with the British on the premise of a withdrawal. In the later part of the ’70s as a next step, US congressmen offered to have a peace conference in Washington, DC. This proposal of the Congress was a significant achievement and had as a premise, a British withdrawal. The precedent catalyst of a peace process long established even back prior to partition was a British withdrawal.

In 1916, the die was cast to remove the British and in 1922, this was done in three quarters of Ireland, but the peace conference was in London, an adversarial venue, the present series of endless nonsensical talks is in Belfast, a seat of hostility.

The beauty of the 1978 proposal to sit warring parties at a conference table was to be in a neutral setting without obvious pressures. The various military factions, UDA, UVF, Red Hand Commando, the INLA and the IRA were all amenable to the proposal. Other political groups assented, but were a secondary consideration. The British and Free State Governments were to send representatives.

Think of it, all those shooting at one another were prepared to negotiate and they were the ones, who counted. Immediately, you ask why didn’t this happen?

The various army factions had agreed that the British were a detriment, but the dividing factor was the make-up of the island’s governing apparatus. The loyalists wanted two Irish co-existing States on the island and the Republicans wanted a federal Ireland with strong provincial autonomy. Now, this certainly leaves viable points of negotiation because all the “gunmen” agreed on a British withdrawal.

OK, back to why it didn’t happen. The two government’s saw control slipping out of their hands and into the hands of the people and self-interest rose and took hold.

And here comes the man of peace, John Hume, to be the frontman of the two governments and lead the destruction of a real attempt at peace with justice. The US Government announced that the so-called paramilitary leaders and their political counterparts would not get US visas.

The British-influenced State Department went into overdrive to protect British interests and, by this, Free State interests. John Hume came with his bag of lies and half-truths to besmirch those who tried to bring about real peace.

These same people who wanted a peace with justice destroyed are now in favour of the peace at any price process. What a disgrace. Men like John Hume prolonged the agony of war because they would not give peace with justice a chance.

Nineteen years and the death of many can be laid at the feet of the John Humes. Now, these same peace perverts want us to believe they believe in peace.

Hume comes to sell his goods in the States whenever he has a mind to do so, but he keeps those with significant peace plans out. This present peace process is an insult and an affront to those of good faith who were prepared to stick their necks out to bring long-term peace with justice. Instead of that, the “peace process” only offers a stepping stone at best, but in reality aims to bring the enemies of partition into the fold of the status quo.

My belief is the US in the 1970s could have been the honest broker in a real effort at peace. No-one asked for a ceasefire; no-one asked for decommissioning of arms. They only asked those at war to come and talk.

The hard men were willing, but the soft men balked because they had a political interest in prolonging the war. To prolong the agony they buy their own peace without any filial consideration.

Many people have contributed to the furtherance of Irish disunity, but no-one worse than John Hume. If he and his cohorts really believed in peace, they would have tried any possibility to achievement, but the truth abscessed.

Twenty years later, we have regressed to talk about semantics and preconditions, when it was possible for a far better solution to have happened because 20 years ago men, hard men were prepared to be reasonable.

Solutions were the diet in peace possibilities in 1977/78, but in 1997, there is talk of settlement. Political prostitutes permeate today and they have brought intransigence. The peace process is a minus and moves the ideal of Irish unity off the table of reality. Those who want the peace process to succeed want the Irish nation to recede.

On this side of the ocean, we must be cautious in our support and not be blinded by fools who have played coup on the leadership position. Leadership goes forward, not in reverse. The leadership of Sinn Féin from its 1905 founding through a reaffirmation of its values in 1986 by Republican Sinn Féin, there has been an unbroken chain of progress and legitimacy. Nationalism, in the Hume equation would set back the struggle.

Like the Treaty of 1922, the “Peace Process”, Treaty II, clearly has as its aim making partition acceptable and permanent. The truth about Hume and his dealings with US and British intelligence must be exposed. A member of the US Senate Committee on intelligence has fingered Hume as quite informing on the issue of Irish Republican personalities in the States and in Ireland.

John Hume is a master of misinformation. The denial of visas over the years to Republicans is to eliminate Hume’s competition for the ear of Congress, thereby giving Hume the clear road to say what he will and go unchallenged on a level of “parity of credibility”.

Go back again to the 1970s and Hume was queried then if he was in favour of the proposed peace conference in Washington. He responded and said he did not think the US should be involved in a primary role regarding the North and he said there were no conditions placed on the “paramilitaries” and there must be.

Well, the present endless talks are carved in the mould of John Hume with preconditions and the US has a primary role. Participants be wary because the Americans are associates of John Hume.

Hume is playing the unionists off against the Republicans and has the Americans convinced he is the moderate middle, the middle in the North prolongs the quagmire. Better the hard men of one persuasion take the day in real negotiation, than status quo.

When logic and truth are given their day in a fair court of public opinion, federalism surely will prevail. Federalism has proven a winner in the diverse society in the USA, and by example can be transposed on Ireland in an Irish context, not an American one. Now, let us sit back and watch the “Peace Process” fail justice.
— Peadar Mac Fhínín