Soldier of life
4th January 2011, 23:32
Haven't posted here for a while and have been perusing the site. I came across a thread on punishment shootings in Belfast, and saw the republican socialist position totally misrepresented.
Here is the OP from the thread:
I read a thread there about a punishment shooting in Belfast recently and I have to say, some of the weak liberal posts on the thread were deeply embarrassing.
For a start, some so called "Leftist" activists criticised the move. I care to point out that these Republican Socialist volunteers were approached by their community as a collective, and asked to deal with these threats to the community. This civil administration was carried out at the behest of the community of Ardoyne. Surely, if collectivism chose the use of this punishment for these criminals and deviants, the Republican socialist volunteers had to engage in this civil administration?
Moreover, as Republican Socialists, action to deal with these anti-social elements has to be swift, such is the nature of the struggle in Ireland. The IRA cannot be expected to imprison or reform these "people" (and I use that term loosely) as they simply do not have the time or resources to accomplish this feat.
Lastly, Republican socialists are taking revolutionary action on the streets, which is actually beneficial to their communities, both politically and other. I wish to ask how many psuedo-revolutionaries who attack their actions as "reactionary" actually realise that their responses are the same as the actual reactionaries in Ireland who illegally imprison and torture Irish people daily? Care to point out how your internet activism actually helps anyone,bar your ego?The first thing I would point out is that none of those who carry out punishment attacts are approached by the community as a 'collective', that is fantasy and in practical terms just does not happen.
The OP also lambasts posters here for calling the actions of these people 'reactionary' and seeks to place them on a level footing as the capitalists and imperialists. This is a ridiculous assertion.
These actions are 100% reactionary for many reasons. Punishment attacks are a left over symptom of traditional republican militarism, where rather than politically and socially analysing the situation, they see the problem through the narrow prism of militarism.
The source of drug problems and the need for escapism can be found in the inequality produced by the capitalist system. It is a systemic issue closely tied to the institutions of capitalism. The facts reflect this. For example in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison 90% of inmates can be traced to 6 specific 'hotspots' in Dublin city, uncoincidentally 6 of the most deprived areas of Dublin. And of course the vast majority of these inmates are involved with drugs at one point or another. Drugs are a symptom of the overall problem, poverty and inequality, and shooting individual dealers does absolutely nothing to address the problem, it is a reactionary attempt to gain cheap support, which is often completely unsuccessful.
In 2009 over €1 billion worth of drugs was found by the 26 county state, over €1 billion. And what effect did it have on pricing or supply in the South, absolutely zero. So it boggles the mind in that context to think that shooting one or two low level pushers is going to change things one iota.
Another point is, these people operate in conspiratorial armed groups that by nature are totally unaccountable to the community. That is not socialist. These attacks are largely sporadic and they beg the question, who chooses the target for example? There are thousands and thousands of drug dealers in every province in Ireland, why pick out one or two? The danger remains that these attacks could be used as a flag of convenience to take out someone they have a personal issue with. The issue is accountability, and these groups are not accountable.
The republican socialist stance is not what is outlined in the quoted post. The republican socialist approach to this is not to tackle the symptom through militarism in the hope of garnering support, but tackling the source of the problem, namely the capitalist system. The source of the problem is the inequality endemic to deprived areas because of the system. Therefore it is the system that must be challenged. Republican socialists must organise in their communities to empower them and to tackle the drug problem in the short term, but also in this organisation and empowerment of the community, we can lay down the framework for the socialist society we envisage, with equality, democracy and an accountable method of policing communities.
The role of republican socialists is not to act like a death squad apart from our class, taking action on their behalf[though that is often disputed] but to offer leadership and to help empower them to act in their own interests and tackle the true source of their problems. Republican socialism has well and truly been misrepresented in the post I quoted above.
Here is the OP from the thread:
I read a thread there about a punishment shooting in Belfast recently and I have to say, some of the weak liberal posts on the thread were deeply embarrassing.
For a start, some so called "Leftist" activists criticised the move. I care to point out that these Republican Socialist volunteers were approached by their community as a collective, and asked to deal with these threats to the community. This civil administration was carried out at the behest of the community of Ardoyne. Surely, if collectivism chose the use of this punishment for these criminals and deviants, the Republican socialist volunteers had to engage in this civil administration?
Moreover, as Republican Socialists, action to deal with these anti-social elements has to be swift, such is the nature of the struggle in Ireland. The IRA cannot be expected to imprison or reform these "people" (and I use that term loosely) as they simply do not have the time or resources to accomplish this feat.
Lastly, Republican socialists are taking revolutionary action on the streets, which is actually beneficial to their communities, both politically and other. I wish to ask how many psuedo-revolutionaries who attack their actions as "reactionary" actually realise that their responses are the same as the actual reactionaries in Ireland who illegally imprison and torture Irish people daily? Care to point out how your internet activism actually helps anyone,bar your ego?The first thing I would point out is that none of those who carry out punishment attacts are approached by the community as a 'collective', that is fantasy and in practical terms just does not happen.
The OP also lambasts posters here for calling the actions of these people 'reactionary' and seeks to place them on a level footing as the capitalists and imperialists. This is a ridiculous assertion.
These actions are 100% reactionary for many reasons. Punishment attacks are a left over symptom of traditional republican militarism, where rather than politically and socially analysing the situation, they see the problem through the narrow prism of militarism.
The source of drug problems and the need for escapism can be found in the inequality produced by the capitalist system. It is a systemic issue closely tied to the institutions of capitalism. The facts reflect this. For example in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison 90% of inmates can be traced to 6 specific 'hotspots' in Dublin city, uncoincidentally 6 of the most deprived areas of Dublin. And of course the vast majority of these inmates are involved with drugs at one point or another. Drugs are a symptom of the overall problem, poverty and inequality, and shooting individual dealers does absolutely nothing to address the problem, it is a reactionary attempt to gain cheap support, which is often completely unsuccessful.
In 2009 over €1 billion worth of drugs was found by the 26 county state, over €1 billion. And what effect did it have on pricing or supply in the South, absolutely zero. So it boggles the mind in that context to think that shooting one or two low level pushers is going to change things one iota.
Another point is, these people operate in conspiratorial armed groups that by nature are totally unaccountable to the community. That is not socialist. These attacks are largely sporadic and they beg the question, who chooses the target for example? There are thousands and thousands of drug dealers in every province in Ireland, why pick out one or two? The danger remains that these attacks could be used as a flag of convenience to take out someone they have a personal issue with. The issue is accountability, and these groups are not accountable.
The republican socialist stance is not what is outlined in the quoted post. The republican socialist approach to this is not to tackle the symptom through militarism in the hope of garnering support, but tackling the source of the problem, namely the capitalist system. The source of the problem is the inequality endemic to deprived areas because of the system. Therefore it is the system that must be challenged. Republican socialists must organise in their communities to empower them and to tackle the drug problem in the short term, but also in this organisation and empowerment of the community, we can lay down the framework for the socialist society we envisage, with equality, democracy and an accountable method of policing communities.
The role of republican socialists is not to act like a death squad apart from our class, taking action on their behalf[though that is often disputed] but to offer leadership and to help empower them to act in their own interests and tackle the true source of their problems. Republican socialism has well and truly been misrepresented in the post I quoted above.