Weelll….nothing you have written about Corbyn et al’s actual responses is untrue. But look, I am probably a little bit older than you so I not only remember ALL the progress of The Troubles and as it happens, the causes and early history on the IRA in the 20th century was the subject of my dissertation for my journalism degree. Anyway, the thing is, the reasons Corbyn and his colleagues do not make these comments are nothing to do with them approving of violence, by the IRA or Hamas or anyone else. They are nothing to do with arrogance or not caring about the ‘insult’ which the Northern Irish have chosen to take from their position.
It is to do with the delicate issue of not dwelling, embittered and unforgiving, in the past, to the point where no progress can be made.
I have since leaving journalism been engaged in a very different profession, one where daily, I encourage people to engage with perceived ‘enemies’, seeing them not as some infantile notion of ‘evil’, perpetrated by religion, which we know is the major justification for ‘troubles’ in countries like Ireland and Israel/Palestine, of course, but to see people as three dimensional Other Humans who if approached with calm, reasonable, patient, but strong and boundaried positive attitude will be able to drop their weapons and end the cycle of violence.
What you have written above about people who have sustained horrific and tragic personal losses is undermining of the overall position of Corbyn’s ‘new politics’ really. We should be talking and writing about the ravage of our country now going on, not what happened in Ireland a generation ago.
People love revenge and hatred, and oh, nobody knows more than I what good copy it makes. I of course worked in Fleet Street etc., which in it’s day was valid. You are writing a self employed blog, I feel you have something to learn.
Undermining Corbyn on the slender premise that he might have upset people in Ireland seems cheap to me. By the way, some of us do understand what a lot of ‘the troubles’ very quickly became about: on both sides, an excuse to commit crime, an excuse to enrich and empower bullies in disadvantaged areas or Northern Ireland by pretending to engage in a ‘political struggle.’ I’ve been in a bar in Northern Ireland where I’ve been physically threatened for refusing to put cash in the collection for ‘the boys’. And I’ve been spat at for having an English acccent in the centre of Dublin too.
It would be obvious for Jeremy to not respond as he did, not because he has something to feel guilty about, or because he doesn’t care, but he doesn’t align with the current NeoCon status quo which would require him to engage in the sad, daily, toxic politics which says any excuse to do the other ‘side’ down. He did not respond because there’s no point.