The North: A cautionary tale of reconciliation
THINK of the Northern peace process and what comes to mind? Blair and Ahern trumpeting success? One modelled on South Africa and a lesson for Israel and Palestine? Perhaps just Martin McGuinness’s attempts to make capital in the presidential election? What should come to mind is this: The triumph of tactics over vision or strategy.
Since the weekend, dozens of police officers have been injured after hundreds of organised loyalist rioters took to the streets, attacking a republican parade in honour of Henry Joy McCracken, suggesting that little has changed at street level — even among those too young to remember the devastation of IRA’s bombs, loyalist death squads, and the constant background threat of militarised policing.
