A storm at Stormont
Today was exciting. I met a friend for lunch at the Northern Ireland Assembly, where she works. I went into the lobby to meet her and found a few dozen reporters and camera crews. Apparently there was about to be a big announcement. So you don't get only photos of the incredibly ornate assembly building but also action shots!
To set the scene, father-of-nine Jack McGuigan was murdered a few weeks ago in a Catholic neighbourhood in Belfast, apparently in retaliation for the murder last year of fellow former IRA member Jock Davison. The police are saying that former IRA members are fighting for personal gain (drugs, smuggling, that kind of thing), not political reasons. However one of the two unionist parties in the assembly (unionists want to remain in a union with Great Britain) came to the mic to announce that it was pulling out of the government because the murders prove the provisional IRA has not disbanded as agreed to in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The man facing the cameras is an Ulster Unionist Party leader.
So then Sinn Fein comes to the mic to respond. Sinn Fein is a nationalist party, meaning it seeks union with the Republic of Ireland. It is seen by unionists as being in league with the IRA.
Speaking is Gerry Kelly, who says the unionists are just posturing ahead of elections. Since the Protestant paramilitaries do a fair amount of killing to protect illegal rackets, it's hard for me to see what the unionists' point is. The UUP withdrawal could bring down the government, you see.
So Gerry Kelly went to jail at age 19 for being part of the Old Bailey bombing in London, which killed one and injured 200. He was sent to prison in the U.K. then, after a hunger strike, was sent to the Maze, a notorious prison in N.I. Wikipedia picks up the story 10 years on in 1983: "Kelly, along with 37 other republican prisoners, armed with six handguns, hijacked a prison meals lorry and smashed their way out of HMP Maze past 40 prison wardens and 28 alarm systems. During the escape Kelly shot and injured a prison warden in the head as the officer attempted to foil the escape. After the mass break-out Kelly was on the run for three years and again became involved in an active service unit in Europe. ... On 16 January 1986, Kelly was recaptured in the Netherlands along with Brendan "Bik" McFarlane at their flat in Amsterdam. At the time of their arrest, cash in several currencies, maps and fake passports and the keys to a storage container holding 14 rifles, 100,000 rounds of ammunition and nitrobenzene were recovered by the Dutch police. On 4 December 1986, the pair were extradited from the Netherlands to the UK by RAF helicopter and returned to the Maze prison. On 2 June 1989 Kelly was released in line with the extradition conditions agreed with the Dutch authorities."
You can't make this stuff up. So, our politicians have a lot of "character." Standing next to him is Carál Ní Chuilín (AKA Carol Cullen), who also did time for planting a bomb. Former paramilitaries from both sides of the conflict helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement and entered politics after it was signed. So each side has to look at the other and figure out if they've really gone straight or if they continue to provide aid and comfort to the people carrying on the armed struggle--even though that struggle seems to have largely turned inward within each community.
My friend and I had lunch in the staff cafeteria, where a lot of the people who participated in the press conferences came afterwards. It was a real House of Cards moment for me. After lunch, I asked a security guard to take my photo, which he very kindly did--in two directions.
Does this dress make me look dizzy?
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