Corbyn and IRA

[TheGentleMoose]

AIBU to ask that someone please explain how he is allowed to lead a party after this?

"It can be disclosed that for seven years running, while the IRA “armed struggle” was at its height, Mr Corbyn attended and spoke at official republican commemorations to honour dead IRA terrorists, IRA “prisoners of war” and the active “soldiers of the IRA.”

The official programme for the 1988 event, held one week after the IRA murdered three British servicemen in the Netherlands, states that “force of arms is the only method capable of bringing about a free and united Socialist Ireland.” Mr Corbyn used the event to attack the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the precursor of the peace process."

Taken from a Telegraph article. I was unaware his support of the IRA was this involved until this morning.

I'm not a fan of Corbyn, but I don't have an issue over this.
Lots of people need to educate themselves about not just the Troubles, but the history of English oppression of the Irish. From the penal laws and great famine, to, after partition, gerrymandering, and violence from the RUC and the B-Specials.
And then British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians in 1972 and it was whitewashed by the British government.
Judgement of the IRA needs to be made within that context. When you know the context Corbyn's position is much more understandable to many.

@somerville - thank you for an informative post, I am going to read up on all the things you mention.

I am sorry Somerville all I remember as a child growing up in London was fear and terror of the bombs. And all remember is my uncle never walking again without pain and suffering ptsd after bomb went off. For having the audacity to go to work at his hotel job. Murder and assault can never be justified.

@deblet I don't think that was a justification from the poster's point of views, just the reasons why some people had no issue with him being head of a party. Or at least, minimal issue.

Judgement of the IRA needs to be made within that context. When you know the context Corbyn's position is much more understandable to many.

Not sure him bringing them to Parliament so soon after Brighton is understandable tbh. If I was Tebbitt for example, I would be particularly angry.

Context is important here, and you're not going to get that from the Telegraph. The following article gives a better perspective of Corbyn's association with the IRA, and with the media's obsession with rubbishing him.

www.opendemocracy.net/luke-davies/re-examining-corbyns-dangerous-friendships

It doesn't really matter if he had good intentions. He was so determined to be controversial and to go his own way that he did an incredibly offensive thing in inviting the IRA to the HOP.

He couldn't see that.

He has terrible judgment. Which is just one reason why he would be a terrible PM.

If he'd been in a less safe seat, somewhere much more marginal, would he have kept it? Same goes for his buddy Diane.

This and his other friendships will always get in the way even if he was proving to an excellent opposition leader which he is far far from being

He absolutely shouldn't be Labour leader and he will certainly never ever be PM and rightly so

People can easily forget but when Martin McGuinness died recently it what we did see is that people do remember and many are still angry and hurting

And his contacts with terrorist suppprters from the ME will not be ignored especially due to very recent history

The Tories are not going to let this information slip by if at anytime he catches up in the polls. His carefully managed reputation of being a principled man could so easily be trashed and I for one hope it is as the sooner labour get rid of this awful man the sooner we have a chance of getting back in power we have to now think of the next election this one thanks to Corbyn and co along with his supporters is a write off

It's interesting that the only relevance NI has to the UK elections is what people think about Jeremy Corbin. There is literally no force on earth that can get an English electorate interested in the fate of the place itself.

Good intentions yes Joan PR team have tried to spin that line

What utter rubbish he is an agitator who despises the west like his friend Ken I'm just telling the truth I'm not anti Semitic Livingston

He should have been kicked out of the Labour Party after his disgraceful meeting in the HOP so soon after the IRA

Tbh, I'm more concerned with our current government cosying up to the regime in Saudi, the regime that is responsible for the spread of Islamic terrorism and bankrolls IS.

^^
This!!!!

Very true Dusty.

Whilst you're reading up on those things OP, read up on the stories of the hundreds of innocent men, women and children who were slaughtered by the IRA.

Bombardier25966

That is just the same facts written by someone who comes to a different conclusion.

It doesn't change that Corbyn

• stood in silence to commemorate IRA terrorists. This is the same IRA that blew up British and Irish citizens, members of the British army, members of the legitimate Irish army, murdered Irish police officers while robbing banks in Ireland to fund their activities and let's not forget kidnapping people for ransom and murdering innocent people and not even having the decency to tell people where they were buried. Or maybe you just take the BS Sinn Fein line that they were casualties of war!
• a couple of weeks after the IRA tried to murder the democraticly elected British government he invited Gerry Adams, a well known IRA commander (let him sue me if he dares!), to the British parliament. I don't care if they were discussing a teddybears picnic it was a disgusting thing to do.

I am sorry Somerville all I remember as a child growing up in London was fear and terror of the bombs. And all remember is my uncle never walking again without pain and suffering ptsd after bomb went off. For having the audacity to go to work at his hotel job. Murder and assault can never be justified.

I grew up in a nationalist community in Northern Ireland and the fear and terror was caused by the British army. I know countless people who's pain and suffering was caused by them. What's your point?

And frankly I don't give a shit why he did it, as a British MP he legitimised what Adams et all were doing and he knew that.
The didn't mean no harm defence is no defence.

The myth of Corbyn and his 'support' for terrorism has been debunked to death, if you could only be bothered to do some research OP (and no, not via the Torygraph). You do realise that Thatcher (she who expressly supported General Pinochet - a fascist maniac who was responsible for the murder and disappearance of thousands of Chileans?!), Major and Blair all held secret talks with the IRA to further the peace process. Discussions with terrorists are unfortunately often necessary in order to bring about peace, see also Hamas and Hezbollah.

As another poster above said - how can Corbyn be both a pacifist and support terrorist violence?! Doesn't that perhaps hint at the sloppy and biased, not to mention highly distorted account of his views and ideas????

If you still don't have an inkling after reading the other posts on this subject on this thread, then I doubt I can help you understand @TheGentleMoose, but it does rather prove the point that you know very little about NI.

"see also Hamas and Hezbollah. "

Corbyn's links?

@FlaviaAlbia - I never said I knew a lot about Northern Ireland. I didn't realise it was a requirement of being a mumsnet member.

Ffs Major and Blair along with other senior members of parliament were involved in the peace talks of course manu were kept secret there were very high security risks not comparable at all you are not stupid you know the difference

Did you not see the interesting interview with Andrew Neil

Yes have been debunked by who his PR team

@ChesGuitarra21 Please share links where this myth has been debunked to death, it certainly looks like that meeting took place from everything I've read so far.

If they're now digging up IRA stuff on Corbyn they're obviously getting really worried about him winning.

ahahahahahahahaha.....

Whatever you might think of Corbyn and his policies, it should concern everyone who cares about democracy and a free press that these McCarthy era scare tactics, and ideologically motivated slander are allowed to go unchallenged in the press.

For the record - Corbyn has repeatedly condemned "all bombing" carried out by the IRA (this is a matter of public record and can be checked by looking at Hansard records of Parliamentary debate), but has insisted that Britain acknowledge the role that atrocities in Ireland such as Bloody Sunday and the treatment of IRA prisoners played in the Troubles and in the radicalisation of the IRA. Whatever your take on this, it is fundamentally dishonest and intellectually lazy to claim that this amounts to terrorist sympathising and I for one am sick of it!

Can we also be clear that when he "invited" the IRA to the Westminster after the Brighton bombings it was to discuss prison condition and the rehabilitation of prisoners. This is entirely consistent with his stated views that countering terrorism with violence only propagates it, something that we are repeatedly seeing to be true across the world from 9/11 to Afghanistan and Syria.

If indeed Corbyn and McDonnell have had close links to the IRA then I would expect to see better evidence of it, than random quotes taken out of context and his stance as an advocate of non-violent negotiations.

Ironically OP, I imagine you see nothing wrong with Cameron, May et al voting to bomb Syria and then refusing to take Britain's share of the refugees. If we wanted to create a new generation of terrorists we are going precisely the right way about it!!!

Sadly, it's not. So people are free to start threads with faux innocence using our history and policies to have have a dig at their politicians while not actually giving a shite about the people and country that were affected most by the people involved.