Archivo etiqueta «Irlanda del Norte»
Por Rafael Leonisio, investigador del departamento de Ciencia Política de la UPV-EHU (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 10/03/09):
Ya han transcurrido casi 15 años desde el inicio del proceso de paz en Irlanda del Norte. Son muchas las cosas que han pasado desde entonces: rupturas de treguas, escisiones en grupos terroristas, atentados brutales o el paso al crimen organizado de antiguas bandas terroristas. El 3 de septiembre de 2008 la Comisión de Supervisión Independiente (IMC), organización creada en 2004 por los gobiernos británico e irlandés para supervisar el desarme de los grupos paramilitares norirlandeses, emitió su decimonoveno informe. En él afirmó … Seguir leyendo
By David Aaronovitch (THE TIMES, 10/03/09):
Don’t we know, for we are told it often enough, that however unjustified terrorism is, it springs from real social and political conditions? That this is the sequence: from the feeling of grievance, through a growing belief in the need for violence, finally to the subsequent act of terror? From this it follows, solve the grievance somehow – through concessions or talks or even military measures – and the terror will stop. There will be no reason for it.
Let us presume that it was indeed the Real IRA, as claimed to the Sunday … Seguir leyendo
By Lord Bew, an independent crossbench peer and Professor of Irish Politics at Queen’s University, Belfast (THE TIMES, 09/03/09):
This is a moment to hold one’s breath. The last murderous barracks assault on British soldiers in Northern Ireland took place a dozen years ago at Thiepval. Then it was not unexpected; this time the assault has a terrible quality of nightmarish unreality. But the Northern Ireland peace process has proved surprisingly durable. It even survived the mass slaughter at Omagh in 1998. The key now is the response of the Sinn Féin leadership.
Thus far that leadership has felt … Seguir leyendo
Por Rogelio Alonso, profesor de Ciencia Política (ABC, 10/04/08):
El 10 de abril de 1998 los medios de comunicación abrieron sus informativos con el anuncio de un histórico acuerdo de «paz» para Irlanda del Norte. En estos diez años los principales grupos terroristas norirlandeses han abandonado sus campañas de violencia, acometiendo el sistema político importantes cambios bajo los que, no obstante, subyacen graves carencias. Oportuno resulta destacarlo cuando el modelo norirlandés continúa utilizándose en España como referente, asumiéndose desde algunos sectores que el hipotético final exitoso de dicho proceso obliga a iniciativas semejantes en relación con ETA. En tan … Seguir leyendo
By Glenn Patterson, the author of Once Upon a Hill: Love in Troubled Times, which will be published in September (THE GUARDIAN, 09/04/08):
The recent assertion by Gerry Adams that Ian Paisley “radicalised a generation of young people” like himself might have raised eyebrows elsewhere, but in Northern Ireland – which tomorrow marks the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement – it was another example of a remarkable consensus emerging between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist party: a consensus about the past, not the future. After decades disputing whose voters were more deserving of the title … Seguir leyendo
By Simon Jenkins. See also A fascinating, gracious man (THE GUARDIAN, 07/03/08):
Why do rats float while good men sink? Readers may have exploded over the headline on this page yesterday. It read “A fascinating, gracious man”, and crowned a eulogy on Northern Ireland’s retiring first minister, Ian Paisley, written by his one-time bitterest foe, Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin/IRA.
Adams described Paisley as variously civilised, good-humoured, respectful, cordial and a man whom “I would like to know better”. Funny that Adams, or at least his friends, spent much of their lives trying to kill him or his ilk. … Seguir leyendo
By Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Féin and MP for Belfast West (THE GUARDIAN, 06/03/08):
As I meandered my carefree way to school, I and other pedestrian scholars passed the election offices, in a shop, of the local republican candidate Liam McMillen. It was 1964. It was Belfast. The Irish national flag adorned the shop window. We paid little attention to this until Ian Paisley announced that he would march on to the Falls Road to remove “this foreign flag” unless the RUC removed it.
The RUC promptly obliged, smashing the shop front in the process and swamping … Seguir leyendo
By Mary O’Hara. She is writing a book about the experiences of people who grew up during the Troubles (THE GUARDIAN, 19/02/08):
I asked a former paramilitary recently if 10 years ago he could have imagined that in his life the Troubles would be declared over, power would be devolved, and Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness would have such a good rapport as to earn them the monicker locally “the chuckle brothers”. “No way,” he said emphatically. “Not in a million years.” It is a sentiment shared by many of us who lived through the 70s, 80s and 90s … Seguir leyendo
By Paul Muldoon, the author, most recently, of “Horse Latitudes” (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 25/05/07):
TOMORROW is the anniversary of the Battle of Tara Hill, fought on May 26, 1798, between 4,000 United Irishmen and 700 British yeomanry. The British carried the day. More than 200 years later, the hill of Tara, a little over 30 miles north of Dublin, is the scene of yet another battle, between the forces of modern Ireland, represented by the advocates of the M3 motorway, and those of us who believe that the routing of a busy road slap bang through the Tara-Skryne … Seguir leyendo
Por Reyes Mate, filósofo e investigador del CSIC (EL PERIÓDICO, 21/05/07):
La foto del pastor Ian Paisley y del republicano Martin MacGuiness, dos antiguos enemigos irreconciliables, riéndose ahora a mandíbula batiente, produce desazón. Si se entienden tan bien, ¿por qué se han matado estos irlandeses durante 40 años, dejando a unas 3.400 víctimas en el camino?
Seguro que uno y otro han recordado en un momento tan solemne como este (juntos en el mismo Gobierno) a las víctimas propias y que las habrán honrado reconociendo su contribución a la causa, pero lo que no pueden es ocultar la inutilidad … Seguir leyendo
By Will Self, the author, most recently, of “The Book of Dave” (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 18/05/07):
THE packet of Wagon Wheel cookies crushed into the damp grass on the slopes of Black Mountain in the Belfast Hills bore a faded illustration of a covered wagon traveling at speed, together with the slogan: “Size Matters!” Indeed, it does. I was making my way gingerly down this steep hill, which, along with the rest of the massif — from Divis Mountain to Cave Hill — was imagined by Jonathan Swift to be a giant, recumbent figure. Some say that this … Seguir leyendo
Por Joseba Arregui, ex dirigente del PNV (EL PERIÓDICO, 11/05/07):
Aunque a los políticos se les llene la boca hablando de la sociedad del conocimiento y la necesidad de que la educación se convierta en un proceso para aprender a aprender, lo cierto es que el debate político organizado en frentes impide cualquier aprendizaje. En lugar de ello, el frentismo político se basa en la convicción de estar en posesión de la verdad, o de la moral histórica, lo que lleva no al diálogo como aprendizaje, sino a la condena de quien no participa de las mismas convicciones. Y, … Seguir leyendo
Por Benigno Pendás, profesor de Historia de las Ideas Políticas (ABC, 09/05/07):
Acuerdos de Viernes Santo, St. Andrews, Stormont…: entradas para un futuro diccionario de Ciencia Política. Tres mil seiscientos muertos y muchas generaciones echadas a perder en un ambiente sórdido e insufrible. Insultos, desprecios, desconfianza genética. Ingleses e irlandeses, ricos y pobres, protestantes y católicos: «como si fueran habitantes de planetas distintos», decía Benjamín Disraeli respecto de las clases sociales («Sybila o las dos naciones», 1845). La historia tiene muchas cuentas pendientes con Irlanda. Ahora empieza a pagar esa deuda, incluso con intereses de demora.
Eire es hoy … Seguir leyendo
Por Rogelio Alonso, profesor de Ciencia Política, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 09/05/07):
No hay nada que el IRA pueda lograr ahora que no hubiese podido conseguir en los últimos veinticinco años». Con estas palabras, pronunciadas poco antes de la aprobación del Acuerdo de Viernes Santo en 1998, Merlyn Rees, ministro británico para Irlanda del Norte entre marzo de 1974 y septiembre de 1976, resumía el fracaso de la violencia perpetrada por el grupo terrorista dirigido durante décadas por Gerry Adams, también presidente de Sinn Fein. Esta formación acepta ahora un acuerdo político que le permitirá compartir … Seguir leyendo
By Colum McCann, a professor of creative writing at Hunter College, and the author, most recently, of the novel “Zoli” (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 08/05/07):
IT was summer 1975 when the chilling report filtered through to our suburban Dublin kitchen: there’d been another killing in Northern Ireland. Members of a well-known music group, the Miami Showband, had been driving home to Dublin after a gig in County Down. They were stopped at a false checkpoint 30 miles south of Belfast by members of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force. As one of the terrorists tried to plant a bomb in … Seguir leyendo