Post by cato on Jan 26, 2020 0:12:17 GMT
One of my political heroes died yesterday from cancer. Seamus Mallon was a civil rights campaigner in the North of Ireland (as he always referred to it as) in the 1960s and a long term advocate of solely peaceful politics when others advocated violence and hatred. Mallon recently launched his autobiography which I read over the Christmas holidays and wholeheartedly recommend.
I was very struck by his descriptions of the cruelty of the Northern conflict. Several times he feared an outright sectarian civil war and was physically attacked by paramilitaries himself . Mallon was tough and needed to be to survive . When eventually a peace agreement emerged Mallon sarcastically referred to it as "Sunningdale ( the failed 1974 power sharing agreement) for slow learners" . Thousands died needlessly before we got to that point.
Mallon lived in a protestant area all his life and made a point of attending funerals of all those in his area killed by violence. He was a practising Catholic all his life. People like him and John Hume prove there was always a moral Nationalist and patriotic alternative to the genocidal terrorism espoused by Sinn Fein. Some would like us to forget that awkward fact.
May he rest in peace.
I was very struck by his descriptions of the cruelty of the Northern conflict. Several times he feared an outright sectarian civil war and was physically attacked by paramilitaries himself . Mallon was tough and needed to be to survive . When eventually a peace agreement emerged Mallon sarcastically referred to it as "Sunningdale ( the failed 1974 power sharing agreement) for slow learners" . Thousands died needlessly before we got to that point.
Mallon lived in a protestant area all his life and made a point of attending funerals of all those in his area killed by violence. He was a practising Catholic all his life. People like him and John Hume prove there was always a moral Nationalist and patriotic alternative to the genocidal terrorism espoused by Sinn Fein. Some would like us to forget that awkward fact.
May he rest in peace.