Dissident and dissenting republicanism: From the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement to Brexit

Abstract

The 1998 Good Friday/Belfast Peace Agreement was almost universally supported by nationalists in Northern Ireland, and Sinn Féin’s high-profile role in the discussions was the foundation upon which it would transform itself from the political wing of the Provisional Irish Republican Army to second biggest party at Stormont. However, dissidents pointed out that the compromises made by Sinn Féin during the Peace Process were a sell-out of the political and ideological aspirations held by republicans for at least a century. New dissident groups emerged in opposition to the course taken by Sinn Féin, and the period since 1998 has been one of the most dynamic in republican history since the Irish Civil War. New political parties and organisations like the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, éirígí, Republican Network for Unity and Saoradh emerged reflecting this state of flux and the existential fears felt by those for whom the Good Friday Agreement fell far short of delivering the republican aspiration of a united Ireland. Although Brexit provided a curious and fortunate opportunity for momentary public attention, these groups have remained peripheral actors in the Irish and British political public spheres.

Touring ‘post conflict’ Belfast

“…Brexit, while not a subject of this paper has according to the majority of analysts exacerbated existing political and societal divisions (Hayward, 2018). Hoey (2019) argues that while the Good Friday Agreement established the conditions for peace transformation and encouraged former IRA members to embark on achieving their objectives through constitutional means, the organisation was unable to sell this new ideology to all its supporters, hence dissident groups such as the Continuity, Real and New IRA continued to evolve and after the Brexit referendum, incidents involving republican dissents reached an eight year high. While, currently, most opinion polls suggest that the majority of people in NI continue to support the region's position as part of the UK, the Brexit poll has encouraged Sinn Féin to press for a referendum on the issue of reuniting Ireland (Hayward, 2018).…”

“…Throughout the tours, there is no mention of the IRA's bombing campaign, the kneecappings of local people and the shooting of informers. There is no mention of how new dissident factions of the IRA have re-emerged and how these groups are considered to have access to military weaponry (Hoey, 2019;McEvoy and Shirlow, 2009). There is no mention of the post-traumatic stress experienced by both perpetuators and victims of the conflict and Northern Ireland's above average rates of mental illness, alcoholism and suicides although some of the tour guides admitted that they suffered from nightmares and ongoing psychological problems (Tomlinson, 2012).…”

“…Ashworth and Hartmann (2005) view Belfast as a prime example of ‘dark tourism’ and argue that one of Belfast's core selling points is tours which bring tourists to ‘atrocity’ sites in interface areas which are working class Nationalist/Catholic and Unionist/Protestant areas where inhabitants live side-by-side apart. Hence, Belfast can be considered as an example of dark tourism, whereby areas emerging from protracted ethnic conflict become sites of alternative tourism (Smith, 1998; Seaton, 1996). Such areas with their deep-seated cleavages based on competing nationalisms and arguments over state legitimacy provide a different and unconventional type of tourist experience from the increasing homogenising experiences emanating from globalisation (Bollens, 2001).…”

All aboard Belfast’s ‘brandwagon’: from ‘pariah city’ to ‘energised city’

“…Another major problem in Belfast is the ongoing public displays of ruthless violence linked to the drugs economy. Boland et al (2019) and Hoey (2019) show punishment beatings and killings of alleged drug dealers -the (dis)'empowered youth'? (Belfast City Council, 2017) -by 'dissident' Republicans 14 and Loyalist gangs have escalated dramatically 15 .…”

Teenagers and young adults in dissident Irish republicanism: a case study of Na Fianna Éireann in Dublin

“…(2018b) Just as the scene of radical republicans is splintered, so are the terms used to describe them. (English 2015, Hearty 2017, Hoey 2018a, Horgan and Morrison 2011, Tonge 2010, White 2017) This article will focus on dissident republicans that support a continued armed struggle.…”