Robert W. White - Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of Provisional Irish Republicanism

Robert W. White is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). He is the author of Ruair Brdaigh, The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary (2006), Provisional Irish Republicans: An Oral and Interpretive History (1993), and co-editor of Self, Identity, and Social Movements (2000). He also produced the online (open access) documentary, Unfinished Business: The Politics of Dissident Irish Republicans (2012):
http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/utility/video/unfinishedbusiness.html.

AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE PROVISIONAL
IRISH REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT

(SOCIAL MOVEMENTS VS TERRORISM)

ROBERT W. WHITE

First published in 2017 by

Merrion Press

10 Georges Street

Newbridge

Co. Kildare

Ireland

www.merrionpress.ie

Robert W. White, 2017

978-1-78537-093-9 (paper)

978-1-78537-095-3 (Kindle)

978-1-78537-115-8 (Epub)

978-1-78537-096-0 (PDF)

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

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C ONTENTS

Revolution Over the Life Course and
Life Over the Course of the Revolution

The War is Over:
The Irish Republican Movement Continues
(Activism since 2005)

A BBREVIATIONS

AIA Anglo-Irish Agreement

AICC Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference

CIRA Continuity Irish Republican Army

CLMC Combined Loyalist Military Command

C/S Chief of Staff

32 CSM 32 County Sovereignty Movement

DAAD Direct Actions Against Drugs

DUP Democratic Unionist Party

EEC European Economic Community

EOKA Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston

FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation

GFA Good Friday Agreement

GHQ General Headquarters

GOC General Officer Commanding

GPO General Post Office

ICJP Irish Commission for Justice and Peace

IICD Independent International Commission on Decommissioning

INLA Irish National Liberation Army

IRA Irish Republican Army

IRB Irish Republican Brotherhood

IRSP Irish Republican Socialist Party

LVF Loyalist Volunteer Force

MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly

NIAS Northern Ireland Attitude Survey

NICRA Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

NILP Northern Ireland Labour Party

NIO Northern Ireland Office

NORAID Irish Northern Aid Committee

ONH glaigh na hireann

PD Peoples Democracy

PIRA Provisional Irish Republican Army

PRO Public relations officer

PSNI Police Service of Northern Ireland

PTA Prevention of Terrorism Act

PUP Progressive Unionist Party

RAAD Republican Action Against Drugs

RIC Royal Irish Constabulary

RIR Royal Irish Regiment

RNU Republican Network for Unity

RSF Republican Sinn Fin

RT Radi Teilifs ireann

RUC Royal Ulster Constabulary

SDLP Social Democratic and Labour Party

SF Sinn Fin

SIS Secret Intelligence Service

SLR self-loading rifle

TD Teachta Dla

UDA Ulster Defence Association

UDP Ulster Democratic Party

UDR Ulster Defence Regiment

UFF Ulster Freedom Fighters

UKUP UK Unionist Party

USC Universal Social Charge

UUP Ulster Unionist Party

UUUC United Ulster Unionist Council

UVF Ulster Volunteer Force

P REFACE

T his oral history is the result of more than thirty years worth of interviews and conversations with activists in the Irish Republican Movement. On the surface it is an updated version of my Provisional Irish Republicans: An Oral and Interpretive History . However, other than some quotations from respondents, a few of the figures and following the same general timeline into the 1990s, this is a completely new book.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I developed a general interest in the causes and consequences of small group political violence. Then came the 1981 hunger strike. The official view was that the hunger strikers were criminals being used by mafia-like godfathers. From a distance, that seemed off the mark since the typical criminal does not fast to the death for political status. Curiosity led me to J. Bowyer Bells history, The Secret Army: The IRA . Bell had spoken with the Provisionals and offered a different and much more interesting story. In contrast to Bell, it seemed that there was an ever-increasing body of literature on terrorism that was written by academics who had never met a terrorist. Several of those scholars were associated with counter-terrorism institutes and think tanks.

The successful entr of Bell and others, the predominance of the English language and an interest in things Irish, led me to consider a case study of why people joined the Provisionals. With the support and encouragement of David Knoke, I entered the Irish field in January of 1984. The late J. Bowyer Bell, Edward Moxon-Browne, John McCarthy and Rob Robinson were also very kind and helpful in the early stages of this project.

It seems like Ive never left the field and there have been interesting interviews and adventures along the way. In speaking about what makes someone a good guerrilla, Sen Mac Stiofin commented, You wouldnt survive very long, would you? He was correct. In discussing enthusiastic new recruits, I asked Ruair Brdaigh if they made him nervous. He looked me in the eye and replied, Im suspicious of everyone. I had known him almost twenty years; I took it as good advice.

Not everything reduces to an entertaining quip, though, and while this has not been participant observation research, at times the observer has gotten closer to the field than intended. I was among the crowd in Belfast in August 1984 when a plastic bullet killed John Downes. In the early 1990s, a senior Sinn Finer suggested I get in touch with Denis Donaldson, then in New York, and gave him my contact information. I did not contact Donaldson but a Freedom of Information Act request would later reveal that US Customs investigated me. That might explain the wry smile on Donaldsons face when we did eventually meet, in Belfast. More recently, following an on the record interview with activists in a legal political organization, I was arrested by the Garda under Section 30 of the Offenses Against the State Act and accused of membership of an unlawful organization, namely glaigh na hireann. My time as a guest of the state only lasted a few hours, but it was an interesting experience that shed light on what others have experienced on a much more serious level. A couple of days later, while sitting in the Great Hall of the Northern Ireland Assembly watching Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have his photo taken with a group of students, it occurred to me that we now had something in common being arrested by the Garda. That evening, while debriefing with an old friend, I was reminded of the old rumour that I was some kind of CIA agent.