‘Militant rhetoric’

Tom Kelly in his Monday Irish News column addresses the issue of violence and militant rhetoric. Writing of his time on the Policing Board, he says that he, his home and his car were attacked and that the threats came “in the main” from Sinn Féin supporters and members. He was labelled a “traitor” by one SF politician who has since been discarded by his own party.

Kelly speaks of a “wry pleasure” in watching those who once led the charge against him now taking their places on the district policing partnerships. On a more serious note he also condemns the threats made by dissident republicans against Martin McGuinness and his family, calling them “deplorable and despicable”. That human and natural sympathy does not stop Kelly however from tracing how republicans used rhetoric to wind their supporters up and to intimidate their political opponents. Kelly concludes that he hopes that “reason routs the legacy of redundant militant rhetoric”.

It does not seem likely, though. The Irish News reports that another deplorable attack has been made on SF MLA, Mitchell McLaughlin. His home in Derry was targeted in a hoax bomb alert. It is the second attack on his home this month. If memory serves me correctly, McLaughlin remarked after the last such incident that such things happen here in politics. (Ironically, one of his party colleagues condemns the attackers and their supporters for their “irresponsible rhetoric”.)

However, such incidents should not happen. There is no excuse for this kind of behaviour. Physical intimidation and threats have no part to play in political discourse and, if we are to have a healthy democracy, we need to constantly oppose the idea of local politics as being a step away from a street fight – or worse.