The historical handshake

“There are no permanent enemies or no permanent friends in politics” is a well known fact in daily life. Not even countries have permanent friends or enemies. An enemy today is a friend tomorrow.

IRA, Irish Republican Army, was the military wing of Sinn Fein founded by Arthur Griffith the editor of a well circulated newspaper ‘United Irishman'. Sinn Fein means “We ourselves”. But it is often mistranslated as “Our self Alone”. Sinn Fein focused on Irish nationalism and Irish Republicanism. Griffith was the first to put forward a proposal for the non-cooperation of Irish Members of Parliament in the Westminster Parliament in 1902.

In December 1918 elections Sinn Fein won 73 of Ireland’s 105 seats in the British Parliament, 25 seats uncontested. There was an increase of mass support for Sinn Fein in Ireland at the time. People were made to think and act in a more patriotic manner and the ideas of independence and nationalism had a fast expansion.

Meantime the Ulster Unionist affiliated to the British government more organized in 1905 also contested the election in 1918 and won 22 seats in Ulster. Sinn Fein won 26 seats. The party had a strong connection with the Orange Order, a Protestant religious institution. The Ulster Unionist Council had 25 percent Orange delegates.

Bloody Sunday

The Easter rising in Ireland occurred during Easter Week of 1916. The rising was mounted with the intention of ending British rule in Ireland. It was the major uprising since the rebellion in 1798. Led by the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood members of Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army and 200 members of the group Cumann, they got hold of key locations of Dublin and declared Irish independence from Britain.

They were defeated after seven days of fighting and its leaders were executed. The Irish people who were distressed about the executions of its rebellion leaders supported Sinn Fein in the general elections of 1918. Violence escalated after the killings of 14 civil rights protesters on March 7, 1965. It is still remembers as Bloody Sunday.

Peace packages

Since the establishment of the IRA the British government had to face endless shootings, executions and bombing campaigns in the UK main island. The major bombing was the one in Brighton hotel on October 12, 1984. It was planted with the intention of killing then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who was attending the Conservative Party conference. It was found that a prominent member the IRA Patrick Magee planted the bomb while staying in the hotel. Five people including a Member of Parliament were killed but the Prime Minister and the Cabinet escaped.

The British government tried many peace packages until 1998. The Good Friday Agreement which signed in Belfast on April 10, 1998 (Good Friday) was the most important political development since the troubles started. The agreement is also called the Belfast Agreement or the Stormont Agreement. Most of Northern Ireland’s political parties agreed with this arrangement but the Democratic Unionist Party opposed it.

From 1983 Gerry Adams was the leader of Sinn Fein and Martin Mc Guinness was leading the Irish Republican Army. Both were elected members of the British Parliament for seats in Belfast. But they never showed their allegiance to the Queen nor took oaths as the members in the British Parliament. They both are members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland. It is responsible for making laws on transferred matters in Northern Ireland and for scrutinising the work of ministers and government departments.

Now Martin Mc Guiness is the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Assembly. He is due to shake hands with the Queen whom he always denounced. The meeting is due to take place in an Arts event organized by Charity Cooperation in Ireland which works to bring divided communities together. The Queen and her husband are on a two day visit to Northern Ireland. Around 20,000 people are expected to gather to celebrate Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Nothern Ireland

Prince Philip’s much-loved uncle, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, was assassinated in an IRA bomb attack in his fishing boat in 1979. Afterwards, Queen’s sister was reported to have told someone in America 'the Irish are pigs'. Buckingham Palace came to the late Princess Margaret's aid, insisting she'd actually said 'the Irish dance jigs'.

There are countless comments on a daily basis concerning the handshake.

Lord Tibbit, who was injured in the 1984 Brighton bombing which left his wife in a wheelchair, said he hope that meeting of Sinn Fein was a beginning to ‘repentance’. He further said “I am glad that Mr. MCGuiness is moving to finally acknowledge that the Queen is sovereign over Nothern Ireland and I hope it is another step towards confessing and repenting for the crimes of IRS/Sinn Fein”.

Tory Backbencher Andrew Rosindell said “It shows what kind of a person the Queen is if she is willing to shake hands with someone who has horrendous past of engaging in and encouraging terrorism”.

Martin McGuiness never denied his role in the IRA. “I didn’t say I never had fired a gun. I was in the IRA. There were battles on the streets of Derry”. However, when he was asked if he had killed anyone; the answer was “no”.

There are lessons to be learnt from this handshake. As previously said “no permanent friends or enemies in this world”, no permanent political, communal and racial enemies exist.