Hold Your Nerve...........

Hold your nerve.............that's the response that needs to be understood and observed for the coming weeks in light of the killing of 2 British soldiers by the Real IRA 2 days ago. I know that a lot of people within the Irish community will be very uncomfrotable about what has happened and for those older enough to remember living through the war of the 70's, 80's and 90's it no doubt brings back very bad memories and feelings.

The war in Ireland brought put a huge amount of pressure to bear on the Irish community in Liverpool and elsewhere in this country. It brought hardship, fear of violence/retaliation, abuse, and scrutiny from the British State that has left its terrible mark upon members of our community to this day. For some, the war in Ireland meant learning more and developing a deeper understanding of the conflict outside of that expressed through Britain's media and taboloids and thus, being able to develop and express in a confident manner ones own views on the cause of such war i.e. the lack of justice, policing, and democracy in the six county state. However, for others it was all too much and lead to going underground, losing your accent, keeping your head down and with our children highlighting 'Englishness' and 'Britishness' as an identity that would avoid bringing trouble to your doorstep, rather than celebrating our 'Irishness'.

It is clear that the political landscape has changed and the once downtrodden and oppressed nationalists within the six counties have made huge gains through first its armed struggle and then through the Peace Process that developed during the early part of the 1990's and that there still exists a clear pathway to peace, justice and freedom through the institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement. So hold your nerve, put your support behind the political process. Become involved in the debate. Do not shy away from engaging with those who seek a return to war and lets not allow the British government and the Unionist community to withdraw from this process and avoid their committments to this process. Fo they will try to avoid a settlement with nationalist Ireland at all costs, given the opportunity.

A lot has been gained since 1969 and alot more can be gained by supporting the process and in the end for those of us within our community that seek equality, justice and the unity of our country as our political aims, be confident, be proud and be free!