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Young Republicans continue to lead the way in Ógra Shinn Féin

By Jim Gibney

In the summer of 1969 it was teenagers between the ages of 14 and 19 who were the first line of defence protecting people’s homes against attack by loyalists in the Short Strand-Ballymaccaret area of Belfast.

When internment was visited on the area and the district was plunged into violent upheaval, leading to war, it was teenagers who pitted themselves against the might of the British crown forces.

Young lads with whom I grew up, went to primary school with, had my first drink, went to dances and met girls – died in a premature explosion, all members of the local IRA.

That same year, 1972, four more young IRA volunteers died in a premature explosion in the district’s Anderson Street along with four civilians. I knew the volunteers and some of the civilians.

On my three occasions in jail I met teenagers from all over the north.
In jail I learned about the history of Ireland, republicanism, the Irish language, conflicts in other countries and got a general introduction to politics while I grew from a youth to a man.

There is nothing special about my early history. Hundreds of young people from nationalist districts experienced the same treatment as did some loyalists.

Some of my friends went to jail as teenagers and spent their entire youth and more there.

Many young people lost their lives in the conflict at the hands of, and as members of, republican, loyalist or crown force organizations.

Young people are highly motivated. They think the unthinkable and often do the undoable. These qualities emerge at times of great challenge such as those we have experienced from the mid-60s. I met very brave young people in my youth.

There is nothing romantic about war, about jail, about the consequences of living in an unjust society and trying to end that injustice.

That is why armed struggle is not entered into lightly. That is why republicans say that armed struggle is the option of last resort.

They do so with the experience of being involved in armed struggle and the personal challenges that come with it.

I was thinking some of these thoughts when I attended Ogra Sinn Féin’s national congress a few weeks ago. As I looked around the room at some two hundred young people from across Ireland I wondered how many of them are alive today; how many of them did not spend years in jail because the peace process replaced the IRA’s armed struggle?

And that is one of the hidden benefits; one of the unsaid advantages that the peace process has brought to this generation of young republicans born twenty years ago.

For them the IRA’s armed struggle is history; important and immediate history but history nonetheless.