Opinion: Should Corbyn condemn the IRA?

All through the UK General Election, a lot of people demonised Jeremy Corbyn for his alleged links with the IRA, and there were constant calls for him to publicly condemn them. He has constantly refrained from doing so. Is he right?

By now everyone has heard the stories. Jeremy Corbyn allegedly had links to the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. For a time it was literally all the media could talk about and he faced the question on numerous occasions. In countless interviews, he was asked repeatedly to condemn the IRA, and on each occasion his answer was the same. He condemned all of the bombings, on all sides of the conflict. He condemned all those who bought about terror attacks. He condemned those who would take lives for their own political means.

At no point in any of the interviews he has refrained from condemning the IRA as a whole, and people have taken this to mean that he is clearly an IRA sympathiser and a “Terrorist Lover”. Is this really true?

The first thing to consider is that Jeremy Corbyn, despite not fitting the traditional mould and being far more rebellious than expected, is a politician. As a politician one of his aims is, of course, to win votes and by condemning the IRA as a whole he is clearly likely to lose a percentage of votes in Northern Ireland. It’s not as simple as that though, given that by not condemning them he also runs the risk of losing votes.

Jeremy Corbyn has always styled himself as a man of peace and even won the Gandhi International Peace Award in 2013. Although not a complete pacifist, Corbyn has said that opposing violence is the “whole purpose of his life.” As part of his work towards peace, he was involved in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and the Peace Agreement during the 80’s and 90’s. The extent of his involvement in the peace talks has been put into question, but regardless of how involved he was, we know that he was there. Clearly during these talks representatives from both the loyalists and the republicans came together in agreement to sign the peace talks, and of course given their involvement members of the IRA would likewise have agreed to the talks. The Troubles would never have ended had they not.

By condemning the entire IRA, you would also be condemning those members who eventually agreed on peace. Yes, by all means, condemn those who were physically involved in acts of terror. Yes, condemn those who took innocent lives to further their cause. Do not condemn people who make peace.

Furthermore, we live in a world where freedom of speech is accepted, and as such extremists around the world are entitled to believe whatever they wish. If you believe the world is flat, or that aliens created the planet as an experiment, or that your beliefs are more important than anyone else’s then that is your right to do so. Clearly, I disagree but think what you will. It’s when those maintaining these beliefs start using violence to force others to agree that you need to condemn them. In short, condemn the actions, not the people.

That is exactly what Jeremy Corbyn has done. He has condemned their actions, not the people who held the same beliefs. Of course, it’s interesting that, with the new Coalition with DUP, Theresa May has not been called to condemn the other side of the Troubles.