Word: iras
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ENGLAND, the "noble and puissant nation" of Milton's poetry, is dying. As the characters in Margaret Drabble's The Ice Age grapple with the meaning of that decline, England's hard times--the "Ice Age" of the title--come to dominate their lives. IRA bombs explode, the economy stagnates and Drabble's heroes try to pick up the pieces. If most of them at the end are not much better off than when they started, the same happily cannot be said for the readers of this wry, compassionate, and suspenseful book...
...IRA also benefits from the romantic aura which surrounds the early days of Irish rebellion. Every Catholic child knows the old IRA songs and, for many, the South's war of independence is within memory, or one generation removed. The IRA's promise of a united Ireland strikes a deep emotional chord in Catholics, whether they believe it is advisable or not. The sacrifice of Irishmen in a Catholic cause has a tremendous symbolic appeal. The Catholics have always revered their dead martyrs; the Irish constitution itself begins: "In the name of God and the dead generations...
...short, for a variety of reasons, conscious and unconscious, the Catholic community is ambiguous in its feelings towards the IRA. A similar ambiguity is to be seen in the Catholic clergy who, though they have been vocal in the religious denunciation, have not earnestly considered their own role in perpetuating sectarian intransigence...
...approach to peace. It is not reasonable to call for peace one moment and in the next propose a solution that is unacceptable to Protestants. Thus the clergy tends to suggest to the Catholics that the only final solution can be unification and, in doing so, unfortunately echoes the IRA...
...consequently have more direct sympathy among Protestants than the IRA does among Catholics, because they are seen as the final guarantors of Protestant ascendance. They have managed to legitimize themselves in the eyes of many by claiming to protect the same "order" the police and army uphold. But, in fact, neither group will tolerate a government that concedes any power to Catholics. If the British government should compromise the Unionist cause, the UDA and UVF can be counted on to react with violence, their professions of "loyalty" and "order" notwithstanding...