Sinn Féin and the monarchy - that ship has sailed
J. North
27 April 2023
Michelle O'Neill with King Charles III
For those who express outrage at Michelle O'Neill's decision to attend the coronation of Charles Windsor we have only one thing to say. That ship has sailed.
Sinn Fein kow-towing to British royalty has been going on for years. Mary-Lou McDonald boasts of being a pen friend of the new monarch and the leadership bow and scrape at every opportunity.
The key event however, was when Charles visited the North following the death of his mother, to be met by a black-garbed SF leadership. The formal visit was Charles asserting his claim to sovereignty over the area. Sinn Féin were going along with the claim. Waving the fragile fig-leaf of a border poll no longer provides any cover and the trade unionists and politicians who went along with the border poll con should be ashamed of themselves.
Now, through the coronation, Charles is asserting his rights over the whole territory of the UK, including the North. There will be plenty in Britain demonstrating opposition to him and to the whole institution of monarchy. Sinn Féin will not be beside them.
O'Neill said she was honouring her pledge to "represent all of the community". That's nonsense. She's clearly not representing radicals who oppose the monarchy. Decoded, the underlying claim is that it's necessary to appease loyalism, but loyalists have no interest in Sinn Féin's posturing. The people Sinn Féin hope to influence are the capitalist rulers in Dublin. Irish capitalism wants the Irish national question to be buried forever and they hold the keys to a Sinn Féin presence in the next coalition government.
By bowing to the monarchy O'Neill and her party are telling us that they are not Republicans. Moreover, they are telling us that any interest in Irish unity and an Irish democracy are pale green aspirations to be realised in an imaginary Tír na nÓg.
If you want democracy, if you want workers’ rights, it's long past time to look elsewhere.