Fortnight Publications Ltd.

Reasons for DissentAuthor(s): John RobbSource: Fortnight, No. 297, Supplement: Free Thought in Ireland (Jul. - Aug., 1991), p. 20Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25553026 .

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? faced with a relatively stable and decent orthodoxy, secular or religious, which is nevertheless based

on compromises of truthfulness and the inhibition

of enlightenment, should one let sleeping dogs lie, or switch on a spotlight which may frighten and destabilise?

In short, how free is the truly free person to be free?

The answer, I think, is that one is trapped by truth:

there is almost never going to be an easy judgement, because uncertainty is part of the entire process of what is taken to be 'thought', 'freedom of

thought', and 'freedom of expression'. Deep within oneself one is free

in a manner which cannot be touched, but from the same depth comes

a concomitant responsibility?an imperative to judge wisely when to

insist on enlightenment and when to shut up.

Ciaran McKeown is ajournalist and peace activist in

Belfast. His autobiography, The Passion of Peace, is

published by Blackstaff Press

Reasons for

dissent

JOHN ROBB sets out an agenda for dissenters in the 1990s

I RECALL MEETING a lawyer in the High Court in Belfast in the early autumn of 1981 and discussing the possibility of constituting an all

Ireland group which would challenge 'Catholic' Irish nationalism in the south and 'Protestant' Ulster loyalism in the north. The revival of the

radical dissenting tradition in Irish political life seemed long overdue. With enthusiasm, 'The Dissenters' was the name then proposed for the

group now known as the New Ireland Group.

People attending those early meetings warned, however, that they would have great difficulty in explaining that a Dissenter was other than

a person holding contrary views about everything! The name 'Dissent

ers' was perceived as an impediment in an uphill battle to present dissent

as a positive challenge to the convention of two very conservative under

standings of Ireland. Even though it seemed highly unlikely that the New Ireland could emerge without mobilising dissent, it was feared?

because of the negative image conjured up?that a group bearing the

name 'Dissenters' would be stillborn.

Certainly, if dissent excludes the possibility of as-sent and con-sent,

it polarises as an isolating force. There are, however, two polarities at

which dissent operates and a spectrum of positions in between. At one

polarity is the anarchist, confiding in no one?isolated. The killing of

others and the death of self are consistent with such a perspective of

dissent. The anarchist remains apart from and, as such, isolated from

others.

At the other pole, the dissenter expresses his independence as a part of the society of others?a part of, yet at one with (in tune with) the

others to whom 'he' relates. Between these two poles, the exercise of

choice moves us in one direction or the other.

Human beings, by the nature of genetically determined difference, are unlikely to hold identical viewpoints; it is natural for people to dissent as an indication of their difference. How, then, do we promote,

through such dissent, change which encourages us to grow together while preserving our right to be different?

Acknowledging that all men and women are different, the anarchist

may conclude that each has the right to do precisely what they wish yet, in doing so, the anarchist fails to acknowledge that none can survive in

isolation; we need each other for we are part of each other.

On the one hand, we have the God-given right to find expression for our uniqueness; on the other, our capacity to survive, let alone develop,

depends on the recognition of the role of others, of the natural world and

of cosmic influence in the shaping of our lives and the sharing of space. Had there never been dissent we would still be an unseparated part

of the natural world, bound instinctively to it and responding accord

ingly. Dissent allowed for new expectations out of life and the possibil

ity of achieving them; dissent also placed human kind in conflict with the natural world from which we had originated. Homo sapiens may yet strike a balance; homo mechanicus is more likely, in pursuing his

conquest of nature, to destroy himself.

The great dictum of Irish republicanism?of uniting Catholic, Prot

estant and Dissenter in the common name of Irishmen?underpins the

right to be different and indicates that unity depends upon such differ ence. Indeed, without difference, there is no tension and, without

tension, no movement. The objective must be to create a climate in

which it is possible to harness difference for constructive rather than de

structive purposes, to use our dissent positively. Worldwide, there is a

desperate need for the Holy Men to be much more imaginative, coura

geous and committed in the promotion of healing of historic wounds in

order to exorcise the guilt and resentment born out of the bad blood of

recurring violence across the fissures which divide us. By looking in the

mirror and asking questions of their own sectarian tradition, about how

it has violated others by attitude as well as by action, they, along with the

rest of us, might be better placed to reach a-cross in repentance for what

'our' tribe has done to 'theirs'.

In the building of a new society in Ireland, dissent should be mobilised courageously to fire relevant questions at our own community and tribe instead of firing, or passively supporting, the firing of bullets into the other person's community. Dissent could thus be mobilised to

raise awareness and promote the acquisition of knowledge to determine

how the local community operates and is controlled. By using dissent

whenever possible to question traditional exclusivenes in our commu

nity life, we might yet come to realise that in our difference lies our

strength and in dissent a challenge rather than a threat.

As such, our right to dissent will ever be qualified by our need to

relate. In contemporary terms, the right to be must be tempered by the

need to belong, with the obligation to share today and conserve for to

morrow. If our conscience can be tuned to this dictum, then dissent in

conscience becomes a life force.

The basis of civilisation is the affirmation of life until life as we know it comes to an end. Civilised dissent demands dissent in the cause of life

and the rejection of its use in the promotion of death. This surely is the

role for dissenters in the building of a New Ireland?

Dr John Robb is a prominent advocate of reform and is a founder of the New Ireland Group

This supplement is dedicated to Se&n O Faol&in and Hubert Butler

1900-1991

20

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