Hi Guest,
As a commonly accepted fact, neither. He was a soldier, a poet, brilliant thoughtful young man. I knew people who knew him, and I knew a few people who were also called terrorists. For example Joe Doherty, a thoughtful, kind young man, like many soldiers on both sides. The heroism of Sand's actions, especially during the hunger strike, we wont all agree upon. I think his intellect is visible in his writings.
Keith points out the actions of British soldiers who saved lives in Ireland, and I agree. It was a military doctor who saved the life of a friend of mine, Bernadette Devlin McAlisky, and she would say so herself, he was an honorable man, who did the right thing. However, it was also British soldiers and police and prison guards who attempted to frame, and who tortured her daughter Rosin while she was expecting her first baby.
The sad fact is that governments type and charicature the "enemy" and "friend" What is interesting, and I am at a loss to understand, is that most folks, like Teribus, Keith, most of us here on Mudcat, are pretty well adjusted folks, who if we faced the problems our nations faced, would be able to work things out without killing each other. However, we elect a small group with a high instance of sociopathic behavior, LBJ, Nixon, Lynch, Haughie, Thatcher, Bush, Hitler, Musolini, and the list goes on of people with deep sociopathic tendancies who would kill for their politic, or more to the point, get others to kill, to keep them in power. I'd add Gerry Adams to that list, as his questionable dedication to the progressive goals of young men and woman in the republican community is in the way he moved Sin Fein to the middle of the road, as soon as it suited his aims. I've always consider Adams as a politician with all the faults that often accompanies that choice in life.
What is interesting, is the predictions that IRA men and women would turn to crime if the war was not being waged. That hasn't happened in most cases. Like all militaries, there are lots of different folks who go to war. But, for example, Joe Doherty, after decades in prison, became a teacher, and a very good one. Many former IRA men became statesmen, for example Sean McBride, who became the Assistant Secretary General of the U.N. and was the founder of Amnesty International.
I don't think we would ever agree on the histories of our nations, but to oppose making films does not help each other understand the conclusions we both draw from our shared histories. I would also say, that calling each other names does not help very much either, it feeds the whole mess of the politics of stereotypes, which I don't think ever made much sense, or spread much light.
All the best
is mise, le meas
lor