06 December 2002

Sinn Fein: between the lobby and the street

The Andersonstown News editorialises on the current deadlock, picking up on the recent murder in Ballygowan to suggest that Unionists seem more intent on keeping Sinn Fein out of government.

But what's more interesting about this piece is the detailed analysis of how recent political decisions have effected the social and economic life of nationalist West Belfast, along with a hint that the professionalization of Sinn Fein politics may be causing rifts between them and their traditional power base:

"If the peace process isn't to be a spectator sport, and we're constantly told by Sinn Féin that it isn't, then our elected representatives might find it in their interest to take a brief break from the rarefied air of the negotiating boardroom to join their constituents on the picket lines."

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