Billy McKee is an Irish Republican and was an original founding member and former leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army^[1]. Fianna Fáil - The Republican Party (Pronounced fee-na fall.) (English: Soldiers of Destiny) is the largest political party in the Republic of Ireland. ... A Republican mural in Belfast depicting the hunger strikes of 1981. ...

Early life

McKee was born in Belfast in the early 1920s. He joined the IRA in 1939. During the Second World War, the IRA carried a number of armed actions in Northern Ireland (see Northern Campaign (IRA)). McKee was arrested and imprisoned in Crumlin Road jail for his role in this campaign. He was held until 1946. In 1956, the IRA embarked on another armed campaign against the existance of Northern Ireland, known as the Border Campaign. McKee was again arrested and interned for the duration of the conflict. He was released in 1962. WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the Irish Republican Army in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and opponents of the Treaty. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Motto:  (Latin for Who will separate us?)[1] Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Ulster Scots, Irish3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of... Northern Campaign 1942 - 1944 is a term used to describe attacks involving volunteers of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the period September 1942 - December 1942. ... Motto:  (Latin for Who will separate us?)[1] Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Ulster Scots, Irish3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of... The Border Campaign (December 12, 1956 - February 26, 1962) was an operation (codenamed Operation Harvest) carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against targets in Northern Ireland. ... Internment camp for Japanese in Canada during World War II Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. ...

Upon release, he became Officer Commanding of the IRA's Belfast Brigade. However he resigned this position in 1963, after a squabble with other republicans when McKee acceded to a Royal Ulster Constabulary demand that he not fly an Irish tricolour during a republican march. He was succeeded by Billy McMillen. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. ... The Irish tricolour (flag ratio: 1:2). ...

As the 1960s went on, McKee drifted away from the IRA. He grew very dissillusioned with the organisation's increasing emphasis on Marxist socialism and reformist politics over "armed struggle". McKee was also a devout Roman Catholic, who attended Mass daily. As a result, he was very uncomfortable with what he felt were "communist" ideas that were creepin into the Republican movement. Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Unsolved problems in physics: What causes anything to have mass? The U.S. National Prototype Kilogram, which currently serves as the primary standard for measuring mass in the U.S. Mass is the property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter and energy it is equivalent to. ...

Split in the IRA and foundation of the Provisionals

In 1969, severe rioting broke out in Belfast between Catholic Irish nationalists, Protestant loyalists and the RUC. During the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969, Catholic neighbourhoods came under attack. Billy McKee was highly critical of the failure of the IRA to defend Catholic areas during these disturbances. On August 14, 1969 he, Joe Cahill and a number of other republicans occupied houses at Kashmir street in an effort to fight off the RUC and loyalists. However, poorly armed, they failed to prevent Catholic Bombay street and parts of Cupar street and Kashmir street being burned out. An Irish nationalist is generally one who seeks (greater) independence of Ireland from Great Britain, including since 1921 the goal of a United Ireland. ... For the township in Canada, see Loyalist, Ontario In general, a loyalist is an individual who is loyal to the powers that be. ... From August 13-17 1969, Northern Ireland was rocked by intensive sectarian rioting. ... Joe Cahill (1920 - July 23, 2004) was a controversial Irish politician and former member of the Irish Republican Army. ...

In the aftermath of the riots, McKee accused Billy McMillen, the IRA's Belfast commander, andthe Dublin based IRA leadership, of having failed to provide arms, planning or manpower to defend Catholic streets. On September 22, he and a number of other IRA men, arrived armed at a meeting called by McMillen and tried to oust him as head of the Belfast IRA. They did not succceed, but announced that they would no longer be taking orders from the IRA leadership in Dublin. In December of that year, the IRA split into the Provisional IRA (composed of traditional militarists like McKee) and the Official IRA (the remnants of the pre split Marxist leadership and their followers). McKee sided with the Provisionals and sat on the first "Provisional Army Council" (leadership body of PIRA) in September 1970. WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) is a paramilitary group which aimed, through the use of violence, to achieve three goals: (i) British withdrawal from Ireland, (ii) the political unification of Ireland through the merger of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland , and (iii) the creation of an all... The term Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA refers to one of the two organisations - the other being the Provisional Irish Republican Army - that emerged from the split in the then Irish Republican Army in 1969-70. ...

PIRA commander

McKee became the first commander of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade. From the start, there was intermittent feuding between McKee's men and his former comrades in the "Official IRA", as they vied for control of nationalsit areas. However, the Provisionals rapidly gained the upper hand, due to their projection of themselves as the most reliable defenders of the Catholic community.

McKee himself contributed greatly to this image by an action he undertook in June 1970. On June 27, rioting broke out in Ardoyne in north Belfast after an Orange Order parade. In gun battles between the PIRA and loyalists, three Protestants were killed. In response, loyalists prepared to attack the vulnerable Catholic enclave of the Short Strand in east Belfast. When McKee heard about this, he drove to the Short Strand with some men and weapons and took up position St Mathew's Church in the area. In the ensuing five hour gun battle, McKee was wounded and one of his men was killed, along with at least four Protestants. Ardoyne (ard Eoin in Irish, meaning Owens Hill) is a predominantly Irish nationalist and Catholic district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland, made famous by the disproportionate number of incidents during The Troubles. It is home to around 6000 inhabitants. ... The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation largely based in the province of Northern Ireland and in western Scotland but which has a worldwide membership. ... The Short Strand is an area in eastern inner-city Belfast, in Northern Ireland. ...

In April 1971, McKee, along with Proinsias MacAirt was arrested by the British Army when found in possession of a hand gun. He was charged and convicted for possession of the weapon and imprisoned in Crumlin Road. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

In 1972, McKee led a hunger strike protest in an effort to win recognition of Irish Republican Army prisoners as political prisoners. Republicans who were interned already had special status, but those convicted of crimes in the normal way were not. When McKee was close to death, William Whitelaw conceded "special category status" which, although not officially awarding political status, was tacit recognition of the political nature of the incarceration. William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, KT, CH, MC, PC, DL (June 28, 1918 - July 1, 1999), commonly known as Willie Whitelaw, was a British Conservative politician. ...

McKee was released in 1974 and resumed his position as Commander of the PIRA Belfast Brigade. At this time the IRA called a ceasefire and McKee was involved, with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh in secret peace talks in Derry with the Northern Ireland Office. He was also involved in talks with Protestant clergy in Feakle in 1975, where he voiced his desire to end the violence. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (born 1932) is an Irish republican. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ... The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is an arm of the United Kingdom government, responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. ...

However, in the same period, McKee authorised a number of sectarian attacks on Protestants as well as renewed attacks on rival republicans in the Official IRA. For this he was heavily criticised by a group of PIRA activists grouped around Gerry Adams. Gerard Adams (Irish Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh[1]; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish Republican politician and abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. ...

Ousted from the IRA

Adams managed to get McKee voted off the IRA Army Council in 1977, effectively forcing him out of the leadership of the organisation. McKee's health suffered in this period and he did not resume his IRA activities. The IRA Army Council is the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to the removal of the British presence in Ireland. ...

Later life

In more recent years, Billy McKee has been an outspoken critic of the Belfast Agreement and of the reformist politics of Provisional Sinn Fein. The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. ... Sinn Féin (in the Irish language ourselves or we ourselves; not as sometimes incorrectly translated, ourselves alone) is an Irish political party. ...

References

1. ^ IRA rebuff for Adams prison ally