NORAID Assignment

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            I do not believe that NORAID and other similar groups should exist in the United States. In a way these groups are only causing unnecessary hostility within the U.S. At this point the United States had been a free country, and was not under control of the British any longer. If these people were living freely within America, they should be focused on keeping that freedom and should be more involved in American government rather than what is going on within Ireland. It is understandable that some of these members felt close to their Irish heritage, and were rather disappointed at what was going on in Ireland at the time. But overall if they were now living in the United States and had that freedom that was very clearly earned, they should not try to drag the issues of the PIRA into the U.S. They were threatening the order within the United States and were being attached to things happening within Ireland as Hanley mentions “the organization also faced intense and hostile coverage whenever the IRA committed atrocities…. Indeed, after such incidents the organization itself faced the accusation that it contributed directly to these atrocities that it could only deny by reiterating that its fund raising was exclusively for welfare purposes” (Hanley, 5). Even if NORAID had nothing to do with the event they were blamed because they were so deeply involved with fundraising and getting money to support the PIRA. The United States had to investigate NORAID at times since they were a “foreign revolutionary organization” (Hanley, 6). Again, this is not what the people of the U.S. should be focused on and it is definitely not what the U.S. government should be focused on. There could be more important things happening within the U.S. that should hold their attention, but they have to take time to focus on NORAID in case they did really become a threat. NORAID also focused too much on the Irish-Americans assimilation to American culture, viewing it as a negative act. I believe that it only makes sense for someone living in America to assimilate to the culture there to better their chances at success and achieving goals. If the members of NORAID cared more about Ireland and the PIRA, they should have been in Ireland helping the PIRA directly rather than supporting them from the free country of America. It is kind of contradicting because they want to help the PIRA but are doing it from somewhere that has already been freed from Britain rather than directly fighting for what they believe should happen in Ireland.


Works Cited


Hanley, Brian. “The Politics of Noraid.” Irish Political Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, 2004, pp. 1–17.

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