The banality of paramilitaries as the dumb and dangerous riot in Ballymena.

In Northern Ireland I believe we are normalising and becoming worryingly desensitised to the insidious and persistent existence of paramilitaries on our streets, in our communities and in our cities. The political theorist Hannah Ardent wrote about the banality of evil and how horrific acts were neither radical nor charged with meaning and were often done to control people and many of the acts associated were banal and presented as such.

This term is useful when looking at paramilitaries and their actions in Northern Ireland.

Many people associated with these groups believe their actions are not inherently evil. The banality of paramilitaries references how these groups are commonplace and have been largely accepted as a feature of modern life in Northern Ireland. What they are doing is evil but many have deluded themselves into believing what they are doing for their communities has moral and cultural merit and therefore they keep carrying out actions in support of their continued existence.

Most of the time when I think of paramilitaries, I consider them to be irksome, tiresome and annoying. I see them as bully boys, thugs and vandals. I know that reflects my privilege and I am blessed that I am free to see them and describe them in such innocuous and dismissive terms. News reports yesterday say there is no evidence that paramilitaries are involved in the riots in Ballymena, my response to that is nonsense! Of course they are.

These organisations are always lurking and involved in riots, particularly when young people are involved. That is what they do, cause harm, incite hatred, use violence to achieve aims and bully communities. Those riots have paramilitary involvement written all over them, whether the police have evidence or not. The police need to not protect these nasty thugs and not treat us like eejits while they’re at it.

I was brought up middle class and grew up west of the Bann. I am a proud culchie, my parents weren’t, they were brought up in East Belfast and Rathcoole, but they moved, and I benefited from that decision. Even out in the sticks these people are everywhere. If you drive through the paramilitary Artwork loudly declares their continued existence and resistance. Ballymena has paramilitaries in it too. And now Portadown want to do ‘protest’ about the sexual attack on a young girl.

Paramilitaries and other violent men want to show how much they care about a young girl by violently attacking immigrants. And the police don’t think loyalist paramilitaries, many of whom have become obsessed with white supremacy and who see themselves as entitled supreme beings to anyone who isn’t a loyalist. would not support this? My concerns are that the police are protecting them and that is not OK.

During the Troubles paramilitaries on both sides threatened me and my family because of my father’s job. That is when I first considered them to be stupid, from about the age of 8. I thought ‘those people are stupid’, all of them, on all sides. It was their cowardly bullying that aggravated me the most. Their entitlement, their meanness and their tactics. ‘What prats’, I used to think.

Dumb men (and women, but mostly men) are the most dangerous humans by far. I have known that since I was child. And as I age, the evidence increases that the enemy is stupidity and there are no limits when it comes to that human affliction. To me paramilitaries are the epitome of that stupidity predominantly because of the danger they continue to present to life, health and flourishing in this country.

The recent riots in Ballymena have made me angry again about paramilitaries and the harm they have caused to us all. Paramilitaries feigning care for young girls and women and their safety has outraged me. I am furious and my fury motivates me in a different way than theirs does- I write. I will use my brain, my words and my intellect to challenge their existence and the impact their stupidity has on us all.

Many women and people who honour and respect peace and non-violence know, it is difficult countering the ignorant. Especially in Northern Ireland, where the stupid are often supported, encouraged and normalised by the apathetic, the comfortable and the corrupt.  In my opinion neutrality and silence on paramilitarism (and politics) is complicity to the injustices that prevail and impact us all.

It might be the menopause, or PTSD or being a woman who was born during the Troubles and is now in her forties, but I am sick of violent, aggressive and bullying men in this country ruining everything while most of them seem convinced they are good guys. It is the height of rudeness and disgustingly audacious for anybody with any links to violence and terror to think they are doing good, particularly for women and girls in any community. How dare they!

But what is even odder is that they have been accepted by many in our services, government and communities as a necessary part of peace. The paramilitaries and their wings, factions or whatever they are called, have been legitimised and become part of the cultural and community fabric of this country. This is dangerous, as well as dumb and I think we all must stop doing this. Many otherwise intelligent people seem to believe that these groups and their anti- democratic, violent and psychopathic inclinations and preferences should be respected and now potentially protected. No, they shouldn’t, they should be criminalised, sanctioned and done away with.

These groups present many societal and cultural problems, but they also represent a much greater issue that has been largely ignored in terms of policy implementation, public health and the justice system. How exactly does normalising and legitimatising paramilitaries and their criminality impact policy? Particularly policies on gender-based violence and poverty which disproportionately impacts the communities these feckers purport to protect? How do we accommodate stakeholders who are unlawful but are widely recognised and influential in civic life and governance in Northern Ireland?

The longevity of these groups and the banality of the situation means that they have been allowed to strengthen their grip on many towns and cities for decades and generations.  I believe the Good Friday Agreement encouraged this too and we must address this.

Paramilitaries have never been about community safety, and they most certainly have never protected women and girls. Dumb violent bullies pretending to care about the safety of women and girls in Northern Ireland in 2025 is emblematic of just how insanely stupid this place has become. It is time we held these bullies to account and did away with paramilitaries for good. Pretending they are anything other than terrorists and not involved in these riots makes a fool of everyone.