BY TONY HUNT AND SHELLIA KENNEDY
BELFAST, Northern Ireland - "We have not dropped our vision of a united Ireland, an end to partition, and an end to British rule," said Sinn Fein leader Caoimhghin O'Caolain, to loud applause at a rally here August 10. O'Caolain won a seat in the Irish parliament June 6 and was the keynote speaker at the end of a lively demonstration of 20,000 in support of Irish independence. The annual march was held to commemorate the introduction of internment without trial by the British government in 1972.

His remarks answered the assertion in the London Financial Times and other big-business papers that Sinn Fein "had softened its stance on Irish unity" in a meeting with British secretary for Northern Ireland Marjorie Mowlam on negotiations over Ireland's future. The document presented by Sinn Fein in that meeting actually stated, "We want an Ireland free and independent." It explained that the party's goal in the talks was "to promote the broad nationalist objective of an end to British rule in Ireland. Partition is wrong... Political independence, a United Ireland, offers the best guarantee of equality and the most durable basis for peace and stability. The status quo is unworkable."

The British government is set to convene the talks September 15. Under the pressure of the unbroken resistance to British rule in Catholic areas, the Labour administration has overturned previous government policy and removed preconditions on Sinn Fein's involvement. This led to the decision by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to renew its cease-fire on July 20. O'Caolain, a member of Sinn Fein's negotiating team, described the planned talks "as a new phase in the struggle" for Irish freedom.

The Belfast rally reflected the gains fighters for Irish freedom have registered in the preceding months. Before introducing O'Caolain, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, a member of the British parliament since May 1, thanked "the people of Belfast for making Sinn Fein the largest party in Belfast" following recent local elections.

Following the IRA cease-fire, Saoirse was relaunched. The organization, whose name is the Irish word for freedom, campaigns for the release of political prisoners. Many children of prisoners carried Saoirse placards on the march or wore T-shirts with the slogan "Bring all Irish Prisoners Home from England."

Other marchers carried banners calling for the disbanding of the mainly Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the semi-militarized police force, which is one of the main props of British rule. Also visible on the march were supporters of independence for the Basque country and Catalonia from the Spanish state, members of the Troops Out Movement from Britain, and Irish Northern Aid (NORAID) from the United States.

Bridget Mataer, 48, a veteran of the struggle for Irish freedom, summed up the confident mood of the demonstrators. "We are not stopping now," she said. "There has been a lot of changes in the past year... There has been a breakthrough with the Orange Order," she said, referring to concessions made by the leaders of the loyalist organizations, with the prompting of the British government, to reroute sectarian marches away from Catholic areas. These concessions were forced by the determined resistance of nationalists to the imposition by British forces of the provocative rightist parades through their neighborhoods.

Cautious optimism among workers
Before the August 10 demonstration Militant reporters spoke to workers heading for a supermarket at the Kennedy Centre on the Falls Road in west Belfast - a predominantly Catholic area. None would give their names for fear of reprisals by British forces and right-wing loyalist thugs. A heavily armed British Army foot patrol, from a nearby barracks, had just passed down the street. The comments of most indicated a cautious but confident mood among working people in the Catholic areas.

Welcoming the cease-fire and the prospect of talks, a building worker said, "I still don't trust the British government. The [British] troops have to got to go and the prisoners must be released - they are not terrorists, they would not be in prison but for the war."

A hospital secretary also welcomed the talks, "but all the parties have to talk," she said. "The troops should be off the streets and get back to barracks - back to the barracks in their own country," she added.

At the rally O'Caolain said, "Unionists must be at the talks table, that is our clear message here today. It is all our futures that we seek to address." The main pro-British party, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), has yet to decide whether to participate in talks with Sinn Fein.

As the September date approaches for the talks the Unionists continue to be divided over how best to defend their privileges. In response to O'Caolain, UUP negotiator Reg Empey said, "Are we seriously to believe that having fought a vicious terrorist campaign for 25 years that all republicans want to do is sit down for a quiet chat?" However, two days later UUP security spokesperson Ken Maginnis debated Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness face to face on BBC television. This was the first time a Unionist had publicly appeared on television at the same time as a Sinn Fein leader.

Ian Paisley Jr. of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) declared, "O'Caolain made a direct appeal to [UDP leader] David Trimble to come to talks because he was a weak link in the union. He knows the DUP will stand by its work and not negotiate with a terrorist organization."

However, the pressure to accept Sinn Fein at the negotiating table is growing. The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), which is linked to the Ulster Defence Association - a rightist terror organization responsible for many sectarian murders - stated it will be at the table.

On August 9 leaders of the Apprentice Boys, an organization similar to the Orange Order, made a series of concessions rerouting feeder marches to their main annual parade in the overwhelmingly Catholic city of Derry. The RUC prevented a rightist parade through the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast. Because of these concessions, the Bogside Residents Group in Derry agreed to allow a parade to pass close to their neighborhood on condition that bands were silenced and banners lowered as it passed by. However, many rightists on the main parade lashed out at onlooking Catholic residents. One gang of thugs used musical instruments to simulate shooting nationalists, assaulted bystanders - a child holding an Irish tricolor was attacked with an umbrella - and shouted abuse.

The previous week a Catholic taxi driver in Craigavon was nearly killed by a new terror gang known as the Loyalist Volunteer Force. Because of incidents like these, residents group leaders have reacted cautiously to concessions made by sectarian organizations. On August 17 the Royal Black Preceptory decided to cancel planned marches through the Lower Ormeau in Belfast. Gerard Rice, a leader of the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community, welcomed the decision, but told the Irish News that the issue of sectarian parades had to be settled for good. Earlier, Rice told the Militant, "These organizations exist to divide our community. They haven't gone away so we are not dropping our guard."

Meanwhile, on August 14 the U.S. State Department approved a visa for Sinn Fein president Adams. Adams, Ó Caolain, and McGuinness will be speaking in several U.S. cities in early September (see details on page 8).  
 
 
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