BY DOUG COOPER
SYDNEY - On November 27, the Liberal-National coalition
government of Prime Minister John Howard reversed its two-year
ban on Gerry Adams traveling to Australia. It was a victory
both for the right to travel and for people in Australia being
able to hear the republican point of view of the centuries-long
struggle to free Ireland from British domination.
Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the party leading the struggle to end British rule of the six northeastern counties of Ireland, is a sitting member of the recently established Northern Ireland Assembly as well as an elected, though not sitting, member of the British Parliament. Adams was refused a visa by Canberra in November 1996, a week before he was scheduled to launch the Australian edition of Before the Dawn, his autobiography.
But the ban became more and more unsustainable as Sinn Fein's strength has grown, a fact that capitalist governments from London to Washington to Dublin have been forced to reckon with.
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock had used his discretionary powers under Section 501 of the Migration Act, which allows him to bar people who are not of "good character," to deny Adams a visa, ostensibly because of his criminal record. In fact, Adams's prison record was the product of internment without trial - one of a series of dictatorial measures used to no avail by London to try to crush the Irish nationalist struggle in the early 1970s - a penalty that he shared with thousands of other fighters at the time.
Ruddock made the backdown announcement himself, saying that Adams had played a "constructive role" in the peace process.
A protracted legal challenge to the visa ban was launched by Adams in the Federal Court with the help of supporters of Sinn Fein in Australia and well-known Brisbane lawyer Terry Fisher taking the case. Australian Aid for Ireland (AAI), which raises funds for republican prisoners of war and their families, helped coordinate the effort to challenge the ban.
Eugene McCague, a heavy-equipment operator and president of the New South Wales branch of AAI, told Militant reporters: "We're delighted with the decision.... They tried to criminalize Sinn Fein and the IRA [Irish Republican Army] but time has proven otherwise. We don't know what will happen with the peace process ultimately, but they've held their ground and proved worthy of their positions. Already, many working people both Irish and Australian have expressed interest in meeting Gerry when he comes. We're in for a heap of work now!"
In welcoming Canberra's decision, Adams told the Australian Broadcasting Corp., November 27, "Ironically enough, the very reason given for me not being allowed into Australia was the very reason given for [Irish] people being sent to Australia [as convicts] ... that was that we were of bad character. So it's an interesting piece of history that that Catch 22 has turned on its head."
The Sinn Fein leader is likely to visit Australia in 1999, but no plans have been announced.