BY PAUL DAVIES
DUBLIN, Ireland - "The Ulster Unionist Party are using
decommissioning to try to renegotiate the agreement that all
parties signed last Easter. The only thing that needs
decommissioning is the mind-set of the past," Dierdre Feehan
told a crowd of several thousand demonstrating for Irish
independence and the release of political prisoners October 18.
Feehan, from South Armagh in Northern Ireland, was speaking on
behalf of Sinn Fein Youth, who along with Saoirse, an
organization that campaigns for the release of political
prisoners, sponsored the action here.
Thousands came from across Ireland, including a train load of prisoners' relatives and supporters from Belfast. Pierce Doherty, a member of Sinn Fein Youth from Dublin, noted, "Three times in the past year a Saoirse train has been planned to travel from Belfast to an event in Dublin. On each occasion it has been canceled at the last minute, because of threats to block the line, by loyalists in Portadown."
Saoirse is the Irish word for freedom. Last July the pro- British loyalist forces in Portadown, Northern Ireland, organized through the rightist Orange Order, were humiliated when their march along the Catholic Garvaghy Road was rerouted. The Orange Order holds intimidating marches through Catholic communities throughout British-occupied Northern Ireland to reinforce Protestant privileges and to back British rule. Despite the threats to block the train there was no organized protest by loyalists this time.
Speaking for Saoirse at the demonstration, former political prisoner Martin Meehan paid tribute to the determination of the 300 people who rode the train to Dublin. "What the `freedom express' shows is that we're off our knees and that we're not going back, that being treated as second class citizens is not acceptable." Meehan congratulated republican prisoners for their contributions in the fight for Irish independence.
Meehan also pointed out at the rally that Britain had yet to release a single woman republican prisoner since the signing of the April 10 agreement.
Also speaking at the demonstration on behalf of Sinn Fein was Barry McElduff, a councilor from West Tyrone. "The agreement was not our document and it was hard for us to approve it, but don't just turn the spotlight on the Unionists for trying to wreck it," he said, referring to those who favor the continued "union" of Northern Ireland with the United Kingdom. "Turn the spotlight on the British government. We don't want to reform the six counties in the North. We're going to fight to end British rule."
Participating in the demonstration were a few dozen nationalists from Newtownbutler, in Northern Ireland, dressed in costume and armed with pikes, to commemorate the uprising of the United Irishmen 200 years ago in 1798. There have been events organized throughout Ireland to commemorate the uprising, including a march of 1,500 in Dublin the previous week.
Unionists stall on implementing accord
David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and first
minister of the new Northern Ireland assembly set up by the
agreement, has so far delayed any steps to form an Executive
that would include Sinn Fein, as well as the all-Ireland bodies
established by the agreement. The deadline for establishing
these bodies is October 31. Writing in the British newspaper
The Observer on the day of the demonstration, Trimble argued,
"Those who have perpetuated violence cling on to their weapons
of war tenaciously.... I am prepared to wait if necessary for
others to live up to their commitments." Trimble faces
opposition from within his own party at its forthcoming annual
conference, should he compromise on decommissioning.
Responding to Trimble's article, Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness stated, "The Ulster Unionists cannot be allowed to frustrate the wishes of the vast majority of the people on this island any longer. It is now time to tell the rejectionists that their day is gone."
Sean Neeson, leader of the Alliance, a procapitalist party that poses as neither nationalist nor unionist, said "Decommissioning has been allowed to fester like an open wound.... Unionists must not look upon it as a precondition to fulfilling the obligations that rest on David Trimble.... He must move immediately to establish the executive." Neeson added that if Trimble did not set up the Executive by October 31 he would be in breach of the April 10 agreement.
The Conservative Party in Britain had been insisting on the decommissioning of weapons as a precondition for Sinn Fein taking up office in the new assembly. Reflecting uncertainty among some British politicians, they are no longer pressing for this to be included in a bill before parliament.
Unionists aren't `decommissioning'
Gerry Kelly, a Sinn Fein representative in the assembly from
north Belfast, commented on the issue of decommissioning at a
meeting held at University College Dublin, days before the
demonstration. "Trimble talks about decommissioning but doesn't
mention the 130,000 legally held arms in Northern Ireland,
almost all of which are held by Unionists. The people that I
represent tell me that decommissioning by the IRA would leave
them undefended. Belfast has witnessed a quarter of all the
deaths in the past 30 years."
During the previous week two Catholic homes in north Belfast were petrol bombed. Occupants of one of the homes had previously received threats, and occupants of the second house have now decided to move away from the area.
Harassment and intimidation are also a daily reality for Catholics in South Armagh. Speaking at a press conference organized by South Armagh Farmers and Residents Committee, Toni Carragher described the increase in British army patrols, refurbishment of army spy posts, and unceasing helicopter traffic. Farmer Henry McElroy explained how farmers' livestock are injured daily by helicopters.
Nationalists in Northern Ireland are not alone in facing harassment. Mhuircis O'Greaghain, chairman of the Sinn Fein cumman (branch) at University College Dublin, told this reporter about the attacks on democratic rights that he and other Sinn Fein activists at the university have faced from the Garda, the police force in the Irish Republic. O'Greachain said once a week he and others sells the republican paper An Phoblacht on the campus, and they are regularly followed and stopped by the Garda and questioned. Garda plain clothes cops regularly appear at the cumman's meetings to see who is there. While O'Greachain was hospitalized recently, the cops visited his parents and asked them about him. When he returned home, he was visited again by the cops, who asked for the names of other members of Sinn Fein at the university. O'Greachain refused and asked, "Is it illegal to be a member of Sinn Fein?" One of the cops replied, "Not exactly."
Immediately following the demonstration, the Garda attacked several members of Sinn Fein Youth who had gone to the police station to protest the assault and arrest of Sinn Fein Youth members attending their national conference the previous day. Pierce Doherty, from Sinn Fein Youth in Dublin, said the cops drew their batons and beat activists on their way back from a social after the conference. He described how the parents of members of the youth organization are regularly visited by the Garda. "They do this because they want to squash the growth of Sinn Fein Youth, but we'll keep protesting every time."
Paul Davies is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union in Manchester, England. Debra Jacobs and Phil Waterhouse contributed to this article.