BY PAUL DAVIES
MANCHESTER, England - In the face of continued determination
by Irish nationalists, the British government is attempting to
stall implementing the terms of the agreement signed last April
by political parties in Northern Ireland and the British and
Irish governments. Of the institutions mandated in that accord,
the only one established so far is the shadow assembly for the
six counties of Northern Ireland. This body was sought by
representatives of Unionism -those who want to preserve the
"union" with Britain - and opposed by Irish republicans in the
negotiations.
The October 31 deadline for establishing an executive of the shadow assembly has come and gone, and the deadline for the proper establishment of the all-Ireland Ministerial Council, made up of representatives of the Irish government and the six- county assembly, approaches. "If that deadline is missed then there is no agreement," explained Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams. Sinn Fein is the party that is fighting to end the British-imposed partition of Ireland and establish a united and independent nation.
Unionist leader David Trimble withdrew, without agreement, from negotiations over the executive and the all-Ireland Min isterial Council on December 3.
Writing in the republican newspaper An Phoblacht, Sean Brady explained that the Unionists "have no interest or desire for equality between nationalists and unionists. In practice, equality between nationalists and unionists would mean equal job opportunities...equal right to access to services and resources...equality with unionists in the civil service, the policing service." Brady argues that British prime minister Anthony Blair "bears special responsibility as the representative of the British state to which the unionists claim allegiance and which still claims jurisdiction over the Six-county area."
Britain imposed the division of Ireland earlier this century, against the wishes of the majority of the Irish people. It has maintained systematic discrimination against Catholics living under British rule in the northern six counties. Where most people live, work, and study is still largely determined by their religious background. In Portadown, for example, this reporter was told by Breandan Mac Cionnaith, a leader of the nationalist community, that many Catholics cannot freely walk into the city center without harassment, intimidation, or even death threats. This setup is fostered by the British to ensure relative privileges for the Protestants, with the intention of maintaining a bulwark of Protestant support for British rule against the Catholic majority that make up the island's population.
Campaign against RUC, British troops
Sinn Fein launched a week of street protests December 4
outside barracks of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) across
Belfast, demanding the disbandment of the pro-British police
force.
Some 1,000 nationalists poured into the Whiterock community center November 4 to testify to the beatings, abuses, and murders suffered by nationalists at the hands of the RUC, over the years.
Opponents of British rule also continue to campaign for the release of political prisoners. Despite British stalling on the establishment of new institutions, London has had to continue to release of republican prisoners. On November 26 Alex Murphy and Henry Maguire walked out of Long Kesh prison in Belfast. They had been convicted in 1988 in the killing of two British soldiers. The soldiers had driven an army car into the funeral of Kevin Brady, who was murdered by loyalist assassin Michael Stone. Stone had killed Brady after opening fire indiscriminately on mourners at the funeral of three republican fighters shot dead by British soldiers in Gibraltar.
Also released recently were Joe Doherty and Jimmy Smyth. Supporters of the Irish freedom struggle in the United States campaigned for years to stop their extradition to the United Kingdom, before Washington returned them to their British jailers.
Irish republicans also point to the need to remove all the British troops - who number in the tens of thousands - from Northern Ireland. On November 22 a joint British army and RUC patrol in the County Armagh village of Silverbridge shot in the direction of local residents.
On the same day the RUC also opened fire on a crowd of 60 people in Lurgan, after it had evacuated an area around the local Youth Club and Gaelic Association. The RUC claimed that there was a "suspect device" in the area. Sinn Fein assembly member for Upper Bann Dara O'Hagan declared, "The RUC's immediate resort to the indiscriminate use of plastic bullets in this incident of their own making is in stark contrast to the kid glove treatment of the nightly threatening activities of several hundred loyalists in Portadown. I am not suggesting that plastic bullets be used against loyalists, but pointing to just the latest displays of the partisan and sectarian nature of the RUC."
As a part of their delaying tactics the British are attempting to put pressure on Sinn Fein through various ways, including unproven allegations of thuggery to prevent the Donegal Celtic football team from playing a match against a team of cops from the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Donegal Celtic initially agreed to play a cup semifinal against the RUC on November 15, but withdrew following campaigning by Relatives for Justice, a group whose family members have been killed by the RUC.
RUC harassment extends not only to individuals but also to republican groups and institutions. The RUC carried out two raids on the Felons Club in west Belfast the last two weeks of November. The club, an association of former political prisoners, has also come under pressure to force the resignation of all its committee members, in order to comply with a new law that forbids anyone with a prison record from membership of a club committee.
The Irish government has also got in on the act of trying to pressure republicans to make concessions. Elizabeth O'Donnell, the minister of state at the department of foreign affairs, said differences between Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party "poison and threaten the viability" of the agreement signed last April. She denounced the refusal of the Irish Republican Army to "decommission" its weapons ahead of the RUC, loyalist gangs, and British troops. Speaking at a conference of the ruling Fianna Fail party, Irish prime minister Bartholomew Ahern said there was an "irresistible dynamic" toward a united Ireland, and that this would happen within the next "15 to 20 years." Ahern stressed that this could only be accomplished, however, with the agreement of the Unionists.
In an attempt to salvage something for the British rulers from Ireland, British prime minister Anthony Blair became the first leader of the British state to address the Irish parliament since Britain imposed partition in 1922.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein assembly member O'Hagan joined with nationalists workers at the Wilson double-deck trailers factory in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, to protest murder threats that have appeared on the factory walls. In recent days the slogan "Fenians Remember Hyster" has appeared on the workplace wall. This is in reference to the Hyster factory in Craigavon, where three nationalists were shot dead by loyalists in November 1991. Fenians were Irish revolutionaries in the last century, who fought to rid their country of British rule.
In Britain, supporters of the struggle for Irish freedom are organizing a national demonstration "Bloody Sunday Massacre - March for Justice, Time for Truth," for Jan. 30, 1999. Last year a major victory was won with the announcement of a new inquiry into the events surrounding Bloody Sunday, when British soldiers shot and killed 14 peaceful civil rights demonstrators in Derry in 1972. As the new inquiry has unfolded, the ministry of defense has claimed that it cannot find any of the 1,800 British soldiers involved, apart from the 10 who have come forward voluntarily. It will be the first time in many years that a national demonstration about Ireland will march through the center of London and pass Westminster, the location of the British government.
Paul Davies is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union.