Ireland: Socialist Democracy statement "Reject the politics of imperialism"
The Northern Ireland Agreement is being hailed as a new beginning, and a defining moment in the search for peace and healing of division. It is nothing of the sort. It cannot promise a lasting peace.
• The deal calls for the amendment of the Irish constitution to include an endorsement of partition and support for the sectarian northern state. The British claim to the six counties is actually enforced.
• A Northern Irish Parliament will be set up at Stormont. It will institutionalise and strengthen the sectarian basis of the state. Sectarian patronage will be dispensed by a majority unionist assembly which will be called upon to share some of its sectarian privileges with the representatives of the Catholic middle class. The unionist veto in the new parliament will ensure that there will be no attempt to dismantle or challenge the sectarian fundamentals of northern society.
• The demand by the "nationalist family" for powerful, meaningful and free-standing cross-border bodies has been brushed aside. Cross-border bodies will be utterly subordinated to the assembly's unionist majority who will have a veto over any decisions. The proposed functions of these bodies are pathetic: animal and plant health, teacher qualifications and exchanges, water quality, waste management, and so on.
• Prisoners are to be kept as political hostages, with their release dependent on the good behaviour of their movements. There is no recognition of their political character, and the struggle against British rule continues to be defined as a terrorist conspiracy. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (police) will not be disbanded. There isn't even a promise of reform. Instead, the British once again promise "independent to report back later. We have already seen that these "representative" bodies are staffed by middle class Catholics who work for the RUC, and prominent loyalists. There will be minimal
This rotten deal is a blow against democracy and the unity of Irish working people. It has been pieced together by two reactionary governments and a host of right-wing parties Despite this, it may not satisfy the most bigoted sections of a unionist movement that is not prepared to wait two years for republicans to hand in their guns, and does not want to share their partitionist assembly with them anyway. The destruction of the deal by unionists would not represent a step forward, but only shift the agenda of the debate further to the right and lead to further steps to appease orange reaction.
Despite all this, the leadership of the republican movement cannot bring itself to oppose the deal, despite the demand for decommissioning within two years. In fact, Gerry Adams has claimed that 1998 is "a high point for republicanism." It is quite clear that the leadership of the republican movement has no intention of breaking from its reactionary alliance with the "nationalist family." It continues to attempting to persuade its supporters to accept a deal that strengthens partition. It has promised to pursue a "peace" strategy that must shoulder a heavy responsibility for the new partitionist settlement.
What is needed now, above all, is a clear analysis that explains the reactionary nature and consequences of the deal, and voices a clear alternative to it. Such an alternative must break not only from the failures of the "peace process," and the nationalist family, but also from the failures of physical force republicanism. Republican critics of the deal are clearly seen as offering no political alternative and no viable strategy for achieving the ending of imperialist rule. The promise of a return to armed struggle will only lead many potential opponents of imperialism to despair and demoralisation.
What is needed is a start to the construction of a new movement based on the demand for an end to British rule and an uncompromising assertion of the right of the Irish people to self-determination. The new movement must be based on seeking the unity of the Irish working class, north and south, and on working class struggle against injustice and exploitation. We need to begin the creation of a new mass campaign that can go beyond earlier movement for civil rights and political status.
Division can only be overcome by unity. Peace can only be meaningful and secure if it is based on justice and an end to inequality. This rotten deal promises neither. * This statement was published by the Socialis Democracy group on 15 April. For more infi write to PO Box 40. Belfast BTII. Nom