Need for new police service
News that RUC members will no longer have to take the oath of
allegiance to the Queen of England has been met with widespread
scorn throughout nationalist areas.
In addition to the dropping of the oath, the RUC will no longer
be known as a police force, but a police service - comforting
when you are having your skull cracked with a baton.
For nationalists the RUC is the institution which was the first
line of defence for the Unionist regime in Stormont, and the
force which implemented a whole array of repressive legislation
since the 1970s. It has been responsible for torture, assaults on
whole communities and shoot-to-kills.
Five months into the second ceasefire, the nationalist experience
of the RUC remains the same. It is still ruthlessly intimidating
nationalists in an all-out effort to recruit informers.
Meanwhile, attempts to frame nationalists in the courts continue
apace. The treatment of Colin Duffy and the Hamill case have
become notorious - they represent simply a more widespread abuse
of powers.
It is naive to believe that anything other than the total
disbandment of the RUC will make a contribution to the peace
process. What is required is a fundamentally new approach which
will see the construction of a new and proper police service.
Mo Mowlam must grasp the nettle and realise that the RUC is
unacceptable and that no amount of tinkering will change that.
What is required is a civilian police service. That cannot be
arbitrarily established by herself or by backroom civil servants
in the NIO but must be a result of the current talks process.
Spain declares war
The Spanish state this week declared war on the political
representatives of the Basque independence movement. The jailing
of the entire leadership of Herri Batasuna in a blatantly
political show trial is an outrageous attack on freedom of
speech.
The Spanish right wing government, in the finest tradition of
Franco, is making it clear that they will meet demands for Basque
self-determination with repression.
History has shown that the Basque people's desire for freedom
will not be crushed by such repression. Instead, these jail
sentences will only make more difficult the achievement of a
peace settlement. The Spanish government must immediately grasp
the need for dialogue and release all their political prisoners.