Real test will come with talks
Micheal Mac Donncha writes that the test of a new peace process
is whether it can change the course of history.
Seventy-five years ago this month the disastrous consequences of
the British Government of Ireland Act of 1920 were seen in the
entrenchment of partition, Civil War in the 26 Counties and a
subjugated nationalist population in the Six Counties.
Nationalist comrade killed nationalist comrade, Protestant was
set against Catholic by an Orange regime in Belfast, the walls of
division were raised and none could realise that it was only the
beginning of a nightmare that would last for most of the century.
Such were the results of long-term British government policy to
retain their imperial grip on Ireland, and their short-term
expediency to extricate themselves from the greater part of the
country where their writ could no longer run.
The challenge of the new peace process, 75 years after that
tragic summer of 1922, is nothing less than to change the course
of Irish history away from the narrow channel carved by
imperialism, and in a new direction determined by the Irish
people themselves, acting freely without outside impediment.
The peace process has seen the leaders of nationalist Ireland
(first Reynolds/Hume/Adams and now Ahern/Hume/Adams) for the
first time in the latest phase of the conflict, reaching key
points points of agreement. These include the need for inclusive
negotiations to achieve a democratic peace settlement and the
recognition that an internal settlement in the Six Counties is
not an option. While there are obvious differences between the
nationalist parties the dynamic they created came from the ending
of the isolation of nationalists in the Six Counties.
Britain had successfully internalised the conflict in the Six
Counties. The peace process has nationalised it and
internationalised it - not in the sense of spreading conflict
itself but placing it in its true all-Ireland context and in the
context of Britain's relationship with Ireland and the rest of
the world.
Only by recognising these realtities can we understand the
determination of the unionists and the Major government to stall
and destroy the peace process. But the political dynamic which
arose out of the Sinn Féin peace strategy survived all the
destructive efforts of its enemies. Speaking after meeting John
Hume and Bertie Ahern at Government Buildings in Dublin on 25
July Gerry Adams said:
``It has been a long, difficult, often frustrating and dangerous
task to get to this point. We have confounded those who
pronounced the peace process dead and disappointed those who
wanted it to die.''
At that meeting the three leaders of nationalist Ireland made
clear their determination to see real talks begin on 15
September. It was a meeting just as historic and significant as
the Reynolds/Hume/Adams meeting of September 1994 yet it was
largely played down in the media. Similarly played down was the
significant speech made by Bertie Ahern on 24 July.
In this speech the difference in political emphasis of the new
government from that of the previous Bruton administration was
clear. He said that the ``Government of Ireland Act of 1920 and
subsequent constitutional development failed to resolve the the
conflict of political alleigances within Ireland. A deep
settlement would... address and overcome previous failures going
back to 1920 to achieve the basis of a just and durable
solution''. He said that ``in the longer term a united Ireland
achieved by agreement still offers the best and most durable
basis for peace and stability''.
A measure of the extent to which nationalists have advanced the
equality agenda in the political debate was given in Ahern's
remarks where he said:
``Those who have been badly treated in the past need to be assured
that neither selfish strategic considerations on the part of the
British government nor mob rule, intimidation or violence from
any quarter will be allowed to upset the free play of democratic
forces, as they have done a number of times before.''
He also spoke of a ``radical renegotiation on a three-strand basis
not just of the Anglo-Irish Agreement but of the 1920-21
settlement''.
Of course the harshest test of these words will come in
negotiations. It is then that the Dublin government will be asked
to represent Irish national interests.
At a meeting in Dublin on 29 July Foreign Minister Ray Burke and
British Secretary of State Mo Mowlam reiterated their commitment
to start substantive political negotiations on 15 September. This
further sharpened the focus on the unionists.
The question now is will the unionists again be allowed to stifle
the potential for political progress. They know change is
inevitable so their only strategy is postponement of the
inevitible. But this is a gross failure of leadership on their
part. Gerry Adams's challenge to the unionists this week was:
``Who could be afraid of talking? Why should unionists be afraid
to sit down at the table? The desire of the vast majority of the
people on this island, including unionists, is that their leaders
lead. That is what Sinn Féin is going to do.''
The challenge to make history rather than repeat it faces all
parties, not least the unionists and the British government, as
15 September approaches.
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