The task ahead
BY SEAN BRADY
| |
A myriad of issues which need close and careful attention by
nationalist proponents of the Agreement have now been opened up.
The reality is that 26-County involvement in the Six Counties
must increase. So too must nationalist co-operation on the way
ahead
|
Republicans can be forgiven for feeling a little cynical about
the hype surrounding the result of last Friday's referenda. Every
Tom, Dick and Harry is now claiming credit for the political
changes that have happened and for moving us all towards peace,
harmony and enlightment.
What is particularly galling is that these include people who did
all in their power to crush the peace process in its embryonic
stages and others who, up until very recently, contributed
nothing but negativity towards the search for peace and
accommodation.
Such elements include powerful and influential sections of the
political and media establishments in the 26 Counties who
operated a vociferous campiagn against the architects of the
peace process. Their negativity is now exceeded only by their
utter shamelessness.
The Belfast Agreement must be pushed as far as it can possibly
go. We do not have a political settlement and the only way in
which we can advance towards that goal is by pursuing maximum
political change
| |
As if claiming credit for something which they did nothing to
build was not enough, they are now attempting to lecture those
who did. The greatest illustration of this are the attempts to
pressurise Sinn Fein over the arms decommssioning issue.
According to the most recent shallow media analysis, an end to
all injustice and lasting peace would be established if the IRA
handed up all of their weapons immediately. Nobody seems to be
seeking the surrender of weapons held by the loyalist death
squads and nobody is drawing attention to the British Army's
increased activity in fortifying and rebuilding spy posts,
barracks and installations.
The unionists are making no secret about their intention to use
the decommissioning issue to keep Sinn Fein out of a Six County
Executive. They are being aided and abetted in this by others.
Sinn Féin has made its position on the decommissioning issue
clear and is no less committed to the removal of weaponry from
Irish politics than is anyone else.
What 26 County political and media figures in particular need to
understand is that what happened last Friday will not of itself
bring a lasting peace. Unfortunately for the two-nationist
element in Dublin, the Agreement will not get `the North' finally
out of their hair. This would allow them to return to the comfort
of the insular, partitionist politics which they have been used
to for all their political lives. The nationalist community in
the Six Counties will not allow that to happen. A myriad of
issues which need close and careful attention by nationalist
proponents of the Agreement have now been opened up. The reality
is that 26-County involvement in the Six Counties must increase.
So too must nationalist co-operation on the way ahead.
Recent comments by Brid Rodgers which characterised an electoral
pact between Sinn Fein and the SDLP as `sectarian' were a
disgrace. Rodgers is ignoring the reality that it was nationalist
unity which brought about political negotiations and created the
hope for political progress and peace.
The real sectarianism is the emphasis being put by the British
government and the political and media establishments in Britain
and Ireland solely on unionist concerns and unionist votes. Tony
Blair's campaigning last week sailed dangerously close to
rewriting the Agreement in Unionist terms.
What cannot be allowed to falter now is nationalist pressure for
political progress and equality. Without nationalist unity of
purpose and focused political pressure, any of the gains which
were achieved with such monumental effort over a protracted
period will be lost. This is definitely not a time for taking the
foot off the accelerator.
The Belfast Agreement must be pushed as far as it can possibly
go. We do not have a political settlement and the only way in
which we can advance towards that goal is by pursuing maximum
political change. If things are to stand still, the six county
state will remain frozen in time, the momentum which has
sustained a relative peace will be absent and the situation may
begin to roll backwards.
Tony Blair cannot be allowed now to stand aside. The most heavily
armed groups in the Six Counties are still those under his
control. The major responsibility for assisting in unionism's
coming to terms with political change rests with his government.
The British Prime Minister remains the person with jurisdiction
over the Six Counties. He must live up to the vision of peace and
progress which he claimed was available, by overseeing the
transition out of the past and into a future where colonialism
and its trappings are steadily but surely dismantled and
consigned to the past.
There is a formidable core of unionists who are resistant to any
change. Twenty-nine per-cent is a sizeable vote. This is not to
say however that all the Unionists who voted Yes are going to
happily embrace change. All change and all progress will require
the effort and attention of those who support it.
The marching issue is a benchmark one. It will put to the test
the RUC, the securocrats in the Northen Ireland Office and the
Orange Order itself, the three groups who have been most
implacably opposed to change.
Those who are hailing the Agreement as historic must understand
that it will only be so if there is fundamental change for people
on the ground. This means the removal of the British army, the
abolition of the RUC, the end of Orange coat-trailing in
nationalist areas, Irish language rights, equality of opportunity
in employment, and effective all-Ireland bodies. When these are
realised, then we can talk about the historic dimenesions of the
latest political changes.
As has been said in this column before, the surest way to ensure
that the momentum for change is maintained is to increase the
political strength of republicanism. This means an increased Sinn
Fein vote in the forthcoming Assembly elections. It must be
remembered that it was Sinn Fein, not anyone else, who put all of
the above mentioned and unresolved issues onto the political
agenda and into the Good Friday document. Voting for Sinn Fein
remains the only practical way to guarantee that those issues
will be pursued.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)