Demilitarise now
South Armagh is the most militarised area in Western Europe. The
23,000 people there are, say the South Armagh Farmers and Residents
Committee, the most searched, stopped and spied upon in the world.
There is a spypost, bristling with the latest hi-tech surveillance
equipment, for every thousand people in that rural area. The
construction continues. And the frequency of British Army and RUC
patrolling and mobile checkpoints with their attendant harassment
have risen since the IRA declared a ceasefire.
Normal life is impossible in South Armagh. Tourist and business
investment are hamstrung because neither business nor visitors want
to come to a military zone. Added to all this is the constant
invasion of privacy and the health scares caused by the surveillance
equipment.
This is all happening nine months after the Good Friday Agreement was
signed. At a time when rapid steps should have been made to
demilitarise and to build up the political institutions on which
confidence in the future could be secured, the British government has
dragged its feet. It has allowed those opposed to the positive,
progressive elements of the Agreement to dictate the pace.
The people of South Armagh have said that that is not good enough.
They are demanding that the yoke of military occupation is removed
from their landscape. They are demanding a proper, peaceful future
and that must begin with the removal of the oppressive, all-pervasive
British military installations.
On Sunday they will protest at the Cloghogue checkpoint outside
Newry. It is a symbolic location on the main Belfast to Dublin road.
And, in a symbolic act, they will demolish a mock-up of a British
spy-post. The large structure will be toppled as an expression of
their desire to see their landscape rid of these monstrosities.
They deserve the support of all progessive people.
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