Republican News · Thursday 21 February 2002

Irish Independence or European Empire?

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ROGER COLE, chair of the Peace & Neutrality Alliance, argues that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), by telling the National Forum on Europe that it no longer believes in Irish Neutrality, has backed Irish integration into a militarised union and the destruction of Irish Independence, Democracy and Neutrality.

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On 14 February 2002, the National Executive of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions told the National Forum on Europe that they no longer supported Irish Neutrality. In the full knowledge that those serving on the Military Committee of the European Army are the same as those who serve on the Nato military committee they stongly supported the Irish Army becoming in effect a Regiment of the European Army, an army which in the words of President Chirac will be there to serve the "interests" of the European Union.

They also made it clear that they did not accept the democratic decision of the Irish people to reject the Nice Treaty and would advocate a yes vote again. If the Irish political elite were sufficiently arrogant and stupid enough to hold another referendum on the same Treaty then there is no doubt that even more people would vote no the next time. Would the National Executive of the ICTU then ask for yet another referendum?

The ICTU accepts that there is a problem of legitimacy for the EU arising from a "perceived democratic deficit". So what is answer? Simple, take even more power away from the Irish people and give to the European elite, support even more intergration and have a "European Constitution". Thus they really believe in widening the democratic deficit and they do so because they are part of the European elite, they support taking even more power away from the Irish people and giving it to themselves. They support the destruction of Irish Independence, Irish Democracy and Irish Neutrality.

They support the creation of a European Empire where power will be exercised by the secret meetings of the Council of Ministers. A European Empire dominated by the elites of Germany and France. The Brits still have to decide whether they wish to remain a US aircraft carrier or join the French/German axis.

This year is the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Irish Labour Party by James Connolly and Jim Larkin, which was to be the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Movement and there are many people (including myself) who believing in the social and political teachings of Connolly joined the Labour Party and the ITGWU, now SIPTU. Connolly in 1914 founded the Irish Neutrality League and in 1916 as a military Commander of the Irish Army/Irish Citizen Army sought to break the link with the British Union and establish an Independent Irish Republic. Connolly therefore is a real symbol of the unbreakable link between Irish Republicanism, Irish Democracy, Irish Neutrality and the Trade Union Movement.

There are times when those of us who hold to such values are a minority, but now is not one of them. In June 2001 an MRBI survey showed that 72% of the Irish people wanted to maintain Irish neutrality. In the same year 54% of the people voted to reject the Nice Treaty. That result was no flash in the pan. Successive referendum results on the destruction of Irish democracy and the formation of a European Union & Empire have shown a steady rise in those supporting Irish democracy and over 38% had voted against the Amsterdam Treaty. Nice, therefore, was no surprise. The future of the European Union should be as an Association of Democratic States with no military dimension whatsoever and all Irish Republicans and democrats should be prepared to engage in constructive dialogue with other political groupings in the EU on that basis.

The current leadership of the ICTU however, totally reject the Connolly tradition, Irish Democracy and Irish Independence. They clearly support the intergration of Ireland into a militarised union. They are born again Redmondites. However, how many of the 750,000 trade unionists were consulted in any way whatsoever before the Executive decided to advocate the destruction of Irish Neutrality? The same Executive had advocated a yes vote to the Nice Treaty and their advice was rejected. They were out of touch then and they are still out of touch.

However, it is clear that the motivation of the ICTU Executive is their belief that the use of military force can be justified in certain circumstances and they quoted Sierra Leone as one example where they claimed the superior British weaponary helped to stablise the situation. The point, of course, is that superior British weaponary was supposed to stabilise the situation in Derry as well, and it did not quite work out that way. The fact is our 850 soldiers will only be a small an insignificant part of a European Army that will be used to impose the wishes of a European elite dominated by France, Germany and possibly Britain. Knowing the history of these states, Irish people have every reason to believe that Irish troops will only be used as cannon fodder as we were when we were part of the British Union. The people of a small democratic state should be very careful before they become involved in wars in which they had no hand act or part in starting, will have no say in how it is conducted, and have no role in how it is ended. Our focus should be on seeking to achieve collective security through a reformed and renewed United Nations. A Rapid Reaction Force directly under the auspices of a reformed and more democratically representative Security Council is a possible option that should be examined in more detail as an alternative option to a European Army.

PANA, before the Nice Treaty, wrote to the National Executive of the ICTU and all the unions seeking a meeting with them to put our case and they ignored our request. PANA will again be writing to them to seek a meeting now that we are part of the National Forum on Europe. We have always sought construtive dialogue, especially with those with whom we profoundly disagree, especially Redmondites. Watch this space.