Republican News · Thursday 26 June 2003

Taking the Short Strand story to London

BY FERN LANE

As besieged nationalist communities in the Six Counties brace themselves for the coming marching season, Sean Cuinn from the Short Strand in Belfast began his Communities Under Attack speaking tour of England with a meeting in Westminster on 17 June.

At the gathering, hosted by Labour MP John McDonnell, Cuinn explained something of the history of the Short Strand, describing how the area has almost always been under siege, both by forces of the state and by loyalists. But, he said, with the cessation of 1994 the people of the area dared to believe that a more peaceful future was possible. Many even bought their homes.

The peace they were hoping for did not materialise and the area has been subjected to virtually continuous attack. But despite the determination of the government and the media to portray what goes on in Short Strand as just another squalid, tit-for-tat sectarian squabble between two equally intractable communities, the real reasons behind it are rooted in the wider political situation in the north of Ireland.

The question, says Cuinn, is how and why the siege of last year was allowed to happen. "The answer is very simple. It was to appease the unionist agenda. The reality is this; unionism cannot handle nationalist political advancement.

"There is no tit-for-tat. There was a political agenda why the Short Strand was attacked. It was to break the ceasefire and to bring the IRA back on to the streets.

"The Good Friday Agreement promised justice for everyone, but the community I come from hasn't seen that. That is an indictment on the British government that they have failed to live up to their responsibilities.

"The Short Strand is ten minutes from the centre of Belfast and yet it is living under semi-siege. This is the city that Tony Blair likes to hold up to the media and say 'have a look at this place, look at the regeneration, this is a fantastic example of why the peace process is working'. And he is right. Belfast city centre has been revamped. But walk ten minutes and you will be looking at traumatised children, children who were born after the 1994 cessation."

The situation in the Short Strand, he said, is a human rights issue. Last summer, residents were prevented by loyalists from getting to the local doctor's surgery and to the shops. "If that happened in Britain there would be an outcry. It wouldn't be allowed to happen, he continued. "But it's not going to happen in Belfast either. Because those days are over. This is not the 1970s anymore. The political strength that the people have needs to be used."

John McDonnell told the meeting that the misrepresentation of Short Strand and the British government's reluctance to acknowledge the situation is because the area "epitomises the failure of the government. It epitomises their failure of nerve in dealing with unionism".