Republican News · Thursday 29 May 2003

Marching for elections in London

BY FERN LANE

Several hundred people marched through central London on Saturday last to protest the British government's cancellation of the election due to have been held in the Six Counties today. They were joined by Sinn Féin Assembly member Dara O'Hagan, who handed in a letter of protest at 10 Downing Street as the march made its way down Whitehall. The march and the rally that followed, was organised by the Wolfe Tone Society as part of its annual James Connolly/Bobby Sands commemoration. The speakers included a young nurse from Palestine, Ghada Al-Najjar, who gave an emotionally-charged account of the horrors the Palestinian people face under Israeli occupation.

Addressing the rally, Dara O'Hagan expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people, explaining that Irish people have an instinctive sympathy with their plight. She also said that, although she was glad to be able to speak to those present, she should actually have been at home in Ireland working alongside her colleagues on the last week of an election campaign - one that would undoubtedly have brought even greater success for Sinn Féin.

The behaviour of the British government needed to be taken in context of the electoral rise of Sinn Féin she said. She explained that when Tony Blair first came to power there had been some hope within republicanism that, because he did not have the political baggage of his predecessors and because of Labour's large majority, he could make a difference to the political landscape of the north of Ireland. But, she said, he has "played the Orange card, yet again, and he upholds the unionist veto, yet again, by postponing elections at the behest of David Trimble.

"Tony Blair should stop behaving like a 19th century British colonial overlord, whether in Iraq or in Ireland. Elections should be called immediately. Democracy is supposed to be about accepting decisions that you mightn't like."

Also speaking was Labour MP John McDonnell, who urged those present to, in the short term, direct their efforts towards campaigning for the reinstatement of the elections. "The Good Friday Agreement was a breakthrough in the negotiating period of the struggle, but what we mustn't do is allow the gains that we made through negotiation to be lost," he said. "That is why we have to wholeheartedly condemn what Blair has done in denying the Irish people in the Six Counties the right to vote.

"There is no point in being a hypocrite, sending troops around the world to bomb people into subjugation and saying it is in the name of democracy when you undermine democracy 350 miles from here.

"Our focus of struggle in this country at the moment should be about the restoration of those elections. We have got to break the unionist veto. Every time Trimble has pleaded with Blair to save his skin, Blair has jumped. What is the next demand? How many more assurances does the IRA have to give?

"We are in a period of peace which many people in this audience only dreamed of 15 years ago, which was unimaginable 20 years ago. And yet Trimble puts all at risk to save his own position within unionism as it disintegrates. To save his own political skin, he puts peace at risk and lives at risk. And at the same time, he strengthens the hands of the real thugs in unionism; the opportunists who are quite happy to see war break out again to further their own political position."