textfiles/politics/SPUNK/sp000422.txt

    from Workers Solidarity No 34

    paper of the Irish anarchist
    Workers Solidarity Movement

      Sectarian killings in Ireland (1992)

IT'S BEEN a year of little change up North.  Just 
as the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 
1986 led to a rampage by Loyalist gangs, in the 
wake of the Brooke talks 36 Catholic civilians 
were killed in random attacks.  Six taxi drivers 
were killed, singled out as easy targets.  

Newspapers talk of carnage, of a situation totally out 
of control, of the sectarianism of the IRA and the 
Loyalists, with the heavy emphasis on the IRA.  Not 
many papers talk about the sectarianism of the entire 
state and it is interesting to note that the security 
forces killed more people than the IPLO, yet they are 
never described as terrorist murder gangs.  

Contradictions such as these arise from the view point 
that the northern state is merely the neutral ground 
upon which these crazed madmen practice there blood 
frenzy.  What is the reason for all this?  What's special 
about the North, why is there not a sectarian divide in 
the South also?  Why aren't Catholics being killed 
down South by Protestants?  Obviously, there must be 
something that is causing  this conflict, and if it's not 
the basic nature of the northern statelet what is it? 

Political commentators leave this question hanging in 
the air, it's as if there is something poisonous in the 
water.  It's no wonder that many people are not only 
confused but fed up with hearing about the North.  
It's no wonder that many political parties hide behind 
emotive condemnation using trite meaningless phrases 
to avoid discussing the issues involved.

So what are the issues involved?  Why is there this 
Loyalist sectarian backlash?  Why despite the 
statistics, are the IRA portrayed as the main threat to 
civilians? 

Initially the North was partitioned in order to 
artificially keep the Protestants in the majority.  The 
Protestants were then given marginal privileges, 
better housing and job prospects.  The North was the 
richest and most industrialised part of Ireland, and 
most of that industry (linen, then ship building) relied 
on exporting to Britain.  Therefore it was vital for the 
owners of business that the North remained tied to 
Britain.  

By splitting Catholic worker from Protestant worker 
they formed an allegiance between Protestant worker 
and Protestant boss, and of course the British state.  
This was the 'orange card'.  The North is now Britain's 
last colony.  A majority of people in Britain have said 
in all the recent opinion polls that they would like to 
see them pull out.  

Why do the the British stay?  One important reason is 
that a chief sustainer of any state is the myth of 
invincibility.  Once the cracks start to show, as 
Gorbachev discovered when he lost his job and the 
Soviet Union, the whole shebang can quickly crumble.

When India was struggling for independence they 
looked to the lessons learned by Irish nationalists.  
Indeed John Biggs-Davidson, a leading Tory politician, 
said as much when he said that "if we lose in Belfast we 
may have to fight in Brixton or Birmingham".  This is 
not to say that a British withdrawal would spark 
revolution throughout Britain, but certainly it is a 
risk for the British government to allow such an 
upheaval, a risk that for the moment they are not 
willing to take.  It's a risk as regards the reaction of 
their own population at home, and its also a risk to 
have a wild card statelet, out of acceptable control so 
close to your own border (see the USA's reaction to 
Cuba and Nicaragua).

At the moment though Protestants still are marginally 
better off than Catholics.  Unemployment is two and a 
half times higher in Catholic areas.  However, loyalists 
believe that talks such as the Brooke talks could be a 
forum for Britain to slowly slip out of the North.  It is 
to prevent this happening that the 'orange card' is 
again being played.  It is for this reason loyalist 
sectarian attacks occur, they serve to divide Catholic 
and Protestant and ensure thus that the Protestant 
working class will fight to maintain the status quo i.e. 
its allegiance with the bosses and the state.

This isn't always the case though.  There have been 
times when both sides united, for example, the DHSS 
strike against UDA death threats to Catholic workers.  
Last year workers at the Hyster factory in Lurgan 
walked out after three of their workmates were 
murdered by loyalist gunmen.  However more often 
than not when unity occurs it has occurred on 'bread 
and butter' issues, rarely raising the issue on the 
border.  Avoiding the issue leaves the door open to the 
bosses to once again play the orange card.  The result 
is that in many cases such unity was followed by a 
loyalist backlash as the bosses attempt to prevent it 
reoccurring.

Therefore on one hand it is true that Protestant 
workers learn that they are more powerful and 
successful in struggles when the combine with the 
Catholic working class.  However on the other they 
still see the bosses and the British state as necessary 
in order to protect what minor privileges they have.  
These are indeed minor, as Northern Irish workers, 
whether Protestant or Catholic, are the worst paid in 
the British Isles.  Unemployment is higher in the 
North that any other part of the British Isles.

Sectarianism is a weapon that has been used again and 
again by the ruling class.  In 1932 it split unemployed 
Catholics and Protestants who had come together in 
the Outdoor Relief Strike and it is being used today to 
entrench the loyalist side.  Without workers unity 
against the bosses the situation could continue on and 
on.  As long as the Orange state exists to divide 
Catholic and Protestant there will be sectarianism.   
Our goal is a socialist Ireland, where the freedom of 
the individual is respected and where the working 
class hold direct and complete control through their 
own councils.  In the struggle for this loyalist workers 
can be won away from their bosses, and only then will 
the cycle of sectarianism be broken.

Aileen O'Carroll

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The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at 
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