textfiles/politics/SPUNK/sp001108.txt

5 articles

  ** Prisoners Out: Troops out: Talk about what? **
    from Workers Solidarity No 46

We welcome the cease-fire.  The "peace process", 
however, has little to recommend it.  It represents 
little more than arguments over who exactly will 
administer capitalism in Ireland.  On issues such as 
the release of prisoners or the disbanding of the RUC 
there is nothing to be discussed.  Both these should 
happen unconditionally.  The debate over de-
commissioning of IRA weapons is meaningless.  All that 
the current negotiations are doing is establishing a 
pecking order among the parties in the north.  

In 1962 the unionists accepted the IRA's word that Operation 
Harvest [the Border Campaign] was over and released prisoners 
without requiring decommissioning of arms.  The opposition of 
the mainstream unionists to a prisoner release now is based 
on their opposition to the "peace process", and it's limited 
threat of power sharing.  Sinn Fein says that the armed 
campaign was a political struggle but the British government 
classes the prisoners as common prisoners, and so will not 
release them now as that would be an admission that they are 
really prisoners of war. 

Inhuman conditions

The refusal to transfer prisoners in Britain to the 
north means that many of them remain in grossly inhumane 
conditions, in particular in the isolation unit of Wakefield.  
Ten of these prisoners have now spent 20 years in British 
jails, 20 years of severe hardship not only for them but also 
for their families.  Six of these ten were convicted of 
charges less serious than murder.  All the prisoners should 
be released immediately and unconditionally.

The continued unacceptability of the RUC - a sectarian 
police force - was underlined by events around July 12th.  
Earlier that week, in Belfast, a number of Catholics had 
their houses petrol bombed after a loyalist march through the 
Lower Ormeau Road was stopped.  The RUC responded to this, 
not by going after the loyalists responsible, but by putting 
the Lower Ormeau under siege on the 12th to make sure the 
loyalists (in the form of the Ballynafeigh District Orange 
Lodge) would swagger through a nationalist area 
uninterrupted.  

They acted as the paid thugs of loyalism.  The RUC sealed off 
the Lower Ormeau at 5am, using a force of nearly 150 armoured 
jeeps and over 1,000 officers in riot gear.  Five hundred 
nationalist protesters who tried to reach the Ormeau bridge 
were attacked by the RUC, hospitalising four.

Victim's widow arrested

On the Lower Ormeau itself the RUC went so far as to 
arrest Rosaline McManus, widow of Willie McManus who was one 
of five men killed by the UDA/UFF at the Graham's bookies' 
shop massacre on the Ormeau Road in 1992.  Her 'crime' was to 
ask the RUC to ensure that no bands would be playing as the 
Orangemen passed the shop.  The dead man's sister, who was in 
a wheelchair, was pushed down a nearby side street by the 
RUC.  Camera crews were kept out of the area for three hours.

However the debate about creating an "acceptable" police 
force is one anarchists have little interest in.  The RUC 
already has the harp on its cap badge.  Creating a new police 
force that contained many nationalists might get rid of some 
of the sectarianism but this new force would still not be 
acceptable.  

The problem with the RUC is not just its composition but also 
the primary role it shares with every other police force.  
This role is the protection of the property of the rich and 
the maintenance of order for the government.  The southern 
Garda<EFBFBD> or the British police are not dominated by religious 
bigots but this has never stopped them being used against 
demonstrators or strikers.

Ludicrous expectations

Sinn Fein's radical rhetoric has been dropped, joining 
any pretence at 'socialist' politics in the dustbin.  Their 
main demand at present is not for 'Troops Out', or even for 
the release of Republican prisoners.  Instead we are 
requested to protest for 'All Party Talks'.  Who can believe 
now that Sinn Fein are somehow 'different' from other 
political parties?  And who still believes that any group of 
would-be leaders is interested in real change?     Sinn Fein 
is calling for  Gerry Adams, John Hume, Ian Paisley, John 
Alderdice and James Molyneaux, along with a few other "good 
men", to sit down and decide the future for the rest of us.

It would be ludicrous to expect that anything capable of 
dealing with the problems faced by ordinary people would 
emerge from this cabal.  In fact, no small bunch of leaders 
can sort out our problems for us (and particularly not that 
bunch!!).  The problems shared by Catholic, Protestant and 
atheist workers will only be solved when we come together, 
recognise our common interests, and take over society 
ourselves.

**********************************************************

     ** One year on: Evaluating the Ceasefire **

THE IRA CEASEFIRE is approaching its first 
anniversary.  That year has been striking for two 
things, on the one hand the success of the 'peace 
process' in turning Sinn Fein from demonised pariahs 
to lauded peace makers.  On the other hand, the 
failure of the process to produce any substantial 
gains for the nationalist community.

Although many British soldiers have been returned to 
barracks, only about 800 have left Ireland.  The RUC may have 
exchanged their machine guns for pistols but they have also 
moved into areas they previously feared to patrol.  
Harassment of nationalists has continued.  Sinn Fein's paper, 
An Phoblacht/Republican News, now carries a Peace Monitor 
instead of a War News column.  

Every week it reports on beatings, threats & 
intimidation directed at nationalists by various sections of 
the British war machine.  Although prisoners have been 
released early in the Republic, no such releases have 
occurred in the six counties and, indeed, the number of 
prisoners allowed compassionate temporary release has been 
reduced.

In this situation it's not surprising that a minority are 
questioning the validity of the ceasefire strategy.  Some 
left republicans see the ceasefire as a sell-out of a 
previous commitment to socialism and anti-imperialism.  There 
are other republicans who see the ceasefire as a cunning 
strategy forced on the British government.  They seem to 
expect the Sinn Fein leadership to pull a united Ireland out 
of the hat at a future stage despite obvious hints to the 
contrary by the same leadership.  This view fails to realise 
that the peace process is a change in strategy rather then a 
victory.

Some things were meant to be

When looked at in the context of the last twenty five 
years the ceasefire not only makes sense but is inevitable.  
All other strategies had been exhausted.  Britain was not 
militarily defeated in the 'years of victory' declared by the 
IRA in early 1970s.  Likewise, the economic bombing campaign 
in Britain and the six counties failed to bring victory.  

The post Hunger-Strike turn to electoral and community 
politics represented by Danny Morrison's 'ballot box and 
armalite' strategy ground to a halt in the mid-80's.  
Although Sinn Fein had a lot of support in the nationalist 
ghetto's it was unable to break out of these and attract 
significant votes from Catholic working class voters 
elsewhere or the Catholic middle class.  In the south, 
outside of a few council seats it never had any success.

Once this was realised it became not so much a question of 
if, but when an IRA ceasefire would be declared.  Talk of 
fighting the British army to a standstill is all very well 
but when translated into a yearly toll of harassment, deaths 
and prisoners the need to move beyond the war of attrition  
became dominant. 

Military stalemate

This has been recognised by Danny Morrison (seen by many 
as a hard-liner within the current republican leadership).  
On his recent release from prison he told AP/RN  "It was 
obvious that something was going on, and it might appear 
controversial, but it was tacitly understood by many people 
that there was a military stalemate developing .... the IRA 
had in 1992 exploded a bomb in the City of London followed by 
the Bishopsgate bomb in 1993 and the Heathrow mortar attacks 
early last year. Despite these prestigious attacks there was 
a stalemate on the military front.

So I think people were mature enough to understand 
developments even though the announcement of the cessation 
came as a severe shock and ran contrary to all our 
instincts."

The ceasefire was also inevitable in a broader setting.  Wars 
of 'national liberation' don't end with outright victory and 
independence for the nationalist side.  They involve a 
negotiated settlement.  In the Irish context this means one 
acceptable to the British state.  This has been the pattern 
of the settlements in South Africa, El Salvador, Nicaragua 
and Palestine in recent years.

All together now?

Sinn Fein's has long held a strategy of uniting the 
nationalist family against Britain.  In this context the 
'peace process' has delivered more than any other strategy.  
One year ago Sinn Fein were pariahs with virtually no 
political allies nationally or internationally of any 
stature.  Today the man once known as John Unionist (Bruton) 
is giving out about the British government stalling in 
releasing prisoners.  The much dreamed of pan-nationalist 
alliance of Sinn Fein, SDLP, Fianna F<>il and the Catholic 
Church not only exists but seems to include Fine Gael, Labour 
and even a somewhat hesitant Democratic Left!  Eamonn Dunphy 
has argued in the 'Sunday Independent' that it is dangerous 
to continue to demonise Sinn Fein!  A world turned upside 
down, unimaginable twelve months ago.

This national success has been matched internationally.  
Gerry Adams has not only been allowed a visit to the US, but 
with John Hume has sung a duet of "The town I knew so well" 
for Bill Clinton.  What's more both Bill Clinton and the icon 
of sacrifice of the 1980's, Nelson Mandela, have publicly 
given out to the British Government for dragging its heels.  
All that's missing is a Noble peace prize for Adams (and he's 
actually been awarded a lesser peace prize by Swiss 
industrialists).

Pan-nationalist alliance

Unionism has become more fragmented and isolated.  No 
significant section of the Tories opposes the peace process 
and no major loyalist mobilisations against the process have 
been organised in the six counties.  The British state has 
not yet fulfilled Sinn Fein wishes, by becoming "persuading" 
unionists to accept the inevitability of a united Ireland, 
but they have pretty much said that as far as the peace 
process goes the unionist veto is dead.

So the peace process has achieved what the armed 
struggle failed to.  The pan-nationalist alliance exists, 
with Gerry Adams at the head of it.  Britain is 
internationally isolated and seen to be dragging its heels.  
Unionism is isolated to the point where small sections are 
willing to consider direct talks with Sinn Fein.  But even in 
the most optimistic forecast of its dividends there are many 
republicans who are wondering, is this it, is this all?  The 
answer from the Sinn Fein leadership would seem to be 'yes'.  
To quote Morrison's' interview again "one thing is certain we 
are not going to end up with a pre-1969 Stormont solution. It 
is going to be much more radical than that." 

A mystic vision of a united Ireland is not what drives most 
republican activists.  They became activists because 
circumstances which included constant harassment, high 
unemployment and poor housing compel them to fight the 
sectarian system that created these conditions.  They are 
activists because when at the end of the 60's they and others 
took part in peaceful attempts to reform this system they 
were first batoned and then shot off the streets.

All has changed, or has it?

But even if the peace process resulted in British 
withdrawal tomorrow, few of these conditions would change.  
Decent housing and decent jobs are no more likely in a 32 
county Ireland with Gerry Adams as Taoiseach.  The 'success' 
story of South Africa illustrates this point.  The most 
ambitious scheme of the post-apartheid government is to 
provide fresh water to a sizeable percentage of squatter 
towns by the year 2000.   The reason cited for the lack of 
ambition is lack of money.

Yet in both South Africa and Ireland enough wealth 
exists to make a massive difference to the way most of us 
live.  But it needs to be taken out of the hands of the 
wealthy and put into the hands of the workers.  Gerry Adams 
may scoff at the Irish left but it is only a united working 
class  that can drive the British state out, and usher in a 
better life for all.  The all-singing, all dancing 'peace 
process', sponsored by Donald Trump and Bill Clinton may look 
good but at the end of the day what can it deliver?

Even the basic demand of British withdrawal cannot be met by 
the peace process or any other nationalist based strategy.  
This can only be won in one of two circumstances.  Firstly if 
the British state decides it no longer has any interest in 
staying and is satisfied that it can withdraw and leave 
stability behind.  It is unlikely to do this in the short 
term, as most northern Protestants want it to stay, and it is 
wary of the destabilisation they could cause in the event of 
withdrawal.  

Telling lies

It is also wary of withdrawal undermining its 
credibility in Britain.  In the course of its 25 year war it 
lied to the British working class about what was going on.  
Republicans were portrayed as psycho-gangsters, terrorising 
even their own communities.  To admit that it lied about 
Ireland means that it will be less able to convince its own 
population that sections of British society that dare to 
fight back are common criminals.  

During the 1984 miners strikes Thatcher referred to the 
striking miners as "the enemy within", and they received the 
sort of media coverage familiar to Irish republicans.  They 
also received the attention of the SAS, often dressed in 
police uniforms, although in this case they were content with 
kicking the shit out of miners rather then killing them.  The 
anti-Poll Tax rioters were also portrayed as criminals by the 
media.  The rule of the British state in Britain as well as 
Ireland is dependant on most of the population of Britain 
trusting it.  Admittance of the true facts of its Irish war 
threaten this.

The only other way the British state will leave Ireland 
is when it is forced out.  The IRA could not achieve this, it 
was incapable of defeating the British army.  Withdrawal will 
only happen in the face of a united working class in Ireland, 
supported by vast sections of the British working class.  
Creating this unity requires an entirely different strategy 
than anything Sinn Fein could pursue, it requires a break 
with nationalist politics.

Andrew Flood

*********************************************************

       **  What's happening with Unionism?  **

THE 12th OF JULY, always a high point of tension, was 
used this year by the 'respectable' unionist parties 
to try to provoke the IRA into breaking the ceasefire.  
Nothing made this clearer than the events surrounding 
the attempts of Orangemen in Portadown to march 
through the Garvaghy Road nationalist estate.  The 
ceasefire was already under strain from the release of 
Lee Clegg, and unionist politicians were quick to 
seize on the confrontation there as an opportunity to 
push republican patience to breaking point.

Many people who tuned in to the news late on the evening of 
July 10th to hear the wild rumours arising from of the 
loyalist siege of Garvaghy Road must have thought they were 
hearing the end of the ceasefire.  It was said that a mob of 
loyalists had broken through RUC lines and stormed the 
estate.  Unionist leaders were claiming that up to 200 
republicans, some of them armed, had come from Belfast to 
protect the estate.  In the event neither story proved to be 
true.  But it was a situation very much like this that 
directly sparked the current struggle. 

Historical bigots

David Trimble and Ian Paisley were at the head of the 
mob trying to storm the estate.  They were the voices behind 
the rumours.  Paisley was well aware of the consequences, he 
encouraged similar attacks at the end of the 1960's which 
prompted some nationalists to move from civil rights marches 
to armed struggle.  Hugh McLean, a member of UVF who took 
part in the random killing of a Catholic in 1966, said to the 
RUC when he was charged "I am terribly sorry I ever heard of 
that man Paisley or decided to follow him".

Paisley and Trimble are not alone, Ken Maginnis the once 
'respectable' face of unionism has completely discredited 
himself by predicting a definite end to the IRA ceasefire on 
several occasions.  The problem for the unionist politicians 
is that, unlike the period of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, when 
over a hundred thousand could be mobilised in demonstrations, 
now they are unable to organise any significant opposition.  
Even Sinn Fein's first visit to Stormont for talks with 
British government representatives resulted in a protest of 
only a dozen or so individuals.

Wishing for war

This failure is also seen in the North Down by-election 
where "United Kingdom Unionist" Robert McCartney ran on the 
basis of opposition to both the peace process and proposals 
for closer ties with the South.  He won (which means little 
as it was a guaranteed unionist seat) but the turnout was 
just 38.7 percent, the lowest in more than 20 years.  When 
the Unionist leaders talk of an imminent breakdown to the 
ceasefire they are not expressing a fear, they are expressing 
a wish.

Not only are the unionists failing to mobilise mass 
opposition to the peace process but the loyalist 
paramilitaries, for once, are refusing to play along.  In the 
week after the 12th the political wings of the loyalist 
paramilitaries were put to the test by the threat of a body 
calling itself the 'Protestant Defence Force' to strike 
against Catholics it thought responsible for arson attacks on 
Orange halls.  

Far from playing along, both the PUP and UDP came out against 
it. David Irving of the PUP warned against perpetuating the 
cycle of sectarian violence, Gary McMicheal of the UDP 
pointed out that the Combined Loyalist Military Command would 
take a "dim view" of anyone breaking the ceasefire.

The tail that wags the dog

Parts of the left have got somewhat over excited by the 
new prominence of the PUP and the UDP, seeing them either as 
a cunning proto-fascist plot or a left-wing break with 
unionism.  Their emergence and willingness to talk with 
nationalists and the left is significant.  David Irving has 
spoken at meetings with the Communist Party, Militant Labour, 
and this year addressed the Dublin Council of Trade Unions.  

However there is a long tradition of working class loyalists 
complaining about being sold out by ruling class unionism 
without breaking from sectarianism in the course of doing so.  
Given, in particular, the horrific killings carried out by 
some of the prominent figures in the PUP/UDP it is correct to 
be cautious but their current complaints provide evidence of 
the growing tensions within unionism.

Loyalty's reward

Among working class loyalists there is growing awareness 
that loyalty to the British crown has delivered less, in some 
cases, than the armed rebellion of the  republicans.  The 
biggest thing the British state gave in return for their 
loyalty was guns to kill Catholics with.  

A Health Profile of the Greater Shankill Area, which was 
published in June, showed 

-> Only one third of men in the district described their 
health as good compared with 60% in Belfast overall.

-> Male unemployment in the area is 40%, compared with a 
Belfast average of 19%.  The female rate is 35%, compared 
with an average of 11% in the entire city.

-> Over 80% of pupils in the Shankill left school without 
any qualifications, compared with two thirds in Belfast 
overall. 

-> Only 1 per cent were educated to degree level, 
compared to 9% in the whole city. 

-> Just one in 12 children attended a grammar school compared 
with an average of one in four in Belfast.

Sinn Fein can't do it

Sinn Fein, because of their nationalist politics, will 
always be unable to attract support from significant numbers 
of Protestant workers.  The most they can do is call on them 
to "see sense".  Again, to quote Morrison on his release from 
prison: "...part of our analysis is that the unionist 
community is more in advance of the unionist leadership which 
hasn't produced a De Klerk, someone who is imaginative and 
courageous enough to say, 'we're going to have to deal here, 
we're going to have to settle and accept that everyone is 
going to have to compromise'."

This pretty much paraphrases 1994 Ard Fheis speech by 
Gerry Adams, in which he also called for a "Protestant De 
Klerk".  This represents the limits of republican thinking 
towards the Protestant working class.  They may be able to 
recognise that Protestant workers have been tricked but they 
are unable to appeal to them on the grounds of common 
interest, as this would be a fundamental break with the 
politics of nationalism.  Such an appeal would also be 
something that the nationalist bosses in Ireland and Bill 
Clinton would not be keen on.

There can not be a loyalist socialism.  Loyalism means 
loyalty to the ruling class of Britain and Northern Ireland.  
For this reason it is wrong to see the PUP or UDP as 
socialist, or even close to socialism.  A socialist movement 
requires support from all sections of the working class and a 
break with orange and green politics.  The ceasefires have 
made it a little easier to put forward this viewpoint, it is 
up to all of us to make the best use of this opportunity.

Joe Black

*********************************************************

           **  An Anarchist strategy  **

WHILE WELCOMING the ceasefire we don't expect the 
"peace process" to lead to much.  Sinn Fein's politics 
offer little more to Northern workers, as a class, 
than the politics of the fringe loyalist groups.  Both 
aspire to getting a better deal for the poor and 
oppressed in their communities but neither are capable 
of delivering, as they are limited to rhetorical 
appeals to the workers of the other side to "see 
sense".  Neither can offer a way forward because 
neither can unite workers across the sectarian divide 
in a common struggle.

Anarchism, at the moment, is a very much smaller force 
in Ireland then even the fringe loyalist groups, but it does 
offer a way forward.  We argue for working class self-
activity that appeals not to politicians or priests as allies 
but to workers everywhere, in Ireland, in Britain and 
internationally.  But this unity cannot be based on just 
'bread and butter issues'.  In the past Catholic and 
Protestant workers have united in common fights to get more 
from the bosses.  The largest and better known examples of 
this are

->1919 Engineering strike when the mostly Protestant 
workforce of Harland and Wolff elected a strike committee 
that happened to be mostly Catholic.

->1932 Outdoor Relief strike when the unemployed of the 
Falls and the Shankill rioted in support of each other, and 
against the police.

Both these were broken by the unionist bosses convincing 
Protestant workers that it was all a 'Fenian' trick and that 
their real interests lay in loyalism.  Look at the poverty 
figures for the Shankill road today and you can see who was 
really tricking who.  But the bosses' trick worked and 
economic unity crumbled, to be replaced by a vicious pogrom 
and the expulsion of Catholics and left-wing Protestants from 
the shipyards in 1919 and sectarian rioting in 1933.

For this reason, the idea we can wish the division of 
the working class in the north away by simply talking about 
wages and living conditions is a fantasy.  More recently 
there has been unity in support of the nurses' pay claim, 
against health service cuts and against sectarian 
intimidation in Housing Executive and Dept. of Social 
Security offices.  All of these instances are heartening.  
Unfortunately little permanent unity has been built upon 
these successes because of a failure to confront 'communal 
politics'.

Protestant workers have to reject loyalism and unionism as 
ruling class ideologies.  They have to see their allies as 
being workers who happen to be Catholic, north and south, and 
their enemies as the loyalist bosses and the British state.  
This is no easy break to make but the big benefit of the 
ceasefire is that it is now easier then it was a year ago.

No to the bosses Orange or Green

Catholic workers have a similar break to make.  The 
politics of both the SDLP and Sinn Fein are essentially about 
extending the southern state northwards.  This would have the 
benefit of ending rule by sectarian bigots (although the 
southern Garda<64> are no more keen on the working class then 
their northern counterparts) but that's about it.  Many 
workers in the South have spent a good part of the last 
decade fighting the power of the Catholic church, from its 
influence on the legal system to its covering up of child 
abusing priests and enslavement of unmarried mothers in the 
Magdalen laundries.  

Apart from that, the recent Dunnes Stores strike 
demonstrates that the gobshite Southern bosses are every bit 
as mean as their northern equivalents.  It also demonstrates 
they can be beaten, if workers stand together.

Workers' unity against the bosses is required but the 
form that unity takes is also vital.  The unity must be 
political as well as economic.  The RUC, the border, clerical 
control of schools and hospitals, and laws restricting 
divorce, gay sex and access to abortion all need to be 
opposed.

We cannot rely on a few "good men" to sort out the 
situation for us.  That is the mistake most of the socialist 
movement made this century and is the reason why we had 
'socialist' dictatorships like the USSR and China on the one 
hand, and 'socialist' sell-outs like the Labour Party or 
Democratic Left on the other.  There is, however, a different 
current in socialism, based not on good leaders but on the 
self-organisation of the working class.  

This self-organisation is what anarchism is all about.  
We don't believe the way forward lies in finding the right 
leader, whether it's Gerry Adams, Tony Blair or Lenin.  
Instead we see the way forward lying with ordinary people; 
taking control of our lives into our own hands, coming 
together and starting to fight back.  The role of anarchists 
is not to assume the leadership of such a process but to 
argue for self-activity, encourage it and seek to encourage 
those fighting back to unite in an overall struggle against 
capitalism and for a new society.

And that's where you come in.  Unlike other left papers, 
we won't end every article by telling you the only way 
forward is to join the party.  What we do say is find out 
more about anarchism and look at ways of encouraging self-
activity in the struggles you are involved in.  If you decide 
you like what we say then please do get in touch and help us 
in saying (and doing) it.  Above all recognise that the 
answer is not getting 'our' leaders into talks but in taking 
back control ourselves.

****************************

CHARLIE AND BILL

"Begrudgers, throwbacks and die hards".  That is what 
the media called anyone objecting to the official state 
visit by Prince Charles.  Their consensus had decided that 
anyone who would object must be "living in the past".  You 
would think that the British ruling class had done nothing 
at all to stir up the troubles, that Prince Charles<65> 
Parachute regiment had never murdered 14 civil rights 
marchers on Bloody Sunday.  And we were supposed to feel 
privileged that a filthy rich parasite was condescending to 
have a free holiday here at our expense.

Not everyone swallowed this forelock touching 
embarrassment, orchestrated by the politicians and their 
Dublin 4 media friends.  2,000 republicans, socialists, 
anarchists and anti-royalists took to the streets of Dublin 
on May 31st.  The Workers Solidarity Movement played its 
part by giving out 5,000 leaflets urging support for the 
march, and organising a lively contingent on the night.
Demonstrations like this play a useful role.  They 
remind us that there are rich and poor, workers and bosses, 
rulers and ruled.  To recognise this and object to it is not 
begrudgery but realism!  We know how things are now and we 
are declaring we want something better.

When Bill Clinton comes over on November 30th he should 
not be able to live the high life without encountering a 
protest or two.  It will certainly give heart to dissident 
Americans to know that in Ireland there are those who oppose 
the US state<74>s intervention in other peoples<65> countries and 
support for dictatorships in the third world.  One question 
is whether Sinn F<>in will be on the streets or at the 
dinner?  Will a handshake for Gerry Adams be more important 
than taking a stand against injustice?