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17 October 2002 Edition

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Everyone, republican or otherwise

BY LAURA FRIEL



     
This week has been 'a cold house' for the Good Friday Agreement but republicans are already warming to the task ahead
It was winter-cold and at the corner of Sevastopol Street a bitter wind was blowing. Journalists chatted amongst themselves as they set up their equipment and waited for Gerry Adams to emerge from Sinn Féin's offices.

Towering above was the mural of Bobby Sands with the words, "Our revenge will be the laughter of our children" and "Everyone, Republican or otherwise, has their particular role to play". And the smiling portrait seemed the only benevolent aspect of the day.

There's no getting away from it. Republicans are angry and frustrated, but that's nothing new and at times like these there's a rich seam of strengths to draw upon. And as Martin McGuinness had told a packed Ulster Hall earlier in the week, we'll "keep our eyes on the prize".

At the Ulster Hall last Thursday night, the republican gathering had been remarkably upbeat, almost buoyant, clapping and cheering, even laughing at the occasional heckler's quip.

It may not yet be "the laughter of our children" and its vision of a future of equality, justice and peace but its incalculably preferable to the begrudgery and recrimination bedevilling Ulster's unionists or the lynch mob sectarianism of their paramilitaries.

"There's nothing like adversity to cheer up republicans," someone had joked, as hundreds of our comrades emerged from the hall smiling and greeting each other with the banter of established friends.

Film footage of Holy Cross and more recent unionist paramilitary attacks on the Short Strand had given an edge to the rally. If this was a time for courage and determination, republicans have plenty of experiences to draw upon.

And even after 30 years of conflict, there's nothing cynical about republicans and at moments like this, the generous nature of their vision sustains their humanity as well as their humour.

"As a gift to the working class children of the Shankill and the Falls," Martin McGuinness had announced the ending of the Eleven Plus as his last contribution as Minister for Education.

And it had been another galling week, the tomfoolery of raiding Sinn Féin's Stormont offices and inflated claims of IRA spy rings at the heart of the NIO continued to provide plenty of heat, but not much light.

The fact that Sinn Féin had largely been vindicated with an apology from the PSNI Chief Constable and the return of property seized during the raid was lost in the British and media spin.

"The recent difficulties stem from the loss of confidence and loss of trust on both sides," said British Secretary of State, John Reid. "It is essential that concerns about the commitment to exclusively democratic and non violent means are removed. The time has come for people to face up to that choice between violence and democracy."

Of course, John Reid might have been talking about the ongoing sectarian attacks by Anti-Agreement unionist paramilitaries against vulnerable nationalist areas, or even the bloody gunfights between rival factions of the paramilitary wing of unionist family.

But he wasn't. Instead, we were given just enough fudge for the British Secretary of State to appear a 'neutral arbitrator', with just enough anti-republican spin to allow the media to take up the standard.

"Pressure builds on Provos to disband," said the Belfast Newsletter. "IRA under pressure," ran the headline of the Irish Times.

In a joint statement, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern continued: "It is now essential that the concerns around the commitment to exclusively democratic and non violent means are removed. The time has come for people to clearly choose one track or the other."

And it isn't easy to unpick this. On the one hand, we have a list of allegations from Colombia to Castlereagh, a handful of arrests on the basis of questionable evidence that at worst suggests a measure of subversion and perceived but not actual threat.

And on the other hand we have over two years of sustained violence from anti-Agreement paramilitaries supporting the agenda of rejectionist unionism. Thousands of gun, petrol and pipe-bomb attacks on Catholic homes, schools and chapels and a string of fatalities, from the sectarian murder of Catholic teenagers to the death toll of a bloody loyalist feud.

No one is questioning the truth of this, only the political significance. Pro-unionist violence, we are repeatedly told, has no significance because unionist paramilitaries are not in government, only their political allies within the UUP and DUP.

But Sinn Féin must be held accountable for every act of violence emanating from within the nationalist community, every imagined threat conceived by anti-Agreement unionism and answer for every trumped up charge pursued by the unionists' political allies in the PSNI.

And at the behest of unionism and the stroke of a British pen, a population of over a million is disenfranchised and their electoral mandate set aside, together with the overwhelming endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement by all the people of Ireland. And all this, we are told, is in the interests of democracy.

But it's not democracy that the British are upholding, but the unionist veto.

"Unionists never wanted to share power," wrote Danny Morrison in the Andersonstown News. "It must be extremely hard for people who established their own state, with the might of Britain, had their own paramilitary police and government, and who were raised on supremacist politics for so long to share power even with Castle Catholics, never mind those 'who ain't house trained'," he wrote, citing one of Trimble's references to Sinn Féin.

"There is a range of issues, involving all aspects of the Agreement, which are within the respective powers of the two governments," Gerry Adams tells the media.

"The British Secretary of State in particular has been slow to fulfil his responsibilities in relation to demilitarisation, policing, criminal justice and other matters. There has also been no progress on the legislation regarding political exiles, and no movement on the all-Ireland parliamentary forum.

"The two governments need to convene meetings as soon as possible to spell out how they intend to proceed on these maters and how they will honour the commitments they reiterated," said Adams.

Commenting on the suspension, Adams criticised John Reid's statement. "Most of the British Secretary of State's remarks focused on the IRA. I recognise that the issue of armed groups needs to be dealt with. This includes the IRA. But this process is not a single-issue process.

"John Reid appears to want to reduce the agenda to a single item. This will exacerbate the crisis rather than assist the process. I have told John Reid this but once again he has chosen to ignore this advice."

Outside Sinn Féin's Sevastopol Street offices on the Falls Road, members of the media shiver in the cold. Inside, the party is getting on with the business of challenging the sectarian agenda and tunnel vision of rejectionist unionism and their British guarantors. This week has been 'a cold house' for the Good Friday Agreement but republicans are already warming to the task ahead.

And of course "Everyone, republican or otherwise has their particular role to play."

 

We all must redouble our efforts to save Agreement



Speaking in Leinster House on Tuesday on the suspension of the institutions in the Six Counties, Sinn Féin Dáil group leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said:

"The suspension of the Good Friday Agreement institutions by the British government represents a temporary success for the anti-Agreement unionists but only a temporary success. Their strategy to block political change can only be short term. They know that this process will have to be revived, and the Good Friday Agreement fully implemented.

"The current crisis dates not from the raid on Sinn Féin's offices in Stormont but from the Ulster Unionist Council meeting of 21 September when the anti-Agreement forces in that party finally succeeded in having their programme adopted. That programme seeks the rolling back of changes that have taken place, the exclusion of Sinn Féin and the renegotiation of the Agreement.

"We in Sinn Féin are totally committed to ensuring the full implementation of the Agreement, which was supported in referenda by the overwhelming majority of the Irish people. It must not be forgotten that the people of the 26 Counties made very significant changes to the Constitution on the basis that the Agreement provided for an inclusive Executive, an all-Ireland Ministerial Council and all-Ireland Implementation Bodies. There is an obligation on the Irish government, therefore, to help ensure that these institutions are re-established at the earliest opportunity.

"John Reid in suspending the institutions, for the third time, has done the Ulster Unionists dirty work. He has slavishly played out their threat to bring down the executive if, as they demanded, my party was not excluded. He and his government have joined with David Trimble and the other nay-sayers in the Ulster Unionists to undermine an Agreement that had already brought us a long way from the bitter conflict that preceded it.

"An internal unionist battle for party political advantage is now being waged between the UUP and the DUP with the Assembly and the Executive being used as the battleground and the destruction of Good Friday Agreement as the ultimate prize. Last night's suspension was never about Colombia; it was not about Castlereagh; and was not about the raids on Sinn Féin's offices in Stormont. It is about bringing an end to changes that were required of unionism in respect of the Agreement. It is their reluctance to share power and to be part of real change that is driving their agenda to have Sinn Féin ejected from Stormont.

"The British government must not be allowed to present themselves as some sort of impartial arbiter; that they too have responsibilities in all of this. There are a range of issues, involving all aspects of the Agreement which are within their power and indeed within the power of the Irish government. The British Secretary of State, John Reid, in particular has been slow to fulfil his responsibilities in relation to demilitarisation, policing, criminal justice and other matters.

"We need to know from the two governments what they intend to do to address these matters. We need to know how they plan to honour the commitments they made yesterday.

"We all need to redouble our efforts to save the Agreement from collapse. We have worked too hard to allow Unionist party political interests and British security services to destroy it. The Irish government must play a more robust role in defending the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement."

Martin Ferris later had the chance to intervene in the debate. He welcomed the Taoiseach's acknowledgement of Sinn Féin's positive contribution to the development of the peace process to date. "I particularly welcome his recognition that we have undertaken, unilaterally, a number of initiatives aimed at building greater confidence among the unionist community," said the North Kerry TD. "I point to Alex Maskey laying a wreath at the cenotaph and acknowledging in a commemorative way the dead of the First World War.

"Sinn Féin's efforts to build a relationship with the wider unionist community have been ongoing for more than a decade. There are those within the unionist family who do not want to share power with nationalists. Unfortunately, they have been setting the agenda in recent years and trying to upset any chance of unionism coming to terms with the equality of nationalism within the Assembly and the institutions.

"Some of the commentary during this debate has been regrettable. I refer particularly to the contributions of Deputies Howlin, Gay Mitchell and Crawford.

"The commentary regarding people at present before the courts creating an innuendo of guilt is disgraceful. There was no mention from these Deputies about the proven collusion between the RUC-PSNI and loyalist-unionist paramilitaries which is a reflection on the inequality of their contributions.

"I vividly remember Deputy Ruairí Quinn speaking at the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation when he stated the RUC was a corrupt and irreformable police force. This same force has been drafted into the Police Service of Northern Ireland, as it is now known, without accountability. It is imperative for all of us to work collectively, as we have done in recent years, to ensure the Good Friday Agreement survives and is implemented in full.

"Sinn Féin will continue to play a positive and constructive role in bringing about its full implementation."

 

Sinn Féin begins series of bilateral meetings



Sinn Féin Assembly Group leader Conor Murphy and Chief Whip Sue Ramsey met with the Women's Coalition and the Alliance Party on Wednesday as part of a series of bilateral meetings around the current crisis. Today, Sinn Féin will meet the SDLP.

Speaking after the meetings, Murphy said: "Given the seriousness of the political impasse we are facing, it is crucial that we keep talking and keep contact going at all levels between the political parties.

"We have come so far in the last ten years and the potential to transform society in the next ten years is so great that no political party will serve its electorate well if they walk away from the institutions or refuse to engage in dialogue.

"The dangers of allowing a political vacuum to open up and deepen cannot be underestimated. It is vacuum that is all too readily filled with acts of real violence from those who oppose the peace process and Good Friday Agreement."


Stormont Raid Inquiry



Also on Wednesday, Sue Ramsey and Dara O'Haga met with the Assembly Speaker, Lord Alderdice, to discuss the Inquiry into the PSNI raid on the Sinn Féin office in the Assembly.

Speaking after the meeting, Ramsey said:

"The PSNI raid of party offices in the Assembly were part of an elaborately choreographed performance for the media. Despite tipping off the media prior to their heavy-handed attack on the democratic institutions, the PSNI scuttled away locking decidedly foolish with two computer discs taken at random as the tried to avoid the media. The two discs have since been returned.

"This raid begs a number of key questions. Who authorised this assault on the democratic institutions? Who authorised the PSNI to enter the building from within the Assembly? Why did the PSNI gain entrance to the building prior to the production of a search warrant? When did the Speaker become away of the raid? Why was Sinn Féin not informed of the imminent raid?

"Two members of staff have lodged formal complaints with the Police Ombudsman's Office and Conor Murphy has also lodged a complaint on behalf of the party.

"Clearly the PSNI had no intention of searching Sinn Féin offices but were instead engaged in a piece of political theatre. As we look at yet another suspension we must be aware of the damage that has now been done to the standing of these institutions."

 

Republicans are willing to compromise, not surrender


BY JIM GIBNEY



The British government cannot ride two horses simultaneously: the horse of 'conditional democracy' and the horse of 'military occupation' even if they are out of the same stable and going in the same direction
 
The time has come for the British government to live up to its responsibilities. The time has come for the British government to apologise to the Irish people, or the people of Ireland, as appropriate, for the misery they have caused this nation since their ancestors first set foot on Irish soil in the 11th century.

The time has come for the British government to declare a date and time to leave Ireland for good, although preferably not midnight - I'd like to see the whites of their eyes as they leave.

The time has come for the British government to right the wrongs of partition.

The time has come for the British government to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about their dirty war in Ireland.

The time has come for the British government to put on public display their intelligence files used by loyalists to kill hundreds of Catholics and nationalists over the last 30 years.

The time has come for the British government to accept the democratic norms that prevail elsewhere in the democratic world.

The time has come for British Secretary of State John Reid to step down off his pedestal and consult a dictionary with the true definition of 'democracy' and 'morality' before he starts questioning the democratic credentials of republicans.

The British government cannot ride two horses simultaneously: the horse of 'conditional democracy' and the horse of 'military occupation' even if they are out of the same stable and going in the same direction.

What chance, dear readers, do you think there is of Tony Blair's advisers, political and military, approving such a policy shift?

The time has come for the political leaders of unionism to face up to their responsibilities. The time has come for the leaders of unionism to apologise to the rest of us for administering British occupation and repression in Ireland since the 17th century.

The time has come for the leaders of unionism to apologise for promoting and sustaining sectarianism in Ireland for centuries.

The time has come for unionist leaders to apologise for the partitioning of Ireland by their predecessors.

The time has come for this generation of unionist leaders to acknowledge and apologise for the years of unionist, one party, and one government rule in the Six Counties. To acknowledge and apologise for establishing an apartheid state which systematically and scrupulously discriminated against Catholics and nationalists and treated them as second class citizens in their own country.

The time has come for unionist leaders to accept and apologise for those unionists in the 'A', 'B', 'C' Specials; the RUC, the PSNI, the UDR, the RIR, the Crown forces, the Orange Order, the unionist paramilitaries, the judiciary, the prison service, the civil service, Harland and Wolff, Mackies, Shorts Brothers and many, many more institutions for mistreating and killing Catholics and nationalists.

The leaders of unionism cannot ride two horses at the same time: the horse of 'hypocrisy' and the horse of 'double standards'.

What chance, dear readers, do you think that the advisers, political and military, to David Trimble and Ian Paisley would encourage such a shift in policy?

We know, as does everyone else, the reality, the potential and the limitations of the peace process. Are we likely to achieve the conversions required above? I very much doubt it.

The time has come for everyone in Downing Street, Glengall Street, the White House and Leinster House to get real about the peace process, to get real about how a conflict resolution process, which took hundreds of years to take shape, works itself out.

Let them begin by realising what they currently have. Two IRA cease-fires, two IRA arms initiatives, one unprecedented IRA apology. What they have from Sinn Féin is participation in a northern Executive and Assembly and a commitment to pursue the reunification of Ireland through 'exclusively democratic and peaceful means'.

What is on offer from an undefeated IRA, despite provocation from the British and unionists, is a commitment from them to continue to support the peace process.

What is on offer from the IRA is a disciplined, united Army behind the peace process and the Sinn Féin leadership.

What is on offer from the IRA is their silent weapons under disciplined control in secure dumps. What is on offer from the IRA is their silent explosives under disciplined control in secure dumps.

What is on offer from the leadership of Sinn Féin is the integration into the political system on an all-Ireland basis of a powerful community who for nearly 30 years supported the IRA's armed struggle, through thick and thin, and are now committed to peaceful persuasion.

What is realistically achievable from Sinn Féin's viewpoint, in the correct circumstances, is the end of a 200-year-old republican armed conspiracy.

What is not realistic is the demand that the IRA disband. Republicans are willing to compromise, not surrender.

 

 


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