ONE YEAR ON SINCE THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT - THE PEACE OF THE CEMETERY
AS 'PEACE PROCESSES' go, the one in progress in the North of Ireland has been a pretty violent one. From the sectarian slaughter before and after the death of Loyalist Volunteer Force boss Billy Wright in December 1997 to the murder of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson in March this year, via the Omagh bombing last August, it's been a vicious period since the main paramilitaries called their 'cease-fires'.
Little spoken of in the Brit media, the continuing harassment of Nationalists by the RUC/Army, the sectarian attacks upon isolated (and not so isolated) Catholic families by Loyalist gangs and the on-going siege of the residents of the Garvaghy Road points to a situation of constant, unspectacular but demoralising violence. This uninterrupted, day to day brutalisation is only broken by more 'news-worthy' acts of violence, such as a murder by the Red Hand Defenders or a grenade attack by the Orange Volunteers.
The on-going 'punishment beatings' by both the IRA and the Loyalists, used by Unionist politicians as a stick with which to beat Sinn Fein and to delay things, are another insidious form of violence which both groups of 'defenders of the community' cannot function without. The working class, Protestant and Catholic are stuck between 'anti-socia'l elements and would-be police forces, both drawn from their own communities but both equally uncontrolled by them.
The overall situation is one of a violent, sectarian stagnation. One year has passed since the Good Friday Agreement. The March 10th deadline for the setting up of the Assembly Executive has come and gone. Sinn Fein accuses David Trimble and his Ulster Unionists of "obstructionism" and of using the Unionist Veto. In an assembly which not merely reflects but strengthens the sectarian divide, this is hardly surprising. The question is, how long can this go on? As ever, the 'electorate' watches the show drag on with an increasing sense of deja vu.
If the whole 'Peace Process' is an example of bourgeois Realpolitik, of inter-imperialist politics (British and American) painted upon a local canvas then perhaps we should be looking at the 'alternatives' which may exist. If we look at the political critics of the Good Friday Agreement then they can be divided into the Unionist, the Republican and the Left.
What has happened to them since, and what sort of forces do they represent?
The Unionists
The anti-Agreement Unionists represent the 'No' alternative, otherwise known as the "No alternative at all" alternative. In the run-up to the vote, the 'No' alternative went under the label 'United Unionists'. This pact consisted of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and Robert McCartney's UK Unionists. As we have argued before (Organise! 47: If You Want Peace, Prepare For...'), these dinosaur elements have become less important since the election of the Labour government in 1997. Their rejection of the Good Friday document and their refusal to give support to David Trimble hasn't actually harmed the 'peace process' at all. Rather, their intransigence has served to make the Ulster Unionists appear the party of peace, progress and moderation. As headbanging religious fundamentalists, their politics were and are echoed paramilitarily by the Loyalist Volunteer Force, who, alongside the Orange Order, were the other 'hard-line' voice opposing the Agreement. The DUP will continue to be a depository for good old fashioned anti-Catholic hatred but its political constituency is unable to grow. The Loyalist Volunteer Force remains on 'cease-fire', even attempting to gain some sort of credibility by being the first paramilitary group to decommission (a few rusty weapons, probably 'decommissioned' by the group themselves when they were still part of the UVF!). The Red Hand Defenders and the Orange Volunteers, the two Loyalist groups who have emerged since the LVF called its cease-fire are, effectively, the LVF and sympathetic elements in the Ulster Freedom Fighters. Like the DUP, the rump of Loyalist Paramiltarism will continue to function, not least because of the collusion of elements within the British state itself. Politically, this bloc stands for a return to the golden days of a submissive Catholic community in a Protestant state. Those days are long, long over.
The Republicans
The major elements in the Republican Movement who have opposed the Agreement have been Republican Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Socialist Party. Within mainstream republicanism, The 32-County Sovereignty Movement had, until very recently, been in the 'No' camp. The attempts by the Irish state to criminalise this tendency following the Omagh bombing has led to their expressing support for the IRA cease-fire and the 'Peace Process' despite continued disagreements with the Sinn Fein leadership over the issue of sovereignty.
The Irish Republican Socialist Party rejected the Agreement but supported the Irish National Liberation Army's decision to join the 'cease-fire'. The IRSP appears to be going through a period of reassessment and re-orientation at the moment and recently re-launched its' newspaper The Starry Plough. Since it's formation in 1974 The IRSP have been through various political crisis and, sometimes violent, changes of leadership. The direction of the organisation seems to be towards an involvement in community-based struggles as a distinct Republican Socialist tendency within the broader Republican movement. Although the IRSP derides the Provos for having "accepted the capitalist system" and of having a different (presumably bourgeois) class analysis to themselves, they continue to call for "maximum Republican unity". What can this mean other than unity with the mainstream Republican movement i.e. Sinn Fein? The eventual destination for the IRSP is likely to be a re-affirmation of Leninism, although with the general crisis of the Left in Europe, who knows? Whatever path the IRSP take, their past as little more than an ancillary of the feud-ridden INLA, will weigh upon them like a nightmare. As before, their politics will not offer an independent working class alternative.
Part of the broader "Republican unity" the IRSP would like to see is Republican Sinn Fein (RSF). RSF, however, have little fondness for the IRSP and approaches by the latter to build a united "No" campaign during the Agreement referendum were rejected by the former. Despite their talk of a 'Federal Democratic Socialist Republic', RSF are a traditionalist Republican organisation to the right of the Provisionals but sorely lacking Adams and Co.'s political acumen or flexibility. Their politics reflect their origins as an
asbstentionist split from Sinn Fein in 1986 and for Republicans they constitute either an anachronism or the last defenders of true Irish Republicanism, depending upon the individual Republican's perspective on the Peace Progress. What is important about RSF is their relationship with the Continuity IRA, the only Republican armed group not on cease-fire. Both RSF and CIRA deny any official relationship, but without doubt there is a unity in terms of perspective. Individuals in or around RSF have been subject to serious harassment from police both sides of the border and also from supporters of the 'peace process'. Despite growth since the second IRA cease-fire, Republican Sinn Fein, without any alternative but a return to the armed struggle, are likely to remain marginalised.
The Left
Most of the left in the Six Counties called for a 'Yes' vote in the referendum. The Workers Party (WP), what's left of it, supported and continues to support the Agreement. Wracked by splits and violent feuding the Stalinoid/Unionist WP has had little input into the 'peace process' as it continues on its irreversible decline. The Socialist Party (the party formerly known as Militant) critically supported the Agreement and stood in the elections to the Assembly, arguing that a 'Yes' vote would allow a period in which class politics (or rather their own Trotskyist version of 'class politics') could develop.
The most notable Left opposition to the Agreement came from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). The SWP called for a 'No' vote on the grounds that the Assembly would "institutionalise sectarianism" (Socialist Worker; May 1st 1998). The SWP in the North of Ireland is a reflection of its 'mother' party in Britain, albeit much smaller. Despite this smallness, the SWP intends to stand candidates in forthcoming elections in the North. Elections to...sectarian institutions!
The Anarchists
The anarchist movement in Ireland as it stands today consists of the Workers Solidarity Movement, based in Dublin and the anarcho-syndicalist Organise! group, the local section of the International Workers Association (IWA), based mainly in Belfast. Outside these groups are various individuals active on both sides of the border. The Workers Solidarity Movement called for a boycott of the Referendum whilst Organise!-IWA was actually split on the issue. Some comrades argued in favour of a 'Yes' vote, in the hope that a space might be opened up for an anti-sectarian, working class politics, whilst others argued for abstention. A dissatisfaction with this lack of unity has led to the creation of a discussion group bringing together militants from both groups and none, to analyse the entire issue of the Peace Process and the anarchist response.
The conclusions to most articles on the Irish 'peace process' written by libertarian communists and anarchists usually amount to the obligatory call for the creation of independent working class organisation, a struggle against Orange and Green nationalism and workers unity. All of these are indeed necessary but their realisation is still far away. Working class resistance to the state, when not in the form of spontaneous outbursts of anger, mainly takes place through the Republican Movement (in the broadest sense). At the beginning of the modern stage of 'The Troubles' the Provisional IRA filled a politico-military vacuum, defending the working class Catholic community from sectarian attacks by the RUC, Loyalists and, eventually, the British Army. The recruiting sergeant for the Provos has been the reality of sectarianism and state violence. The hegemony of Republicanism over active resistance to state repression has rarely been seriously challenged. Within the context of an Imperialist sponsored 'peace process' which promises both a continuation of sectarian division and a continuation of sectarian violence, those who would create an alternative based upon an authentic revolutionary politics need to build a base in their communities and workplaces in order to make anarchism a alternative that can be taken seriously by our class.
Any readers interested in joining discussions on the way ahead for anarchists in Ireland should contact the co-ordinators at : WSM, P.O.Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland.