land last week, even angrier perhaps than the nationalists living alongside the varvagny Road, was Taoiseach John Bruton.
"John Unionist" was not mainly troubled by the batoning of nationalists out of the way of Orange marches through the Garvaghy and Lower Ormeau Roads, nor the more than 5,000 plastic bullets fired by the RUC at nationalists.
Even Unionist leader David Trimble's orchestration of the Orange riots with the UVF, the same UVF which had just killed a Catholic taxi-driver, was not his main concern.
No. What upset John was that the British had torn up the carefully constructed joint approach to Northern Ireland operated by both governments since the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement and embodied in the Downing Street Declaration and the Framework DocuMICHES The reason for Bruton's fury is that Dublin's strategy has been totally flattened. It was for long based on acceptance of the Unionist veto and attempting to undercut support for Republicanism by modest reform of the 6 County statelet - reforms guaranteed by Dublin.
This led for example to the Inter-governmental Secretariat at Maryfield in Belfast staffed by British and Irish Civil servants. Inis airect link was meant to allow Dublin to "advise" the British government on sensitive issues like the behaviour of the RUC or the routes of marches.
Dublin was not informed of the change of policy at Drumcree the Krish came a operational decision which it left to the RUC Chief Constable.
This is a clear indication to Dublin that they are no longer to be allowed even this minor role in the North. The British it would appear, have changed their minds.
John Major now describes Northern Ireland as "part of the United Kingdom just like Surrey". The line of The Times and The Telegraph is that too many concercions nave been made to natedalism and that what is necessary is to restore Northern Ireland to its proper place within the UK.
The original Anglo-Irish Agreement was pressed on a reluctant Thatcher government in 1985. Dublin was afraid that the rise in Sinn Fein support after the Hunger Strikes would combine with the economic crisis to destabilise the South.
They attempted to boost John Hume's Social Democratic and Labour Party by seeking to persuade the British to make minor concessions to the Nationalists in order to woo them away from the Re. publicans.
BR IT. BELFAS Hume carried this further in his talks with Gerry Adams. He couldn't do a deal with the British which left the Republicans outside. They represent 40 per cent of the nationalist vote. So he persuaded Adams that the British had no "selfish, strategic or economic interest" in Ireland and that the only obstacle to Irish unity was the Unionists, who had to be persuaded or the benents or a united Ireland. Both Adams and Hume accepted this was a long way off. The discussion then Even mild nationalist derands bring a murderous response from the loyalist death squads and their British backers. It would be suicidal for the IRA to disarm: the weapons are needed to defend nationalist areas BE VARNED YoUr IRON WILL MELT FROM THE HEAT OF ULSTER Hobart and Heron The 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement was pressed on a reluctant Thatcher government reactionary Unionist mobilisations resulted was what kind of settlement was to be built in the meantime.
The Unionists opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement but were faced down by Thatcher. John Major however, can't * BILLPOSTING deliver even the token gestures which would satisfy Dublin. Unionist leader David Trimble has been able to exploit Major's political weakness, constantly raising obstacles A Programme for the Irish Revolution Two years in the writing, adopted at the foundation of Socialist Democracy, the Irish section of the Fourth International, this is the most extensive Marxist analysis of Ireland since the 'Forties.
We are offering a special pre-publication price of just £4.50. Send Postal Order, or cheque, payable to Socialist Outlook Fund, to: PO Box 1109, London jor to hold elections and wasting endless hours in procedural wrangling at the "peace" talks.
Drumcree (and the Lower Ormeau Road) show that everything has changed. The RUC forced loyalist marches through Nationalist areas in a blatantly partisan way, with baton charges, plastic bullets and by putting whole areas under curfew.
Any hopes that Nationalists had of negotiating a settlement have been shredded. Nationalists can see that they will forever be second-class citizens in the orange sheer dence nel aucer di the Tories and their Labour camp followers.
The ground has been completely cut from under John Hume. The "Irish Peace Initiative" began with the Hume Adams talks. It was based on an an. proach which has its origins in the 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement.
But Drumcree was the clearest possible demonstration since the loyalist's strike brought down the 1974 Power Sharing Executive that the Unionists will not concede an inch and that the British will back them.
The position is even more acute for Republicans. The British, far from being "persuaders" for Irish unity as demanded by the Republicans, have gone hack to their was British as Finchlev line. Why do Sinn Fein still demand to be allowed into talks? What could possibly be the point of taking part in this farce? If reforms are no longer on the table, what is the point of the "Irish Peace Initiative"?
Socialist Outlook has always argued that the 6 County statelet cannot be reformed. We backed Bernadette McAlliskey's call for Republicans to withdraw from this process well before the latest displays of Orange reaction.
It is clear that even the mildest of demands by nationalists will bring a murderous response from the loyalist death sauads and their British hackers It would be suicidal for the IRA to disarm: the weapons are needed to defend nationalist areas.
The return to an offensive strategy is also wrong: the other lesson of the past 25 years is that the IRA cannot militarily defeat the British. What is needed is a political strategy which unites the working class North and South and which can begin to break Loyalist workers away from Orangeism.
Otherwise the future is Orange.
David Coen
Socialist Outlook 106 • August 1996. REPUBLICAN PRISON
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