Behind the Ireland "Peace" deal
"A rotten deal that reinforces partition"
Socialist Democracy* Statement
The Stormont deal is being hailed as a new beginning and a defining moment in the search for peace and healing of division. It is nothing of the sort.
The new deal entrenches sectarian division inside the Northern state and strengthens the undemocratic division of the country. It promises a perpetuation of the injustices of the past by endorsing continued British rule.
It is presented by politicians and an uncritical media as a lasting settlement but it is not a solution and cannot therefore promise a lasting peace.
A sober examination of the deal, away from the media hype and spin doctoring shows that the deal is a rotten reinforcement of British imperialist rule and a betrayal of the democratic aspirations of the majority of the Irish people. Its successful imposition would set back the unity of the Irish working class and its struggle against oppression and exploitation.
The deal calls for the amendment of the Southern constitution to include an endorsement of partition and support for the sectarian northern state. The British claim to the six counties is actually enforced, while "balance" is supposedly achieved by the British scrapping the Government of Ireland Act that is not even the fundamental legislative basis for British rule.
A new Stormont parliament is to be set up, which will institutionalise and strengthen the sectarian basis of the state. Sectarian patronage will be dispensed by a majority unionist assembly which will be called upon to share some of its sectarian privileges with the representatives of the catholic middle class. The unionist veto in the new Stormont will ensure that there will be no attempt to dismantle or challenge the sectarian fundamentals of northern society.
The demand by the ‘nationalist family’ for powerful, meaningful and free-standing cross-border bodies has been brushed aside with the connivance of this same nationalist family. The cross border bodies will be utterly subordinated to the assembly’s unionist majority who will have a veto over any decisions. In any case, the proposed functions of these bodies can only be described as pathetic - ‘animal and plant health’, ‘teacher qualifications and exchanges’ and ‘water quality and waste management’, etc.
Prisoners are to be kept as political hostages, with their release dependent on the good behaviour of their movements. There is not even a recognition of their political character, and the struggle against British rule continues to be defined as a terrorist conspiracy.
The RUC is not going to be disbanded and there is not even the promise of reform. Instead, the British once again promise ‘independent commissions’ to report back later. We have recently seen that such ‘representative’ and ‘independent’ commissions, such as the parades commission, are staffed by middle class Catholics who work for the RUC – and prominent loyalists. It can be confidently predicted that there will be minimal change.
The rotten deal is a blow against democracy and the unity of Irish working people. It has been cobbled together by two reactionary governments and a host of right wing parties. Despite this, it may not satisfy the most bigoted sections of a unionist movement that is not prepared to wait two years for republicans to hand in their guns and does not want to share their partitionist assembly with them anyway.
The destruction of the deal by unionists would not represent a step forward, but only shift the agenda of the debate further to the right and lead to further steps to appease orange reaction.
Despite all this, the leadership of the republican movement cannot bring itself to oppose the deal, despite the demand for decommissioning within two years. In fact Gerry Adams has now claimed 1998 to be a ‘high point for republicanism’.
It is quite clear that the leadership of the republican movement has no intention of breaking from its reactionary alliance with the ‘nationalist family’. It continues to proclaim its goal of a united Ireland while attempting to persuade its supporters to accept a deal that strengthens partition. It has promised to pursue a ‘peace’ strategy that must shoulder a heavy responsibility for the new partitionist settlement.
Above all what is needed now is a clear analysis that explains the reactionary nature and consequences of the deal, and voices a clear alternative to it. Such an alternative must break not only from the failures of the ‘peace process’ and the ‘nationalist family’, but also from the failures of physical force republicanism.
Republican critics of the deal are clearly seen as offering no political alternative and no viable strategy to achieve the ending of imperialist rule. The promise of a return to armed struggle will only lead many potential opponents of imperialism to despair and demoralisation.
What is needed is a start to the construction of a new movement based on the demand for an end to British rule and an uncompromising assertion of the right of the Irish people to self-determination.
Workers’ unity
The new movement must be based on seeking the unity of the Irish working class, north and south, and on working class struggle against injustice and exploitation. We need to begin the creation of a new campaign that can go beyond earlier movements for civil rights and political status.
Division can only be overcome by unity. Peace can only be meaningful and secure if based on justice and an end to inequality. This rotten deal promises neither.
Socialist Democracy calls on all socialists to demonstrate maximum unity in the months ahead to defeat this reactionary settlement by a united campaign for a ‘NO’ vote in the May referendums.
The alternative to the new partitionist settlement is a working class movement that rejects the politics of imperialism and green capitalism and trusts its future to a struggle for a new vision, a United Workers’ Republic.
*Socialist Democracy is the organisation of Irish supporters of the Fourth International. Contact them via Socialist Outlook. To obtain a copy of the book Ireland: the Promise of Socialism, send a cheque/postal order for £5 to Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. (For readers outside the UK, email [email protected] for details).