THE MURDER of Rosemary Nelson has been presented by the British and their supporters as yet another example of bigotry and hatred which supposedly infects the Irish of all persuasions.
The jeering graffiti and the public glee which followed her death arA certainly strong evidence of the almost limitless capacity for bigotry within Orangeism.
Rosemary Nelson Yet Orange bigotry is only part of the story.
Socialists and Republicans in Ireland are well aware of another reality - the institutionalised sectarianism of the forces which is becoming and more difficult to hide:
* the long history of RUC collusion with the loyalist death squads * the case of Robert Hammill, where the RUC sat and watched as a loyalist mob beat him to death * the revelation that RUC officers had themselves issued death threats against Ms Nelson * the fact that even the lickspittle complaints board had been treated with open contempt by the RUC According to the republican leadership, this institutionalised bigotry can be resolved. The peace process will lead to a gradual desectarianisation and democratisation of the Northern statelet.
But there is a level of reality ignored by almost everybody -the overwhelming evidence of British interest in maintaining and supporting sectarianism the North. After all, it has all happened before. Pat Finucane, a solicitor killed by loyalists, was publicly set up by a Tory minister shortly before his death. British intelligence officer organised the intelligence for his killing. The RUC admitted later that they had details of the murder in advance and did nothing. International human rights organisations, including sections of the UN, have called for an enquiry and been publicly attacked by the British. The Northern Irish bar stood aside as recently as last month when British bar associations called for action in the Finucane case. Even today, the Robert Hammill case ends with the RUC exonerated by the International colarts and one held accountable organisations, murder. have called for an Protestors in Porenquiry and been tadown aré savpublicly attacked agely beaten but the RUC members by the British accused of threatening Rosemary Nelson remain on duty. The FBI and the Kent constabulary acclaim the primacy of the RUC when called in to lend weight to the RUC investigating itself. While we support calls for genuinely independent enquiries into the RUC's behaviour we know that no enquiry by itself will lead to real justice. Even where British soldiers have been convicted of murder they have been released. Nor will the Patten commission will not lead to the disbandment of the RUC. It is the political cover to allow the retention of the force in what is supposed to be a new beginning.
We already know the truth. The RUC is a brutal and sectarian force. It cannot be reformed. It must be disbanded.
All those representatives who declare opposition to sectarianism must be forced to put their money where their mouths are. RUC must demand that they resign from the Assembly rather than take part in a political charade that would have us believe that the sectarian state has been reformed. If not, they will be revealed as complicit in the sectarianism the RUC has been guilty of since its creation over 75 years ago. Rosemary Nelson, shortly before her murder, said that Portadown was not so much a place as a poisonous atmosphere. Partly Eyes A column from Socialist Democracy, Irish section of the Fourth International of the death squads and the barely disguised collusion with the state forces.
Rather than deal with this, the British blame the residents of the Garvaghy Road, and talk of a clash of cultures.
• For a mass campaign to disband the RUC.
For a boycott of the Assembly if the RUC is not disbanded.
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