Through Irish eyes
When peace and prosperity depend on deadly trade
From Socialist Democracy, Irish section of the Fourth International
One of the key arguments of advocates of the "peace process" is that it will deliver economic prosperity. This was the message that was being hammered home on the 24th August at a press conference to announce that an American electronics company was to establish a new software centre in Derry.
Those in attendance included Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble and SDLP leader, John Hume. Such an event would be unremarkable if wasn’t for the fact that the company involved was Raytheon, and the proposed software centre’s main contract would be with the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
It is of course ironic that a weapons factory should be welcomed so warmly by Trimble and Hume, the two pillars of the peace process who had so recently been awarded the Nobel Peace prize. Indeed, John Hume’s involvement in the Raytheon investment went well beyond a symbolic welcome. He was instrumental bringing the defence company to Derry. The extent of his role was acknowledged by Raytheon Chairman and Chief Executive Dan Burnham, when he claimed that his company was "indebted to John Hume for his encouragement" to locate in Derry. Not surprising such hypocrisy went largely unchallenged.
The Raytheon investment does not just pose moral questions; it is also economic and political. For it epitomises the type of economic development that is associated with the peace process; the key features of which are low social standards (i.e. poor working conditions, low pay, no unions etc); and dependency on the British state.
Like many of companies that have recently invested in the north, Raytheon will not recognise trade unions.
It will also be dependent on direct and indirect financial support from Britain.
The Derry plant will be wholly dependent on a £1.3 billion contract with the Ministry of Defence for the Airborne Standoff Radar (ASTOR). Despite his praise for the persuasive powers of John Hume, Burnham admitted that: "In the absence of ASTOR, we would not have the reason or motivation or to get to know this area."
He also said he wished for "a peaceful and prosperous future". Yet the fact is that Raytheon, as a defence company, is dependent on conflict and instability. That was seen clearly only a few months earlier during the Kosovo conflict. As Raytheon-manufactured Tomahawk missiles pounded Yugoslavia, its shares soared from $58 to $72.
In addition to its weapons being on show, there was the expectation that it would win contracts to replenish the diminished stocks of the US military. The critical point is that Raytheon’s success as a company depends, not just on the manufacture of weapons, but on their use. Put bluntly: war is good for business!
There is also the myth that Raytheon has been a creator of jobs. In reality it has been a destroyer of jobs. The consequence of consolidation in the defence industry, a process pioneered by companies such as Raytheon, has been massive job losses. Following the Raytheon’s take-over of Texas and Hughes in 1998, 10,000 workers were made redundant. This was not an isolated incident.
Over a period of years, Raytheon had been making deep cuts in its workforce. In 1995, the State of Massachusetts gave the company a $21m tax cut after it threatened to pull out its operations; six months later Raytheon sacked 4,400 workers in the state. Such cuts have not been confined to the United Sates. In 1994, it closed two factories in Britain that had recently been acquired from British Aerospace: 8,700 jobs were lost.
The company’s plans for future redundancies have already been announced. In 1997, at the same time as Raytheon announced annual sales of $13.7 billion, it also announced that it planned to cut as much as 8 per cent of its workforce. Just this October that figure was revised upwards when, in response to a plunge in its share price, Raytheon announced that a further 2,380 jobs would be slashed. This will bring the total of redundancies to 18,000 over a period of two years. Such figures put the 150 jobs to be created at Raytheon’s Derry site in perspective
The Raytheon investment in Derry is inherently bound up with the brutalities of imperialist aggression, and the priorities of the British state.
It is no co-incidence that the major architects of the peace process, Blair and Clinton, have been leading the military charge around the world.
At the same time as they have been extolling the virtues of peace in Ireland, they have mercilessly bombed countries such as Iraq, Sudan and Yugoslavia.
This is not merely hypocrisy. Both are part of an imperialist strategy. Taken as a coherent whole, rather than a contradiction, they provide an insight into the imperialist basis of peace process. Raytheon is just one manifestation of this.