Since then, the entry of both Ireland and Britain into the EEC has facilitated this process. But the struggle in the North has remained a formidable barrier to Dublin collaboration. The Hillsborough Accord established an "Ireland Fund" with money from the USA, Canada, New Zealand and the EEC to spearhead a new restructuring, especially in the border areas.
But a fundamental contradiction lay at the heart of the agreement. The mass base of the British occupation rests on the sup14 port of Northern loyalists - and that, in P turn, rests on defence of protestant supreInternational Viewpoint #153 • December 12, macy and discrimination against Catholics.
After three
The reforms were therefore limited to what the loyalists would accept, and a violent backlash when the agreement was signed
Anglo-Iri limited this even further.
There were other contradictions. The Dublin government had attempted to link support for imperialism with liberalism of its own society, dominated by the Catholic
Church. In practice, operating the agreement meant an increased dependence on the forces of reaction and made this sort of
THE HILLSBOROU liberalization impossible. The defeat of a latest attempt to stab referendum to legalize divorce marked the due for renegotiati end of this con-trick.
three years in exis
Promises of reform celebrates its anniver largely unfulfilled met its objectives divisions between tr
Leaving aside the need to support loyalallies. Yet it has survi ism, the direct interests of British imperialism also contradicted the promises of any previous initiat reform. Their war against the IRA and the platform for a new a nationalist population of the North had become increasingly vicious. This meant leagainst th gal immunity for state forces, defence of
The agreement co-op emergency laws and further restrictions on in a formal alliance t
The agreement has to be put in the conand suppress the ma text of the overall interests of imperialism, which are directly in opposition to the working class for the needs of the Irish people. The imperialist and ind programme means austerity, unemployment, forced emigration, repression, the removal of the last vestiges of political
JOHN T independence from the southern neocolony and the direct co-option of Ireland into the imperialist war-drive.
Finally, the Hillsborough deal had to contend with the fact of republican resistance in the occupied North. This resistance had a mass base that had survived 20 years of savage repression. It would not be bought off by a programme of fake reforms linked to an all too real increase in oppression.
All these factors came into play following the signing of the agreement. An initial welcome by a war-weary nationalslitical ist population quickly cooled when the Social Democratic atus and Labour Party (SDLP), the
BLOCK representatives of the Irish
W!
bourgeoisie in the occupied sector, time and again an-
NOW!
nounced reforms that were
Dort let Irish pos out now.
then delayed for a long time, prisoners tel and following this either can-
ROOPS celled or cut back to a farcical level. Initial promises of re-
I5T
DUT
MOVEMENT forms included curbs on loyal-
MOON ist marches (traditionally staged in nationalist areas as a form of intimidation), repeal of the Flags and Emblems Act
(used to ban the display of the
Irish tricolour), legalization of
Irish street names and resources for Irish language and culture, and an end to intimidation
1988
IRELAND in the workplace and employment equality.
ears of the
After three years, the Flags and Emblems
Act has been repealed — with the Royal
Ulster Constabulary (RUC) retaining the h Accord right to ban the Irish flag under public order legislation. Some loyalist marches have been curbed (and the right to intimidate many nationalist areas reinforced by massive RUC protection). Disputes over threatening loyalist displays in workplaces have led to "compromises" where workplace
ACCORD, Britain's flags are removed and management erect giant Union Jacks at the factory entrance.
its role in Ireland, is nis November after
Remobilization of loyalist e. The agreement death squads y in tatters. It has not d has seen major
Despite the lack of reforms and the clear role of the Hillsborough deal as a bulwark ritish and their Irish against a united Ireland, unionist resistance for much longer than remains total. This illustrates the sectarian character of unionism - for them the issue and will serve as a is not British nationality, but protestant nore vicious assault ascendancy. The fact that a response sh people.
including mass demonstrations, the remobilization of loyalist death squads, a breakthe Irish bourgeoisie down in local government and attempts to stage revolts in the RUC and Ulster Deefeat republicanism fence Regiment (UDR2) has not brought sympathy of the Irish down the agreement shows the dependence of the loyalists on imperialism. It also unand of national unity derlines the fact that it is British interest ndence.
and not loyalist reaction that fuels the war in Ireland.
That British interest came to the fore in a
NULTY series of violent incidents: a "shoot-to-kill"
massacre by the elite SAS (Special Air Services) troops of the British army at Loughgall that claimed the lives of eight IRA men; the "battle of the funerals" 3
, where the full panoply of state repression was used to attack mourners and prevent any display of republican solidarity; and, finally, the scandal of the Gibraltar killings.4
BOBBY,
SANDST?
The state forces carrying out these actions needed immunity from the law. A series of RUC officers were acquitted of murder. The Stalker report into the shoot-to-kill policy was dis-
DON'T LET HIM DIE
DIE torted and suppressed. Private
Ian Thain, the only soldier ever to be convicted of murder dur-
IPS S DEMANDS
SUPPORT THE PRISO ing 20 years of British violence, was released after two years in prison. More recently, a soldier charged with murder in County Tyrone was released when the charges were dropped. The Diplock Courts, sitting without a jury, remained. The Prevention of
Terrorism Act, routinely used as a weapon of racist harassment against Irish people in
Britain, was made permanent.
Perhaps the most burning resentment was produced by the failure of the British judiciary to release the Birmingham Six who were jailed for the Birmingham pub bombings in the early 1970s, despite their obvious innocence. The history of torture and conspiracy by state forces could not be admitted. This judicial decision was endorsed by the British government when it refused to exercise its prerogative to pardon.
British interest — and British incapacity — are most clearly demonstrated on the economic front. In order to defend loyalism they have mounted a world-wide propaganda campaign against the McBride Principles, a programme of affirmative action to end job discrimination against Catholic workers. Their own "reforms" outlaw positive discrimination and thus make any real change in the pattern of employment impossible.
They have their own programme of discrimination. "Political vetting" means that any community, social or educational group that the British allege have republican connections can be refused state funds. Money is refused to Irish language schools, and a new plan for state education effectively bans the Irish language from the curriculum. The result is to turn the SDLP and Catholic Church into gendarmerie for the occupation — given control over hiring and firing in an attempt to isolate republicans.
This is a very dangerous position for the capitalists to be in. Recently, the SDLP triumphantly leaked details of a f100 million' (about $180m) job-creation scheme in the nationalist ghetto of West Belfast. When the scheme was announced it was £10 million to be used mainly for environmental and educational purposes for deprived areas in general, rather than West Belfast.
Continuing instability of
British rule
In any case, these sorts of stunts are more than offset by the spilling over of the offensive against the working class in Britain and also by the imperialists' unwillingness to continue propping up dead sectors of the colonial economy. So much more than £10 million has been lost from West Belfast in housing, social services, the health services and education. The British plan to privatize lignite (brown coal) reserves and the electricity, shipbuilding, aircraft and missile industries. Some republicans see this as signs of an impending withdrawal. It should more properly be interpreted as a sign of the continuing instability and decline of British rule.
Other sections of imperialism, concerned at the lack of British progress, have begun to intervene. US pressure was partly responsible for the signing of the Hillsborough agreement, and the US was directly responsible for the setting up of the Ireland 1. RUC — native colonial paramilitary police. 2. UDR — a local protestant militia, armed and controlled by the British. 3. See IV 138, April 4, 1988. 15 4. See IV 137, March 21, 1988.
IRELAND Fund. There are problems here too. The money involved is quite small. It is earmarked for entrepreneurial schemes that are unlikely to be found in the areas of greatest deprivation, and it is not aimed at building an Irish economy — a large amount of the money spent so far has gone towards tourism and agribusiness.
Imperialist pressure on the Dublin government has been more successful. They have signed the Single European Act and the European Convention on Terrorism, following this with an agreement to extradite republicans to the occupied territories. It has recently been confirmed that the British now have permission to overfly the territory of the 26 Counties on reconnaissance missions. A report in September on British nuclear defence inadvertently admitted that the South had linked into the British system. Their economic policy is geared towards paying interest on a massive foreign debt, leading to a savage austerity offensive and advice to Irish youth to emigrate.
British push for a military solution
The Irish bourgeoisie is in too deep to back out, no matter how disastrous the agreement has been. To the British, the Hillsborough agreement is just the latest in a long line of initiatives. For the Dublin government and the SDLP, its collapse would carry the threat of their own fall, especially as the republican vote in the North, while having fallen slightly, is very far from collapsing. As both London and Dublin get more impatient, so repression becomes more and more the dominant expression of the Hillsborough agreement.
The agreement is due for negotiation this month, but effectively it has been pushed to one side while the British push for a military solution. The SAS murder squads have been reintroduced. Sinn Fein has been banned from British television. This proscription includes sympathizers, so in practice it will include all those opposing the British occupation, including People's Democracy, the Irish section of the Fourth International. The right to silence under police interrogation has been abolished. A "loyalty" oath for candidates in elections is to be introduced and new financial laws will make it possible to seize the savings and property of republican sympathizers.
This leaves the subordinate position of the Dublin government pretty clear. Each week they face new humiliation and embarrassment. The repression and collaboration are widely unpopular and there is growing discontent in the ranks of the ruling party, Fianna Fail. The latest humiliation was the sentencing of three young Irish people to 25 years in jail for attempting to murder Tom King on non-existent evidence.
The only escape route for Dublin is to 16 join with the British in persuading the unionists involve themselves in the renegotiaInternational Viewpoint #153 • December 12, tion of the deal. Unionist involvement would justify further delay in reforms, and the growing viciousness of the repression and could be presented by Dublin as a long-term strategy for Irish unity.
Yet three years of the agreement have demonstrated conclusively that the central element of any imperialist strategy will be military repression. The British have demonstrated their incapacity to make meaningful reforms. Dublin has demonstrated its dependence on imperialism, and the unionists a unique combination of demoralization and thoroughgoing reaction. The Hillsborough accord exists today only because there has been no offensive by anti-imperialists to bring it down.
The lack of such an offensive marks a crisis in the anti-imperialist movement. The republican movement has undergone massive changes since the days of the hunger strike [early 1980s]. It has built an electoral machine and a party apparatus. It has a young, left leadership. But its programme remains a programme of revolutionary nationalism. It argued for an alliance of all classes against the imperialist military presence and has traditionally oriented towards building alliances with capitalist parties, while a pro-imperialist trade-union leadership has held organized workers aside from the struggle and often this force is "invisible" to republicans. An agreement designed to preserve that presence, backed by all the bourgeois nationalist parties and where they spearhead the attack on republicanism was bound to lead to confusion.
Initially, republican resistance was expressed in military terms. In the absence of mass struggle this led to a series of tragedies and mistakes. More recently, a modification of traditional policy has been applied. Appeals have been made to the leadership of the bourgeois parties in the hope of influencing their supporters. In practice this has confused republican supporters more than those of the SDLP, and made it impossible to campaign on the
Hillsborough accord. One example is that during the recent Sinn Fein/SDLP talks, Sinn Fein offered to leave opposition to the agreement to one side in order to build cooperation on social and economic issues.
On the third anniversary of the accord things are beginning to change. Republicans openly accept that there is confusion. A sharp debate is taking place in their own movement and they have not been afraid to bring this to the broader anti-imperialist movement. "Freedom Charter" for the
Irish revolution
A campaign to mark the twentieth anniversary of the civil rights struggle, the '68 Committee, has attracted both veterans and youth and held a series of marches, debates and rallies. At one of these rallies in Derry, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams proposed a "Freedom Charter" for the Irish revolution. He said that it should centre on the need for national liberation, but that its content — political, social, economic, cultural — should be part of a discussion in the wider movement.
There are shortcomings with this conception. A true Freedom Charter will come not from discussion but from the living demands and struggles of the working class and oppressed. However, initial discussion and formulation can help provide an ideological alternative to the "new Ireland" that the Hillsborough agreement proposes, and help make the alliances with working class forces on which a counter-offensive can be based
Imperialism is launching a new and bloody offensive. This represents a great danger. But that offensive comes from imperialist decline, loyalist fragmentation and decay and the bankruptcy of bourgeois nationalism. This represents a real opportunity, and, slowly and hesitantly, the anti-imperialists are moving on to a counter-offensive. *
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1988