By Catherine Brown
"It is ironic in this year of 'Europe Without Frontiers' that Britain's imposed border still remains. The Partition Act — the Government of Ireland Act — is obviously not a solution. Since its creation 70 years ago, the six-county state has been in a permanent state of crisis, and for the last two decades there has been open conflict. Partition has failed. Britain's presence in Ireland and peace are incompatible." — Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein president.
A wave of optimism washed beyond the shores of Ireland when Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and John Hume, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, announced on September 25 the temporary suspension of six months of talks to present their joint peace plan to the Irish and British governments.
Within a month, 10 lay dead on the Shankill Road after an IRA bomb detonated prematurely. The subsequent killings by loyalist death squads have raised again, with an added urgency, the question — is peace possible in Ireland?
"The Adams-Hume initiative is one of the most positive developments in Irish politics in 25 years", said Mairtin O Muilleoir, Sinn Fein city councillor, speaking to Green Left Weekly from Belfast.
"For the first time since the conflict began in 1968, you have the leaders of nationalist community coming together saying they believe they have a solution to the political problem. That's never happened before. Both Hume and Adams were confident the proposal could succeed if the governments of London and Dublin came on board. I don't think the importance of that can be overemphasised.
"[British Prime Minister] John Major's response to the initiative was singularly negative. It has been bitterly disappointing for the people of Ireland. In a recent survey, 72% of people in the south of Ireland expressed support for the Hume-Adams initiative."
This support is all the more remarkable given that the specifics of the proposal are still secret.
Snub by Major
"It's been an horrific 25 years for everyone here. The suffering has touched every family on all sides of the community. I think that the John Major snub to the initiative was deeply wounding and hurting. It certainly dented people's optimism.
"The six points outlined by the Dublin government which gave to the unionist community the right of veto are also very worrying to nationalists in the north. There's a feeling of abandonment. Still, hopes are pinned on the Hume-Adams initiative. But there is no doubt that the peace process has suffered setbacks."
Hume was outraged by Major's response. "As someone who has been on the front line against this violence, and with due respect to Mr Major, who knows a little bit more about it, I am saying there is the best opportunity here for 20 years for a lasting peace. The least I expect is that you listen to what I have to say."
British government officials indicated that Major had not seen the document nor were any attempts being made to get a copy.
The escalation in attacks on the nationalist community forms the backdrop to the IRA attempt to bomb the offices of the Ulster Defence Association. Adams, speaking the day after the tragedy on Shankill Road, commented: "One has to look at the public responses, and there is public outrage, which I accept.
"I accept it especially from the families of those who have been killed or injured, but I do not so easily accept the sanctimonious statements from political leaders, including the likes of John Major and others. Because the reality is that there have been Catholics killed on an ongoing basis and in a very intense way for the last number of years, and all of those who are so outspoken about yesterday's incident were silent about those killings."
Loyalist escalation
Since 1991 there has been a growing extremism among hardline "loyalists". Over 90% of their targets are Catholics with no involvement in republican politics. The Guardian Weekly has stated in an editorial, "Protestant street assassins, pitted against any change and any talks, are just as much a menace as the IRA. Often they are even more vicious and loathsome."
The increased attacks by loyalist death squads partially reflect a growing sense that history is passing them by. The Reverend Ian Paisley's hardline Democratic Unionist Party was the only party to lose seats in the May council elections (Sinn Fein won a record high).
Demographic trends in the north will produce a Catholic majority in Belfast by the end of the century (as is already the case in Derry) thus redefining the meaning of majority and minority. Add to these fears the growing Unionist concern, since the 1985 Anglo-Irish agreement, that the British government is looking to disengage from the six counties.
Sinn Fein over the last few years has tried to alleviate the fears of the Unionist community about a united Ireland and what their status would be in it.
"Unpalatable it may be, but there has always been an element within the Republican movement and on the island of Ireland itself who secretly believe that the Protestant population could be coerced into accepting Irish unity and independence. This is not acceptable. Neither is it possible ... The Republican quarrel is with the British state in Ireland", explained Mitchell McLaughlin, a Sinn Fein leader.
Adams describes the need for a "healing process of national reconciliation" which, given the level of polarisation, will take time. "Many of the fears that the Unionists have are genuine. Even if they're imaginary, that doesn't matter", he said in an interview with the BBC.
"But I have enough confidence, I happen to believe that in many ways the Unionist leaderships are out of step with the Unionist grassroots. They mightn't like the model which I have, but they do want peace, and I think if we start talking about peace then we'll be able to find out exactly how far we're apart and exactly what divides us.
"Unionists uncertain about their future should take reassurance from the fact that electorally in an all-Ireland democracy they would command far greater influence than they do now in their union with Britain", says Adams. "Any new constitution must include a charter of rights. We're not interested in excluding Unionists or making them second-class citizens."
Sinn Fein
The exclusion of Sinn Fein from talks on the future of the six counties is a continual stumbling block to any peace process. Over the last six months, there's been mounting pressure on the British government to talk with Sinn Fein, the fourth largest party in the north, with the highest vote in the May council elections.
An opinion poll in July showed majority support for the British government opening informal channels of communication with Sinn Fein in an attempt to bring an end to the conflict in the north of Ireland. The survey, organised by the independent Opsahl Commission, found 71% of respondents in the south, 51% in Britain and 39% in the north of Ireland backed the proposal.
Sir Edward Heath MP, the former Conservative British prime minister, also has no objection to government talks with Sinn Fein.In fact, his government in the 1970s had direct talks with the IRA. Heath's comments reflect a growing frustration even in the Conservative Party with the failure of British policy.
Even the hardline former security minister, Michael Mates, said if talks between Adams and Hume stopped the killing, he would "applaud" them. Heath argues that any future talks on Ireland should exclude Ian Paisley, the leader of the DUP [as Heath did in 1974] because Paisley does not want to reach an agreement.
Sinn Fein involvement in the talks was hinted at in the six principles outlined by Major and Irish Prime Minister Arthur Reynolds, on condition that the armed struggle stopped.
"I think there is always a temptation, if I may say so, to go for a quick-fix question and answer. Patently the IRA is not going to stop any more than the British are going to stop, any more than the loyalists are going to stop, unless there's some process that lets everyone into a demilitarised situation", explained Adams.
Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution state Ireland's claim over the six counties. Negotiations between the British and Irish governments, it is speculated, will result in this claim being replaced by an "aspiration" in exchange for a possible extension of cross-border administration.
"The primary cause of the conflict in Ireland is the British presence. The British government have to find a way to disengage. I think that all republicans and all nationalists realise that that has to be made as easy as possible for the British government. There may have to be interim arrangements before the British disengage, there may have to be different understandings as to how it will happen and it may have to be over a long period", explained O Muilleoir.
"At this stage the British government is not interested in peace at all", O Muilleoir believes. "John Major has made a deal with the Unionists at Westminster [the Unionists' votes are needed for a reliable Tory majority in parliament]. He has put saving his political skin above the need for searching for peace.
"I think he is opting for a military solution, though even his senior military personnel have advised that they cannot win the war in Ireland, that they cannot defeat the IRA. The outcome, of course, will be increased repression."
Costs
The British occupation of the six counties costs A$4 billion a year. Add the cost of the bombing of commercial centres in England, and there is little doubt the maintenance of British control in the north of Ireland is a massive drain on the British economy. With rising unemployment and cuts in government spending, it is a cost most Britons don't feel is justified.
The censorship of Sinn Fein leaders by the British media, legislated in 1988, has been evident in Australia, as news coverage from Britain shows Gerry Adams in interviews being dubbed by an unseen actor. In Westminster, Major has threatened to tighten this censorship. Calling for a review of the act, Major stated he didn't believe the law went far enough and that Sinn Fein faces should be taken off the airways altogether. The Opsahl Commission found that the censorship of Sinn Fein led to the increased alienation of the Catholic working class.
Some Conservative MPs have advocated the return of internment (imprisonment without trial). In the early '70s hundreds of nationalists were indiscriminately imprisoned. Reynolds has stated internment would not work.
The mother of the young IRA volunteer seriously injured in the Shankill bombing related an encounter at the hospital. Having left her son's side, she sat on a bench in a corridor, close to tears. Another visitor sympathetically asked if she was OK. The woman explained why she was there and who her son was.
The man asked, "Do you know who I am? I'm from the Shankill [visiting a relative wounded in the bomb blast]. Just put your head on my shoulder and cry."
"We sat there crying together", recalled the woman.
"I think that the people who were killed on Shankill Road, including the young IRA volunteer, deserve nothing less that a commitment to try and build peace out of all the war and all the tragedy as a result of the conflict", believes Adams.