FRFI 173 June / July 2003
The stalemate over the Good Friday ‘peace process’ continues. The Labour government has postponed elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly from May to the autumn. Direct rule from London continues. In the meantime the part publication of the Stephens’ Report into collusion between Britain and Loyalists has exposed the reality of Britain’s dirty war against the Nationalist working class. More recently the headlines have been filled with sensation over ‘Stakeknife’, the infamous British agent. All of this is designed to destabilise the Republican Movement.
On 13 April, the IRA issued a private communiqué regarding IRA disbandment to the British and Irish governments and to David Trimble, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). However, the absence of an explicit commitment failed to satisfy Trimble and the British government. On 23 April Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly responded by misquoting the IRA’s statement and asking for three points of clarification on its position. On 6 May the IRA reissued its 13 April statement and provided further clarification of its position. In its statements, the IRA attempted to meet the demands set out by the British government by reassuring Unionists that it ‘poses no threat to Unionist people or to the peace process’. It also stated that it had sanctioned a further, third act of decommissioning of arms and offered apologies and condolences to non-combatants caught up in the conflict. None of this has cut any ice with either the British government or the Loyalists.
Meanwhile, on 17 April, just 15 pages of a 3,000-page report into collusion between British forces and Loyalist death squads were published. Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stephens’ report gives a glimpse of the realities of the nature of British rule. It confirms ‘widespread’ collaboration between Loyalists and Britain’s occupation forces in the systematic campaign to terrorise the Nationalist community. It shows how British agents targeted Republicans for the Loyalist death squads and provided them with intelligence to undertake their murderous activities. Then in mid-May a British intelligence report was leaked which purported to reveal the identify of Britain’s main agent within the IRA, ‘Stakeknife’. The timing of this revelation was calculated to distract attention from Britain’s role in running Loyalist death squads and to destabilise the Republican Movement.
In FRFI 171 we said that ‘nothing short of a significant statement from the IRA on disbandment will restore the devolved institutions. The Republican movement is once again being compelled to save the peace process’. This remains the case. Elections to the devolved assembly will only take place when it is suitable to the British government and when it is satisfied of a stable and acceptable outcome. Were the election to happen now, Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) would gain at the expense of Trimble and the favoured UUP. This would have resulted in severe problems for the assembly since the DUP would refuse to share power with Sinn Fein in the executive, forcing the collapse of the assembly, in effect unravelling the whole Good Friday Agreement.
As Britain’s dirty war in Ireland demonstrated, British imperialism cannot play a progressive role in Ireland. This current crisis in the peace process follows a long established pattern: first, the Unionists complain about some part of the process; second, the Republicans call on the British government to honour the process; third, the British government compels the Republican Movement to make yet further concessions. That the Republican Movement will further compromise its position and the Nationalist working class is clear. The question then becomes, what are the forces that will emerge to defend the rights of the Nationalist working class?
Paul Mallon
