|
The
recent inauguration of the new “power-sharing” government in Northern
Ireland was the occasion for a feast of self-satisfaction by capitalist
politicians who claim that all conflicts can be resolved by
negotiations, as long as everything remains the same.
The
premier of the new government is Ian Paisley, who built his career as a
reactionary rabble-rouser exploiting the hatred of the Protestant and
pro-British majority in Northern Ireland for the oppressed Irish
nationalist Catholic minority. Paisley even went as far as to include
the Vatican in the great “Communist conspiracy.”
The
deputy premier is Martin McGuinness, one of the principal leaders of
the Irish Republican movement and its political expression, Sinn Fein.
The new government was made possible fundamentally by the capitulation
of the Republican movement, which for all practical purposes abandoned
its historic program of a united Ireland, along with its basic
principle of the armed defense of Irish national rights.
Unionist
spokespersons described the settlement as the defeat of the Irish
Republican Army. They are correct as regards what the IRA was fighting
for. Of course, the IRA leaders have succeeded in getting a second life
as bourgeois politicians for as long as the ruling class needs them.
John
McAnulty, a leading member of Socialist Democracy, the Fourth
International sympathizing organization in Ireland, made the following
comments in an article on the International Viewpoint website:
“The
new Stormont rests on a tripod. The three legs are: The continuation of
British rule in Ireland and the denial of democracy. The restructuring
of sectarian privilege and the preservation in a modified form of the
original basis of the Northern state—‘a Protestant parliament for a
Protestant people.’
“Finally,
the new society is to be established by a reactionary social and
economic offensive designed to smash the working class.
“Any
description of the new structures would be incomplete if we did not take
into account one other crucial dimension—the frantic and absolute
support of the Irish bourgeoisie for the new order, tail-ended by the
former Republicans of Sinn Fein.
“Sinn
Fein has successfully presented ‘local democracy’ as the alternative to
British rule. This is an absolute falsehood. The Stormont parliament,
rather than direct rule by British ministers, is the preferred method
of British rule, the goal of British policy over more than three
decades.
“Britain
has been able to, and remains able to, turn off the switch at any
time.” Meanwhile, “all decisions will be decided beforehand in behind
the scenes deals between Sinn Fein and the Paisleyites.”
“The
new assembly rests on total and absolute surrender by the Republican
movement. Their arms are gone, their movement largely disbanded and
they have been forced to give absolute support to the sectarian state
and to the judiciary and state forces. The new arrangement shifts
dramatically towards Unionist supremacy, with no requirement on Unionists
to support the joint leadership, with each ministry countered with a
scrutinizing committee, and the unionist majority able to block all
decisions. The Republicans are left with a veto over the most extreme
sectarian decisions—a very thin one, given their desperation to be in
power.
“The
attempt to make the North work politically is to be accompanied by
attempts to make it work economically. The plan is to rationalize and
privatize in the hope of attracting significant transnational
investment….
“The
number of workers employed in the ancillary staff associated with
schools and libraries will be cut sharply. Those retained will face a
sharp speedup in work rates and worse working conditions….
“The
decision of the new executive to delay water charges simply highlights
the fact that the privatisation of the water service is well under way,
with 500 highly skilled jobs within the service slashed as the
executive formed.
“A
large swathe of the Northern civil service is to be transferred to the public
service, meaning that after a few years protection wages and pensions
will be cut. The overall plan is to slash at least 30% off the public
sector workforce and produce a low-wage, business-friendly environment
that will attract inward investment.
“By
far the most enthusiastic proponents of this view are Sinn Fein. They …
now stand as a party of the right on economic issues, completely in
support of the Thatcherite programme of Fianna Fail in the South and
urging the extension of this rapacity to workers in the North.
“There
is no doubt that the reality of the new society will come as a shock to
workers. Catholic workers will find that they remain second-class
citizens. Protestant workers will find that the authorities have handed
over control of their areas to Loyalist “community representatives”
whom they have consistently rejected throughout the troubles. All will
find themselves facing major economic cutbacks and the destruction of
public services.
“Support
for the new order will come under strain quite quickly. The danger is
that the collapse in support will be to the right and that those who
lose faith in the Sinn Fein pipedream will turn to sectarian rivalry,
competing with the other community, and increasingly with migrants
also, for increasing scarce resources.”
|