A-Infos (en) The Republican Gamble

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In this article from the current edition of FREEDOM MiIlan
Rai takes a look at The Propositions on Heads of Agreement
proposed by the UK and Irish Republics governments.


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THE REPUBLICAN GAMBLE


On l2th January, the British and Irish governments
published their joint discussion document Propositions on
Heads of Agreement, for use as a basis of negotiation. The
first three words of this document proposed "balanced
constitutional change". It is by no means clear that
completely 'balanced' constitutional change is appropriate,
justified, or sufficient to bring peace. If there is to be
anything like balance, however, I suspect that the closest
thing to a workable balanced proposal will come from a very
unexpected corner. The day after the publication of the
Heads of Agreement document, Sinn Fein accepted it as a
basis for negotiation without necessarily approving of its
contents. 

Sinn Fein negotiator Michel McLaughlin made what I consider
to be one of the most important statements of the present
negotiations process. He reiterated the party line that it
does not accept partition, but at the same time does not
expect re-unification immediately. He also said that if the
document was in effect "an attempt to impose another
partitionist settlement, then it will not work and Sinn
Fein will not be part of it". However, McLaughlin also
added: "We are much more realistic than to expect that
we're going to get a united Ireland immediately. We're on
the record as saying that. We have a much more pragmatic,
reasonable and legitimate proposition." 

This is the clearest statement yet, in my view, that Sinn
Fein has a major negotiating proposal to put before the
all-party talks, which will be a historic compromise
between its traditional goals and present realities. If
such a compromise proposal does exist, then it must have
the approval of the IRA leadership, and of much of the
republican rank-and-file. 

It is as well to remember that the present peace process is
in very large measure a republican initiative, begun not
from a sense of weakness and despair, but from a
reevaluation of the obstacles to reunification, and
re-direction of republican strategy. One of the roots of
the present process can be traced back to a statement by
Martin McGuinness in August 1993, when he spoke of possible
'interim arrangements' in the North of Ireland. In other
words, the leadership of Sinn Fein has accepted that
immediate re-unification is unrealistic for the last four
and a half years. 

Indeed their calls to be included in the talks process
could only, and can only, be based on such an acceptance,
as the republicans are clearly in a tiny minority at the
negotiating table (whatever they may say about public
opinion in Ireland as a whole). 

Brendan O'Brien revealed in 1993 that 'an interested party'
(no doubt a senior republican) had proposed a 'planned,
stage-by-state progression towards joint British/Irish
Authority in Northern Ireland, followed by a federal format
which would allow of final British withdrawal", all over a
ten to fifteen year period. While there was likely to be a
violent Unionist response initially, it was suggested that
consultation of the Unionists, guarantees concerning their
heritage and British citizenship, "the rewards of the new
departure", and the isolation of the loyalist gunmen, would
lead to less conflict overall, and fewer deaths, than the
present impasse. Whether or not this proposal has had much
influence on republican thinking, it seems that Sinn Fein
is rapidly approaching a point where it must either accept
the flow of events as dictated by the two governments, or
it must attempt to seize the initiative and place its own
"pragmatic reasonable and legitimate proposition" before
the peoples of these islands. 

Milan Rai 

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