A-Infos (en) Ireland voting on 'Peace deal' today

[Andrew Flood <andrewflood@geocities.com>]

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Ireland voting on 'Peace deal' today
    written for A-Infos by Andrew Flood
    Dublin - Ireland (22/May/98)

Today for the first time since 1918 the
population of Ireland, north and south are going
to the polls.  The questions are somewhat
different in the two jurisdictions but they
amount to the same thing, acceptance or rejection
of the Stormont 'peace' deal.

The aftermath of the 1918 election saw a war of
independence against Britain, a war that was only
settled after the nationalist struggle threatened
to pour over into a class struggle.  During the
war the city of Limerick briefly declared itself
a soviet, land occupations swept the south of the
country and 'Soviet' occupations occurred at Cork
Harbour, North Cork railways, the quarry and the
fishing fleet at Castleconnell, the gasworks and
a coachbuilders in Tipperary, a clothing factory
in Dublin's York Street, sawmills in
Ballinacourty and Killarney, the Drogheda Iron
foundry, Waterford Gas, mines at Arigna and
Ballinderry, two flour mills in Cork, Sir John
Kean's farm in Cappoquin, the Monaghan asylum.

The War of Independence ended with the treaty
that partitioned Ireland.  The settlement was
favourable to the bosses, not only did it restore
stability but in the north they favoured free
trade and in they south they sought
protectionism.  For the working class it led as
James Connolly predicted to 'a carnival of
reaction'.  The north saw pogroms against
Catholics (and socialist Protestants), the south
saw a bitter Civil War and the construction of a
clerical state.

At the end of the '60's the British government
brutally crushed a Civil Rights movement that had
emerged in the north.  In 1972 British troops in
Derry opened fire on a mass demonstration,
killing 13 people.  This single event, more then
any other factor created the war that waged in
Ireland, occasionally Britain and sometimes even
continental Europe over the next 25 years.  A war
in which thousands were killed and tens of
thousands jailed.

The 'peace deal' which is being voted on today
may well be recorded in history as marking the
end of that war.  But like the 1922 treaty the
agreement is a bosses deal worked out between and
in the interests of the rulers and would be
rulers of Ireland and Britain.  Far from tackling
sectarianism by fighting its causes, unemployment
and poverty, it will reinforce and
institutionalise it.

Politicians elected to the proposed Assembly must
declare themselves either 'unionist' or
'nationalist' - those who refuse will not have
their votes counted in measuring the cross
community support necessary for passing
legislation. We are supposed to line up behind
Catholic/Green or Protestant/Orange banners and
seek the best deal for 'our community'.

The agreement will be carried by a large
majority, north and south.  It will be carried
because there is no alternative offered by any of
the political parties but a return to war.  It
will be carried because it offers to release the
remaining political prisoners within two years of
its signing.  It will be carried because it is
tied up with a host of economic promises which
will offer some improvement for workers in the
north and the border counties.  It will be
carried because the construction of the European
superstate is more concerned with stable
conditions for capital in the north then who
exactly supervises the working class there.

Early radio reports indicated that previously
unheard of numbers of people were voting in the
north.  In the south some media predict a turnout
highest then the previous best of 75% for the
1937 constitution.  These figures indicate the
hope among ordinary people that the agreement can
create peace.

It may create peace for a while but it cannot
create a just society.  For that to happen the
Irish working must first unite and throw off all
the parasites that spent two long years drafting
this deal.  Anarchists in Ireland, north and
south, will be abstaining or spoiling our votes
on this historic day.  That is our response to
the false choice of sectarian peace or sectarian
war!

---
About the author:
I am an anarchist from and living in Ireland.  I
am a member of the Workers Solidarity Movement
but this article is in a personal capacity.

For more articles on the 'Peace Process' from an
anarchist perspective see
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/peace.html
--
----************************************-----
Revolution-> http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2419/revoindx.html

Anarchism-> http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/inter.html
Irish struggles -> http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/revolt.html
About me -> http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/andrew.html



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