Of Decommissioning and Opportunism
24 November 2003
Of Decommissioning and Opportunism
By Danielle Ni Dhighe
The Provisional Irish Republican Army completed a third act of
decommissioning this week, which the British government required
before it would call new elections in the North of Ireland. More
accurately, the PIRA's political wing, Sinn Féin, wanted its share
of seats on the Northern Ireland Executive so it could do its part in
administering British rule as it had done before the Executive was
suspended last year.
The PIRA's final ceasefire was declared in 1997, but for the wrong
reason - reaching an accommodation with the British government. When
the Irish National Liberation Army called its ceasefire in 1998, it
was solely on the basis of its analysis that the armed struggle had
ran its course and could not advance the national liberation and
class struggles any further at this stage. I believe that was a
correct reason to call a ceasefire.
The INLA's political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party,
stated that the alternative to the armed struggle was to "renew the
struggle on the doorsteps of the people, in the housing estates, in
the workplaces, in the factories." That is exactly where SF failed.
Its leadership had no intention of renewing the struggle by non-
military means, they were simply opportunists looking for a way out
of the struggle for their own benefit.
The roots of the current path of the Provisional Republican Movement
lie in the rise to power of the opportunistic Gerry Adams-Martin
McGuinness leadership in the early 1980s. By 1986 they had pushed the
traditionalist wing out; by the early 1990s they began to do the same
to the left wing. By the end of the 1990s the centrist, middle class
Social Democratic and Labour Party, which had been the dominant
nationalist party in the North, lost ground to SF when the
nationalist capitalists and middle class began to see SF as the
better vehicle for their interests.
Indeed, since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1997, the
primary beneficiaries have been the North's rich, who have increased
their personal wealth from investment drawn into the North on the
basis of low wages and the absence of open street warfare - all of
which has happened without any real opposition from SF, either on the
streets or in Stormont (SF's pseudo-leftist rhetoric aside). A recent
report on the North's economy from the Democratic Dialogue think tank
found that nearly a third of the people were afflicted by economic
deprivation and that the North "is one of the most unequal societies
in the developed world."
Of course, this is nothing that hasn't been seen before in Irish
politics. The dominant political party in the South of Ireland,
Fianna Fáil, was formed by IRA members in the 1920s. Since it
first came to power in 1932 it has been a center-right party which
has done its part to maintain the status quo, both border-wise and
economically.
But while the PIRA's third act of decommissioning largely satisfied
the British government for now (to the British, getting the PIRA to
decommission weapons and SF to administer British rule is a victory),
the Ulster Unionist Party (the dominant pro-British party in the
North since 1921) threw everything into chaos again by saying the
PIRA hadn't done enough - despite the assurances of the head of the
International Decommissioning Body, a retired Canadian military
officer, that it was a significant act of decommissioning.
Events since 1997 have shown a widening gap between the British
government and unionists, of which this is only the latest example.
British interests are largely satisfied with the current course of
events. Unionists, however, still suffer from the attitude that
nationalists are an "enemy within" who need to be subjugated, even
when it comes to a political party like SF which has signalled its
support for the status quo.
Copyright 2003 by Danielle Ni Dhighe. All Rights Reserved.
May be reposted as long as the above attribution and copyright notice
are retained.
Of Decommissioning and Opportunism
By Danielle Ni Dhighe
The Provisional Irish Republican Army completed a third act of
decommissioning this week, which the British government required
before it would call new elections in the North of Ireland. More
accurately, the PIRA's political wing, Sinn Féin, wanted its share
of seats on the Northern Ireland Executive so it could do its part in
administering British rule as it had done before the Executive was
suspended last year.
The PIRA's final ceasefire was declared in 1997, but for the wrong
reason - reaching an accommodation with the British government. When
the Irish National Liberation Army called its ceasefire in 1998, it
was solely on the basis of its analysis that the armed struggle had
ran its course and could not advance the national liberation and
class struggles any further at this stage. I believe that was a
correct reason to call a ceasefire.
The INLA's political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party,
stated that the alternative to the armed struggle was to "renew the
struggle on the doorsteps of the people, in the housing estates, in
the workplaces, in the factories." That is exactly where SF failed.
Its leadership had no intention of renewing the struggle by non-
military means, they were simply opportunists looking for a way out
of the struggle for their own benefit.
The roots of the current path of the Provisional Republican Movement
lie in the rise to power of the opportunistic Gerry Adams-Martin
McGuinness leadership in the early 1980s. By 1986 they had pushed the
traditionalist wing out; by the early 1990s they began to do the same
to the left wing. By the end of the 1990s the centrist, middle class
Social Democratic and Labour Party, which had been the dominant
nationalist party in the North, lost ground to SF when the
nationalist capitalists and middle class began to see SF as the
better vehicle for their interests.
Indeed, since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1997, the
primary beneficiaries have been the North's rich, who have increased
their personal wealth from investment drawn into the North on the
basis of low wages and the absence of open street warfare - all of
which has happened without any real opposition from SF, either on the
streets or in Stormont (SF's pseudo-leftist rhetoric aside). A recent
report on the North's economy from the Democratic Dialogue think tank
found that nearly a third of the people were afflicted by economic
deprivation and that the North "is one of the most unequal societies
in the developed world."
Of course, this is nothing that hasn't been seen before in Irish
politics. The dominant political party in the South of Ireland,
Fianna Fáil, was formed by IRA members in the 1920s. Since it
first came to power in 1932 it has been a center-right party which
has done its part to maintain the status quo, both border-wise and
economically.
But while the PIRA's third act of decommissioning largely satisfied
the British government for now (to the British, getting the PIRA to
decommission weapons and SF to administer British rule is a victory),
the Ulster Unionist Party (the dominant pro-British party in the
North since 1921) threw everything into chaos again by saying the
PIRA hadn't done enough - despite the assurances of the head of the
International Decommissioning Body, a retired Canadian military
officer, that it was a significant act of decommissioning.
Events since 1997 have shown a widening gap between the British
government and unionists, of which this is only the latest example.
British interests are largely satisfied with the current course of
events. Unionists, however, still suffer from the attitude that
nationalists are an "enemy within" who need to be subjugated, even
when it comes to a political party like SF which has signalled its
support for the status quo.
Copyright 2003 by Danielle Ni Dhighe. All Rights Reserved.
May be reposted as long as the above attribution and copyright notice
are retained.