30.11.1995

Towards another US-brokered deal

IN THE lead up to Clinton’s diplomatic dalliance in Britain this week the ‘peace’ negotiations for the North of Ireland have been much in the news.

Sinn Fein’s lame announcement that the ceasefire could be under threat never seemed to carry much weight. Press statements from the South, Sinn Fein and the British government have been passing back and forth. Twenty-nine republican prisoners were released under the re-instatement of the 50% remission rule. This was a minor concession in that all were due to be released by Christmas or early new year and are subject to Labour MP Mo Mowlam’s recall clause.

The major stumbling block is still the question of arms decommissioning. Sinn Fein cannot lightly surrender the armoury of republican fighters who have sacrificed so much in their struggle against British imperialism.

But in the nick of time John Bruton and John Major were able to pull a familiar rabbit out of the hat. Maybe this was designed to coincide with a rather bland budget in the desperate hope of winning Major some credibility as a peacemaker. Who knows? What is clear is that this was not a last minute plan hatched Eureka-like after late night deliberations.

The familiar rabbit is of course the US and in particular Clinton. The US despite troubles at home has been very successful in confirming itself as leader of the new world order. Clinton, like Major, could certainly do with some credibility replenishment. Neither however are likely to pull themselves up from the abyss over the Six Counties negotiations.

That the US would mediate in some form was always clear. Former US senator George Mitchell (who is supported by the Irish-American lobby) will head an advisory body to steer a ‘twin-track’ approach towards all-party talks. The body has the unenviable task of researching and coming up with an acceptable formula on decommissioning. But US diplomats are experts in bridging the unbridgeable, most recently with the PLO and Israel - especially when neither side any longer has much interest in continuing the war.

As he left Washington for the flight to Heathrow Clinton delighted journalists by welcoming an initiative which “brings the people of Northern Ireland one step closer to the day when the only barriers their children will face are the limits of their dreams”.

Unfortunately many republicans and workers throughout the Six Counties know that this is only the beginning of the same struggle in a different form. As the euphoria of the initial ceasefire announcement wears off, and the experience of life under a new ‘peace’ starts to become more real, many are only too well aware of how far away their dreams still are.

Genuine freedom, democracy and even just a decent living standard are not on the agenda of talks.

In an imperialist world, ‘peace’ is a misleading term, since it can only mean a prelude to another war. Imperialists trying to carve up the world for their own benefit can only sustain political diplomacy for so long before it extends into violent conflict and war.

Class war is the only solution to these extremities of the imperialist world. The conflict in the Six Counties may be entering a new phase, but it is far from resolved.

I hope Clinton is right. But to ensure that he is, we must organise as a class to take control of society and get rid of Clinton, the whole of his ilk and the sickening hypocrisy that goes with them.

Helen Ellis