24.10.1996

Power in our hands

Des Wilson is a catholic priest and community activist in West Belfast. Peter Manson asked him how he viewed the present situation in the Six Counties

“I have been working on a book in which I try to demythologise what is going on here. I have tried to get away from this awful catholic-protestant thing. You know: ‘It’s just a question of community relations.’ No one has any responsibility for the situation, apart from ‘Mrs O’Brien’ or ‘Mr McCullough’. If only they would behave themselves, the nice government could get on with doing nice things.

“Of course the whole thing has resulted from an imperial arrangement, but try telling that to the establishment: they don’t want to know.

“The church, the government - everyone is ‘doing good’, setting up ‘reconciliation centres’. I get so angry, the way people are conned. It’s enough to make you sick. We have never had any problem bringing people together - we do it all the time. But unless the forces that divide them are destroyed, they will be pulled apart again.

“I admit I am very pessimistic in the short term. The government is content to deny democratic rights without even needing to pretend any more. The unionists, despite their divisions, are flexing their muscles and the Dublin government is utterly inept. It seems that nothing can be resolved without a major armed conflict.

“Clearly there are discussions going on behind the scenes, but you cannot make an assessment of what they are about. But one thing is clear: it is now accepted that the people have no right to have their say. It is ‘the government’, ‘the church’ that decide. What is being fought out is the right of people at any level to have their say, to select their own representatives.

“In the long term the political structures and relations between Britain and Ireland may change, but will people have power in their own hands? That is not just a question for the Irish. A lot of what happens in Britain will depend on what happens here.”