The Good Friday Agreement

One of the most important events in Irish history has recently taken place. For the first time since 1921, the British government entered into negotiations with Sinn Fein (the Irish Republican party meaning “self reliance”), along with Northern Ireland’s leading Unionist parties with the Republic of Ireland and America refereeing. What finally emerged from these talks was the Good Friday Agreement. Under this agreement, Sinn Fein and the nationalist-leaning Social Democratic Labor Party would form a joint government with the largest Unionist parties of Northern Ireland. The people of the occupied six counties and the 26 county Irish Republic overwhelmingly voted for it. Many hoped that at last 800 years of war between British imperialists and Irish nationalists would come to an end. Most likely, Sinn Fein believed this would validate their claim that the Irish people do not require the firm hand of Britain to “keep the peace,” and demonstrate that the different Irish factions could work out their problems among themselves. Unfortunately this did not happen, and Sinn Fein’s programs have become increasingly watered down. Only the creation of a united 32-county Irish Socialist Republic will heal the wounds inflicted by 800 years of war and imperialism. Only the severing of Ireland’s ties with England—and capitalism, a completely un-Gaelic concept—can heal the deep spiritual and mental scars in the Irish soul.

Immediately intellectuals everywhere closed ranks in declaring Republicanism “dead,” that it was in need of “maturing.” Irish Republicanism, the right of the Irish people to self-determination, was denounced as Dogma", not a political movement that has shown itself to be dynamic and responsive to the needs of the Irish people. Many articles expressed the hope that the IRA was ready to “give up the gun,” while few of these writers seemed to realize that without 30 years of resistance, the British would never have bothered to talk to Sinn Fein (before 1994, the British did not officially recognize Sinn Fein).

As it turned out, the Good Friday Agreement was not as rosy as the journalists claimed. Immediately the Unionists cried that there would be no power sharing executive if the IRA did not promise to get rid of their arsenal of weapons, even though this was not an original part of the agreement. Leading the pack, David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party said the IRA must show a sincere willingness to disarm and give proof, though he never specified what that actually meant. Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, correctly pointed out the ridiculousness of an undefeated guerilla army voluntary handing over its arms, which there is no historical precedence for.

This is the continual problem the British imperialists have run into. They have created and armed a minority of the Irish people who have become so used to their hegemony over. The Catholics of occupied Ireland, that they cannot concede or negotiate an inch. After the power-sharing executive was finally formed, the first motion on the Unionist side was to demand that the British Union Jack be flown from the Stormont government building. When Sinn Fein minister Martin McGuinness suggested a compromise of both the Irish tricolor and the Union Jack, the Unionist ministers refused. Desperate for a leader on the Unionist side that would help the British implement the agreement, which in their eyes would be the destruction of the Republican movement and victory, the British found David Trimble. Trimble is a member of a conservative organization that, aside from toasting to the Queen, toasts to rightwing mass murderer Pinochet. In the context of Northern Ireland, this is a “moderate." In the context of Northern Ireland, the extreme right is “loyalism,” which in practice means armed Protestants killing Catholics indiscriminately. In the past 30 years, the British have tamely ignored the well known crimes of loyalists, not considering them the “enemy” until recently when the Loyalist extremists have become a political embarrassment to the British.

The Unionists kept demanding new preconditions for the power-sharing executive. In characteristic form, the British government completely ignored democracy and caved into the Unionist veto, even though the voters of the 26 county Republic and of the northern six courts (Northern Ireland) had overwhelmingly voted for it. The American media followed suit by presenting only the Unionist point of view. They could not help, it seemed, referring to Sinn Fein as “IRA-allied,” whereas it never was said “Loyalist death-squad-allied Unionists. One article, whenever referring to Gerry Adams, always said: “Former IRA commander.” In 1998, America Online, at that time the world’s biggest Internet provider, caved into pro-British pressure and closed down most of its Irish Heritage sites, 23 total, for not completely carrying the British political line.

It went this way for nearly a year until the IRA agreed to allow independent inspectors to view their weapons dumps. Northern Ireland’s largest Unionist party, the UUP, took a vote in May 2000 and decided, very narrowly, to accept the Good Friday Agreement, which they had originally voted for two years ago.

Unfortunately, things have been allowed to stagnate in Northern Ireland. While Provisional Sinn Fein has made many promises to the Catholic communities, life stays the same, with high unemployment and sectarian killings, Protestant supremacy marches and riots. Many of the rank-and-file of the Republican movement feel used and betrayed. The Continuity Council, which many believe controls the “real” IRA, has been active, including a bombing in England. It is not impossible that the real IRA could become the next dominant force in Republican politics. The IRA currently on ceasefire, the Provisional IRA, was also a splinter group of the “official” IRA that had lost the support of the nationalist community. The real IRA faces a much more difficult situation to reorganize in, with more sophisticated British counter-insurgency techniques, honed over a quarter century of war.

Another problem with the Good Friday Agreement is that only parties that represent the nationalist/catholic community or the Protestant/Unionist community may be a part of the Northern Ireland power sharing executive. This completely rules out the possibility of any cross-community third party, such as a Green or Labor party.

Unfortunately, the issue underlying this entire conflict is once again who has real control of Ireland and its people. In the past 50 years, multinational investment in the southern 26 county Republic has increased jobs and opportunities. Unfortunately, it still means that Ireland’s wealth and labor are being exploited by foreigners. Capital that is badly needed for the continued development of Ireland’s infrastructure is being sucked out. Throughout its existence, the Irish Republican Army has been opposed to foreign investment in Ireland, having learned over the last 1,000 years that foreign ownership of Ireland will only create ruin for the native Irish. Even if some natives understandably embrace this as a long-awaited opportunity, many do not, especially the efforts of American arms manufacturers to build munitions factories in Ireland, or Fruit of the Loom Company not paying a living wage to its Irish workers.

Bernadette MacAliskey, the celebrated fighter of British imperialism referred to the Good Friday Agreement as a trap for the nationalist communities of Ireland. Not only does corporate America want to invest in the economically depressed six counties, but they want to use it as a foothold to enter the European common market. Since the IRA has always opposed foreign investment (the impetus behind their bombing offensive), a disarmed and surrendered IRA would make that much more possible. That might explain the Clinton administration’s strong interest in a settlement—and an IRA surrender.

MacAliskey, along with many other Republicans, view the Agreement as a continuation of British imperialism in Ireland. Just as in 1921 when the British could not defeat the IRA militarily, they have resorted to trickery and co-option of revolutionary Republican forces. Rauri O Bradaigh, president of Republican Sinn Fein (a party that has continued the Republican resistance to British rule after the mainstream Sinn Fein chose to officially recognize British prescence in Ireland) said that the Republican movement must be careful not to make the same mistake of 1921, and agree to reinforce the partition of Ireland. Bemadette, Republican Sinn Fein, the Continuity Council, and other dissidents don’t oppose British rule reflexively, but out of the desire for a just and lasting peace, which this agreement cannot offer. The Republican tradition has been re-affirmed by those who will settle for nothing less than a united Irish Socialist Republic, what the Irish people have repeatedly demonstrated that they want. What Padraic Pearse said in 1915 still holds true: “Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.” So for now, Irish Republicanism is far from obsolete; it is the central issue. Hopefully within our lifetimes, we will see Republicanism obsolete, when imperialism is gone from Ireland forever.

TJ Conner is a freelance writer, artist, Gaelic enthusiast, and community activist.