The Agreement-a fraud and a sham

14th April 1998      The Agreement -A fraud and a sham

Under the guise of peace the American plenipotentiary, Mitchell, has imposed on the communal parties in the North of Ireland a sham settlement which mocks the right of nations to self-determination. Long ago, Marx concluded that the only basis for relations between Britain and Ireland was complete Irish independence. Mitchell and the British have not the faintest notion of national rights and are instead determined to compromise and split the nationalist movement of an oppressed and exploited small nation. 

    

The key to the fraud is an executive North-South body of a First Minister i.e. Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Prime Minister of the South. This is the crux of the matter and lies at the heart of the deception of Sinn Fein into accepting this shoddy huckster's deal. The fact is that the post of First Minister will always be occupied by a pro-British Unionist who is not under any imperative to accept any proposal for equal treatment for Northern nationalists. All attempts at reform of the Northern state will perish on this rock of obstinacy.

What is real and certain about this deal is that it creates a 108-member Assembly in the North. This will have an in-built Unionist majority which guarantees the continuance of the sectarian settlement in the North. Sinn Fein has been offered  the carrot of two ministerial seats on a 12-person Executive i.e. in proportion to their 15% of the electoral vote. This counts for nothing - it is not a North-South Body.

Instead, a new Unionist regime will rekindle the practice of sectarian appointments to the civil service, a major employer in the North. Intimidation of Catholics from their homes will start again. Cost-trailing Loyalist parades will be protected from angry residents and their path will be cleared for them by police truncheons. Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party will be forced out of their ministerial posts. There are no guarantees of stability in a parliamentary arrangement which is not based on class distinction.

The only bright spot in this Anglo-American shambles is the release of all political prisoners within two years. 

                          

Socialists are trying to build a new movement of class conscious workers North and South. We say "No!" to this shoddy ploy of American and British imperialism but we also say yes to peace. We therefore say "No!" to the peace process and the abortion it has produced.

Joe McCarroll, ENNISKILLEN