First Published in Socialist Unity on 19th September 2013
By Sean Oliver, Sinn Fein International Department (Head European/Britain Section)
This month inter-party talks get underway in Belfast, chaired by US senior diplomat Richard Haas, aimed at driving forward some progress around key issues in relation to the peace process in Ireland. The backdrop to this has been some months of loyalist violence – largely focused in parts of Belfast – and the role of political unionism in relation to that. Sinn Fein have strongly criticised the obstruction in moving forward the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and the current phase of the peace process, and many parties, including the Alliance and others have attacked the DUP and some in the UUP leadership’s role in encouraging the so-called flags protest.
Sinn Fein recently criticised Tory Secretary of State Theresa Villiers for, on the one hand, failing to fulfil the British government’s responsibility to the GFA as an international agreement, whilst on the other hand attempting to restrict the Haas talks from addressing core issues, such as dealing with the past — and in particular the role of the British state.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein MP Conor Murphy expressed concern at the Dublin government’s disengagement with the process, having an equal responsibility as co-signatories.
Largely absent from the British media, yet these issues remain important for the left and the labour movement in Britain. Why? Fundamentally, while there has been immense progress in securing progressive political change through the process in Ireland, much remains to be done. Ireland’s constitutional future is still very much an issue, put firmly on the agenda by the GFA. In essence Britain remains a colonial power in Ireland and, whilst many try to portray the current process as a final settlement, it in fact lays out a level playing field in which the issues of national democracy can be argued for. Progressives in Britain have a clear role to play in putting pressure on the British government and in playing a part in ensuring Ireland’s right to self-determination — as laid out in the GFA — is fulfilled. Clearly the Irish community in Britain, which is gaining strength and confidence, and is embedded in the labour movement, has a vital role to play.
Moreover, as right wing governments across Europe seek to impose austerity and attacks on the working class, it is imperative to build alliances with progressive and left parties across Europe. In Ireland, Sinn Fein’s arguments for a new, united republic in Ireland are underpinned by a framework of social and economic equality — and an obvious ally for likeminded parties and groups in Britain.
It is for this reason that Sinn Fein are hosting a major conference `Towards a new Ireland’ in London on 19 October. Party president Gerry Adams will give a keynote speach and join a wide range of speakers, unprecedented in their political breadth, to discuss these issues. Trade union leaders will join this discussion, including Irish Congress of Trade Unions President John Douglas and CWU Ireland President Cormac O Dalaigh, reflecting the importance of the alliances with the trade unions. Sinn Fein workers’ rights spokesperson Paul Maskey was at the recent TUC Congress and a large Sinn Fein delegation will be at next week’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton, taking these issues up there, including at the party’s fringe on Sunday evening which will discuss what Labour’s approach should be.
The conference on 19 October will be an important and timely opportunity to take forward this discussion.
`Towards a New Ireland – a new phase of the peace process’. Saturday 19 October, London Irish Centre, 50 Camden Square, NW1 9XB. 10am-5pm (doors open 9.15am).
Registration via: http://www.londonirishunity.com/