First Published in Student Broad Left on 7th October 2013

Aaron Kiely, NUS Black Students’ Officer writes on why students should attend the ‘Towards a new Ireland’ Conference on 19 October and also why Student Broad Left is delighted to have Daithi Doolan from Sinn Fein speak at ‘Student Fightback 2013’ on Saturday 12 October.

This month I will be very pleased to be joining a panel with prominent speakers from Ireland and Britain at the `Towards a new Ireland’ conference on 19 October at the London Irish Centre.

Sinn Fein is hosting the conference and their party President, Gerry Adams, will be among a very wide range of speakers, including senior Labour Party representatives and trade union leaders. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to be part of this event, as I believe that the issue of Ireland is very important to progressive people here in this country – and an issue where the unfinished business of self-determination has to be addressed.

Because of my own Irish heritage I have always had an interest in Irish politics. But many young people and activists in the student movement will be unfamiliar with why the issue of Ireland is something they should be interested in today. The historic peace process in Ireland has seen a massive, positive transformation in Ireland itself, and in relations between Britain and Ireland. Many of us whose political consciousness has been raised by struggles in Palestine and Latin America or against racism will not have had direct knowledge of the history of struggle in Ireland and the political issues underpinning that. We have largely grown up during a time of peace with Ireland. The huge success of the peace process can be interpreted to many as the end of the matter — that the issue of Ireland is settled and so not on the political agenda. However, this is far from the truth – many key issues which led to the conflict, and its resolution, have yet to be fully resolved.

The fundamental reasons for the Good Friday Agreement, and the conflict which preceded it, have parallels with many other struggles around the world. These can be found in the colonial relationship between Britain and Ireland, the discrimination and sectarianism in the north of Ireland as an institutional part of the state, the brutal repression of the movement for civil rights which opposed that, the subsequent involvement of British troops being sent in and being opposed, and the ongoing violent conflict which arose and successive British government failed policies, in relation to that. We have seen the divide and rule policies, the absence of justice, denial of democratic mandates, criminalisation and the insistence of military solutions to political problems, all accompanied by a campaign of misinformation. In fact it is no accident that there are strong historic links between Ireland’s struggle and other anti-imperialist struggles around the world. For example in Havana, there is a plaque which reads `Cuba and Ireland – two island people in the same sea of struggle and hope’. The parallels of small nations with larger neighbours, struggling to assert their own independence are obvious to see. Or the strong connections between Ireland and Palestine, which one can see reflected in murals in Belfast and Derry, alongside depictions celebration the anti-slavery struggle and many other progressive struggles in history.

Sadly, in Ireland and Britain, like many other parts of the world today, many thousands of lives were tragically lost over those recent decades, families torn apart by loss, in what was seen to be an intractable conflict.

Yet, through some strong political leadership, the peace process did emerge and the Good Friday Agreement – some 15 years old this year – was agreed as an international agreement with the consent of the majority, north and south. Core points of the agreement, and the process which led to it were inclusivity in negotiations, recognition of political mandates, and an adherence to the principles of equality and self-determination. There was a recognition of the legitimacy of all political aspirations, not just one. This level playing field was created as a framework for moving forward. It was not an endgame in itself, but a process.

For me, a united Ireland, free from British involvement is, in my view, the progressive position. Ultimately it is up to the people of Ireland to decide and we should both support that basic self-determination and be persuaders for Irish unity here in Britain as well. Immediately that means supporting the Good Friday Agreement and opposing those who wish to take things backwards.

Unfortunately the current Tory government has been strongly criticised for failing to fulfil all of the obligations of the agreement, and playing a largely negative role when it does get involved.
Importantly for progressive and left people here, we can learn a huge amount from the experience of the struggle and the political process which has taken place in Ireland and have a part to play in supporting this next important phase of the peace process. That is why joining the conference on 19th is so important. Ireland’s unfinished business is something we should be interested in and continuing to show our solidarity.

Finally, I will join the discussion on a `Democratic Ireland – for an island of equals’. This session will look at what the new relationship between a new Ireland and Britain might be like. It is not simply a question of making constitutional changes to the status quo. It also means building alliances in Ireland, and between our two islands, based on equality for all, opposing racism, economic and social justice and for a progressive alternative. I shall therefore be delighted to be joining CWU Ireland President Cormac O Dalaigh, Sinn Fein’s and Ireland’s youngest Senator Kathryn Reilly and the executive director of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, Patrick Yu at that session.

Other sessions will see a range of brilliant speakers including Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn, Kevin Maguire from the Mirror, Irish Congress of Trades Unions President John Douglas, and cross-party representatives from Ireland, north and south.

I am equally delighted that Daithi Doolan from Sinn Fein will be among speakers at our Student Fightback conference on the weekend before – to join the debate on the alternatives to cuts and austerity and to make some of this crucial links between economic underdevelopment of countries hit by both austerity and the legacy of colonialism and the alliances and understanding we can build.

Come along to Student Fightback, but also to Towards a New Ireland on 19th and join in the discussion and ensure we put Ireland on our agenda. There is much to be learned and this will be a fantastic opportunity to do so.

Register: www.londonirishunity.com