Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 2, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
NORTHERN IRELAND: TENSIONS AT A BOILING POINT
By Sue Kelly
In the six counties of north Ireland, gangs of "loyalist"
youths have been rampaging through cities and towns during
the annual summer "marching season" of these Irish right-
wing groups.
The term loyalist goes back to 1690, when the Protestant
king William of Orange defeated the Catholic king James II.
That battle has become the rallying cry and excuse for
bombs, murders, arson and destruction against Irish
republicans--those who want to end British rule so Ireland
can be a united, sovereign and independent republic.
The loyalists are an extreme faction of the unionist
movement, so-called because it is for continued union with
Britain. They have the support and collusion of the British
government, which still occupies the six counties 80 years
after the rest of Ireland won its independence.
This time of year also has meant even greater violations of
the civil rights and safety of the nationalist and
republican--predominantly Catholic--communities.
Homes, churches, a sports club and a hospital in the
nationalist communities have been among the targets of
loyalist mobs, bombs, snipers and arsonists in the recent
round of violence. A daycare school in north Belfast was
riddled with bullets.
A loyalist group called the Red Hand Defenders claimed
responsibility for attacking the children's center. They
stated, "All nationalist people [are] hostile and legitimate
targets." Seven children and daycare workers were forced to
huddle in a toy cupboard to avoid the shots.
A Catholic church in County Tyrone was bombed and Catholic-
owned small businesses in Newtownstewart were targeted by a
mob of nearly 100 loyalists in the early hours of July 12,
the high point of the Protestant marching calendar.
Nationalist residents were forced to flee their homes in
east Belfast as heavy rioting followed intense loyalist
provocations.
"Families living near loyalist areas are being terrorized on
a daily basis, and tensions here have reached a boiling
point," reported the Republican News on July 22.
In the meantime, the current Irish peace process, based on
the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA), is mired in the
refusal of the loyalist/unionist forces to cooperate. They
attempt--again with British government assistance--to blame
all delays on the nationalist/republican position,
specifically the Irish Republican Army and the nationalist
political party Sinn Fein. In fact, the IRA has maintained a
four-year-long cease-fire and Sinn Fein has honored every
promise it made since the signing of the agreement in 1998.
Sinn Fein chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin points out that
the key points of the three-year-old agreement have not been
implemented. These include ending the widespread violations
of human rights by the Royal Ulster Constabulary--the police
force in the six counties--and the removal of the thousands
of British troops stationed there.
The problem is the failure of the British government to get
out of the six counties, or even to live up to its
responsibilities under the GFA in all the key areas:
policing, human rights, criminal justice, demilitarization
and equality of treatment. A joint proposal from the British
and Irish governments is expected to be announced at any
moment, but many do not expect much.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[email protected] For subscription info send message to:
[email protected] Web: http://www.workers.org)