History in the making
JEREMY CORBYN looks at how there's hope at last after an extraordinary day for Northern Ireland.
MONDAY'S extraordinary pictures of Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley seated at adjoining tables to greet the world's press and make statements accepting a political process for the future of Northern Ireland captured one of the extraordinary moments in history.
The immediate background to this was the British and Irish governments threatening a degree of joint administration of the six counties if the newly elected assembly did not accept its responsibilities and appoint an executive to govern in a power-sharing way.
The statements from Paisley and Adams both looked towards a political future for the north and Paisley emphasised that the DUP executive had committed itself to May 8 as restoration day. Adams agreed with that and made very strong points about the relationship between all communities in the north of Ireland.
For those of us who have been involved in Irish affairs for most of our lives, this was truly a remarkable day.
Northern Ireland was the product of the end of the dreadful civil war in Ireland and the intransigence of unionism, which forced Lloyd George and the coalition to establish the six-county enclave in 1922.
From its inception, the six counties systematically discriminated against the nationalist minority and the Orange Order reigned supreme in all aspects of life. This discrimination forced the nationalist community into appalling housing, very high levels of unemployment, exclusion from the political system and a virtual apartheid state based on faith.
The 1960s saw the stirrings of renewed demands for political justice, with the election of Gerry Fit to the House of Commons in 1966 and the establishment of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association shortly afterwards. Unionism was unable to cope with demands for civic justice. The Troubles erupted in 1968 and British troops were deployed to Northern Ireland in 1969.
The next 25 years were a period of unremitting violence and horror and successive British governments became obsessed with a military triumph over the IRA and political control of the population. The huge British military presence was backed up by a raft of draconian legislation which included the Prevention of Terrorism Acts, the Special Powers Act and the Emergency Provisions Act. These powers allowed for a broadcasting ban on Sinn Fein and a travel ban on its leaders.
One should never forget that Northern Ireland also housed an enormous prison complex for both loyalist and nationalist prisoners and a legal system that still allows for juryless trials.
The logjam of intransigence was finally broken when Adams and John Hume both went beyond the stated wishes of their own parties at that time and produced the Hume-Adams accord, which looked to recognise the traditions of unionism and nationalism throughout the island of Ireland. This, in turn, led to the short-lived 1994 ceasefire and the later 1997 ceasefire, which has led to the current process.
The role of the British Labour Party leadership in this was, from 1969 onwards, one of unremitting support for the draconian policies that were followed, refusal to have any dialogue with Sinn Fein and support for the presence of British troops in Northern Ireland.
A very small number of Labour MPs and those in the Labour Committee on Ireland adopted the approach of contacts with Sinn Fein and dialogue, in which the late Joan Maynard played such an important role. This helped to change the whole atmosphere.
The role of the progressive elements of the British Labour Party, other left parties and trade unions in helping to bring about dialogue should not be forgotten. Since 1997, the establishment of a devolved assembly and power-sharing has had enormous hurdles to overcome as the communities that ought to be united in a quest for social justice have been divided on sectarian lines.
The history of Ireland, as Britain's first and longest colonial occupation, has been of the utmost brutality. From the time of Oliver Cromwell's occupation, through to the execution of the leaders of the Easter rising in 1916, the British presence has been brutal and, at the same time, lucrative for the landlords and industrialists of the country.
Last year, I visited a heritage centre in Skibbereen, west Cork, dedicated to the Irish potato famine. This excellent museum drives home the horrors of the "great hunger," the deaths of 10,000 poor families and their children and the misery of a life where the only escape was by immigration to the US.
What the museum also revealed was that, even at the height of the famine, the wealthy bourgeois classes of Cork, less than 50 miles away, were enjoying Mediterranean fruits imported from Portugal, fine wine and plenty of food. The famine was essentially a tool of oppression, as was the poverty, the landlessness and the unemployment of a huge majority of Irish people.
It is to be hoped that this political process now works, that the failure of the political system to represent anything near the wishes of the majority of the population is now ended and that the whole of Ireland can work as one in the future.
Courageous stands have been made by many people in the history of Ireland and one has to acknowledge the courage of the leaders of the nationalist and republican communities. Adams's statement acknowledged all of this, but, quite rightly, did not ignore the history of Ireland.
Arrests could be war pretext THE arrest by Iran of 15 British sailors in the Shatt al-Arab waterway could be the prelude to the confrontation that elements of the British and US military have been seeking for a very long time.
The huge US naval presence in the Gulf and the enormous air forces bases in Iraq and Diego Garcia mean that it would be very straightforward for them to launch an attack on Iran.
The anti-war movement in this country and around the world needs to be as active as possible in pursuit of dialogue with Iran, not isolation.
At a meeting in the House of Commons on Monday night, which I chaired, Abbas Edelat from Campaign Iran explained that all the political differences between supporters of the Iranian regime, domestic opponents and the wider diaspora are united in opposition to any punitive US/British adventure.
At the same meeting, Tony Benn pointed out that the coup against Mohammed Mossa-degh in 1953 shows the real intentions of the West towards Iran and its oil, its contempt for the history of Persia.
During the Lebanon crisis, the Foreign Office and Margaret Beckett showed their inability to act to prevent aggression, in that case by Israel.
We must understand the much wider consequences of an invasion of Iran.
Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North. He can be contacted at corbynj@parliament.uk
