|
They
chose this country to host their war summit. Like
wolves in sheep’s clothing they knew they could
disguise their belligerent essence by wearing the
mantle of peace. Our peace process - gargantuan lie
that it is - would fit them like a glove. Who subscribing
to such a travesty would have the moral integrity
to tell them what they really are? The party leader
we would expect to be most radical on such matters,
Gerry Adams, made it clear on UTV on Sunday that he
was emphatically not saying that George Bush was a
war monger.
They
arrived like conquering heroes. This is Ireland but
you would be forgiven for not having noticed. A British
reporter on the scene informed his ITV audience that
George Bush considered it strategically advantageous
to Tony Blair if both men could meet in ‘the
United Kingdom.’ Behind the Hillsborough podium
from where Blair and Bush spoke last Tuesday, US and
British flags were draped in abundance. Not an Irish
tricolour in sight. If ever a subliminal message was
sent out that Ireland's anti-imperialist struggle
had been comprehensively defeated this was it. Some
years ago a Sinn Fein councillor commented to me on
the party deciding to enter Stormont that ‘no
sadder sight than that when slaves kneel down and
kiss their chains.’ His words visited me on Tuesday
when amongst those gathered to pay obeisance to the
imperialists were those who had claimed for years
to be anti-imperialist.
The
Sinn Fein leadership's decision to attend the talks
with the war prosecutors Bush and Blair marks how
far the party has departed from its anti-imperialist
days. Any suggestion that Thatcher should have been
met during the war on the Malvinas would have caused
apoplexy in the ranks and banishment for the originator
of the idea. More concerned with keeping right wing
corporate America on board than defending the rights
of Iraqi children, the party leadership ignored the
calls of the anti-war movement for a boycott of the
two war mongers. Pleas by Richard Boyd Barrett, chairman
of the Irish Anti War Movement that ‘all parties
… particularly those that have opposed the war
... should boycott this meeting with Bush and not
be used as propaganda pawns to bolster his image’
were ungraciously snubbed. Paul O`Connor who recently
penned what was by any measure a fawning report of
the recent Sinn Fein Ard Fheis told the Sunday Tribune
that ‘Gerry Adams and Mark Durkan aren’t
going to want to arrive on the back of a huge PSNI
baton charge … If they insist on attending this
meeting, we will do our damnedest to ensure they can’t
get there.’ Well spoken Paul - just hope you
don't get a house visit from the green shirts for
such courage.
Many
are expressing surprise at what has happened. But
had they discerned what the peace process was about
then a refusal by Sinn Fein to meet the warmongers
would have been the real surprise. Set aside all the
abandoned radicalism that has resulted here in the
last decade, this is the outworking of the peace process
at an international level. Anyone who thought there
was the remotest chance that the leadership would
do the honourable thing should have looked at their
attendance of the St Patrick’s Day gig at Washington
which was staged early to clear the decks of any minor
hindrances to the onslaught on Iraq. And the lame
attempt to shield inviting someone from the US embassy
to attend the Ard Fheis by creating a brouhaha over
having not extended a similar courtesy to the British
embassy should have fooled no one.
But
despite the most right wing republican leadership
since Sean Russell attempting to act the ‘cute
hoors’ the transparency was such that they were
booed and heckled by many protestors at Hillsborough.
Some party members said such a reaction was fitting.
When Mitchel McLaughlin turned up at the protest he
was only there for one reason. Those of us standing
facing the heavily armed RUC wondered if Alex Maskey
had been designated to attend the pro-war rally outside
Belfast City Hall which was taking place around the
same time, just to balance things out a bit. McLaughlin,
it is fair to presume, hoped to convey an image of
an integrated republican strategy: the leadership
would be inside confronting Bush and Blair on Iraq
- doubtless, a suitable hack will be found to tell
us some Thursday that the Sinn Fein leadership took
the issue to the negotiating table and courageously
and imaginatively confronted the opposition face to
face - while the grassroots were outside adding muscle
to such confrontation. Institutionally and extra-parliamentary,
the movement was as one in its application of pressure
to Bush and Blair. The type of crap we would have
expected from the SDLP many years ago and for which
we would have ridiculed them. And for those Sinn Fein
activists at the protest who failed to criticise their
own leadership, they failed to see that they were
mere pawns in an exercise designed to legitimise a
leadership that in turn was legitimising Bush and
Blair. The mere radical veneer that would give cover
to a deepy reactionary stance.
Not
that the Sinn Fein leadership were unaware of what
the imperialist game plan was. Martin McGuinness had
earlier stated that the war was the most momentous
event of the century. Usually such language is reserved
to inflate grossly overblown descriptions of what
happens here. That McGuinness chose to apply it elsewhere
is an acknowledgement of just how significant the
war is. Gerry Adams said ‘we would be wrong not
to point it out . . . the insensitivity of having
a war summit which then discusses peace in the margins,
of having a war summit which appears to be trying
to use the Irish process as a stage or as a prop.’
And yet they adorned the visiting warmongers with
a legitimacy they had no right to expect.
As
abhorrent as we may find unionism there was no lack
of principle or consistency on the part of David Trimble.
A rabid supporter of the war on Iraq he revelled in
the opportunity to laugh at Sinn Fein:
I
don’t expect Gerry will be leading the masses
down from Andersonstown. I may get the opportunity
to tease him about why Sinn Fein, which has been
so prominent in the anti-war effort, is doing nothing.
Nothing
of any radical import anyway.
The
Sinn Fein president gave himself a fig leaf of cover
with a letter he penned to both Bush and Blair. In
reality both men know that this was not for them but
for internal republican optics. There was not the
remotest chance of the Sinn Fein leadership putting
it up to George Bush. The integrity required for that
would have ensured that they never went in the first
place.
There
were no Irish radicals in attendance at the meeting
with Bush and Blair, only those who deservedly can
be termed contras. The radicals were left outside
to get jostled by the renamed RUC. The Sinn Fein leaders
seriously undermined the anti-war movement but will
no doubt plead tactics and demand to be understood.
A bit like the child who kills both parents and them
asks for compassion on the grounds that he is orphaned.
These leaders have killed the radicalism which spawned
them. They have orphaned themselves and latched on
to reactionary step parents. And ultimately the milk
they shall receive in return will be as cold and bitter
as that from a step mother’s breast. They should
be allowed to feast on it - alone.
Index: Current Articles + Latest News and Views + Book Reviews +
Letters + Archives
|
