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from Workers Solidarity No 34
paper of the Irish anarchist
Workers Solidarity Movement
Sectarian killings in Ireland (1992)
IT'S BEEN a year of little change up North. Just
as the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in
1986 led to a rampage by Loyalist gangs, in the
wake of the Brooke talks 36 Catholic civilians
were killed in random attacks. Six taxi drivers
were killed, singled out as easy targets.
Newspapers talk of carnage, of a situation totally out
of control, of the sectarianism of the IRA and the
Loyalists, with the heavy emphasis on the IRA. Not
many papers talk about the sectarianism of the entire
state and it is interesting to note that the security
forces killed more people than the IPLO, yet they are
never described as terrorist murder gangs.
Contradictions such as these arise from the view point
that the northern state is merely the neutral ground
upon which these crazed madmen practice there blood
frenzy. What is the reason for all this? What's special
about the North, why is there not a sectarian divide in
the South also? Why aren't Catholics being killed
down South by Protestants? Obviously, there must be
something that is causing this conflict, and if it's not
the basic nature of the northern statelet what is it?
Political commentators leave this question hanging in
the air, it's as if there is something poisonous in the
water. It's no wonder that many people are not only
confused but fed up with hearing about the North.
It's no wonder that many political parties hide behind
emotive condemnation using trite meaningless phrases
to avoid discussing the issues involved.
So what are the issues involved? Why is there this
Loyalist sectarian backlash? Why despite the
statistics, are the IRA portrayed as the main threat to
civilians?
Initially the North was partitioned in order to
artificially keep the Protestants in the majority. The
Protestants were then given marginal privileges,
better housing and job prospects. The North was the
richest and most industrialised part of Ireland, and
most of that industry (linen, then ship building) relied
on exporting to Britain. Therefore it was vital for the
owners of business that the North remained tied to
Britain.
By splitting Catholic worker from Protestant worker
they formed an allegiance between Protestant worker
and Protestant boss, and of course the British state.
This was the 'orange card'. The North is now Britain's
last colony. A majority of people in Britain have said
in all the recent opinion polls that they would like to
see them pull out.
Why do the the British stay? One important reason is
that a chief sustainer of any state is the myth of
invincibility. Once the cracks start to show, as
Gorbachev discovered when he lost his job and the
Soviet Union, the whole shebang can quickly crumble.
When India was struggling for independence they
looked to the lessons learned by Irish nationalists.
Indeed John Biggs-Davidson, a leading Tory politician,
said as much when he said that "if we lose in Belfast we
may have to fight in Brixton or Birmingham". This is
not to say that a British withdrawal would spark
revolution throughout Britain, but certainly it is a
risk for the British government to allow such an
upheaval, a risk that for the moment they are not
willing to take. It's a risk as regards the reaction of
their own population at home, and its also a risk to
have a wild card statelet, out of acceptable control so
close to your own border (see the USA's reaction to
Cuba and Nicaragua).
At the moment though Protestants still are marginally
better off than Catholics. Unemployment is two and a
half times higher in Catholic areas. However, loyalists
believe that talks such as the Brooke talks could be a
forum for Britain to slowly slip out of the North. It is
to prevent this happening that the 'orange card' is
again being played. It is for this reason loyalist
sectarian attacks occur, they serve to divide Catholic
and Protestant and ensure thus that the Protestant
working class will fight to maintain the status quo i.e.
its allegiance with the bosses and the state.
This isn't always the case though. There have been
times when both sides united, for example, the DHSS
strike against UDA death threats to Catholic workers.
Last year workers at the Hyster factory in Lurgan
walked out after three of their workmates were
murdered by loyalist gunmen. However more often
than not when unity occurs it has occurred on 'bread
and butter' issues, rarely raising the issue on the
border. Avoiding the issue leaves the door open to the
bosses to once again play the orange card. The result
is that in many cases such unity was followed by a
loyalist backlash as the bosses attempt to prevent it
reoccurring.
Therefore on one hand it is true that Protestant
workers learn that they are more powerful and
successful in struggles when the combine with the
Catholic working class. However on the other they
still see the bosses and the British state as necessary
in order to protect what minor privileges they have.
These are indeed minor, as Northern Irish workers,
whether Protestant or Catholic, are the worst paid in
the British Isles. Unemployment is higher in the
North that any other part of the British Isles.
Sectarianism is a weapon that has been used again and
again by the ruling class. In 1932 it split unemployed
Catholics and Protestants who had come together in
the Outdoor Relief Strike and it is being used today to
entrench the loyalist side. Without workers unity
against the bosses the situation could continue on and
on. As long as the Orange state exists to divide
Catholic and Protestant there will be sectarianism.
Our goal is a socialist Ireland, where the freedom of
the individual is respected and where the working
class hold direct and complete control through their
own councils. In the struggle for this loyalist workers
can be won away from their bosses, and only then will
the cycle of sectarianism be broken.
Aileen O'Carroll
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The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at
PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland
or by anonymous e-mail to an64739@anon.penet.fi
Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive
by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
or WWW at http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/Spunk_Home.html
in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM