Broad Left Newsletter
Autumn 2000
Peace needs new policing
It is now more than two years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed. Almost from that historic moment it has been under attack from anti-agreement forces. It is worth noting, however, that the people whose interest it does serve - the overwhelming majority of the people of Ireland - are still in favour of the agreement. The reason for this is that it has given them the chance of peace, equality and end to sectarianism, and determining their own future for the first time in eight hundred years.
Yet there have been serious efforts to attack the Agreement. The now yearly siege of Drumcree led to even greater violence over the summer against the nationalist community in Portadown and attacks on Catholics across the north. The call for continued protest by the leader of the Portadown Orangemen received widespread condemnation and now sections of Unionism are now calling for the removal of the Orange Order from the Ulster Unionist Council.
However, further attacks from within the north of Ireland are coming about, with the re-appearance of Loyalist paramilitary groups. Loyalist attacks over the last two years have resulted in the murder of Rosemary Nelson, the human rights lawyer, and the death of grandmother Elizabeth O'Neil following the firebombing of her home. The recent Loyalist violence is a new and clear threat to the peace process. The attempt of Johnny Adair's UFF to win supremacy over the rival pro-agreement UVF is a bid to stir the unionist community against the Agreement.
Despite these assaults on the peace process, the British government is still pursuing a policy based on giving into unionist pressure. Having restored the devolved institutions, the government is now backing down on the commitment in the Agreement to a new beginning to policing. A central plank of the Agreement was that the new police service for Northern Ireland should be acceptable to both communities. The Patten Report - commissioned as a result of the Agreement - went some way towards this. However, in giving to unionist pressure, the government's legislation 'the Policing Bill' has seriously watered down Patten's proposals and will not fulfil the Agreement's commitment if it remains unchanged.
So where can those who support the full implementation of the Agreement go from here? We can support the work of 'Student Friends of Ireland' in campaigning for the full implementation of the Agreement and to raise awareness and increase understanding amongst students about the situation in Ireland. The final stages of the Policing bill will be coming up in the Lords soon after the summer recess is over, and students must be lobbying for amendments to ensure that the Patten proposals are implemented in full. We must urgently tell the government that by attempting to bargain away the Good Friday Agreement they will destroy this chance of peace.
Newsletter Contents
Broad Left's Aims and objectives
Broad Left's NEC Report 30.6.2000
Education Funding
Students and the Peace Process in Ireland
Fighting Racism
Students and the Peace Movement
Environment and Ethics
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