The advances being made today in the fight for Irish self- determination give working people and defenders of democratic rights around the world cause to celebrate and get involved. Those who want to put an end to centuries of Irish oppression and more than 70 years of outright partition of their nation have the initiative. They deserve worldwide support in this struggle.

"All my life I've been a second-class citizen," explained one 65-year-old worker demonstrating May 7 in Belfast. Working people in Northern Ireland have been subjected to institutionalized anti-Catholic discrimination, denial of political rights, and since 1969 direct military occupation by British imperialism. Workers who are Catholic have been kept out of many jobs and face high levels of unemployment. For years, before the Irish civil rights movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, districts were gerrymandered to prevent Catholics from being elected to office.

British soldiers, and the heavily armed pro-British Royal Ulster Constabulary police force, made sure working people didn't get out of line, and right-wing paramilitaries, often armed directly by London's agents, terrorized nationalist communities. Thousands have faced arbitrary arrest and detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and other undemocratic measures, often simply for the crime of being Irish. Hundreds of political activists remain in prison today. Those speaking for the republican movement were banned for years from the airwaves in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

None of this succeeded in breaking the resistance of working people in Ireland, however. And every upturn in the struggle, like the campaign in defense of the political prisoners on hunger strike in 1980-81, has won the solidarity and admiration of working people internationally. Today, forced by the weakness of British imperialism and the determination of the Irish people to decide their own future, London has no choice but to sit down and negotiate with Sinn Fein, the leading party speaking for the democratic struggle in Ireland.

The cease-fire and peace talks open more space for discussion and debate today. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, who for years was refused a visa by the U.S. State Department, is currently on tour raising financial and political support in the United States. Elected representatives of Sinn Fein and the pro-British Ulster Unionist Party for the first time debated publicly before 1,200 people in New York May 8.

The door is open for more workers and youth to come into political action, and a growing number are starting to walk through it. "There are more people taking to the streets today," explained one participant in the Belfast rally. These actions will play a decisive role in the final effort to push London out of Ulster and unite Ireland. Workers, young people, and supporters of democratic rights around the world should join our sisters and brothers in Ireland in demanding:

British troops out now!

Free all Irish political prisoners!  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home