Britain's rulers are cynically seeking to exploit the deep sympathy for the 28 people killed by the car bombing in Omagh, Northern Ireland, to try to erode the gains made by the nationalist struggle to end their rule there. In the name of "combating terrorism," it is Irish people, their democratic rights, and the rights of working people in Britain that are their real target. But London will fail.
The April 10 agreement on the future of Ireland registered the weakening of British rule, brought about by the expanding struggle for Irish unity and independence. The nationalists' achievements were highlighted this July when the Orange Order was compelled to back down from its rightist, pro-British marches through Catholic areas. The refusal of Catholics to accept British-imposed second-class status is also signaled by the growing support for Sinn Fein. In the most recent elections, the republican party increased its vote more than any other party, and in Omagh itself is the largest political party.
London would like to use the bombing by the "Real IRA," a split from the republican movement, to see if it can chip away at these gains. Government ministers and media pundits raise the possibility of reintroducing internment without trial and convictions on the sole word of the police. Several arrests have been made since the bombing under the undemocratic "antiterror" laws that allow detention without charge for seven days and no right to a lawyer for the first 48 hours.
These are all measures used over the last 30 years to intimidate the Irish people as a whole, and through scapegoating to force a division with working people in Britain. The mass nationalist resistance had pushed these measures onto the back burner, and this year London was forced to repeal its internment laws.
Following London's lead, rightist politicians in Northern Ireland are now floating the idea of delaying the release of political prisoners and excluding Sinn Fein from the Northern Ireland executive. At the same time London is trying to pressure the Dublin government and Sinn Fein itself to collude with its response.
Through its crocodile tears London is seeking to make out that its 17,000 occupying troops and the hated Royal Ulster Constabulary are the forces of civilization and peace. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is London and its armed forces that are the driving force of violence. The troops were first deployed in 1969 to break the Irish civil rights movement, which was protesting the British-imposed system of discrimination against Catholics. In February 1999 a public inquiry will open, won by the nationalist struggle, into the 1972 massacre known as Bloody Sunday. That was when British troops killed 14 civil rights protesters. In addition to directly organizing such violence for decades, London has funded, armed, and supplied information to the loyalist death squads.
Too much has been fought for and won to reverse the gains of those fighting for a free, united Ireland. Nevertheless, supporters of the Irish freedom struggle need to maintain and intensify their campaign against British rule. Every step taken by London should be opposed - Britain has no right to take a single measure against the Irish people. There is only one road for London, to pull out its troops and GO!!