BY MEGAN ARNEY
NEW YORK - "We're farmers and we're trying to show people
how the British militarization of our area is affecting daily
life," said Maria Caraher, a representative of the South
Armagh Farmers and Residents Committee (SAFRC), speaking here
February 12. It was the first stop in an 11-day East Coast
tour by Caraher and SAFRC secretary Toni Carragher, a farmer
in Crossmaglen, Northern Ireland.
The group's chairperson, Declan Fearon, is also speaking in the South and Midwest United States. More than 100 people attended three meetings in the New York/New Jersey area, and 200 turned out for Fearon's first talk in Dallas. The tours are sponsored by Irish Northern Aid.
South Armagh is a small area located on the southeast border of the six Irish counties occupied by the British military as part of the United Kingdom. The overwhelming majority of the 23,000 residents are nationalists, who want a united Ireland, free from British rule.
"Following the IRA [Irish Republican Army] cease-fire on July 20, 1997, the South Armagh people anticipated the demilitarization would be immediately implemented," Carragher said. Instead, more British troops and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) cops were deployed in the region. "The stopping and searching and the victimization is now at an all- time high. In response to this, ordinary people got together" to form the committee later that year, she said.
There are more than 20 British military bases and lookout posts in South Armagh, an area just 15 miles by 10 miles. There is one member of London's "security" forces for every 68 inhabitants. The area has the busiest heliport in Western Europe, with more than 200 flights per month into each lookout post. Constant foot patrols consisting of 16 British soldiers and 2 RUC members regularly stop vehicles, take registration numbers, and harass individuals.
"We are living in the most militarized piece of territory in Western Europe, that can only be likened to an open military training camp," said Carragher. "The British government insists that the military presence is required in South Armagh because of what they term the continued `threat to peace.'
"The only threat to peace in South Armagh is the presence of the British army and the RUC - fully equipped with their war machines, pointing guns at our people, the persistent stopping and searching of our families, the continued existence of the outposts that dot our beautiful countryside."
Farmers face crisis
Working farmers across the whole of Ireland confront a
growing crisis, as the prices they receive for the products of
their labor drop, often below the cost of production.
According to An Phoblacht/Republican News, there are currently
150,000 farmers in Ireland. That number is expected to drop by
tens of thousands over the next five to ten years. Prices for
animal fodder are at exorbitant levels of L 3 (1 L =US$1.60)
or more for a bale of hay and more than L 20 for a bale of
silage. At the same time prices for livestock, the main type
of farming in South Armagh, have plummeted. The collapse in
demand for meat from Russia and Asia, along with the "mad cow
disease" panic in Europe, contribute to this.
In response to this crisis, 40,000 farmers and others throughout the Republic of Ireland marched in Dublin and rallied outside parliament, the Dail, October 28 to demand a living income. Sixty-three percent of farmers in Ireland make less than L 10,000 ($16,000) per year and 60 percent supplement their farm income with wages from other full or part-time jobs. Only 7 percent of farms have an annual income exceeding L 30,000 ($50,000).
Farmers who are Catholic in the north of Ireland have an even harder time. "Farming in the north of Ireland at the moment, as it is in the whole of Ireland, isn't very good. But in South Armagh farming is practically nonexistent," said Carragher. There are 1,000 small farmers in the region.
She explained that before building the lookout posts in May 1986, the British government confiscated prime land from residents, "sometimes as much as 30 acres of land, which is considerable, given that the average size of a farm in South Armagh is about 42 acres. Some families have vacated their premises due to the unwanted presence of the RUC, who systematically harass and intimidate our people," she added.
"The farm land is not very arable, so the farming is confined to livestock like dairy farming and beef cattle. Sheep farming is extremely rare and poultry farming is completely nonexistent," Carragher continued. Cattle that sold for L 900-1,100 two years ago now bring L 500.
Peter Carragher, Toni's husband, bought 84 lambs in September of 1997. Within five months he lost L 1,837, not including the feed and other costs of care for the sheep. According to Carragher, the price of a lamb two years ago was L 55. It's now L 18-19.
The ever-present British military makes farming even more difficult in South Armagh. Helicopters flying as low as 30 feet damage crops and scare dairy cows, which then won't give milk. On top of that, the British government set a quota on the amount of milk farmers could produce. "So if you had too much milk you had to just throw it out. And then you just have to cut down your herd," explained Caraher.
In a 12-month period, 38,634 head of livestock were killed or had to be put down due to injuries after low-flying helicopters caused the animals to stampede. Fences are often found cut down, most likely by RUC and British foot patrols, allowing animals to wander into the road and be killed.
Pollution from the military bases and lookout posts is another concern for farmers and other residents.
The South Armagh area is about 98 percent Catholic or nationalist. Systematic discrimination against Catholics and dispensing of caste-like privileges to the Protestant population has been a pillar of British rule in the north. But farmers who are Protestant "are as much affected by this garbage as we are," Caraher said. "We work together in the farm business. I was always angered by the portrayal in the media that we Catholics and Protestants can't live together.... Protestant people come into our house on a daily basis - selling feed or transporting cattle," said Caraher.
The farmers from South Armagh said they could relate to the fight of Black farmers in the United States to keep their land and against government discrimination. "You could say the same sort of thing is happening to ourselves in the North. There are hill subsidies and low subsides, and we don't get any of that," said Carragher.
Nationalist resistance not broken
Despite the "peace process" currently under way,
politicians in London as well as pro-British Unionists in
Northern Ireland have actually called for stepped up policing
of South Armagh. When asked why they thought this region in
particular has been made into a British military training
ground, Carragher replied, "It's just another line or tactic
of oppression against the nationalist community."
There is constant harassment by the British forces. Carragher recalled one experience when a 12-year-old boy from the South Armagh area left school to go to the local clinic. The RUC stopped him, twisted his arm, and demanded to know the names of this brothers.
For almost 40 years the Gaelic Athletic Association in Crossmaglen has had to play with "the backdrop of intimidation and insults and the threatened glare of the watch tower," stated Caraher. "And the British government and RUC have taken a quarter of the playing field."
British "security" check points can be thrown up anywhere and at any time.
The area of South Armagh, Crossmaglen, and Newry have historically been a area of support for the fight for a united Ireland. The British military presence is probably an attempt "to provoke an IRA response which could break the cease-fire, thus ejecting Sinn Fein from the current talks process," Carragher said. "One of the obligations of the British government under the terms of the Good Friday agreement was to publish their demilitarization policy. This has not happened," she noted.
Just before leaving for the United States, Carragher and Caraher took part in a 2,000-strong march and rally February 7. The demonstration, called by the SAFRC to call for the demilitarization of South Armagh and the removal of all Army and RUC forces, was led by four tractors. Supporters of the Irish liberation fight came from as far away as Wexford and Cork in the southern part of the island. RUC police force closed all roads leading to the area, keeping hundreds of others from the demonstration.
"South Armagh houses a very proud people, which is evident when you visit the area," stated Carragher. "Their spirit has and will not be broken given the injustices our people have had to suffer these past 30 years."