The peace process is being used as a political hostage

Posted by Jim on July 28, 2018

By An Sionnach Fionn

There are few other British historical figures more controversial – and
more reviled – in the popular culture of Ireland than Winston Churchill.
Described by Eamon de Valera in a carefully worded eulogy upon his death
in 1965 as a “dangerous enemy of the Irish people”, the career
politician is best remembered in this country for his close association
with the United Kingdom’s violent rejection of pro-autonomy majorities
in four plebiscite-elections held on the island between 1918 and 1921.
As the Secretary of State for War, the Secretary of State for Air and
later as the Secretary of State for the Colonies his malevolent
influence contributed significantly to the UK’s political and military
responses to the 1916-23 Revolution. Including, most obviously, the
partition of the country in December 1920, and the deployment of three
infamous militia units in 1919-20: the Royal Irish Constabulary Special
Reserve (the RICSR or Black and Tans), the Auxiliary Division of the
Royal Irish Constabulary (the ADRIC or Auxies) and the Ulster Special
Constabulary (the USC or B-Specials).

Given that record, one would assume a fair degree of caution on behalf
of any politician visiting Ireland from Britain who might choose to
summon up his opinions on matters Irish related, however distant in
time. Especially during a period of high crisis and low relations
between Dublin and London, thanks to the ongoing Brexit debacle and the
failure of the latter capital to negotiate a feasible withdrawal plan
with the European Union. However no such thoughts seem to have entered
the head of the British prime minister Theresa May and her advisers on
Friday as she adorned her speech in the city with some remarks by
Churchill lauding the nature of the British legacy colony in the
north-east of the island.

Short of pulling out a Tricolour, the national flag of Ireland, and
setting it on fire on the dais, it is difficult to imagine how much more
undiplomatic and positively provocative the Conservative Party leader
could have been in her words and sentiments on Friday. Gone was any real
attempt at nuance or subtlety, of an authentic reaching out to that half
of the population in the UK-administered Six Counties with an Irish
nationality. Instead we were treated to an egregious display of British
revanchism, of territorial colonialism by rhetoric, with a deceitful
twisting of the principles underlying the Good Friday Agreement of 1998;
the complex, multistranded peace settlement which effectively ended
thirty years of armed conflict in the contested region.

In the full speech delivered in the Waterfront Hall there is little
evidence that the minority Conservative Party government in London,
reliant on a parliamentary alliance with the far-right hibernophobic
Democratic Unionist Party for survival, is now willing to deliver on the
commitments given to Dublin and Brussels in the “backstop” agreement of
late 2017. A Brexit-facilitating deal guaranteeing continued regulatory
alignment under EU rules on the island of Ireland in the absence of any
similar arrangements with the United Kingdom. On the contrary, ministers
and officials in the increasingly desperate UK seem determined to use
the political stability and economic prosperity of this island nation,
and the very peace process itself, as a playable card in its chaotic
negotiations with its former partners and neighbours in Europe.

The French did not coin the phrase, la perfide Albion, for no reason.

* The full text of May’s speech is available at https://bit.ly/2NU5hXp