The Task Ahead
by Sean Brady
Tony Blair cannot be allowed now to stand aside. The most heavily-armed groups in the Six Counties are still those under his control. The major responsibility for assisting in unionism's coming to terms with political change rests with his government. The British prime minister remains the person with jurisdiction over the Six Counties. He must live up to the vision of peace and progress which he claimed was available, by overseeing the transition out of the past and into a future where colonialism and its trappings are steadily but surely dismantled and consigned to the past.
There is a formidable core of unionists who are resistant to any change. Twenty-nine per cent is a sizeable vote. This is not to say however that all the unionists who voted Yes are going to happily embrace change. All change and all progress will require the effort and attention of those who support it.
The marching issue is a benchmark one. It will put to the test the RUC, the securocrats in the Northern Ireland Office and the Orange Order itself, the three groups who have been most implacably opposed to change.
Those who are hailing the Agreement as historic must understand that it will only be so if there is fundamental change for people on the ground. This means the removal of the British Army, the abolition of the RUC, the end of Orange coat-trailing in nationalist areas, Irish language rights, equality of opportunity in employment, and effective all-Ireland bodies. When these are realised, then we can talk about the historic dimensions of the latest political changes.
As has been said in this column before, the surest way to ensure that the
momentum for change is maintained is to increase the political strength
of republicanism. This means an increased Sinn Féin vote in the forthcoming
Assembly elections. It must be remembered that it was Sinn Féin, not anyone
else, who put all of the above mentioned and unresolved issues onto the
political agenda and into the Good Friday document. Voting for Sinn Féin
remains the only practical way to guarantee that those issues will be pursued. |
