THE
ASSEMBLY ELECTION The challenge for `new nationalists'; A new brand of nationalism
may be emerging,
writes Deaglan de Breadun, Northern Editor
From IRISH TIMES June 27th, 1998
Although one must always be wary of historical analogies, there are certain
parallels between the Hume-Adams pact, which brought us to where we are
today in Northern Ireland politics, and the "New Departure" of 1879 between
the leader of constitutional nationalism, Charles Stewart Parnell, and Sinn
Fein's predecessors in the Fenian Brotherhood. This early example of a pan-nationalist
front was set up to prosecute the Land War.
The Fenians believed Westminster could not grant enough concessions to avert
revolution; Parnell thought sufficient pressure could be put on London to
agree a settlement that would also further his own more measured objective
of Home Rule. For land reform, in the context of today's Northern Ireland,
read the equality agenda.
This somewhat amorphous concept embraces everything from power-sharing to
equality in employment and the thorny question of symbols, flags and emblems.
The equality agenda can be seen as the linear descendant of the original
civil rights demands in Northern Ireland.
Some of its adherents saw the civil rights movement in the late 1960s as
the mole that would burrow under the foundations of the Northern state,
precipitating revolution and eventual unity of the whole island. It certainly
precipitated revolution or at least civil war. What started off as a revolt
of students and lawyers ended up as a vicious guerrilla conflict with violence
that spiralled out of control until, with events like the Enniskillen and
Shankill Road bombings, it was hard to discern any ideal or purpose other
than some vague notion of revenge.
Morally, it was very hard to square these atrocities with the ideals of
Wolfe Tone; politically, they were contributing to the isolation of Sinn
Fein at home and abroad. It was time to look again at the words of John
Hume, the wise teacher by the banks of the Foyle repeating his mantra like
a record needle stuck in a groove, that, yes, there was another way.
Malcolm X had to come to terms with Martin Luther King. Some Sinn Fein people
like to say their party is the dynamic force in Northern politics: this
is not strictly true. Adams without Hume, and perhaps vice versa, would
be like one hand clapping. The real dynamic force was not these two individuals
but the community at their back. Northern nationalists are probably the
most politically sophisticated and aware population subgroup in the whole
of western Europe.
Perhaps the Czechs before 1989 were comparable, or the Poles in the era
of Solidarity, or the Catalans and Basques before they became comfortable
with autonomy. But today there is no sizeable community that can be directly
compared with Northern Irish nationalists in having both a sense of collective
grievance and the political skills and consciousness to resolve it without
going to war any more.
When the early figures from Thursday night's exit poll were emerging some
commentators began to predict not only that the SDLP would be the largest
party in the Assembly but that John Hume would be First Minister. Senior
SDLP sources were taking a less intoxicated view, having been around long
enough to know that Santa only arrives at Christmas, and in Northern politics
you make your own luck. But there's no doubt, even in advance of the final
destination of the 108 Assembly seats, that it has been a good election
for the SDLP and that Sinn Fein has little to complain about either.
The last building block is now in place: first we had the IRA ceasefire,
followed by the loyalist reciprocation; then the long and painful road when
the ceasefire collapsed and had to be revived to lead to the Belfast Agreement;
then the referendum and the growing involvement of Tony Blair until it now
seems his reputation will stand or fall by what happens in Northern Ireland |
