Issue 150, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (October, 1999)

              uimh 150 deireadh f6mhair — october 1999 50p usa 1 process under great stress retired us senator george mitchell admitted in dublin on october 5 that the stormont agreement is under great stress and said there is a real threat it may not proceed when the patten report into the future of the ruc was published on september 9 republican sinn fein president ruairi 6 bradaigh pointed out that the renamed ruc is there to defend the six-county statelet and called on nationalists to avoid becoming agents of the british government in ireland • patten report see page 3 inside • alternative to stormont agreement page 9 6 c a i the dublin administration's decision to join the nato led partnership for peace by the end of october without a referendum in the 26 counties is yet another u-turn which reveals the scorn with which bertie ahern and his colleagues view the public neutrality is being sold out behind closed doors as recently as may 1 an irish times/mrbl opinion poll showed that 71 of voters in the 26 counties favoured a referendum on the proposal that the 26 counties should join the pfp this has been ignored by the fianna fail/pd administration bertie ahern has turned his back on his own remarks in 1996 when he stated that to join nato's pfp without a referendum would be fundamentally undemocratic ". he also told the 26-county assembly on march 29 that year while the government may reassure the public that there are no implications for our neutrality and that may be technically true at this time it will be seen by other countries as a gratuitous signal that ireland is moving away from its neutrality and towards incorporation into nato and the weu in due course " in addition the fianna fail 1997 election manifesto - on which basis they secured power - stated we oppose irish participation in nato itself in nato-led organisations such as the partnership for peace or in the western european union beyond observer status " the contempt thus shown for the irish people by bertie ahern and fianna fail means that they will also join nato without any referendum as any promises made to do so are clearly worthless one commentator said we are not going into nato by the back door but by the front door the political and military establishments aim to continue to railroad irish people through a series of gradual measures until neutrality is non-existent in this the fine gael and labour parties are willing to offer to support or at least will not effectively oppose the move to join pfp gay mitchell of fine gael explained the reason for the rush to join when he said that joining the partnership for peace was inevitable after the stormont agreement was signed the price of us involvement in the process was moves to enmesh the 26 counties in military alliances a role which ireland has a long tradition of outright opposition to the irish neutrality association was formed one hundred years ago by maud gonne james connolly john macbride and arthur griffith it was active in opposing recruiting for britain in the boer war before easter 1916 connolly had the famous banner erected on liberty hall we serve neither king nor kaiser but ireland the anti conscription campaign in 1918 gave a decisive impetus to sinn fein after the british parliament tried to impose the measure on the irish people the redmondites withdrew from westminster in protest at conscription for ireland and thus by endorsing the abstentionist policy of the republicans consigned themselves to the scrap heap of history irish neutrality has always meant non-involvement in imperialist wars or military alliances and did not commence with world war n republican sinn fein believes that an independent foreign policy - incompatible with the european union goal of a centralised superpower - is the cornerstone of genuine neutrality and talk of a purely military neutrality is a nonsense designed to deceive the irish people • the irish people with their colonial history have long opposed involvement in imperialist wars or military alliances it is time to make a stand and oppose this drift towards nato and its selfish agenda which seeks to effectively destroy and replace the united nations with its own power bloc this process has seen the us deprive the un of the funds due to it over many years and then accuse the world body of being powerless and irrelevant the alternative is a reformed united nations with a directly elected security council through which the irish people could participate in peace keeping duties involvement in the pip military alliance will quickly develop into a european army comprising irish men and women and ready to engage in what jacques delors infamously described as the resource wars of the 21st century such involvement goes against ireland's anti-colonial history and feelings of solidarity with the emerging nations of the world it would also divert badly needed resources to increased spending on military equipment defend neutrality now republican sinn fein 95u ard-fheis 1999 dublin november 13-14