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An appeal to Irish America
This US
Presidential election race is its final stretch. It’s probably one of the most
watched and bitter in modern American history. In recent weeks the electoral
battle between President Trump and Vice President Biden has taken many twists
and turns as each appeal to voters for support. In particular, how Trump and
Biden are addressing the Coronavirus pandemic is probably the single biggest
issue dominating the news agenda. It is also important to remember that this
election is about more than who will be President. Every Congressional seat is
also up for re-election and a third of the seats in the Senate.
Irish America is a
huge constituency within the US. Around 40 million claim Irish roots. Where
once it voted predominantly Democratic the voting pattern reflects wider US
society. Consequently, the Irish American vote is important in this election.
Many within that constituency continue to be keenly interested in the Irish
peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. Many too are very conscious and
concerned by the threat to the Agreement posed by the British government’s
Brexit strategy. US political leaders in the Congress and Senate have
consistently expressed their support for both. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has
been especially vocal in making clear her view that any threat to the Good
Friday Agreement will rule out any post Brexit trade deal between the USA and
Britain.
The importance of
the Irish American lobby is evident in the priority each give to Ireland. As in
previous elections both Presidential candidates have set out their platforms on
Ireland and our peace agreements. Joe Biden has frequently talked about his
pride in his family’s Irish roots and his support in the Congress for the peace
process. In a statement last week the Biden/Harris campaign set as their number
one objective “active US diplomatic
engagement to advance “ the peace process and “will ensure that there will be no US-UK trade deal if the
implementation of Brexit imperils the Good Friday Agreement.” Biden also
addressed the issue of the undocumented saying he will “prioritise legislation to create a roadmap to citizenship” for the
undocumented.”
The Trump camp
through its special envoy to Ireland, Mick Mulvaney, has also set out its
support for the peace process, the Good Friday Agreement and opposition to the
return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. Mulvaney visited Ireland last
month and met political leaders, including Sinn Féin President Mary Lou
McDonald. He said: “We’re here to
protect, defend that Good Friday Agreement that was so hard fought and won.”
The role of the
international community in supporting peace in Ireland was long recognised by
Sinn Féin as crucial to making progress. We made it a central plank of our
peace strategy in the 1990s and strategically engaged with Irish America. That
approach saw Irish America rise to the challenge and play a pivotal role in
encouraging Congressional and Senate representatives and the Clinton White
House to engage in the peace process. Since the Good Friday Agreement was
achieved in 1998 every US administration has supported the Agreement.
In the demanding
times ahead, as the British Government pursues a Brexit strategy that threatens
the peace process, American support for the Good Friday Agreement is more
important than ever.
I would appeal to
Irish America to use this Presidential election as an opportunity to raise the
issue of Ireland with their Congressional and Senate candidates, as well as
with their Presidential candidates; to seek their public support for the Good
Friday Agreement; and to encourage them to back a referendum on Irish Unity.
Gove and
the Threat to the GFA
The British government states that its Brexit
negotiations are about defending the Good Friday Agreement. As this column has
frequently said how much confidence should we put in this claim? None dear
readers. None whatsoever. Diddley sqwat.
Michael Gove is one of the British government’s key
negotiators in the Brexit negotiations. Last week and again at the weekend Gove and other British Ministers
were spinning that there was little prospect of a trade deal between Britain
and the EU. Gove said the EU is "not
serious" about agreeing the compromises the Brits are demanding. As
time for a deal grows short the Brits are hard balling.
This is a dangerous time for the Good
Friday Agreement. Gove is also currently
championing the introduction of the Internal Market Bill, which the British
accept breaches international law and breaks the Withdrawal Treaty and Irish
Protocol. It will also undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
What Gove really thinks about the Good Friday
Agreement was spelt out by him in a paper he wrote 20 years ago. In ‘The Price
of Peace’ Gove likened the Agreement to the appeasement of the Nazis in the
1930s. He described the GFA as a ‘moral
stain’. He wrote: “It is a humiliation of our Army, Police and
Parliament. But, worse still, it is a denial of our national integrity, in
every sense of the word. Surely, is the Belfast Agreement not the greatest
achievement of this Government, but an indelible mark against it?”
In his paper Gove also rails against the human
rights provisions of the Good Friday Agreement; criticises rights for the
disabled and campaigners fighting against sex discrimination; attacks a human
rights culture which allows women to sue for unfair dismissal when pregnant and
challenges the creation of “new rights” for trans citizens.
Should we be surprised that a British
government ignores the democratic vote of the people of the North to remain in
the EU?
In this context there is an onus on
the Irish government to stand up to the Johnson government and defend the
rights of Irish citizens and the Good Friday Agreement.
Remembering
Terence MacSwiney
“It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can endure the
most who will conquer.”
This is one of the most recognisable Irish Republican slogans
of the last 100 years of struggle. It has been frequently published in
leaflets, painted on walls and quoted in speeches, especially during the 1981 H-Block
hunger strike. The quote is taken from Terence MacSwiney’s ‘Principles of
Freedom’ a collection of his writings that was published after his death. In
his prison diary Bobby Sands references Terence MacSwiney as an inspiration: “Thomas
Clarke is in my thoughts, and MacSwiney, Stagg, Gaughan, Thomas Ashe,
McCaughey.”
Next Sunday – October 25th
– marks 100 years since MacSwiney’s death after 74
days on hunger strike.
MacSwiney, was the second Lord Mayor of Cork to die
in 1920. In March of that year he gave the oration at the graveside of his
predecessor Tomás MacCurtain who was shot dead in his home by members of the
Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). Like MacCurtain, Terence MacSwiney was pledged
to the principles of the Republic declared at Easter 1916. He was a poet, a
playwright, a gaeilgeoir, and a teacher. Like all of the Sinn Féin MPs elected
in the December 1918 election he refused to take his seat and gave his
allegiance to the First Dáil.
His hunger strike attracted huge international
interest and support. The London based Observer recorded at the time that; “The majority of public opinion and of the
press in Great Britain is unquestionably for the Lord Mayor’s release.” There
were marches and meetings calling for his release. Lloyd George, the British
Prime Minister refused to move.
On hearing of MacSwiney’s death a young Vietnamese
man, Nguyen Tat Thanhn, who was working in the kitchen of a central London
hotel, burst into tears. He said; “a
country with a citizen like this will never surrender”. When he returned to
Vietnam Thanhn changed his name. As Ho Chi Minh he lead the fight against
Japanese and French occupation and later the war with the USA. Another
international figure inspired by MacSwiney was Mahatma Ghandi.
Terence MacSwiney was not the only
Republican political prisoner to die on hunger strike in October 1920. When the
British removed political status from the republican prisoners a mass hunger
strike commenced in August. The British objective was to criminalise the
prisoners and by extension the struggle for freedom. On 17 October Michael
Fitzgerald died after 67 days on hunger strike. On the same day that MacSwiney died Joseph Murphy died on his 76th
day of hunger strike.
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