As republican socialists we take no pleasure in watching working class communities at each other throats while the G&T set tut-tut in their golf clubs of North Down at the antics of the lower classes!!!!

Unlike the middle classes our comrades and members live in these interface areas and are active on the ground in defending working class homes from sectarian attack. The INLA has assured us that they will use any means necessary to defend working class homes from attack.

But as a movement we also put forward political proposals to help defuse tensions. The Non Aggression pact is one such proposal.

Let us clarify what it is not. It is not a pact between armed groups It is not about carving up areas for political control. It is not about cosying up to reaction or rewarding sectarian bitterness.

The Non Aggression Pact is about encouraging working class dialogue, co-operation and breaking down barriers. It is about neighbours reaching agreement between themselves without the fear of manipulation by armed groups.

It is a bottom up approach within the control of the people at grass roots level. It is the beginning of working class communities taking control of their lives and the ending of their manipulation by thugs bullyboys and political opportunists.

We appeal to community workers activists and trade unionists particularly within unionist areas but also with nationalist areas to shake off the grip of those manipulators who would deny you the right to control your lives.

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which we said, institutionalises sectarianism, virulent naked sectarian hatred has rampaged through the body politic.

The GFA has failed and it will collapse. No republican worthy of the name should try to justify the results of the GFA. It has utterly failed working class communities.

The NAP is at least one way for communities to have a breathing space. It is the least they deserve