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In recognition that some Irish activists in America have mobilized to call for implementation of the provisions of the "Good Friday Agreement" with the six counties of Ireland presently under British occupation, Peter Urban of the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America issued a statement saying such illusions have already been fostered far too much.
"The GFA," said Urban, North American Coordinator of the IRSCNA and a member of the International Secretariat of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, "has shown itself to be an empty piece of paper. It is time that people stop pretending that it has the ability to be something more. "We in the Irish Republican Socialist Movement have consistently said that this agreement did little more than copper-fasten sectarianism in the occupied six counties, and it has now had over a year to demonstrate the truth of that analysis fully. While doing nothing to move Ireland away from partition and occupation, the GFA has institutionalized sectarianism by forcing all elected officials to declare themselves either Orange or Green, or to have their votes neutralized in any vote of consequence in the restored Stormont. "More than a year down the road, the sectarian RUC remains the police force of the six counties, with recent revelations making plain that the RUC was complicit in the assassination of two prominent figures in the Nationalist community of the six counties -- Rosemary Nelson and Pat Finucane. "Loyalist death squads have been increasingly active, despite the existence of a supposed cease-fire by all hostiles and Loyalists have once again undertaken provocative marches into Nationalist communities to flaunt their priviledged social position in the artificial statelet of the six counties. "Even the inclusion of the increasingly mainstream Sinn Fein in the powerless executive of the new Stormont regime has been stymied. It is time for us to quit promoting illusions in the ability of the GFA to move the situation forward, and look towards more promising opportunities to end partition in Ireland, and replace both partitionist governments on the island." In conclusion, Urban said, "The vast majority of the people of Ireland are working class people, and it remains as true today as in James Connolly's day that their only opportunity for liberation as a nation and as human beings is through the creation of a socialist republic encompassing the entire 32 counties of the island of Ireland." ENDS Peter Urban International Secretariat Irish Republican Socialist Party/ North American Coordinator Irish Republican Socialist Committees 2057 15th Street, Suite B San Francisco, CA 94114 USA Phone/fax: 415-861-1355 irsp@netwizards.net |