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Count the Catholics Kelly:
Sinn Fein’s sectarian ploy exposed
The angry response to their sectarian
ploy in the Westminster election took Sinn Fein by surprise. In the North
Belfast constituency they printed a bar graph based on the 2011 census
in the area. It was labeled: “Protestant - 45.67%; Catholic - 46.96%. Make
the change, Make history”.
From the point of view of Sinn Fein, this
was just another ploy from a party of spindoctors and tallymen. It was
part of the rough and tumble of just another electoral campaign. They are
mistaken. This is the resolution of a long standing contradiction, a historic
moment when the mask falls completely and Sinn Fein nua is exposed.
Contradiction
The contradiction stretches back to the
beginning of the peace process. Republicanism had traditionally balanced
between socialism and capitalism. Under the pressure of defeat it entered
a "nationalist family" with Irish capital and embraced a settlement that
enshrined British rule and a local administration based on sectarian rights.
This opened a new contradiction between
their constant jockeying for confessional rights in the corridors of power
and an historic base that believed in the broadly democratic and left-facing
policies of the past.
Credibility
The solution was simple. Push former IRA
figures to the fore and use their credibility to reassure supporters. Constantly
remember to always have two stories - one for the loyal follower, the other
for your partners in government.
But everything changes with time. The
credibility of the IRA figures declines. When there is no change in the
nationalist areas, which experience levels of deprivation that have stayed
the same over four decades, people move back from the party, which itself
becomes insulated by a layer of paid functionaries. The majority of time
is taken up by interacting with other capitalist politicians, businesspeople
and governments. The middle class flood into Sinn Fein and are unaware
that any left wing gobbledygook has to be dispensed.
However there are more immediate
and material reasons for the collapse of this Janus-faced policy. This
election has taken place in the shadow of the Stormont House Agreement.
Sinn Fein have hesitated over one section and been savagely attacked by
the Unionists, the British, Dublin and the US administration.
The attacks have stopped during the election campaign, but Sinn Fein has
been told that the British will close down the local administration if
they do not agree the full package.
The battle is not about blocking the Stormont
House agreement. Rather it is about finding a way to preserve their claims
to be an anti-austerity party. Sinn Fein unreservedly support 99% of the
austerity budget and have signed up to the political aspects of Stormont
House, which absolve the unionists from any requirement to row back on
sectarian triumphalism or to implement outstanding elements of the Good
Friday agreement.
The Westminster election will be followed
by a political and economic offensive against the workers, with Sinn Fein
lined up with the bosses. Under these circumstances it is hardly surprising
that they play the Catholic card and rely on sectarian rivalry to hold
their vote.
Rough and ready
The party hope to pass off this sectarian
appeal as a one-off incident, part of the rough and ready tactics used
in an electoral struggle. They are mistaken. In fact they have a great
deal of form in this area. The initial shot in the
election campaign was a unity offensive aimed at the SDLP to ensure a single
Catholic candidate in each electoral area. The
SDLP refused, not out of any principle, but because they did not want to
be swallowed up by the larger party and in the end held their own with
3 seats. The Sinn Fein election material in the West Belfast constituency
carried a shy graphic of a Sinn Fein protest to “Save St. Mary’s,” referring
to a campaign some months ago to prevent the amalgamation of the local
catholic teacher training facility with Stranmillis college – a campaign
based on asserting sectarian rights to a separate educational system.
The biggest fall in votes – mopped up
by People Before Profit candidate Gerry Carroll – was in the West Belfast
constituency. The Good Friday Agreement initially contained provision for
shared sporting facilities. The unionists refused to implement
the deal and Sinn Fein then agreed to the money being divided in a sectarian
carve-up. It was earmarked for West Belfast’s GAA facility at Casement
Park. Sinn Fein and the GAA tried to ram through the development in the
face of local opposition and tales are now emerging of massive corruption,
the ripping up of planning regulations and dismissal of major health and
safety concerns.
By playing the Green card the Shinners
play to their middle class support. Their main concern
is to get their share of privilege. The traditional working class supporters
get nothing and see the slogan of the "unity of Catholic, Protestant and
dissenter" central to the traditional republican programme, swept away.
Confessional party
However it is not only nationalist workers
who are betrayed. In the name of “equality of the two traditions” Protestant
workers are handed over to utterly reactionary loyalist gangs. Divisions
in the working class are presented as not political but cultural.
When Gerry Kelly called on North Belfast Catholics to vote for him, he
was in effect inviting Protestants to vote for Nigel Dodds of the DUP.
Sinn Fein is a capitalist confessional
party. They sell sectarian division to the workers because they have nothing
else to sell. All the promises of democracy and prosperity claimed for
the Northern settlement have come to nothing. The task before us is one
of constructing an alternative based on democracy and socialism and built
on the power of an independent and united working class. |
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