Why Britain also has to Move for peace

I have written elsewhere that:-
"One of the steps necessary to move the peace process forward is for the IRA and Sinn Fein to clarify their intentions by stating that while their final objective remained a re-united Ireland,that they would pursue this aim by peaceful political means if a comprehensive negotiated settlement could be found which did have the support of a majority in BOTH of the main traditions, even if this settlement fell short of a United Ireland".


I have also written that this is not enough by itself and that:-
"The other step necessary to move the peace process forward is for the British Government and the Unionist parties to make it clear to the nationalist population that while they supported the Union between Britain and N.Ireland that they accept that any political settlement must have the support of BOTH a majority of protestants AND a majority of catholics".

I have written before of the difficulties the protestant population of N.ireland have in trusting the intentions of the IRA; this time I would like to write about why the IRA, catholics in N.Ireland generally and indeed nationalists all over Ireland have in trusting the intentions of the British Government.

This mistrust has its roots in the way Britain has treated people outside of Britain in its dealings with them even up until the second half of the twentieth century:- i.e. that Britain has had no respect whatever for democracy and such fundamental rights as the right to freedom in so far as they apply to non-British people. In particular I am referring to the fact that Britain was in forced occupation of parts of Africa and Asia up until the '50's and even the early '60's with no regard whatever to the rights of these people to lead a free independent existence.(For those that are not aware of it, the peoples of Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Burma, Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Guyana amongst others only got their freedom/independence from Britain in the period 1947 - 1966).

What is worse is that it was not as a result of some dawning in the mentality of the British Government of the importance of such human rights as freedom or of growing humanity or of a deeper understanding of the human condition that Britain pulled its colonial machine out of these places but as a result of the pressure of public opinion and because their continued occupation became economically and militarily unsustainable. (The peoples of Cyprus and Malaysia only became independent from Britain after violent campaigns lasting several years - Cyprus in 1960, Malaysia in 1957.)


The relevance all of this has for the situation in Northern Ireland is as follows:-

a) It is still not clear if that same old mentality still exists in the British establishment, if it is still an organisation which seems to have no understanding of the concepts of freedom and human rights as applied to peoples outside of Britain and whether they regard these concepts as irritations to which public/world opinion annoyingly force them to pay attention.

b)Along the same lines it would seem that there were people in positions of power and authority in Britain in the '60's who believed that Britain had the right to do as it liked in the world with little or no regard to the rights of people in other parts of the world, provided they could get away with it. How much has the mentality of people in the present British establishment changed over the short span of some thirty years?

c)Perhaps the greatest difficulty that the IRA and indeed Nationalists generally have in trusting the British Government is that it has NEVER ,over the past several centuries, willingly and of its own volition done "the decent thing " when dealing with other peoples , but has always acted out of its own selfish economic interests or as a result of being faced with a militarily and/or economically untenable situation.



On one hand then, there is-
a)the need for the IRA to demonstrate that they will accept any political settlement that has the support of a majority of the populations in BOTH of the main communities in Northern Ireland and indeed to accept that people in BOTH of these communities have the right to freedom;

b)the need for the British Government to show that THEY accept that the people in BOTH of these communities have the right to freedom, that they have left their "might is right" philosophy of their Empire days behind and are prepared to move into serious discussions whose outcome would be a settlement which would recognise the right to freedom of people in BOTH of the main communities in Northern Ireland. Equally importantly, there is the need for the British Government to DEMONSTRATE that they have made this shift in mentality - it cannot be assumed, given even their recent history of just over 30 years ago.



On the other hand, this present peace process and the talks/negotiations which are necessary provide a great opportunity for all the main parties and participants to grow, to show that the old traditions and ideals which they held onto for centuries, whether republicanism, loyalism or the philosophy of British foreign policy(all of which lacked humanity) can grow and develop into traditions which recognise the rights of others and the importance of freedom to others.


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Note: All pf these Cothrom pages that relate to Northern Ireland were originally created at the end of the '90's/early 00's.