Behind the ‘peace’ Repression Grows

“Peace, peace, peace! — Peace at any price!” It would be difficult to find any other words that so aptly sum up the latest ‘peace’ campaign in the North, Emerging after the tragic death of the three young Maguire children it expresses the sickening frustration which is gnawing away at the combativity of the nationalist ghettoes as more and more people begin to feel that the situation won’t ever change, that after seven years of struggle in which their localities have been the battlefront, their relatives and neighbours dragged off to prison and internment camps, their people lying in the wooden boxes, the old system remains as strong as ever! 50 what the hell is the use of further resistance!

This is what is really important about the latest ‘peace’ campaign and what marks it out from all the past engineered ‘peace’ gimmicks of groups like Women Together with their graveyard get-togethers, vigils and walks. As Tomas Mactsiolla has correctly pointed out many of the women now marching for an end to violence, marched in the past for civil rights, “Peace” builders and supporters? Certainly, the usual pro-imperialist forces are involved, and bodies such as the Alliance Party fin the form of Betty Williams) and the Catholic Church (represented by Legion of Mary activist, Mairead Corrigan) are well to the fore amongst the organisers.

The media has of course given mass coverage to every meeting held, every word uttered. The British government has fully exploited the campaign for its own ends; providing coaches fo fransport supporters without charge, to the rallies, waiving legal requirements for marches and so on, Nor can it be denied that much of the support 80 far has come from outside the nationalist ghettoes and from people who in the refinement of their suburban semi-detacheds are far removed from the grim misery of the Falls and the Bogside, the day and daily harassment of the British Army and the sectarian attacks mounted by the loyalist paramilitaries.

A response from the ghettos But neither can we avoid the knowledge that many from the ghettoes have also lent their support and been prepared to take to the streets in support of a vague undefined ‘peace’, [f we emphasise this point it is not to add further to the credibility of the “peace-mongers’ but merely to draw attention to the growth of demoralisation within the antiMass action — a step in the right direction Ironically the ‘peacemongers® have already pointed to this direction. By taking to the streets they are challenging the anti-imperialist movement on the one terrain that has always been favourable to it, A key slogan in the months to come must be “Back to the Streets!" Demonstrations and rallies will have to be painstakingly built but difficult as it will surely prove, it is only through such involvement that nationalist workers will be able to place responsibility for the violence which rocks the towns and villages of the North it belongs — with the British ruling class, o In building mass mobilisations on Northern streets once again we will be taking the first ste to a real ‘peace’ based on removing the British Presence, dismantling the Northern state and providing a workers solution to the sectarian DEFEND POLITICAL STATUS!

BACK TO THE STREETS!

NO RETURN TO STORMONT!

BRITISH TROOPS OUT NOW!