Fourthwrite .......................Issue No. 9

We must cooperate

by Roderick Dunbar

There has been much consternation analysing and tut tuting over the results of the last local and Westminister elections. They have been debated in every pub in the land, column inches galore have been written in the press and contributors to “Talkback” and other phone-in programmes debated the polarisation in our divided society and the shift away from any sense of middle ground, that may or may not have ever existed in this society. 

The noted shift by working class away from the more “moderate”, although blatantly sectarian, Ulster Unionist and SDLP towards the DUP and Sinn Fein caught many a commentator off guard. But should it? At a time when the Belfast Agreement of unionism or the Good Friday Agreement of nationalism was under severe criticism and in danger of imminent collapse, working class people felt uneasy and at a time of concern and ever growing tension the “natural” instinct is to withdraw back to their perceived camp and in Northern Ireland today that means fundamentalist nationalism, British or Irish.

The question that the political commentators should have asked is- where has the small but dedicated socialist vote gone? The collapse of this constituency is alarming, given political developments both here and across the world. The major push towards globalisation, or to give it its proper title Americanisation, should have Socialists, trade unionists and community leaders clamouring for the reversal of this on-going economic strategy, which is further alienating the marginalised in this and other societies. It is this alienation that is causing many to despair and therefore turn their back on politics with the subsequent decline in the use of the dearly won right of universal suffrage.

The recent protests in Genoa at the G7/G8 Conference, with over 700 different groups taking part has demonstrated the need for the left to organise. There is a strong argument for the efficiency of collective action and the development of a clear programme around which the Left can make significant in-roads into the political arena. Left-wing co-operation is a must. Former comrades, who today refuse to work together, must bury their differences and offer a genuine alternative to the sectarian tribalism, which passes for politics and dominates political debate in Northern Ireland. Sectarianism must be tackled head on, by an alliance of progressive groups. Post Good Friday there seems to an attitude that if everyone ignored sectarianism it would fade away. A clear and comprehensive programme has to be defined and articulated with the dedication and commitment that many of us believe that we have but in truth only a few possess.

For those who do not believe that a left alternative can provide an answer to our divided society, then look no further than North Belfast. The almost nightly riots, bombings and shootings, reminiscent of 1969 and just as clearly orchestrated by right-wing zealots, has driven a wedge further between the communities and widened the artificial distance between neighbours, leaving in its wake wounds that will take a very long time to heal.

Marginalised communities in Northern Ireland need a strong voice of sanity that they can identify with and support. This voice has to be clear and must show the way forward out of the morass that we live in today. For too long marginalised and disadvantaged communities have been used by political leaders who have shown little regard for the human tragedy that results from sectarianisation of the body politic.

1990 did not, despite right-wing wishful thinking, signal “the end of history”. Socialism is even more relevant today than ever. It is the only viable check on the poverty, inequality and marginalisation caused by the constant pursuit of profit and power that are the driving forces of the process of globalisation. Here in the North of Ireland, the humanitarian voice of socialism is the only sustainable challenge to sectarian intransigence and social division.

All groups on the Left must co-operate in the process of empowering those communities that have been pushed to the margins and politically, economically, socially and culturally disadvantaged. This is a process, which will involve the total democratisation of society and the breaking down of barriers between communities. In these conditions tribal politics will no longer be the easy option of career politicians.

This is no doubt a massive task, sectarian attitudes are buried deep in the social fabric and will be difficult to untangle, there will be stubborn resistance from political interests which rely on elections continuing to be tribal head counts and whose manifestoes would be blank without the sectarian card. But it is never the less a task that must be undertaken and the time to begin is now.