London still the main oppressor in northern Ireland
By Lal
Roohk
On Dec. 1, England's direct rule over the north of Ireland
officially ended. Political power was devolved from Westminster
to the Six County Executive, implementing the peace process
that had won resounding approval throughout Ireland in April
1998. For the first time, the Sinn Fein party, which represents
the Irish nationalist movement in the northern six counties,
became part of the government.
Only one week later, on Dec. 8, Sinn Fein security
discovered a highly sophisticated tracking device while
checking a car used by party leader Gerry Adams and chief
negotiator Martin McGuinness.
The bugged vehicle had been used by Adams and McGuiness to
travel to and from crucial meetings with the Irish Republican
Army. Consequently the IRA agreed to appoint a representaive to
enter into discussions with Canadian General John de Chastelain
and the Independent International Commissin on Decommmisioning
(disarming).
At a news conference after the discovery of the surveillance
equipment, Adams charged the bugging was "an outrageous breach
of faith." McGuiness said there was no doubt it was the work of
British military intelligence. The case is so flagrant that
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern announced he would raise it
with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Sinn Fein leaders described the device as having digital
tracking capabilities, probably linked by satellite. It has
digitally enhanced audio transmission, an output of 20-30
watts, linear amplification and is heat sensitive. It has both
a transmission aerial and an input aerial, which allows for the
device to be switched off and on by remote control.
The tracking system included rechargeable batteries wired to
the car. A microphone as small as a match head was built into
the middle of the vehicle's roof. Wiring connecting each
component part of the device ran along the skin of the car and
was disguised in a way that anyone carrying out ordinary
repairs would never find it.
McGuiness called the surveillance part of "the dirty tricks
by the British military establishment intent on resisting the
establishment of a normal society on this island."
The IRA has stuck to a self-imposed cease-fire for the last
three years, even when right-wing, pro-British groups have
carried out murderous provocations. Nevertheless, the IRA has
been under pressure to turn in its weapons, known as
decommissioning, before the establishment of the six-county
executive body.
U.S. media reports on the Irish peace pro cess have focused
on decommissioning the IRA as the basic requirement for a
political settlement. They also present the struggle in
northern Ireland as basically one between pro-British unionists
and Irish nationalists.
What they never mention is that the major factor
overshadowing all others in the balance of forces is the
continued occupation of northern Ireland by British military
and intelligence forces. For 800 years, Ireland was a colony of
the English. In this century, British capital invested heavily
in the industrialization of the northern counties, nourishing
an enclave there of pro-British sentiment.
Ireland finally won its independence, but minus its six
northern counties. The continued colonial occupation there by
the British has emboldened reactionary politicians to resist
unification. The peace pro cess is supposed to allow the local
population self-rule.
But when will British demilitarization of northern Ireland
be completed? This incident with the bugging of the car shows
that the imperialists have many unseen ways of intervening
behind the backs of the public.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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