United action needed against sectarian riots

The nights of rioting which took place in East Belfast, beginning on the evening of Monday 31st August, brought into sharp focus many of the underlying issues which exist in Northern Ireland. They demonstrated that, eleven years on from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, we still live in a deeply divided society with huge social problems, problems which the politicians in Stormont are incapable of dealing with. By Daniel Waldron

The trouble erupted after Sinn Fein organised an event to mark the closure of the Mountpottinger Road police station on the Monday evening. Crowds of young people from Catholic and Protestant areas gathered in the area, numbering up to 200, some of whom were armed, leading to stones and petrol bombs being hurled. The police waded into the conflict and began firing plastic bullets into the crowds. Three of those involved in the rioting have subsequently been arrested. 

No doubt, an element of the rioting was purely anti-social behaviour. This is to be expected, however, when one in five young people in the North are out of work and with few prospects for a decent future, feeling alienated from society. This proportion would be even higher in the deprived working-class areas that those involved in the rioting were drawn from. This is exacerbated by the complete lack of social housing and youth facilities available to these young people. 

On the other hand, there was also a consciously sectarian edge to the conflict. Even though paramilitary-style violence has decreased, Northern Ireland is more divided than ever before, with fewer people mixing with ‘the other community’, sectarian turf wars and more peace walls than before the ‘peace process’. It is almost certain that dissident republican groups and rogue loyalist elements, determined to drag the working class into all-out conflict, intentionally stoked up the trouble for their own ends. 

These riots were a perfect example of the inability of the main parties to unite the communities. While they aim to hold together their coalition at Stormont, these parties rely on sectarian division for their support base. Thus, while Sinn Fein now accepts the PSNI and participated fully in the Policing Board and DPPs, and actually called for more policing to stop the riots, they still mark the closure of police stations in an attempt to appeal to grassroots republicans that they are increasingly alienated from. Similar contradictions can be seen with the unionist parties. The right-wing economic policies of these parties also create the social and economic desperation in which more hardline elements can grow.

Only working-class communities themselves can prevent scenes like this being repeated. This is not a pie-in-the-sky idea, but something which has worked in the past. Most residents want to be able to go about their lives in peace, without the threat of their homes being attacked or under siege. Joint forums should now be established between the communities in these areas, based on ordinary residents, to discuss ways they can prevent alienated and sectarian elements from creating a conflict which they do not want for themselves or their children.


Total
0
Shares
Previous Article

Fight the Assembly's privatisation agenda

Next Article

No to water charges!

Related Posts

Biggest ever earthquake could result in “tens of thousands” dead and nuclear nightmare

 

Capitalist system incapable of facing up to natural disasters – democratic control of reconstruction and relief work needed

The massive earthquake that struck north-eastern Japan on Friday 11 March and ensuing destruction caused by one of the most powerful tsunamis ever witnessed was the “worst crisis since 1945” according to Prime Minister, Naoto Kan. Capitalist governments always try to exploit for their own political reasons the spontaneous mood for unity in the face of disaster. The terrible events in Japan, however, raise many questions about the follies of capitalism and especially the massive development of nuclear power, never entirely safe, in a notoriously quake-prone region. Government officials say the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami could reach tens of thousands. As Reuters noted, “The catastrophe will also sorely test Kan’s deeply unpopular government.”

Socialist Party exposes cuts in cardio-vascular surgery at RVH

FURTHER HEALTH CUTS REVEALED

It can now be revealed that 6 more beds have been axed from cardio-vascular surgery services at the Royal Victoria Hospital, bringing recent bed losses in this unit to 12. West Belfast Socialist Party representative Pat Lawlor said these cuts will have a "serious impact on the standard of living of those waiting for surgery of this nature."

Stop the health cuts

Patients with infectious diseases side-by-side with surgical patients, wards grossly understaffed, single - use equipment being used on many patients - even a lack of rubber gloves!

No, this is not a description of conditions in hospitals in a poor African country, but reports that we have heard from NHS staff right here in Northern Ireland!