And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
forwarded by: Catherine Davids..thanks..:)
FROM UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
FOR RELEASE: WEEK OF APRIL 9, 1999
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez
GRIEVING THE 'TROUBLES' NECESSARY FOR LASTING PEACE
This week's column is a first-person account by Patrisia Gonzales.
** ** **
PORTADOWN, Northern Ireland -- I woke to the drumming of the Orange
Order, a menacing sound for the people of Garvaghy Road, where the order
continues to terrorize Catholic residents with marches that celebrate
Protestant supremacy and the British subjugation of Ireland in 1670.
The drumming is a psychological weapon, a reminder of the dozens of homes
raided or firebombed as a violent byproduct of the marches and the beatings of
peaceful protesters by state forces, of "peace lines" that forewarn where
Catholic and Protestants live, of murals flaunting the bloody hands of
Loyalist paramilitaries.
I was part of a delegation that examined the peace process there. I stayed
with a representative of Sinn Fein and the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition,
a man who has been unemployed for 20 years because of his beliefs, who fears
going to the hospital for treatment, lest he be assassinated, and who
separated
from his family so that they no longer would be subjected to paramilitary
raids. Tin-can lids no longer clang to announce attacks in the Troubles
-- a
ritual warning system revived from centuries prior to forewarn of British
invaders, who stole from the Irish their land, their language, the right to
own
homes and work or serve on juries. But the protracted conflict along Garvaghy
Road underscores the fragility of peace, the fears that prevent people from
putting down their guns, and the difficulty of creating the relationships
needed to sustain peace.
Yet those relationships have not materialized among key political leaders.
As some human rights observers note, the problem is inherent in how peace was
negotiated -- leaving out a broader spectrum of civilian leadership who
support an autonomous Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein, the Protestant Ulster
Unionist Party and the British government will reconvene peace talks in
mid-April. Unionists say that the IRA's political party cannot hold office
until arms are decommissioned. The Irish Republican Army says its cease-fire
shows that it is committed to peace and that decommissioning was not a
prerequisite to the agreement.
Advancing peace is rooted in a deeper challenge: building trust after
centuries of physical and emotional violence created when people are
dehumanized and demonized. In his Easter address, the Church of Ireland's
archbishop of Dublin said the sectarian actions along Garvaghy Road harmed the
church, and he spoke of a greater challenge, "the decommissioning of old
attitudes, prejudice, hatred, resentment and suspicion."
People have been traumatized by the violence and what it does to human
relationships. They are only beginning to grieve all that has been lost to
violent conflict. The truth of that pain will only surface once there is
lasting political stability. After years of living in a state of violence,
as a
result of the cease-fire, people are finally beginning to imagine how life
might be different. They no longer want to hurt anymore; they are in conflict
with what they tolerated.
Some 3,000 people have been killed in Northern Ireland in the past 30
years. The violence has been not only sectarian but also within the various
groups and inflicted by British military and Protestant police forces. The
recent murder of human rights attorney Rosemary Nelson by fascist elements has
rekindled fear of a violence that is immune to peace.
Activists say the dynamism of hope following the cease-fire has been
wasted. And yet there is a hope found in the very act of continuing to build
peace despite all the fears. It inspires a change in values, now reflected in
public opinion on the streets of Belfast -- much like public opinion that
elsewhere overpowered the Berlin Wall -- when people can no longer tolerate an
intolerable situation.
Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam told our delegation that in
15 years the province will determine whether there will eventually be a united
Ireland. "It's up to the people of Northern Ireland to decide. It's not up to
the assembly. It's not up to groups that resort to violence."
For that to happen, a different leadership must emerge, one that is
distinct from what evolves during armed struggle or defensive military
positions. Already, the relationships for peace are being strengthened --
mostly by women who dare to work in cross-community projects, such as the
grieving women at WAVE Trauma Centre, who found that "people's tears are no
different."
Says Monica McWilliams, who helped negotiate the peace agreement: "There's
nowhere to go back to. There's no tolerance for the paramilitary or the
intransigence."
COPYRIGHT 1999 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
* Roberto Rodriguez & Patrisia Gonzales are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez:
Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN 0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library,
Publications Unit. Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race
(Cloth ISBN 0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press)
and the antibook, The X in La Raza II and Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming
Human. They can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7904, 505-242-7282
or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Gonzales's direct line is 505-248-0092 or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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