No alternative

No alternative

I hesitated before deciding to stand in the Assembly election. The corrupt and reactionary nature of the institution is self-evident. As time goes on I see that there really is no alternative.

One factor influencing me was the ‘IRA’ statement at Easter announcing a return to war.

I don't agree for a moment with the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein's condemnations, but the completely negative elements of a physical force strategy are self-evident.

Republicans seem determined to support Sinn Fein and the current corrupt settlement by agreeing with them that the only alternative is another 30 years of bloodshed.

Hidden in the ‘IRA’ statement are some core republican beliefs.

One belief is that the British really want to leave Ireland and that an extension of the military campaign will exhaust their will. Recent history indicates the opposite. It was the republican resistance that became exhausted, while the British dedicated substantial military, economic and political resources to imposing a settlement in their interest.

Another belief is that a military struggle will unite the nation against the British. What actually happened was that Irish capital united with the British to reject any democratic solution, shore up partition and reinforce a new 26 county nationalism.

In fact all the recent history of republicanism has been permeated with a narrow legalism. By claiming to be the IRA the new group is claiming to be the legitimate army of Ireland, entitled to wage war. This claim is in turn based on the democratic mandate of the first Dial, a vote negated by the British decision to partition the island.

In the minds of republican militarists the votes of the dead trump those of the living. That's not the case. Politics is about relations between people, not about empty legal formulae. You don't win votes once. You have to win them over and over again.

Many workers believe that the current settlement will eventually lead to a peaceful and just society. Others feel that there is no alternative.

I believe all the old colonial, sectarian and class mechanisms are being re-established, but I can only make this case if I organise with others and if I use the opportunities available to put forward an alternative. That's what I am doing by standing in the election and what I will continue to do when the election has come and gone.