Irish Activist Expresses His Optimism for Peace

The recently signed Irish peace treaty has the potential to correct human rights abuses in Northern Ireland, Peace Watch Ireland activist Sean Cahill told an audience of about 15 at the Barker Center for the Humanities last night.

British and Irish leaders signed the treaty April 10, creating a new government for Northern Ireland which will involve greater coordination between Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Previously, Britain has assumed sole control over the province, which consists of six of the original nine counties of Ulster.

Cahill identified the "super majority" provisions, which require both Catholic and Protestant politicians in a new bipartisan assembly to approve legislation, as the treaty's most important innovation. Both sides, he said, received part of what they wanted in the accord, which is intended to end the violence over British rule in Northern Ireland.

Also promising, Cahill said, is the legislative human-rights screen, which will guard against infringements of any future bill of rights.

But Cahill hesitated to endorse the treaty entirely. He was concerned, he said, that the treaty contains no real guarantee that "there will be an end to the systematic and widespread abuses." In addition, he said, the treaty fails to protect Irish language use in official life.

Northern Ireland's conflict, Cahill said, is not fundamentally a religious controversy.

"It is resistance against oppression and discrimination," he said.

In terms of human rights Cahill pointed to what he called historic oppression of the Catholic Irish majority by the Protestant minority and the British government. Specifically, he pointed to the Orange Order, a Protestant loyalist group which marches each Easter to commemorate along-ago victory over the Catholics, as a vigilante organization.

Audience members said they were aware of the violence and conflict in Northern Ireland, but were concerned that grassroots, movements in the area were not receiving due attention.

Cahill said mass movements form a vital part of the Nationalist, or anti-British, fight in Northern Ireland.

"There are a lot of grassroots movements," Cahill said. "The entire struggle is based on non-violent civil disobedience."

Boston-based Peace Watch Ireland, members of which have traveled to Northern Ireland to observe marches and protests, was founded in 1994 to promote awareness of the Irish conflict in the U.S. The group, which is nonsectarian, has held a conference on militarization and its effects on human rights in Ireland.

Education for Action co-sponsored Cahill's talk.