As reported last week on Breaking the Silence, the British-Irish Agreement that was signed just over a week ago does little to bring about real peace in the North of Ireland.

The vehicles for economic and cultural oppression still exist, and while British troop withdrawals from the troubled colony may begin in the near future, the 6 Counties in the North will remain firmly within the United Kingdom, the Union remains as a corrupt and powerful influence over the Northern political scene, and pulls the Republic of Ireland into a new Commonwealth.

At face value, the document brings many good things -- human rights and civil liberties are promised to be given keen consideration, but in the Six Counties, which sees political activists regularly arrested and held without charges for days and months (as the recent Roisin McAliskey case highlights), which sees such activists tortured in United Nations/Amnesty International-condemned interrogation centers, if human rights and civil liberties were priorities before, it shouldn't take a peace deal to bring about substantial and lasting changes in the criminal and judiciary systems in the North of Ireland.

Also, the document insists that cultural differences will be respected, and that every effort will be made to protect and preserve cultures of both sides. In a country which saw the Irish language, the Irish flag, and the Catholic religion banned, this is indeed an important and critical recognition. However, it shouldn't take a peace agreement to make this happen.

If this recognition goes both ways, then what protection do nationalist communities have when the bigoted and fascist Orange Order and Apprentice Boys, the two largest Protestant groups, insist on having their culture tolerated and force their triumphalist marches down the streets in nationalist neighborhoods?

In recent years, these marches have sparked much protest and riots, given the very nature of the marches, which are often equated to white racist groups marching in downtown Harlem. Again, the divides that existed before this peace agreement was signed will continue to exist.

For Irish republicans, this settlement will signal total and abject defeat. Sinn Fein, which participated in the talks and is expected to sign on to the agreement in the next two weeks, will be accepting the Northern Irish state, something it always rejected. It will also be accepting an internal settlement, by participating in a Northern Assembly.

As well, when Sinn Fein proclaimed itself a democratic party, subject to the mandate of the electorate, it was a noble thing to be sure, but the democracies of the United Kingdom and Ireland are capitalist democracies, and the working class of both countries do not see their interests served by political participation in such democracies.

Participants in the Assembly must completely sever all ties to the armed struggle -- any return to violence will make parties associated with armed groups ineligible for continued participation in the Assembly, and while this is good and fine in normal situations, for groups that have fought for years under the banner of national liberation and creation of a socialist state, talk of following the "democratic processes" rings of closeted surrender. Ireland will not be united, and the British occupation will be maintained, and Sinn Fein will participate in a system it had formerly rejected.

There are two other substantive issues in the Agreement -- police reforms and prisoner releases.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary is widely distrusted in nationalist communities, and for years, republicans and nationalists alike have called for the RUC to be abolished, given its oppressive and corrupt nature. However, Prime Minister Tony Blair has assured Unionists and the RUC that it will not be scrapped, and that any changes, if they do take place, will be minor. Again, the vehicle for oppression remains intact.

Prisoner releases, long a rallying point for republican groups, is also a point of contention, because the prisoners remain hostages to the process. Under the release plan, over the course of two years, prisoners convicted of scheduled (or political) offenses will be released, on a case-by-case basis. The ominous caveat is that while prisoners are warned that re-entry into their former paramilitary groups may lead to their re-arrest, they are also warned that if their groups resume their military campaigns, they may be subject to re-arrest, whether or not they participate.

For the moderates, for the capitalists, for the apolitical and the non-aligned, this Agreement is a fantastic thing -- it offers more of the status quo, it offers stability, it pays lip service to human rights and gives full democratic participation to groups that were marginalized.

However, for republicans and for socialists, it offers nothing. Ireland is still divided, the British occupation continues, and as long as those conditions exist, the working class of Ireland will not be free.

Whether or not Sinn Fein signs on to the agreement, it will pass. The Republic of Ireland will drop its constitutional claim to the North, the Union will be strengthened, and the working class on both sides of the political divide in the North will be divided.

These issues are why the Irish Republican Socialist Party is opposed to the Agreement, and why the fight for national liberation will continue.

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