Long march to equality
By Mary Nelis
It is ten years since Oliver Kearney, founder member of the Fair
Employment Trust, a body set up to investigate fair employment
practices in the north, published a pamphlet entitled ``A Long
Road To March''.
The pamphlet explained why the issue of anti-Catholic
discrimination lay at the very roots of the conflict, a conflict
which could only be resolved by an honest and courageous
examination of the structural inequalities in the six counties.
``A Long Road To March'' sought to promote moral and non-violent
solutions to this conflict and was promoted in the US by the
human rights group, American Protestants for Truth About Ireland.
Both Oliver Kearney and APTI were trailblazers in the campaign to
influence the British and Irish governments to address the
economic apartheid in partitioned Ireland.
Ten years on and as a direct result of the efforts by Oliver
Kearney and the late Fr Brian Brady, the McBride Principles of
positive action to address anti-Catholic discrimination, have now
become enshrined in US Federal Law. The Principles had already
been adopted in sixteen States and thirty cities.
The long road to equality, for northern nationalists, began life
in the US as a result of efforts by Fr Sean McManus and the Irish
National Caucus to block a US Defence Department contract to
Shorts in Belfast. Shorts' appalling record of anti-Catholic
employment practices was documented in detail by Fr Brady. As a
result, Fr McManus tried to persuade the US government not to
give the contract. His efforts failed principally because John
Hume argued that even if discrimination was rampant in Shorts,
jobs had to be preserved.
A number of people, including Oliver Kearney, Fr Brady, Dr John
Robb and Inez McCormack were activated to address the question of
structural discrimination by instituting fair employment
practices. The late Dr Sean McBride, worthy holder of the Nobel
Peace Prize, agreed to give his name to the Principles and so the
McBride Principles became the benchmark for equality.
Those who became actively involved in the promotion of these
modest principles, would themselves become the targets of a
massive counter offensive by the British government, who sought
to convince the world that the broader band of Orange/Unionist
politicians and civil servants in control of the six county state
had undergone a miraculous conversion since Direct Rule, and that
Westminster reforms would resolve any imbalance resulting from
Stormont mismanagement. The Fair Employment Agency became a
cosmetic creation in the campaign against the McBride Principles.
Oliver Kearney, the most effective voice of McBride in the US,
returned from giving testimony in California to find that he had
been dismissed from his job. Others would suffer more serious
consequences. John Davey, who attended an equality meeting in
Belfast, was later assassinated by loyalist gunmen.
The British opposition to the McBride Principles is estimated to
have cost well over £20m. The money was spent in sending
specially selected teams of ``performing poodles'' from the
political, education, business and civil service professions in
the north to the US. They were provided with first class
accomodation and cocktail briefings, all aimed at undermining the
effectiveness of the McBride campaign and a remarkable Irish
American lobby of support.
The British denounced the campaign as IRA-inspired, unlawful and
as promoting reverse discrimination. John Hume became active
against the McBride Principles for this reason. Despite all their
efforts at demonising the issue, the British government in 1988
were forced to respond. The much acclaimed White Paper, was
published. Dr Christopher McCrudden of Oxford University stated
``that the inadequacies of previous government legislation, the
adverse reaction of employers and unionist politicians, all serve
to demonstrate the need for external pressure to continue''.
Ten years later, and with an Assembly in place, equality and fair
employment is still on the agenda. Members of the Assembly last
week attended a seminar on equality, as laid out in the Good
Friday Agreement. The ten male speakers included Dr McCrudden,
who was attacked by unionist Assembly members for his comments on
the issue.
The attitude of those unionists participating at the seminar was
an echo of their party leader. At the recent UUP conference
Trimble stated that ``after more than a quarter of a century out
of power, we are now on the verge of taking power back into our
own hands'' Power, he said, ``must be shared with others but the
north's problems will now be tackled predominantly by unionists''.
It is six months since the people voted for change and a new
beginning. Equality is at the heart of the Agreement. It is
obvious now that the unionists have no intention of allowing
Irish nationalists to be treated equally for that in effect would
put their six county state out of business. It is now up to the
British and Irish governments to protect the Agreement which they
put into place and which 71% of the people supported. They should
note that while Trimble pleads the case of the LVF at
Westminster, while using decommissioning as an obstacle to
peaceful progress, Catholics are once again ``getting it in the
neck''.
The long road to march still has miles to go.
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