The battle begins!

Brian Campbell, editor of An Phoblacht/Republican News looks forward to a new phase in Irish history.

Now, after an incredible fifteen weeks in Irish history, the real battle begins. Or, rather, a different battle. Following the Good Friday Agreement, the Referendum and the Assembly elections, the focus of politics has shifted to new institutions.

For Sinn Fein, the task is that of any revolutionary party which enters the institutions of state. Can they use them to drive forward their revolutionary project? Or will they become serial compromisers, all the time forced to water down their demands?

Certainly, the two governments -- three if you include the US -- hope that the Agreement and the institutions which it has created will produce what any western government desires -- stability. They hope -- and big business hopes along with them -- that the problems in Ireland have been shelved for at least a generation. They hope they have a solution that will keep Ireland out of the headlines for the rest of their political lives. But how solid are those hopes? As with any grand scheme of conflict resolution, the Good Friday Agreement tried to draw a political line around conflicting forces but by doing so it has created an entirely new political reality which has within it a vibrant dynamic for change. Far from being a settlement, the Agreement heralds the possibility of constant change. For progressive forces, it is a target-rich environment.

The first of those targets must be the RUC. A new police service must be part of any new arrangements and that police service must be wholly different in ethos and composition, from the present RUC. With that deep-seated change, one of the pillars of the Orange state will crumble. When young people in Crossmaglen, Ballymurphy and the Bogside can countenance a career in policing, then you will know that the times are changing.

Similar changes must take place in those other bastions of the strong state -- the judiciary and the civil service. They too are facing massive reforms. Similarly in the world of employment, there is an urgent need to redress a situation in which nationalists are twice as likely to be unemployed.

How will all this happen? The answer is, with great difficulty. Every change, every single step forward will be an almighty battle to test the wit and resolve of any political revolutionary. This battle will be fought as much outside the new Assembly as within it. Indeed, those progressive forces in the Labour Party who support change will be every bit as much part of the battle as those campaigning in the Six Counties. Mo Mowlam, instead of concentrating on publicity stunts (such as Elton John concerts in Stormont), should be told in no uncertain terms that the only guarantee of lasting peace in Ireland is through the wholehearted implementation of the equality agenda.

A further battleground will be in the all-Ireland bodies, which Unionists have pledged to wreck, even though they represent economic and social reality. More and more there is a trend towards dealing with issues on an all-Ireland basis. The all-Ireland bodies must be expanded and must take in more areas. Again, these will be tough battle grounds. So, far from dispensing with Ireland for a generation, the three governments have injected exciting new life into its body politic. For everyone involved, the battle starts here.

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