Left Republican Review, Sept/Oct 2000

Many thanks to the person who forwarded this to the Archive.

This edition of Left Republican Review is the second to join the Archive. As noted previously:

Left Republican Review was in independent journal which began publishing in 2000. It was edited by Eoin O’Broin.

The publication has a wide range of topics. It examines ‘A New Beginning to Policing’, has a piece on Sinn Féin’s ‘new anti-joyriding campaign’, examines ‘Community Restorative Justice’. There is a piece on ‘Irish Republican Economics’. The case of ‘The Castlerea Five’ is addressed along with calls for their immediate release. ‘The Equality Agenda’ is also examined.

On international matters ETA and the Basque Country are looked at as well as an article by Noam Chomsky on ‘After Camp David’. There’s also a review of books dealing with South Africa.

The editorial argues that:

…the British government are preparing the final stages of their Policing Bill before passing it through Westminster. The legislation, as explained by Gerry Kelly In this edition, not only falls far short of the recommendations made by Chris Patten, but fails completely in meeting republican and nationalist demands for a new beginning to policing, a demand underscored by the promise of the Good Friday Agreement.

And:

If the legislation goes ahead. both the British government and Irish unionists will be faced with the harsh reality that nationalist Ireland stands united in opposition to what in reality amounts to a repackaged RUC. The demand for radical change in the nature of policing cannot be eroded, and nationalists and republicans will not rest until our demands are met.

And:

A number of broader questions arise out of the failure of the political process to deliver on the question of policing, all of which need to be discussed. When will unionists acknowledge their role as protagonists in the conflict in Ireland? When will they move beyond their narrow propagandistic defence of the AUC and recognise the real hurt and suffering inflicted by that force on both nationalists and the community at large? When will the British government place the rights of people in general before the political demands of a small unionist and securocrat class intent on damaging the political process for their own narrow ends?

And the penultimate paragraph asks:

However, the most Important question for republicans at this juncture is to ask ourselves if our campaigns, our positions, our strategies and tactics were enough. Could we have fought better on this issue and secured a better outcome? To what extent is the Mandelson legislation a product of our own limitations and failures? The point of such a debate is not to explain away defeat, but to regroup and renew our commitment to real and meaningful change in the nature of policing, so that as we rebuild our campaign for the disbandment of the RUC we do so in full knowledge of both the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign up till now.

And concludes:

The question Is not if but when the RUC will be disbanded, and only the hard struggle of republicans and other progressive forces can make this happen. A open and frank discussion of these Issues can only strengthen our ability to achieve our demands.

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