29 Oct. - 4 Nov. 1998
Issue No.401
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 29 Oct. - 4 Nov. 1998 Issue No.401 |
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Nobel prizes, for all their good intentions, have a tendency to show the fickle and flawed nature of humanity. The prizes were an attempt at self-exculpation by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. Yet, despite the annual Nobel ceremony, his invention has continued to kill and maim countless millions. Henry Kissinger was rewarded in 1973 for his efforts to bring "peace" to Vietnam, but was subsequently unmasked as an arch-exponent of cynicism and secrecy in foreign policy. Last year's Nobel prize for economics was awarded to two economists who promoted hedge funds as a fast way to make millions. This year they stand accused of ruining the fragile global economic balance. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to John Hume and David Trimble is a tribute to their success in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement. But a lasting peace for Northern Ireland is still far from assured. The award symbolically reconciles two politicians immured in their communities' traditions. Hume came to prominence in the 1970s as a civil rights activist in his native Derry, fighting anti-Catholic discrimination in jobs, housing and local government. As leader of the SDLP, he steered non-violent nationalism towards the difficult path of dialogue with both Sinn Fein/IRA and the Unionists. David Trimble has followed a similar path to dialogue. Of a classic middle-class Protestant background, Trimble entered politics as a member of the hard-line Vanguard Party and an activist during the Loyalist strike of 1974, which destroyed the first power-sharing executive. It was Trimble's role in pushing the Orange march down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown in 1995 that ensured his accession to the leadership of the Official Unionists. However, Trimble has since gone on to engage in dialogue, first with Hume, then finally with Gerry Adams. Reactions to the award reveal the interests at stake in Northern Ireland today. Some Nationalists baulked at the inclusion of David Trimble. They cannot forget the image of him dancing down the Garvaghy Road, hand in hand with the hard-line Reverend Ian Paisley. A former civil rights campaigner, Eamon McCann, declared that Trimble receiving the Nobel Peace Prize was "a bit like a man winning the lottery without buying a ticket." On the other hand, Sinn Fein have been serene about their exclusion from the award. The announcement coincided with Adams' 50th birthday, which he celebrated in New York, in a hall that was reputedly once part of the property portfolio of gangster Al Capone. Adams could bask in the glow of a warm message from Bill Clinton and the adoration of Irish Americans sporting T-shirts with the words: "Ireland will be heaven when the Brits go to hell." Sinn Fein will be hoping that the award will lock Trimble into further compromises. As first minister of the Northern Irish assembly, he is still refusing to set up an executive until the IRA start decommissioning weapons. The deadline for the creation of cross-border bodies is 31 October and this too is being held up by the decommissioning question. Any recalcitrance on the part of Trimble can now be exploited as evidence of a "betrayal" of the reconciliation that the prize symbolised. It is for this reason that the prize worries Unionists. Many consider Hume to be pursuing a hidden agenda for a united Ireland. They also believe that Trimble has moved too close to the leader of moderate Nationalism. After all, Trimble was elected leader on the basis of his strong defence of Orange identity. He also declared in 1996 that he would not negotiate with Adams until there was IRA decommissioning. At this weekend's party conference, there was a deliberate absence in reference made to the Nobel prize award. According to one senior source, "this party's not ready to praise Nationalists". Indeed, one Unionist delegate compared any bargain with the Nationalists to "Hitler being invited into a synagogue." Trimble announced that this Saturday's deadline was being pushed back to allow Republican leaders to make progress on disarming the IRA. Nevertheless, Trimble is aware of hardening attitudes among his own party members, who may be tempted to replace him with the young MP Jeffrey Donaldson. On learning of the award, the normally articulate Trimble declared, after a long pause, that there was a "bit of prematurity about it." That is an accurate assessment. The exclusion of Adams is also effectively a recognition that the war is not yet "over." In the Loyalist Shankhill Road in Belfast the new joke is: 'What's the difference between the Spice Girls and the IRA? Gerry (or Geri) really has left the Spice Girls'. The recent fatal "punishment shooting" of a Belfast man by the IRA reminded Northern Ireland of the continuing potential for war. As the clock ticks, big stumbling blocks remain for the peace process which John Hume initiated. |