The Other View

Work for us and for
our children

by Brendan Hughes

Sometimes people like to ask the question 'what is to be done'? But before that question can even be answered we need to ask 'what have we done'? For eighty years we as republicans stated that the six county state could not work. That it was artificial having been formed and based ever since on sectarian division.
Ireland was invaded by the British and not surprisingly Irish men and women resisted that incursion into our country. The twenty-six counties got their 'freedom' and we in the North were left on our own. We simply had to fend for ourselves. We faced the B-Specials, the RUC and later the British Army all telling us what to do. They told us by force of arms.
In case we ever forgot that Stormont was the boss the 'Catholics need not apply' notices served to remind us. Many, younger than myself, will have no memory of this. But it still burns fiercely in my mind. Is it any wonder? I witnessed my father, proud and determined, having to do menial work to provide for his children - all because Catholics could not apply. The better paying jobs were only for those from the Protestant community.

Has the six county state really changed all that much? Has the Good Friday Agreement brought Protestants and Catholics any closer together? Or has it only served to make us more suspicious of each other? It might bring the builders, crooked bosses and our political masters closer but what has it delivered to us on the ground? I suppose there are always those who will tell us that half a loaf is better than no loaf at all. That would be all very true if the working people get a proper share of that half a loaf rather than the stale breadcrumbs we get at present.

To me the British divided this country and continue to keep it divided by their present policies. Yet, after what I have seen over the years a united thirty-two county Ireland no longer has the same appeal to me. After all, would it get rid of the bosses? No matter how many peoples' lives we took to secure freedom the bosses are still around screwing people. What was it all for?

I would love to see the people of the Shankill and Falls come together and tell the rich and the powerful 'F U - we want work and to be properly paid for it.' Catholics and Protestants need to have control over their destiny rather than allowing political wafflers at Stormont, Leinster House or Westminster control it for us.

As a republican living in nationalist West Belfast I realise that the Dublin Government does not want me or people like me. Sad but true. With or without them the poorest people in the North have so much in common. We are working class so let us WORK to stop the bullies, bigots, rogue builders, extortionist landlords and career politicians from having their way at our expense.
My father felt his kids deserved better. He didn't slave for himself. He often knelt down to clean the floor but he was never on his knees. We must do likewise for our kids. Our past is not their future.

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