Dealing with the devil
By Joe Horgan
Why can’t Ireland be true to Ireland? A country following its own nature is surely more at peace with itself. Ireland behaving in a way that reflects the experience of being Irish and what the story of Ireland is. Is that possible?
This is a small country that has for most of its history lived in the heavy shadow of a larger neighbour. It experienced the brunt of imperialism when imperialism was young, and it was there at the beginning of the end of imperialism too.
Whatever revisionism of Irish history goes on, some constants remain. This country struggled and fought a bloody conflict in order to come in to being. It is said that the Irish fight for independence has been an inspiration for other oppressed peoples around the world.
I wonder what inspiration the oppressed peoples of Burma and North Korea will take from the Irish Government’s announcement that it has in recent months set up diplomatic relations with both countries? Perhaps at first glance it looks like the trivia of bureaucratic foreign affairs, a civil service link with two obscure countries. Perhaps it is. After all, neither country will actually have an Irish ambassador resident in their state.
But the governing states of North Korea and Burma are two of the most reviled regimes in the world. They are charged with the most appalling abuses of their citizens. Between them they are accused of terrible murders, tortures and human rights violations. They are the kind of horrific dictatorships that the war on terror is supposedly aiming to destroy. Indeed, North Korea was named in President Bush’s Axis of Evil and for a while looked as if it could become the new enemy if the business in Iraq hadn’t got so messy and there wasn’t a Presidential election looming.
So just what murky business is the Irish Government getting involved in by establishing diplomatic links with these pariahs of international politics? According to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, it is all tied up with Ireland’s presidency of the European Union and is a way of bringing more pressure to bear in order to influence the behaviour of these vile regimes. He also claims that, in the case of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the democratic opposition who has been under one or another form of arrest for years, stated that she would welcome such a move on the part of Ireland.
Burma Action Ireland, a pressure group with close links to Burmese democracy activists, has meanwhile spoken of being “surprised and dismayed” at the action of the Irish Government. They have said that they were unaware of these plans, despite having regular meetings with the Department of Foreign Affairs. So what is Ireland doing?
Margaret Thatcher opposed the use of sanctions against apartheid South Africa, despite world opinion being against her, claiming that working within the state would be more beneficial — with one eye, of course, on selling a few goods and doing a bit of business.
In the growth of the arms industry under its rule the present government has also shown that it’s not above making a few bob under dubious circumstances. We can trust, I suppose, that Mr Cowen is right and that these diplomatic ties, that are traditionally seen as anointing a regime with credibility and international recognition, are part of a wider picture of political manoeuvring. We should also take his word for it that Aung San Suu Kyi is supportive of his moves. I sincerely hope she is.
I hope too that any lingering doubts about Irish politicians and civil servants merely being keen to enjoy their day on the big stage and determined to get down and dirty in the murky world of international politics are misjudged.
We can trust that a government where the Justice Minister has just described Sinn Féin as nauseous finds the murderers and violators of foreign regimes equally as unpalatable. The people of Burma and North Korea want peace and freedom as much as the people of Derry and Belfast. We should trust that the question posed by one Irish newspaper recently — Why are we cosying up to these dictatorships? — is one that Mr Cowen will always be able to answer.
Okay, these are very far away places and these are perhaps not earth shattering events. Still, something lingers, some sense of regret. Why can’t Ireland reflect more on what made Ireland when it comes to its behaviour on the international stage?
We are a small country with a fairly insignificant ability to wield power, but the small amount of power we do have could surely be used in a way that is true to who we are. Ireland’s long-held neutrality has brought it into some fairly murky waters in the past but at least there was the impression of a young state determined to find its own way, to not lose its independence in the wake of more powerful partners.
What I wonder do other states think of Ireland now? Do they see us in thrall to economic masters and dragging the remnants of an indigenous foreign policy along after us? Do they see us as ever willing to run with the big boys as if Ireland, still so convinced of its inherent uselessness, cannot even believe the big boys will let us hang out with them?
What do the oppressed peoples who once looked up to our example think now? I hope Mr Cowen can truly say we are still an example to them. I really do.
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