Poverty and repression fuel Belfast protests

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Belfast Catholics dive for cover at funeral for slain IRA members. Loyalist gunman hurled grenades and opened fire, killing three and wounding over 60.

The following is an interview with photojournalists Danny Burke and Sean McKernan of Belfast, Northern Ireland. They are the creators of a non-partisan, community-based photo exhibit, "Belfast Exposed," now on tour in the United States. The exhibit was begun in 1983 to document the situation in Belfast through the eyes of its working people-Catholic and Protestant, nationalist and loyalist. The interview was conducted by Suzanne Forsyth on March 21, 1988.

Socialist Action: The images in your exhibit powerfully illustrate the economic and political oppression resulting from British rule. Can you describe the current living conditions in the North of Ireland?

Danny Burke: Belfast is a city in a state of war. That comes across very strongly in our exhibition. Basically, since British troops were put on the streets in nationalist areas of Belfast in 1969, the Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) has been fighting a war against the British. They and their supporters-and their support is quite considerable-are demanding that the British withdraw from Ireland and that a united Ireland be allowed to develop.

The British Army and the police are in a state of siege in nationalist areas. They only leave their barracks in armored cars, large numbers of soldiers and police. The police, for example, will not patrol on their own without the assistance of the British Army.

Photographs in the exhibition show British soldiers pointing guns at people, at their houses. It is reminiscent of scenes one might associate with a Central American country with a dictatorship and huge military presence on the streets. Effectively, nationalist areas are under martial law and have been for 20 years.

But other images come across as well. The underlying theme is of huge working-class areas of Belfast, with very high unemployment amongst the nationalist people. Statistically, if you are Catholic your chances [of unemployment] are twoand-one-half times greater than if you are Protestant.

Heavy industry, the aircraft factories, the shipyards, are all located in Protestant areas. Therefore, unemployment of Protestants is far less. Although, with the mounting economic crisis in Britain and worldwide, there is increasing unemployment among Protestants.

Women in struggle comes across as well. In the women's prison there are a lot of Republican political prisoners—who undergo things like strip searching. You see a lot of photographs of marches against strip searching. You see groups of women in demonstrations with arms linked to protect the men and to protect the children from attack by the army or police.

S.A.: You mentioned in a previous conversation that although the South of Ireland has its own government, it is still a country very much dominated by Britain economically. Can you comment on the effects this has had, especially on the youth of your country?

Sean McKernan: The biggest export from the South of Ireland is its young people. They are the symptom of this problem and they end up over here in America. One of the ironic things is that American multinationals come over to the South of Ireland, open up a factory, maybe get a 10 million or 20 million-pound grant from the South of Ireland government, and overnight they can decide to leave, putting the people they've employed for few years back on the dole.

So the South of Ireland government is left with a massive debt to the taxpayers; large, modern factories totally empty; and all the people back on the dole and leaving the country and going to places like America to find work.

Danny Burke: In the North and in Belfast where we live, you have this incredibly high level of unemployment in nationalist areas running to 85 percent. Even in loyalist areas, you have maybe 25 percent unemployment in working-class areas. There has been no attempt at all by the British to tackle unemployment in the six counties of Northern Ireland.

In nationalist areas, the young people have nothing to look forward to except a life on the dole or emigration. The continuing frustration of those young people is sowing the seeds of continued "troubles" and agitation.

And in the South, apart from the huge level of emigration of young people, there have been a lot of young people taking to A lifetime dedicated to a dream.

On the workers' side when things were good, and when the going got tough A willingness to swim against the stream.

To the shipyard and the the campus and the street She took a message workers understand That the wrongs oppression that workers Won't be put right workers' hand.

There were those who promised victory if workers were to take The opportunist's shortcut now and then Abrahams factory, and the daily face except by the streets, and' there are increasing demonstrations against the policies of the Southern government.

S.A.: There was a conference in Coalisland, Northern Ireland, on Feb. 7, 1988, which resulted in the formation of a 1968 commemoration committee that plans to carry out broad-based activities on the anniversary of the Irish civil-rights movement. What can you tell us about the committee's upcoming activities?

Danny Burke: I was at the conference in Coalisland, which was called by Bernadette [Devlin] McAliskey, who was a prominent leader of the civil-rights movement in 1968-69.

The conference was interesting because there was the general feeling that here they were in 1988, and certain demands of the civil-rights movement had been granted. But although people had marched on the streets for these issues in large numberspeacefully-they were battered off the streets by the police. Plastic bullets and tear gas were fired at them, and the leadership was jailed.

Basically, over 20 years, repression had increased and civil rights had diminished.

"Belfast Exposed" has been asked by the '68 Committee set up at the conference to do an exhibition of photographs which examines the history of the past 20 years, an important historical documentary.

There are going to be a number of seminars and lectures, and they are hoping to get a prominent leader of the Black civilrights movement of the '60s [in the United States] to come and give a lecture, and possibly some members of the ANC as well, and other civil-rights groups across the world. They may even have an international inquiry into the situation [in Northern Ireland].

There will be commemorative marches, demonstrations, and meetings-such as marches in commemoration of such events as the October the 5th march in Derry, of course, the major civil-rights demonstration in the North of Ireland that was attacked by the police. It's going to be a very interesting year.

Malcolm Dear editor:

I read with interest Michael Schreiber's review of the Oakland Ensemble Theatre's production, "The Meeting" [February 1988]. I am always pleased when reviewers provide interesting information to readers-background material they may not know. The knowledge of Malcolm X was illuminating. Thank you.

Victoria Kirby OET Public Relations Director Oakland, Calif.

Really shows Dear editor, I have recently moved. Please send the rest of my Socialist Action subscription to my new address. I also want to compliment you on the high quality work that goes into the paper. It really shows.

Kevin K.

San Jose, Calif.

Frank Graves, a founding member of the Socialist Workers Party and a former editor of The Militant died on March 22 in Los Angeles. He was 87. An article on his life will appear in next month's Socialist Action. / APRIL 1988 15