Politics here are grossly disaffected by unkept deadlines.
Dates which have come and gone without I.R.A. apology, but
with the invariable excuse that the blame for its immobility
is on those who have moved enough to please them. Their nationalist-republican
take all-give nothing makes political progress uncertain,
perhaps illusory. So that we entered another year in hope
and despair. There are signs of a growing prosperity in industrial,
commercial and recreational opportunities and facilities.
Everywhere there is evidence of what happens when a country
is at peace, or as in our case with a limited peace. But there,
too, is continuing lawlessness and horrific violence, often
from terrorists, but in a society too well acquainted with
stabbings, shooting and beatings in soured social and domestic
relationships. The picture is of a beautiful landscape with
dark and ominous clouds hovering around. Whatever the future
holds in the long term the prospects at the beginning of 2001
were good and bad at once. What it will be is dependent on
measures taken, and promises kept, by those who control our
destinies as citizens here. Amidst the uncertainties is the
conviction that unless there is real and recognisable movement
on decommissioning by the paramilitaries the continuance of
the Belfast Agreement, and the Assembly it spawned, is extremely
unlikely. Unionists cannot be expected to continue in government
with those who talk peace while retaining the weapons of war.
Sinn Fein/I.R.A. by refusing to fulfil their accepted obligations
are not eligible for sharing in government. The Agreement
was to be with politicians who used words and not weapons
to plead their causes and serve their people. We have been
kept waiting too long for the evidence that the threat of
a return to violence has been removed. The continuance of
terrorism by "continuing" terrorists means that
we have to face up to an everyday violence that creates havoc
in parts of the province and a criminality which cripples
society with it mafia-like racketeering. We may demand from
the police and the judiciary attitudes and action which will
remove these cancers to allow us to enjoy our lives free from
fear of brutal attacks on person and property. But until the
people determine to stamp out the lawlessness by engaging
themselves in the resistance to criminality, and the pursuit
of criminals, the problem will remain with its dire consequences
for all of us. In the New Year statements from church leaders
there were to be expected sentiments which emphasised our
duties to and responsibilites for our neighbours; pleas for
peaceful coexistence in a society divided against itself and
with little evidence of a desire to change attitudes and relationships.
To recognise the realities here and their effects on us should
be a spur to do more to obtain for all of us that good way
of living together, peacefully, happily and to mutual advantage.
We may add that an Orangeman is to be the good citizen whose
conduct is beyond reproach and his clear intention to obtain
what is just, fair and equal, honest and honourable for himself,
his family and everybody else. The attitude is enshrined in
the often quoted, "Civil and religious liberty for all:
special privileges for none".
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