Mrs. Maire Drumm, recently-elected Joint President of the Provisional Sinn Fein, was in London on June 4th to address a rally in support of Republican prisoners on hunger strike in Northern Ireland jails. A *Socialist Woman reporter spoke to her. Maire became known to supporters of the Irish struggle in Britain when she led the intervention by Republican women of Andersonstown, Belfast, against the Stormont-financed "Women Together" movement. Maire has herself served a term in a British jail in Northern Ireland for speaking against the role of British imperialism in Ireland.*
The interview was carried out before the announcement of the Provisionals' cease-fire in the North. At the time of going to press (24th June), the significance of the cease-fire is not clear. If the British have agreed to the demands of the Provos in secret, then we could not of course be opposed in principle to a negotiated settlement which got the British out of Ireland. However it must be noted that in the past, it has usually been the British who gain from such cease-fires. In the war against the British in the early 1920s, the British used the cease-fire to produce a desire for peace at any price in the Irish fighters, and waited while the irregular forces of the IRA demobilised. Then, the regular British Army remaining intact, the British government was in a position to issue ultimatums. Whether this will occur this time is unclear as yet. What we must hope is that the fighting spirit shown to exist by this interview will not be frittered away by lack of political understanding of what British imperialism's real nature and aims are.
*–The Woman Together movement has been clearly exposed as being run and backed from outside, by people with no interests in common with the people of Andersonstown. People in Britain are less clear however on the nature of the present peace movement. Can you say what it represents and who is backing it?*
Maire Drumm: This movement is being promoted by the Bishops, by big business (e.g. such people as Tom Conarty who's on the Whitelaw Commission) and by the Social Democratic and Labour Party. It is nothing but the remnants of the Women Together movement. The people behind it have been onlookers in the struggle. They have never given support to the struggle, so they cannot now withdraw it. The women are completely behind the IRA.
*–Do you feel that the Whitelaw initiative offers you anything, and should be given a chance?*
Whitelaw has offered us nothing. In spite of Direct Rule, we still have the Special Powers Act, though this does not operate in Britain. They have substituted detention orders for internment. Little has changed.
*–Can you tell us something about the role of women in the Provisional Republican movement?*
The women in the Provisional movement take a full part in the struggle. Women have taken the lead in protecting their communities, with the men interned or on the run. They organised the "hen" patrols which follow the British Army "duck" patrols* and give warning by banging dustbin lids when the Army is coming into an area. There are many Provisional Republican women in jail now on political charges and some of them are on hunger strike.
*–I believe your husband is now in prison on a political charge?*
He is serving his third term, and has done 13 years altogether. There are many women in Northern Ireland who are suffering, emotionally and financially, from having their husbands in prison.
*–Do the women of Belfast want peace?*
The people in the peace movement say that 95% of the women want peace. They are wrong. 100% of the women want peace. But it is not peace on any terms–we want peace with justice. The present peace movement is only a varnish on the surface–there is a boiling pot underneath. We want all the internees released, and amnesty for all Republican prisoners and men on the run. We want a withdrawal of all British troops to their barracks, pending their complete withdrawal from Ireland. There cannot be peace except on these terms.
*–Are you confident that the Irish people will win their freedom this time?*
We have to win it this time. There has been too much bloodshed and too many people in jail. We are determined to win this time.
∗"Duck" patrols is the name given to the British Army patrols in armoured cars in the Catholic areas of the Six Counties.