ireland, irish, ulster, ireland, irish, ulster, Sinn Féin, Irish America

(Colin Harvey, Sunday Journal)

A new coalition government, a Presidential election that includes the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, and the collapse of previously dominant parties on this island. It all makes for intriguing politics. Combine this with talk of constitutional reform and a significant moment has arrived; just in time to inform reflections on a decade of commemoration.

The Presidential election will ensure the recent past in the North is not neglected, and this is as it should be. The gap between the far and the near will blur. For good reason the economic crisis can promote a mood of desperation and despair. It is prone also to encourage grand visions of radical rupture and fresh starts. In the conversations to follow two broad themes may emerge: remembering and renewal. On both there is a man from Derry who should not be neglected. Yes, John Hume. His determined insistence on people over territory remains a pressing Irish constitutional imperative. His argument won.

The entry of Martin McGuinness into the Irish Presidential election will see boundaries blurred in several senses, the attempt to conjoin what time has separated. In the confusion that will come one thing is plain. The Northern peace process demonstrates the destructive power of militarism to any serious national conversation between the people of this island. The warm embrace of politics by almost all strands of Northern nationalism and republicanism is evidence of the success of the Irish constitutional tradition. That towering figure of integrity from Derry, John Hume, presides over it all.

Remembering, in its painful detail and precision, can be undertaken in the knowledge of that ultimate vindication of the constitutional tradition on our island. We must know and recall a simple truth: that many silences were forcibly imposed. The brutal logic of political life must not mask the horror and terror of aspects of our past or the diversity of perspectives among victims and survivors. The story rarely settles, some will seek to re-imagine and push pragmatically convenient tall-tales, others will even revive perceived unfinished business. Whatever else we disagree on, there is a duty on us all to persist in the steady working through of our constitutional tradition. We should not be afraid to say it: constitutional politics won.

What of renewal? We are now in a moment of profound crisis and potential democratic renewal. One practical expression is the proposal for a constitutional convention. Again, the Hume legacy of civil rights, with its focus on people, cries out. Ireland has a solid constitutional base on which to advance. Might we find ways to capture the 'New Ireland' in enhanced constitutional terms? Could we achieve an Ireland that is a global leader on human rights and equality through express national recognition? By displaying a genuine capacity for reinvention the Irish constitutional tradition might further underline its political strength.

Whatever the outcome of all the politics, a man from Derry embodies the yearning for a 'New Ireland'. He stood for the humane values of women and men throughout this island. He may never be President of Ireland, but the spirit will be there in our constitutional conversations. Let's hope we do not forget that other man from Derry. The one who presides over the shared work of achieving a 'New Ireland'.

Colin Harvey is an academic who now lives and works in Belfast.

This article appeared in the October 2, 2011 edition of the Sunday Journal.

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