On a Day of Peace in Belfast, Faiths Join to Cheer Clinton

On a Day of Peace in Belfast, Faiths Join to Cheer Clinton
By R. W. APPLE JR.

OTHER HEADLINES

Half-Million Cadillacs Recalled in Federal Pollution Settlement: $11 Million Fine on Charges of Evading Controls

Pataki Asserts Medicaid Rule Won't Change

Dole Backs Plan to Send U.S. Force on Bosnia Mission: A Big Lift for President: Senate Majority Leader Says He Is Drafting Resolution -- Step 'Wasn't Easy'

In a Shift, U.S. Grants Asylum for Mexicans

Rough-Edged Russian Liberal Rides High

Bosnia Town Prepares for G.I.'s And Switch From War to Peace

Belfast, Northern Ireland, Nov. 30 -- President Clinton ranged across a remarkably transformed Northern Ireland today, promising the once bitterly hostile Catholic and Protestant communities that if they persevered in their search for peace, 'the United States of America will proudly stand with you.'

Tens of thousands turned out to cheer Mr. Clinton, the first American President to visit Ulster, where 13 American presidents, from Andrew Jackson to Mr. Clinton himself, can trace their roots.

'There will always be those,' the President said in his big speech of the day at the Mackie International textile-machinery plant in gritty West Belfast, 'who define the worth of their lives not by who they are, but by who they aren't, not by what they're for but by what they are against. They will never escape the dead-end street of violence.

'But you, the vast majority, Protestant and Catholic alike, must not allow the ship of peace to sink on the rocks of old habits and hard grudges.'

In the revived center of Belfast, defaced until recently by miles of barbed wire and hundreds of concrete-filled barrels that formed an awful monument to sectarian savagery, Mr. Clinton switched on the lights of a 45-foot-tall Christmas tree that he had brought from Nashville, Tenn., Belfast's twin city.

In the Falls Road and the Shankill Road, whose names became synonyms for murder and mayhem, he hopped from his limousine to chat with onlookers, shake hands and buy apples and oranges. Among those he greeted in the Falls Road and again tonight at a reception at Queens University was Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.

And in Londonderry, where the 'troubles' first flamed out of control in the 1960's, he inaugurated a new chair in Peace Studies at the University of Ulster. The chair is named for the late Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. of Massachusetts, who worked in the 1970's and 80's to halt the collection of American money for weapons here. A blur of tiny American flags and shouts of 'We want Bill!' greeted him outside the Guildhall in the old walled city.

It was Mr. Clinton's decision to grant a visa to Mr. Adams last year that gave the peace process a needed jolt of energy. From that time forward, the President has been more deeply involved than any of his predecessors in the intractable problems of this island, an involvement that caused him to cast aside the fears of other Presidents that a trip here might fray relations with the British.

Expressing amazement at the changes that have taken place, Mr. Clinton said that crossing the border with the Republic of Ireland to the south, once an ordeal of search and delay, 'now is as easy as crossing a speed bump.'

John Hume, a Catholic moderate widely revered for his reconciliation efforts, said the President's visit made this 'the most historic day ever' for Ulster. He lavished praise on Mr. Clinton for his aid to economic development in Ulster and expressed thanks that 'peace in our land has been central to his policy since the day he took office.'

Ann Hanna, a Belfast Protestant who heard the President more than once today, said: 'I didn't think his presence would do much good, but he was absolutely first class, and after listening to him, I think he will help people come together.'

One American President in four traced his roots to Ulster; only England nurtured the families of more. But Mr. Clinton was the first sitting President to set foot in Northern Ireland when he landed this morning after a brief flight from London.

The Ulster leadership hailed his visit as a sign that the truce between the warring factions and the all-party talks that are scheduled for February signaled the approach of an era of peace and prosperity for this 5,267-square-mile enclave of British territory at the northeastern corner of Ireland.

Peace has so far brought modest economic benefits to Northern Ireland. In the last two weeks, 14 companies have announced $1.25 billion in new projects, and both the British Government and the European Union supply major subsidies.

But the overall unemployment rate is 11.5 percent, and in some neighborhoods it reaches 50 percent. The Union Jack and the Irish tricolor still fly in mute combat as symbols of the conflicting sympathies of various neighborhoods. There were police riflemen keeping watch today on the roof of the Mackie plant.

But fruits and vegetables, racks of clothing and other goods now spill onto once-desolate sidewalks in Belfast shopping streets, British Army patrols have all but disappeared and the checkpoints that blocked roads leading from the airport and the Catholic south have been dismantled.

The often-bombed Europa Hotel, where Mr. Clinton stayed tonight, has been refurbished, and the old Crown pub, celebrated by the poet John Betjeman as 'the many-colored cavern,' is crowded once more.

A new convention center for Belfast, a new Hilton hotel and a new concert hall are under construction on a large site near the River Lagan.

At the hangar-like Mackie plant, jammed with workers in coveralls, supervisors in long white coats and managers in business suits, Mr. Clinton took part in a kind of pageant celebrating the gains in Northern Ireland since the I.R.A. cease-fire on Aug. 31, 1994. The factory is considered a showplace for efforts to end widespread employment discrimination. It sits astride the line dividing Catholic from Protestant neighborhoods.

The company's chairman, Patrick R. Dougan, described it as a place 'where men and women of all traditions have come together to work for prosperity, and through prosperity, for peace.' A Catholic, he was followed by Ronnie Lewis, the senior shop steward for the Transport and General Workers' Union, a Protestant who seconded his call for sectarian cooperation in the search for lasting peace.

Then a 10-year-old Protestant boy, David Sterrett, and an 8-year-old Catholic girl, Catherine Hamill, jointly introduced the President, holding hands. David commented that peace 'means I can play in the park without worrying about getting shot.' Catherine said quietly that 'my first daddy died in the troubles.'

A big delegation of important Irish-Americans had been flown to Belfast from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Wednesday. Among those on hand were Senators Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Connie Mack, Republican of Florida; the new president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., John Sweeney, and the authors Pat Conroy and William Kennedy.

In his speech, Mr. Clinton pressed all parties for rapid progress in the coming peace talks, asserting that 'engaging in honest dialogue is not an act of surrender, it is an act of strength and common sense.' He told them, 'You must stand firm against terror.'

Mr. Clinton also replied, in barely veiled terms, to those in Britain who have suggested that by involving the United States in the peace effort he was meddling in Britain's internal affairs.

Noting that he himself was of Ulster Scots stock as well as Irish stock, the President made this blunt argument:

'Because our greatness flows from the wealth of our diversity as well as the strength of the ideals we share in common, we feel bound to support others around the would who seek to bridge their own divides. This is an important part of our country's mission on the eve of the 21st century, because we know that the chain of peace that protects us grows stronger with every new link that is forged.'

Only twice did he hear anything but an enthusiastic response. When he said that 'those who do show the courage to break with the past are entitled to their stake in the future,' which his audience took to mean that Mr. Adams and Sinn Fein must be rewarded, a 40-ish man in a blue suit in a back row said, 'Never!' The same heckler said the same thing at another, similar point in the speech.

He was later identified as Cedric Wilson, a former city councilman in East Belfast, representing the radically anti-Catholic Democratic Unionist Party of the Rev. Ian Paisley. He regularly stages one-man demonstrations in this area.

Back to the top of this page.
Back to today's page.
Go to another day.
Front Page Image Provided by UMI

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Children's Privacy Notice