Struggling to Make History

By Gerry Adams, John Stacks, Barry Hillenbrand

In Belfast a bomb has blown up a truck and the British army has sealed off much of the Catholic Falls Road area. So Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams arrived a bit late for his interview with TIME deputy managing editor John Stacks and London bureau chief Barry Hillenbrand. In discussion: the conditions for participation of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, in peace talks with the British.

Q. TIME: Over the past year, once bitter enemies in South Africa and the Middle East have made tremendous progress in working together. Why haven't you tried to seize the moment here with the British?

A. Adams: I don't believe that reflects a sensible notion because both of those complex situations ((in South Africa and the Middle East)) came into public prominence after years of private and presumably secret deliberations. We have deep-rooted conflict here, the legacy of some hundreds of years. The last year has seen a remarkable turnaround, but it's important that what we achieve in the end is lasting and has a solid foundation.

Q. TIME: But it looks as if Sinn Fein is unwilling to renounce violence as a precondition for talking.

A. Adams: We will talk now. Sinn Fein isn't the obstacle to talks. There needs to be dialogue without preconditions.

Q. TIME: You think the demand for a cessation of violence is a precondition?

A. Adams: I don't think it should be. They talked to us up until last November without preconditions. What they are doing is simply taking a negotiating stance. But the whole lesson of history is that you have to have dialogue. The presence of preconditions simply puts that day off.

Q. TIME: Do you mean you and your party will not say "We renounce violence" at this weekend's Sinn Fein conference or anytime down the road?

A. Adams: I don't remember Nelson Mandela renouncing violence or Arafat genuflecting. It's a two-way process to bring about a demilitarization, to get those involved in armed action to stop. No sane person wants to be engaged in violence. But to put preconditions on people prematurely only makes the situation more problematic. Sinn Fein doesn't advocate violence. We don't advocate armed struggle. We have suffered from the violence. I want to see an unarmed strategy. I want to see a situation where the I.R.A. ceases activities. But the people who are looking down their guns at us are saying, well, you can't talk to us unless you renounce violence. To me it's all meaningless, it's all platitudes.

There is nothing in my political life, or in fact in my other life, that gives me any reason to trust the British. I think every Republican wants peace. But they are not war weary. They don't want to just give up.

Q. TIME: Many believe you are committed to joining the peace process but you are having trouble convincing your colleagues in the movement.

A. Adams: No, not at all. There is no evidence at all of the perennial suggestion of a Republican split; there will be no Republican split. The difficulty is caused by the fact that until we kick-started this process there was no talk about a peace settlement. We had to bring the British government reluctantly around to the notion of looking for a new arrangement. We have to make sure we have a solid foundation; there are elements of the Downing Street Declaration, a joint peace plan presented by Prime Ministers John Major of Britain and Albert Reynolds of Ireland in December 1993, that are not a solid foundation.

Q. TIME: But something has begun that makes it impossible for you to turn back?

A. Adams: We are absolutely into a new phase. It might not quite be an irreversible thrust forward, but there is certainly a new situation. For all the parties involved there is a new attitude here.

Q. TIME: History is full of moments that have been missed.

A. Adams: Of course I could be wrong. We have made some mistakes, but generally speaking we have moved the situation from one where the political landscape was iced over. We were able to break the stagnation even though from my point of view it has been painfully slow. The delay has been created by the British failure to engage meaningfully.

Q. TIME: What compromises have you made?

A. Adams: The time for compromise is when we agree to the broad shape of the future. Our key contribution was getting this started. After the Downing Street Declaration, we persisted in asking for clarifications and accepted them even though they came through the press and the Dublin government. Despite all the prevarications, we have doggedly pushed forward.

Q. TIME: Yet on the international stage the burden of progress has been shifted to you.

A. Adams: I'm very conscious of that. I know that once you start throwing the ball, your enemies will throw it right back at you. So we have the ball, we have possession, and we are going to run with it.