Fortnight Publications Ltd.

Two Worlds CollideAuthor(s): Sharon ThompsonSource: Fortnight, No. 285 (Jun., 1990), p. 10Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25552429 .

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phurisation (FGD) and Ballymoney lignite. It is no surprise that the

Department of Economic Devel

opment has recently commissioned

reports on electricity privatisation and overall energy strategy.

Northern Ireland has been ill

served by energy policy: the Kin

sale gas deal was bungled and key decisions have been delayed for

years. One of the strongest argu ments in favour of privatising NIE

is that it will enable strategic deci

sions to be taken professionally. On the basis of the available

evidence from the US, howev er,

private power stations do not per form better than their public

counterparts. Some recent studies

show that public US power compa nies had lower costs than private

operators and that these lower costs

were passed on to consumers.

The big worry about privatisa tion in Britain is that prices to

domestic consumers will be higher than under the present system. In

Northern Ireland electrictity prices will rise, irrespective of whether

NIE is state-owned or privatised.

Cheap oil is coming to an end

and environmental commitments

will mean dearer generating costs

and higher tariffs over the next ten

years. Provided adequate watch

dog machinery is set up to monitor

the costs and pricing behaviour of a

privatised NIE, there is no reason

to believe that domestic consumers

will be exploited.

Michael Smith

Notes on contributors

HONNUALAO CONNOR is a freelance journalist and

commentator m Belfast

SYDNEY ELUOTT lectures in politics at Queen's University, Belfast

LOUIS MCREDMOND is a freelance journalist m Dublin

MICHAEL SMITH lectures in applied economics at the University of

Ulster

SHARON THOMPSON is deputy campaigns organiser for OXFAM in

Belfast

DEREK ALCORN is director of the Northern Ireland Association of

Citizens' Advice Bureaux

; FIONA MACMILLAN is publicity | director of the Belfast Festival

| JOHN KELLY is presenter of Straight Talkin'on Radio Ulster

JOHN LAMPEn Is a community worker in Derry MARKO HREN is a mathematician

j and a co-founder of the peace

| movement in Slovenia, People for i Peace Culture JAMES DOWNEY h a freelance journalist and commentator in

Dublin DAVID GRANT is a director of the Dublin Theatre Festival OWEN MCFADDEN is a producer for Radio Ulster

No votes

for women

WOMEN'S rights campaigners in Northern Ireland have condemned

Ulster MPs who voted in late April to reduce the time limit for abor

tions from 28 to 24 weeks.

The Commons decision, in an

amendment to the controversial

Human Fertilisation and Embryol

ogy Bill, was backed by most of the

province's 17 representatives. Ken Maginnis and William

Ross (both UUP) abstained but other unionist and nationalist

MPs?including Rev Ian Paisley and Seamus Mallon?called for a

total ban on abortion.

The 1967 Abortion Act does not apply to Northern Ireland but

the Ulster Pregnancy Advisory Association last year referred more

than 1,000 women to Britain. The

director, Joan Wilson, said: "What

I think about the way our MPs

voted for women's needs is un

printable. They never asked me as

a woman what my views are and

they shouldn't be making decisions

about women's bodies."

Una Gillespie of the Rape Cri sis Centre said it was ironic that

MPs who agreed on little else could

unite on "something against women". The Workers' party health

spokesperson, Mary McMahon,

called for an end to "the hypocrisy of pretending abortion is not needed

here while exporting the problem out the back door to England".

The new 24-week time limit

will be 20 weeks in practice and

could have vital implications for

Irish women who have difficulty raising money and making arrange

ments to travel to England. Dave

Archard of the Northern Ireland

Abortion Law Reform Association

said: "They may well be more

advanced in pregnancy when going for abortion. The most difficult

cases?women who think they are

too old to conceive or women who

have been raped or sexually abused

within the family and don't even

think of the possibility of being pregnant for a few months?could

be penalised." But Dr Archard believes this is

the last serious attack on the 1967

act, which could be extended by a

future Labour government: "North

ern Ireland is a dinosaur running

against the tide of legislation in

western Europe and the world. "

A different reaction came from

Betty Gibson of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child

(SPUC). Praising Northern Ireland MPs as "the most Christian people

in Westminster?a godless place", she said the old Assembly and most

district councils had voted against abortion. The churches, politicians and a majority of the public op

posed it.

"I don't trust the British gov ernment. They may now try to in

troduce this act we have been strug

gling 22 years to keep out. But I

have faith in the Northern Irish

people," she said.

Suzanne Breen

Hard labour?Jorge, seaweed gatherer

BfsflB^BP^^' ilfl^R' ̂ J|i B ^mmmmmm^^^^^^^m^ Hw'4^p w a

Two worlds

collide

CHILE: a name synonomous with

torture and teargas, military dicta

torship, the 'mothers of the disap

peared' and some of the most sys tematic human rights abuses on

record?a state of fear.

Since 1973, Chile had been ruled by a military junta headed by

General Augusto Pinochet. But in

1988 the country held a plebiscite on another eight years of Pinochet

rule?to his astonishment, they voted no. Forced to succumb to the

presidental elections he had prom ised would then follow, last De

cember he was defeated by Patricio

Aylwin, the Christian Democrat

leader of the opposition coalition

of 17 centre and left parties. Power was handed over on

March 11th, just as I arrived in

Chile to visit the OXFAM pro gramme there. The people of the

capital, Santiago, thronged outside

the Moneda Palace?bombed by the military during the 1973 coup to overthrow the then president, Salvador Allende. The mood was

euphoric: music played, people

sang, children were held high on

shoulders waving the Chilean flag. The carnival atmosphere was

marred by disturbances in the

crowd?teargas and water cannons

were brought in by the carabin

eros?but an afternoon ceremony

passed without incident in the

National Stadium.

The significance of this venue?

during the first years after the coup it was a place of torture?was not

lost on the near-100,000 capacity crowd which heard the new presi dent speak. The Mothers of the

Disappeared were allowed to speak for the first time and the enormity of the repression of the previous

regime was acknowledged. People

everywhere stood with tears pour

ing down their cheeks.

Thus began the transition to

liberal democracy after 16 yeas of

dictatorship. But the changes

imposed over those years will have

long-term effects on life in Chile,

where two worlds have evolved.

One is prosperous and upwardly mobile. This world can afford de

cent housing, health, education and

travel. The other world, inhabited

by the majority, is much less en

dowed. In most of this world, hard

work and sacrifice are not enough to bring home the daily bread: over

5 million of the 12.5 million popu lation are unable to purchase the

basic shopping basket.

Jorge is a seaweed gatherer I

met on a visit to an OXFAM-funded

organisation working with fisher

men's unions in the south of Chile.

On a bitterly cold, windswept beach, he was standing up to his knees in

freezing water. He had stood there

for two hours and would probably do so for another six, for a day's

wages of 1,000 pesos ($3).

Jorge was barefoot and had only an old oilskin for protection against the elements. He walked ten miles

every day to work. Others lived on

the beach in makeshift tents afford

ing little shelter. Bronchitis, arthri

tis, rheumatism, pneumonia and, in

women, cystitis were common.

Chile's low inflation and high

growth offer some of the best eco

nomic statistics in Latin America.

But prosperity has not been equita

bly shared and has come at consid

erable social cost. The new presi dent must bridge these two worlds

if the transition to democracy is to

be truly successful.

Sharon Thompson

10 June Fortnight

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