Letters

Tony Blair’s Orange Flute

No doubt the folks in Orange Halls all over the North will be mighty relieved that recent reports that Tony Blair is converting to ‘Papism’ were all rubbish. ‘New’ Labour, same old British Imperialists.
BRIAN Ó hANLUAIN
Glasgow
(Editor’s Note: In January 1998, during the Celtic versus Rangers soccer game, a furore erupted over Paul Gascoigne’s taunting of Celtic fans with an imaginary Orange flute.)
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Who Will Fear To Speak of 1998?

Nuair a fheicim Christopher Mayor, ambasadóir na Breataine i Meirceá, ag tabhairt dinnéar don “Gerry Ah” agus “wee Martin” tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an feall ag teacht.

The entire premise of the current Stormont talks (note the name) is the perpetuation of British rule in Ireland through referenda which will ratify the Treaty of 1921.

Everyone speaks of the importance of the decisions which are in the pipeline and Irish Republicans do nothing to end partition.

Even should the Government of Ireland Act be up for modernisation and phased prisoner releases implemented to underpin the overall settlement as well as to buy nationalist allegiance, a reformed Stormont is the predetermined and final goal.

I oppose such a process as do a great many other people and regard nationalist participation in it as a sell-out and a betrayal.

It is a sell-out because under the guise of slogans such as “equality” and “justice” (freedom is rarely heard), it is incapable of delivering anything even close to the substance of such slogans.

And it is a betrayal because the people involved know this, have recognised it in Hume-Adams and the Framework Documents/Heads of Agreement compacts, and are proceeding with the process nevertheless and in spite of those who have fought, suffered, died and been imprisoned in a struggle for nothing less than freedom.

There is an alternative to this and it is centered around a campaign for the three demands of Irish Republicans—demands that were good enough for people such as Billy Reid, Colm Keenan, Michael McVerry, Frank Stagg, Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Máire Drumm, Séamús McElwaine, Mairéad Farrell and many others.

Those demands were, and are — A British withdrawal, a 32-county constituent convention to decide the future of a sovereign, independent Ireland and the unconditional release of all political prisoners. If Irish Republicans go down any other road, future generations will truly fear to speak of ’98 and they will not be referring to the eighteenth century.
MÁIRTÍN Ó CATHÁIN
Derry
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Scotland’s Enemy

However when dealing with the same circumstances within his country he will distance himself and view such similar organisations as being right wing/extremists.

If Mr MacCaluim had lived in Ireland prior to 1916 he would obviously have been a “Redmondite” and not in his words “a right-wing extremist” as the likes of Pearse and Connolly no doubt.

In my opinion Mr MacCaluim should read his Scottish history and if he tried hard enough he may discover who the real enemy are, the English. No, this is not racist when you are defending your country. Just like the Basques against the Spanish and the Welsh against the English. But I doubt that this will sink in.
A True Scottish Republican
Craigmillar
Edinburgh
Scotland
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Importance Of Words For US Support

Americans tend to like their news, especially their politics, broken down into little neat sound bites. You only have to look at the success of the current administration in Washington to see the truth of this. Americans also tend to be generally ignorant of what goes on overseas. Most are comfortable in believing they know the plot of the book by looking at the cover.

It is therefore essential to place the question of the North in a framework that Americans can identify with (and therefore sympathise with and hopefully support). It is also necessary the arguments be framed in such a way people will find themselves agreeing with you. This is not to be deceptive in any way (as truth is on your side)but is simply a way to bypass the bias of the media.

But I believe it is possible to use the weapons the British use (in this case words) against them. In the American mind now Irish Republicans are seen as terrorists because that is how it has been framed to the media. Terrorists fighting a legitimate government as opposed to soldiers fighting for their country against an illegitimate government. And while there have been some inroads lately (mostly due to a number of recent movies more sympathetic to the IRA), the other image largely remains. One of the keys in helping to turn this around lies in the stronger emphasis of arguments you have already made. There are two that would speak strongly to Americans.

The first one being presenting the fact that the Six Counties is Britain’s last colony. One thing we as Americans understand and can sympathise with is being a colony under British rule and the necessity of armed resistance in order to remove that rule.

The second is the comparing of the Six Counties to South Africa, with the Catholics being the indigenous population. While there are a number of differences, Americans can understand the evils of Apartheid and hopefully can better understand the evils of Northern Ireland. The evils of Apartheid have been sung most loudly here in the State. As a result, people would never agree that Apartheid was a just system. While this comparison may not be the most accurate it surely frames it in a light most Americans can understand.

If, when dealing with Americans and the media in general, the above points are consistently emphasised, it should help put American support for the Republican cause one step closer. Closer, financially, because Americans do give and closer politically, for we believe that to a degree, our politicians still conform to public pressure. And that can be a lot of gain for the proper use of a weapon that costs nothing. Words are just one more weapon in the arsenal. The effect may take a while because they are long term weapon. But, if need be, I know you are in for the long haul.
JEFF ABOOD,
Ohio,
USA
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True Cause Will Always Prevail

Instead he and the Provisional leadership will ensure David Trimble becomes the new Prime Minister of the new copper fastened, Partionist illegal statelet.

Within this statelet Gerry & Co. will give their full co-operation in harassing true Republicans, and forming a new-style Broy Harrier police force. But the Broy Harriers did not succeed in exterminating their former comrades, and neither will anyone else.

The true Republican cause will always prevail no matter how many Judases there are to take their 30 pieces of silver.
PADDY SMYTH
Clontarf
Dublin
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No Peace Without Justice

President Clinton’s telling visit to South Africa and his friendly exchange of words with President Mandela makes one wonder what kind of South Africa would exist today had President Mandela and the African National Congress chose to compromise their goal of a democratic and apartheid-free South Africa during their years of struggle before that goal was finally reached.

The goal for justice and the end of the British presence in Ireland demand the support of all people of good-will just as those people supported democracy and the end of minority rule by a privileged group in South Africa. Any peace settlement in Ireland which leaves in place the rule of a privileged and bigoted group of sectarians in the north of Ireland will be no peace settlement at all. That kind of settlement will only serve as the basis for future conflict.

The proposal to change Articles 2 & 3 of the 26-County Constitution which virtually sanctions the status quo in the north by allowing the sectarian bigots to veto the end of British rule suggests that some sort of sell-out of nationalist principle and the national population of the north is in the works.

This sell-out to sectarian bigotry and Westminster will not occur if an aroused public opinion within and outside of Ireland let the people involved in the peace process know that there can be no peace without justice. And justice means the end of British-supported bigotry in Ireland.
William Gartland
Rio, WI 53960
USA
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