Nollaig O'Gadhra takes US policy to task on Easter Monday

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday April 13, 2002 23:31 by Fan of Nollaig

Slams US policy post-9/11, urges Irish-Americans to get involved politically

On Easter Monday, Nollaig delivered this speech in Mineola, NY - a hotbed of rightist oriented folks. That didn't stop him though, he rips into the US government's insane war policy. As a US anti-war activist, it was great to hear him address a group of reactionaries, telling them what they didn't want to hear!

In that regard, can I finally say that I have no brief for any political party or group and even if I did, I would not tell you about it or try to impose it on anybody. The secrecy of the ballot box should be as important in Ireland as it is not, apparently, in Zimbabwe or indeed in Afghanistan, where not a single vote has been cast as far as I can see, for the new regime in Kabul which the American media continue to describe as "a national government"! That is as dubious a use of language as calling the 26 county Dail at home "Dail Eireann" -- especially when discussing what happened in 1922 to the second All-Ireland Dail Eireann! But then the man who most backs George Bush's war mission around the world "Bulldog" Blair of the so-called "United Kingdom" and the equally dubious "New Labour" party, seems much more concerned about the way electoral irregularities are said to take place in Africa than in Miami. Not to mention a House of Lords that is only marginally ahead of Afghanistan in terms of the number of people that vote or will vote to fill its membership in the future.
No, I am not going to give you a lecture in Political Science here or tell you which parties or factions you should support in Ireland, North or South. I will recall the fact, however, that we still have prisoners in Ireland and England, almost as many as we had in 1994 according to some counts in the 26 counties, and while some of these stories are complicated, sad, tragic and even dangerous, the principle laid down by Sister Sarah still applies. Yes, we are our Brother's keeper, and we should never pass a prison door where we feel help is needed in the interests of political correctness or false "respectability".
I will, finally repeat however, what I said in America, including this venue, a decade ago, after the media ban was lifted and the Reynold's government of 1992-94, by talking to the Irish in America, indeed by speaking openly and honestly on WBAI made it possible for those of us who had not been invited to America to come again after 20 years. The single greatest political leverage, apart from media, education and civil rights pressure of a general and unviersal nature is within the American body politic itself. Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent, ALL Irish voters or friends of Ireland should use their influence and their votes and educate themselves within the American system in the same way that the Jews and all the others do.
If you feel Hillary Clinton is not delivering for Ireland in the Senate, or that Peter King should talk more often to George Bush about Ireland and Irish Republican concerns, GET TO IT. Never let them say they did not know, they were not told or were confused. Educate yourselves and draw up your own political shopping lists -- including things you want Washington to take up with "Bulldog" Blair while they discuss their world crusade on behalf of White Anglo-Saxon culture. I, too, am aware that a great deal of the opposition to the Bush strategy is not being reported by the media in America. Some of the largest and most powerful giants seem to be more compliant than RTE, the Irish state broadcaster, was during the darkest days of Section 31. I know some people here may be angry to hear me say this. Some others will say I should not comment on American policy while a guest in this country. But the policy that excludes Ruari O Bradaigh, a former member of Dail Eireann, who travelled freely to the USA for decades until somebody (guess who?) said he might "run rings around" some of the commentators who were saying such terrible things about Irish Republicans, unchallenged, as Conor Cruise O'Brien said when explaining why he banned O Bradaigh and others from RTE, should apply. If Bill Clinton with Peter King's support could get a visa for Joe Cahill in 1994, as part of a process to get the Provos to further compromise their traditional policy at that time, in spite of furious opposition from the British, then they are hardly going to withdraw their Ambassador or close down their high-powered well-financed Embassy in Washington D.C. if those who are currently in favor with the President can persuade him to adopt a clean and honest policy of allowing allw ho comply with the law of the land, the right to speak and debate and explain and confront the spinners and the half truth merchants over here! It was Albert Reynolds, after 40 years of diplomatic stalemate, when the American NATOrelationship with Britain reigned supreme, who first expressed the view (in private) that "the only one who can look over London's shoulder in dealings with Ireland is America". And the degree to which the White House will look over Blair's shoulder will be determined, of course, by international strategic and power politics if allowed - but also by the amount intelligent and intense local pressure from the friends of Ireland here in the States can bring on their Senators and Congress members. You also need to demand wider, more comprehensive and more balanced cover of Irish stories regularly in your mainstream media. If we are good enough to hold a seat in the UN Security Council, there is no reason why Irish stories should not get the same amount of coverage in America as other European countries -- especially countries like Britian, Italy, Poland, and Israel, of course, who have millions of fellow countrymen and their descendents making such a regular and valuable contribution to the US itself.
I make this point in the context of a fairly heated debate in Ireland about aspects of American foreign policy post-September 11th and the apparent ease with which the Irish government opened Shannon Airport to American military planes while insisting we have not changed our neutrality policy, dating back to the 1930s. Indeed, Taoiseach Ahern at the same time is engaged in a diplomatic effort in Europe which he says is aimed at getting a Protocol on Irish Neutrality in the Nice Treaty which the Irish people rejected by referendum 58% to 42% last year. This was a much more substantial rejection of Nice on the day than the almost 50-50 vote of abortion legislation recently. Yet the Government is getting ready apparently for another vote on Nice -- because Europe apparently did not like or really accept the democratic verdict. What Europe fears, I am told, is that because of the Irish vote, there may be demanding for a similar referendum on Nice in other E.U. countries...and who knows where such a simple exercise in democracy as consulting the citizens directly might end! Truly democracy is a very weak plant. Depending on the issue and the system! I am also told that the US military did not really need Shannon for their military operation but somebody somewhere wanted to "tie Ireland into" the bombing of Afghanistan civilians from the air -- men, women, and children. This is a form of "war" most Irish people firmly reject and have always done so. At least the Provisional IRA in their crude bombing of "economic targets" in Belfast, operated a policy of giving advance warnings. And we are all aware of the outrage and moral concern from all sides when anything went wrong...
I am not going to give a moral lecture to anybody in the United States save to suggest, very clearly, to all my Irish and Irish American friends that the way America conducts its "war on terrorism" in response to the outrages of September 11th is a moral and a political matter of concern for all US voters, in all parties and in all States. And that includes Miami!
As for Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach goes to the country in a general election within weeks. Which is why it may be a good time for some of you to contact your political friends in Ireland, of whatever party, to ask them their views on Northern Ireland; are they still in favor of the Good Friday Agreement and if so, why is its full implementation taking so long? Specifically ask them about prison and Garda behavior in certain cases of late and if they are satisfied with the new Police Service in the North, which has replaced the RUC at least in name! I hope some of you will ask all parties what they will do for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht and why the long-promised language equality legislation, promised over 5 years ago, still has not been passed. You can also ask Sile de Valera, the Minister responsible why RTE is still living on a shoestring license fee by European standards, while Scottish and English commercial interests have been allowed to take over large parts of the commercial broadcasting sector without any real undertakings on Ireland's language and culture, never mind public broadcasting commitments. Then you can ask the Taoiseach or the Irish Foreign Affairs people, if there is so much welcome for military bomber planes in Shannon (a policy adopted without any referendum!) then why are they not allowed to fly into Dublin airport as well? They seem to be concentrating nearly everything else in Dublin, to the detriment of Shannon International Airport -- gateway to the west of Ireland!