Month: June 2010

On a lighter note, it was facinating to witness the “awful” humiliation suffered by the French team at the world cup. They got there by cheating and were sent on their way with the curse of 4 million leprechauns wishing them ill in their quest for world cup glory. And so it proved to be, the French people wishing they had not cheated poor Ireland out of their “rightful” place in South Africa and suffering a terribly embarrassing early exit and lots of infighting in the camp. Ah the Irish, if only we had been there, we would have displayed only great unity of purpose and togetherness and possibly have even come out of recession by reaching the semi finals, at least.  {2002, 8 years ago and a small incident on the island of Saipan, off Japan, between a manager and his captain resulted in the 2nd civil war of the Irish We are all friends now, and today we will raise a glass of great French wine and drink to Englands continued success.

Where truth, reason and justice are lost on us humans, a state of paranoia lies and inhumanity begins to thrive and many serious errors are committed. Take the recent behaviour of  Israel towards the aid flotilla heading for the Gaza part of the Palestinian state. Armed commandos boarded the lead ship in the middle of the night, in international waters, and in the ensuing engagement 9 of the ships crew were killed. The aid flotilla never made it to the poor people of Gaza, intercepted and diverted by a paranoid Israel who belived it was carrying arms.

It is past the time when the international community should say to Israel, Enough, Cease, Desist. There are reasonable people within the state of Israel, who recognise that the direction Israel is now heading is to a state of alienation, where it will have lost sight of its own humanity. It is not that long ago that the Jews of Europe were nearly wiped out by an inhumane and evil force, it is strange and perverse that the same people who were so cruelly ethnically cleansed, should be perpetrating the same fate on the poor people of Gaza. These reasonable voices within Israel should make themselves heard and the internatioal community should enforce a total boycott on Israeli goods until such time as the extremists of that state are no longer dictating the course of history.

38 years ago a civil rights march was held in Derry. A few thousand people were taking part, to highlight the injustice of the sysem there, where protestant loyalists held power and basic democratic human rights were being withheld from the nationalist catholic population. This power was allowed with the cooperation of the British government. The march was fired on by a crack parachute regiment, live rounds fired at unarmed demonstrators, 14 killed. The lies and cover ups, by the said government, that followed were remarkable. Also it served to swell the ranks of the IRA who were calling for armed resistance. In the 30 years that followed one atrocity led to another, blood was spilled on both sides. The downward spiral into violence was appalling.

Now, 38 years later, in a climate where peace has been restored, a report comes out which reveals the truth of what happened on that fateful day and the prime minister of the British Government stands in the house of commons and says sorry to the relatives of the dead who were killed by “an unjustfied and unjustifiable act”. A victory for truth.