The President, the poppy and petty politics
By Sean MacBradaigh
The poppy, symbol of the Royal British Legion, and sold in
November to coincide with ceremonies organised by the same
organisation to commemorate the dead of the British army in two
world wars, was this week placed at the centre of a petty
political row. It was placed there initially and mischievously by
Eoghan Harris when he declared on RTE that if Mary McAleese
wished to reach out to Unionists she should wear a poppy during
her inauguration as President of Ireland on 11 November.
As the symbol of a British-based organisation which is closely
linked to the British political and military establishment, the
poppy is not, as some Irish commentators have suggested since
Harris made his proposal, a neutral symbol which merely expresses
sympathy and remembrance of those who died in the two World Wars.
In the Irish context the poppy is used as a symbol of division
and oppression. In the Six Counties it is used in an overtly
sectarian manner by the state, by loyalists and by the British
army itself. Asked about the poppy Belfast priest Des Wilson
pointed out this week that the only occasion he was approached to
buy one was at gunpoint by a British soldier.
The ceremonies organised by the British Legion on 11 November are
designed to coincide with the anniversary of the First World War
on 11 November 1918 - an apalling imperial adventure which
resulted in the needless waste of millions of lives. The British
Legion and its supporters do not commemorate the Irish who died
in the First and Second World Wars as Irish people but as British
soldiers serving British interests.
Irish Republicans remember the Irish dead of the First World War
as victims of British imperialism. To use their memory to further
the interests of an outdated imperial ideology, or for sectarian,
anti-nationalist purposes is to betray them in death as they were
betrayed in life by pompous generals and ambitious politicians
and rulers.
Eoghan Harris and his ilk are actively undermining the sacrifices
of all those who are commemorated on poppy day by dragging their
memory into a squalid argument fuelled by personal spite.
As head of state Mary McAleese was quite right not to allow
herself and her office to be used in a cynical manner by people
with their own narrow political agenda. She refused to be
brow-beaten by Harris and the neo-unionist lobby in the 26
Counties during her election campaign and it is right that she
was not browbeaten into donning a poppy on 11 November.
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