Queue behind Carter
Now that President Carter has internationalised the Irish war, we
hope his action will help loosen the inhibitions of other powers
which might have felt obliged to refrain from interfering in the
pretended ``domestic problems'' of the British crown.
The Soviet Union was the first state to recognise the Irish
Republic, as declared in 1916 and affirmed by the overwhelming
majority of the Irish people at the all-Ireland general election
of 1918. That recognition never was withdrawn.
This autumn the 60th anniversary of the Russian Revolution is to
be celebrated. What better way to celebrate it than declare that
the Irish people are as entitled to freedom today as they were 60
years ago; that freedom has been denied them for all of those 60
years; that British imperialism is the major obstacle; that the
Soviet peoples demand the withdrawal of British imperialism from
Ireland and, in the interim, a United Nations discussion of
British aggression, which includes continuing torture and the
suspension of human rights, in general, in Ireland.
Whether these major powers will decide to risk treading on the
British lion's corns by backing effectively their oft proclaimed
anti-imperialism remains to be seen; on their words or on their
silence their sincerity will be judged by millions of people
throughout the world. Should they decide to speak out we hope
that theirs will be less ambiguous than the Carter statement.