No right to march
A chairde
It is unfortunate that the myth of the Protestant ``right to
march'' as restated by a prominent Protestant recently does not
also carry the reply of David Steel who commented in a House of
Commons debate that there is, in fact, no such right anywhere in
UK law.
Indeed, as anyone who has tried to organise a demonstration or
march will tell you, there are so many laws, by-laws and
regulations governing demonstrations that, in essence, no marches
are allowed to take place without being condoned, or approved of,
by the British State.
But as the Drumcree march approaches it is surely hypocrisy for
Britain to publicly wash its hands and claim that allowing the
march rests with a Commission. It is, after all, a well known
British tactic to have all dirty work done by proxy so that
responsibility may then be evaded or denied by a British
government.
However, for Britain to use the British RUC, backed by the
British army, to push hostile sectarian marches through Catholic
areas will surely constitute the harassment of communities banned
in the Good Friday Agreement under the section: ``Rights,
Safeguards and Equailty of Opportunity'' which affirmed the right
to ``freedom from sectarian harassment''.
In any event, many seem to believe the marchers should be told by
Ms Mowlam that they are unable to march down the Garvaghy Road
without the agreement of the Residents Assocation. This action
would, sadly, mean a confrontation but Garvaghy residents have
demanded an end to sectarian harassment and for a stand to be
made.
This would also send a signal to other marchers that equal
citizenship has arrived and even-handedness is now the benchmark.
J. Cleary
England
DUP/RUC
A chairde,
It is interesting to note that part of the DUP's Assembly
Election campaign involves a video depicting an RUC officer
wearing a balaclava helmet and wielding a baseball bat in a very
threatening manner.
Is their message going to be that if people vote for parties that
are in support of The Good Friday Agreement then we will no
longer have RUC thugs patrolling our streets? Or that
nationalists will no longer be terrorised by masked RUC men as
occurred at the Derryhirk Inn quite recently?
It seems the DUP have inadvertently come a little too close to
the bone on this one.
Dominic McSherry
Belfast.
Airborne militarism
A chairde,
On a recent visit to Donegal I was intrigued to read a poster for
the Derry Air Show which readers were informed was being promoted
by Derry City Council in colloboration (I use the word advisedly)
with the Sun and the News of the World, two fine exponents of
gutter journalism with a glorious track record of anti-Irish
racism.
Air shows have considerable military involvement and provide an
opportunity for British and American arms manufacturers and
indeed airborne armed forces to pedal their ethos of death and
destruction under the guise of a happy day out.
Yesterday I read how a young County Derry girl had ``won'' an award
from The Northern Ireland Association of Local Authorities which
entailed her spending a day with the Allied Command Rapid
Reaction Force, an integral component of which are the notorious
Parachute Regiment who acquitted themselves so gloriously in her
native county. What is the attitude of nationalist
representatives on local authorities to this promotion of a
culture of militarism among our young people? What part had
nationalists in our local authorities formulating this policy or
are they merely the silent stooges of faceless policy makers?
Are we being conditioned to accept a culture for our young people
in which militarism is the norm and against, which not a single
nationalist public representative IRSP, Sinn Fein or SDLP has
apparently raised a voice. Equally mute are the left wing
groupings (CP, SP, WP) and gurus such as Nell McCafferty and
Eamonn McCann. De-commissioners and de-militarists please note.
Mute of Malice
The poor get poorer
A chairde,
Last week three [Dublin] North Inner-City schools received
letters demanding that they shed jobs. These three schools are
located in extremely disadvantaged areas. The Department of
Education and Science has long accepted that schools in poor
areas need extra help. Last year they granted the thirty three
poorest schools in the country extra resources and staff. This
project was called ``Breaking the Cycle'' and was widely welcomed.
Now coming up to summer holidays they are cutting back on three
of these schools. Such an act of educational vandalism is a
disgrace and is completely immoral at a time when the economy is
booming. Tax revenue is on course to be around £500 million
higher than budgeted for, according to the latest figures from
the Department of Finance. Schools that have taken in the poor,
the refugees and the disabled are getting a slap in the face. The
public should know.
Finian McGrath
Dublin
Silencing one side
<P>A chairde,
I was disturbed by a recent news report that the contribution of
the Garvaghy Women's Writing Group had to be withdrawn from the
Seeds of Hope event in Dublin because it showed no
cross-community collaborative effort.
How far from the truth the reality often is when measured by
selective yardsticks? In my experience of the Garvaghy community,
I doubt if any of the participants had tried so hard and been
rejected so often in cross-community attempts. Apart from the
several overtures to Orange lodges in recent years, where not
even a verbal or written acknowledgement has ever been made, I
recall with awe the Aisling conferences of 1997 and 1998.
As a speaker and participant in Aisling 1997 I noted that invited
speakers included Protestant/unionist/Orange traditions to the
number of half and above and up to eighteen speakers and
chairpersons. This was repeated at Aisling 1998. The
cross-community invitations keep on being extended by this
community in spite of raw punishment for legitimate protests.
Guests, it is true, came from the academic, liberal, middle-class
strata of cross-community. Nevertheless they were welcomed by the
women of the grassroots whose Justice Camp had been flattened at
Drumcree in 1997 under official police pretence.
One hopes that all efforts on one side at dialogue are not
recognised because they have failed to solicit response; the
community cannot be held accountable for that.
The ``good student/bad student'' image needs to be examined
carefully. Maybe there should be a reward for community
resistance to a non-evenhanded government that keeps communties
apart and suspicious of one another. Congratulations to the
Garvaghy Women's Writing Group.
M.M.McCarron
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)