Sinned against
- Guilty Until Proven Innocent (RTE)
- Divided World (RTE)
- Full Metal Backbackers (Channel 4)
- Ulster's Triumph, Hoddle's Demise
``Those nationalists who use violence in my name, the goddamn GAA who
oppress the multitudes and as for the Kaw-tall-ick church...'' or so
says your average Dublin Yuppie, although the only fear I ever felt
in the church was the fear of getting lost on the way back from
communion with the holy bread stuck to your palate and your teenage
face turning from red to purple, or the fear of getting stuck beside
the man who used to blow his nose into a J cloth during mass.
On a more solemn note however, the church has been rightly dragged
over the coals for the litany of abuse carried out by some of its
employees over long years on the most vulnerable, and equally
damning, the reticence of the church to confront the issue.
Among the most irate are surely the many clergy whose vocation has
been smeared by such actions and unaction, among them Fr Eddie
Kilpatrick, who became a victim of the near hysteria that has
recently enveloped our society.
Kilpatrick was informed by his bishop of allegations of abuse by two
altar boys in Derry in the 1970s and was subsequently forced by his
bishop, eager to be seen to deal with the issue, to leave his parish,
a fate he describes ``as worse than death''. Kilpatrick took the
unuasal step of informing his flock and the media of proceedings
during one of his sermons and vehemently fought the charges.
Kilpatrick was subjected to the by now familiar lenghty wait for
trial procedings, during which time he was suspended from duties
(although not subject to prolonged detention in the Crum', a fate
usually reserved for innocent nationalists, Beechmount 5, Ballymurphy
7, etc, etc).
He describes as ``humiliation in its worst form, having to stand in
the dock with charges read out, knowing inside that you were
innocent''.
Unlike many nationalists, Kilpatrick was finally cleared of all
nineteen charges, putting an end to his ``living nightmare''.
What was striking about this story was the similarities with the case
of the Derry 4, forced to spend their lives in exile, and featured on
``Kenny Live'' on Saturday last. If RTE had shown the same resolve to
tell their story as they did in the Padre's in its early days,
matters could have been resolved, but then again men of the cloth
still carry more weight in D4.
Then again you could be stuck in Mozambique, one of the poorest
countries in the world, due to a 30 year civil war enforced from the
outside, and billions in debt to the same outsiders, who are now
tightening the noose around the country's neck.
The World Bank, as featured in RTE's Divided World, has come under
much criticism recently, where it forces Mozambique to spend more of
its annual budget on debt repayments than on health or education.
After decades of colonial exploitation, Mozambique had the audacity
to establish a socialist state, which prompted the South Africans and
Americans to arm and train the right wing minority and force a civil
war which left over one million civilians dead and a country so poor
that its life expectancy is 44 and infant mortality is the highest in
the world.
The same players have now forced Mozambique to privatise all industry
and adopt `free market principles' in order to receive loans which
are now strangling the country.
The World Bank, and IMF have attempted to restructure the debt under
the HIPPIC initiative, which is nothing more than a PR exercise.
Niall Crowley of Mozambique Support hit the nail on the head when he
called for the cancellation of debt on moral grounds, but we've more
chance of a dry day in Donegal.
Or Vietnam, where we found Craig and Tom, two young Scots in search
of war and adventure, on Channel Four's Short Stories.
Northerners must be well used to war tourists - the ones who marvel
at the border post in Strabane, describing it as ``an outpost from
space'' (well, it is full of ugly aliens with green horns and no
brains).
Or the people who moan about the lack of tanks on the streets in the
wake of the ceasefire, or seek out tales of oppression by walking
through the Markets waiting to be harassed by the peelers so they can
tell the folks back home.
Larry O'Toole recently hosted a poverty tourist to Darndale in
Dublin's northside, who was eager to take pictures of anti-joyriding
boulders and rundown shops and wanted to know if Larry and the other
``poor people would like a parcel of clothes''!
Tom agus Grant passed their time playing at rifle ranges, burrowing
down Cu Chi tunnels and jumping into helicopters, viewing `Nam as
``one big theme park''. They are the sort of boys who spent their
school lunchtimes shouting ``A-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, you're dead... chew a
pineapple, Fritz''. Still, could it be any worse than Ibiza?
I can't comment on the Ulster rugby triumph without sounding like a
bigot but men with funny balls running after funny balls doesn't
attract me, but fair play all the same.
As for Antrim footballers, word has it that Glen twaddle is looking
for a new job.
By Sean O'Donaile
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