Windsor Visit

By AM Friday, May 20, 2011

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Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer David Mc Sweeney, commenting on the visit to Ireland by the British queen.

The 26-county state held a National Famine Commemoration ceremony on the 16th of May 2010, it was held at the Murrisk Millennium Park at the foot of Croagh Patrick.

At the ceremony an observation was read by Seamus O Connell of the Humanist Association; he said “as we remember the greatest calamity ever to befall this country, we may ponder on the mismanagement and neglect, as much as the failure of the potato crop”.

One group of people who could not take this chance to ponder the Irish holocaust was the representatives of the British state in the 26 counties. They chose not to attend.

Dublin government sources confirmed at the time that an invitation had been forwarded to the British embassy in Dublin.

As shameful and calculated a snub as you will find in international diplomacy.

Fourteen other nations among them China, Nigeria and Latvia sent representatives.

The Scottish Justice Minister Mr Kenny Mc Askill described a match held on the 20th of March 2011 at Hampden Park, Glasgow as “a great advert for Scottish football”. Assistant Chief Corrigan of the Strathclyde police stated “the atmosphere at the match was excellent”

At this particular sporting occasion thousands of those present sang songs among the lyrics of which are “we are up to our necks in Fenian blood, surrender or you die”. Another song audible from the television coverage mocks the Irish Famine and tells those of Irish extraction in Scotland “the Famine is over go on home”

It is an accepted norm in human relations of any kind that for people or groups to move beyond a certain level of relationship, issues which have caused hurt and conflict must be addressed. This requires honesty.

Today relations between Ireland and Britain are still blighted by British Imperialism and anti-Irish racism.

Those who really want to move the relations between Ireland and Britain on will commit to addressing the fundamental issue of British interference in Ireland.

The 23rd of March 2011 with a backdrop of rugby international between Ireland and England saw the following written by Martin Samuel being printed in one of the largest circulation newspapers in Britain, the Daily Mail.

Indeed there is a lot of history there(the relationship between Ireland and Britain). Like the European Union 73.7 billion bailout for the failing Irish economy last November, that could end up costing British taxpayers in the region of 6.07 billion. Not many songs about that on Saturday though, just the usual ones about prison ships, prison walls and a terrible famine which took place 160 years ago, yet is still thrown in the face of every visitor in an England shirt, as if it was cooked up in the Harlequins dressing room last Tuesday. Maybe next time Martin Johnson (England manager) visits he could give a rousing and equally relevant speech before the game based on vengeance for all the little kiddies abused by Ireland’s paedophile priests.

Samuel could write this without any fear of falling foul of hate crime legislation in Britain.

Given that the British monarchy is unavailable to certain citizens of Britain, because of their religion, out workings of that institutional discrimination are no surprise.

An apology by the British state and a withdrawal from the six counties would be a meaningful way of moving things forward.

A year ago, the same week as the proposed Windsor visit, the British state had an opportunity to make a small act of reconciliation. They chose not to.

Parading the largest landowner in Britain through the streets of a city mired in poverty, which will only get worse under the IMF regime, is shameful. It will move not one thing forward. What it will do is deny 8 million euro to youth, health and education services, to name just three. Among the costs is a banquet at which Windsor will be joined by the native elites, who have sentenced this generation and future ones to despair. The Windsor visit is wrong in many ways.