Guilford Four

NOTE: As with a majority of my posts this month I had written this some time ago and had it in drafts. But I kept coming back to this one...opening it up. Rereading it. Wondering if it would be a mistake to post it. Obviously, in the end, I chose to post it. But not without a great deal of thoughtful, gut twisting consideration. I've been trying to show you some of the things I love about Ireland, and being Irish...well, Irish American anyway. I did post about the Irish Holocaust and The Troubles. I tried to be impartial...for the most part. But with this...it all came to a head. So, caveat emptor. (because I don't know the Latin for reader)


Injustice...cruelty....violence....
while certainly these traits are not the sole province of the British....I can only say that they have perpetrated hundreds of years of injustice....cruelty and violence on the Irish people. As long as I only write about the lovely things about Ireland and never mention England and her atrocities against the Irish....the kooks stay away. These kooks are only looking for a reason to mouth off and be a**holes. I'm NOT saying that America, hell every government, is not guilty of miscarriage of justice, cruelty, violence. We've only to mention the American Indian, the African American, the Japanese during WWII, hell even the Irish in the late 1800's were treated very poorly that first generation...do I need to go on? Do you think those things are in the past? Do you think our government is above that sort of thing now? If you do, I feel most sorry for you. But when I talk about Britain's treatment of Ireland...suddenly the losers come out of the woodwork. I trashed several comments by people who, although passionate about their beliefs, missed the point of my previous post about "The Troubles" and just wanted to start a row. But I cannot be silent, as this most hideous of beasts has never been brought into the light and laid bare before the world, at least to my satisfaction. This beast I refer to, is the colonial rule of Ireland by Britain and it's subsequent treatment of the Irish. If you could spend just a few minutes reading some of the outrageous things, dating back to the most significant invasion of the British in Ireland...say c. 1530's, I think you would be astonished. To list them all would take time, and again, a commitment from the reader. I know, there are other countries the British treated abominably, but I'm talking about Ireland right now.
So...let's just give an example that you might find easier to relate to. The Guilford Four. If you've seen the movie In the Name of the Father, then you know precisely the situation I am talking about...if not, I highly recommend the movie. Regardless of who it's about, it's a superbly acted and directed movie. In short, four people...Irish of course, are falsely convicted of the IRA's Guildford pub bombing, sentenced to life in prison and spent 15 years there before finally getting their conviction overturned. It's also about the main character's relationship with his father who is also falsely convicted and imprisoned for the same crime. Oh, and that also included SEVEN members of the father's family as well, including a 15 year old nephew. They were arrested under the auspices of a new law at the time, c. 1974...The Prevention of Terrorism Act...hmmm, sound familiar?
Anyway...this is the crux of the matter:
In February 1977 Martin O'Connell, an IRA soldier on trial for another bombing spoke, for the Four. He basically told his lawyer that four innocent people were imprisoned for the Guilford Pub Bombing. He also told the court: "No mention has been made in this court of the violence suffered by the Irish people; of the use of internment without trial in the Six Counties; of the conviction before the European Court of Human rights of the British Government for the torture of Irish people; nor the many brutalities of British colonial rule. "
"We will be judged only by our countrymen. Any verdict or sentence from this court is nothing more than the continuation of the hypocrisy of British rule in Ireland and the injustice it has inflicted on our country and its people....true peace can only come about when a nation is free from oppression and injustice.'' [You'll love this- when the Prime Minister, T. Blair apologized for this injustice recently...some 30 years later, he did it publicly, but... then sent a letter....one letter. One letter to the wife of one of the four. Her husband was alive and well and yet he sent a letter of apology to the wife- who didn't even know her husband at the time of the imprisonment. Oh, I forgot to mention, this wife...she's Mary Courtney Kennedy, daughter of the late United States Senator, Robert F. Kennedy.]
But worse yet...I know injustice of this magnitude is happening right here in this country today. Today.
There...I'm done.
I'm tired. Tired of people treating other people as less than human. Tired of the cruel, humiliating, evil, sick and ridiculous things humans perpetrate on their fellow humans. I'm just sick and tired. And intolerant. I'm intolerant of...intolerance. I am the thing I despise. Intolerant. I'm also tired of the way humans treat animals and the planet. I guess I'm just DONE.
I'm so disgusted...I can't even put up my signature heart. Four more days.