The English Press
wrote of the death recently of the Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuiness, of his
murderous acts when he was younger as an IRA leader.
Crucially
they conveniently failed to mention ‘Bloody
Sunday’ in 1972, 26 unarmed civilians were shot at in the Bogside Derry,
Northern Ireland during a peaceful protest march against internment. 15 were
killed. Many of the victims were shot while
fleeing from the soldiers and some were shot while trying to help the wounded. The
Saville Inquiry (1998) reinvestigated
for 12-years, made public 2010, concluded
that the killings were “unjustifiable". It found that all of those shot
were unarmed, that none were posing a serious threat, that no bombs were
thrown, and that soldiers "knowingly put forward false accounts" to
justify their firing. British PM David Cameron then made a formal apology on behalf of the
UK.
They also
conveniently failed to mention English criminally corralling women and children
for murder during the Boer war, where they starved to death, in the first extermination camps.
They also failed
to mention the hanging of the Irish
leaders of the Easter Rising or of sending tanks into spectators at a
football match in Dublin.
In Ireland,
India and elsewhere England created divisions with their ‘Divide and Rule
tactic. They sent over Scots who stole land in the North of Ireland. In any
conflict there is usually two sides that are unable to find common ground or
communicate.
Scotland
also took part in the slave trade (Tom Devine, Recovering Scotland’s Slavery
Past , The Caribbean Connections 2015). In Scotland we try to acknowledge our
part and attempt to recognise our very weaknesses.
We cannot
build a fair, or equal society built on Lies.
In any conflict there are usually two sides that are unable to find
common ground or communicate
Sinn Fein Martin McGuinness helped bring about the Good Friday peace agreement in 1998 -
with Unionist Ian Paisley 'the chuckle brothers'. He was involved with the IRA.
My parents are from Northern Ireland
and I remember visiting there when the helicopters were circling overhead and
there were many barricades. Who wants hard borders again? I won't condone the
terrors of the Troubles but there
were dreadful murders by the English in Ireland too.
Those in England today appear to care nothing of what Brexit means for Ireland or for Scotland. In fact they care more about Brexit than they do about the UK breaking up, according to polls! Time to take control away from the centre (London) and return it to the people!
