DÉJÀ VU: MAC BRIDE PRINCIPLES ALL OVER AGAIN

Posted By: April 01, 2013

CAPITOL HILL. APRIL 2, 2013 —Predictably, the companies doing business in Palestine-Israel are responding that they do not need to sign the Holy Land Principles because their own code of conduct is adequate.
“ That is exactly what the companies initially said when asked to sign the Mac Bride Principles,” explained Fr. Sean Mc Manus, President of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus and Holy Land Principles, Inc. “Here is our response to them.”

RESPONSE TO COMPANIES:
Thank you for responding to our request for your company to sign the Holy Land Principles.

We did, of course, already know that your company would have certain fair employment principles in place – just as we knew before we launched the Mac Bride Principles on November 5, 1984, that those companies doing business in Northern Ireland would have fair employment principles in place.
However – as the historical record has abundantly established – it was not until those companies signed the Mac Bride Principles that real progress was made in combatting anti-Catholic discrimination.

Similarly, until your company signs the Holy Land Principles, it will not be clear that it is doing enough to combat discrimination the Holy Land (Palestine- Israel).
Companies cannot pretend that Northern Ireland and The Holy Land are not unusual, or that they do not require special attention. History adequately proves otherwise.

Therefore, we have no option but to persist in our campaign to get your company and all American companies doing business in Palestine-Israel to sign the Holy Land Principles. We know from our experience with the Mac Bride Principles that companies tend to resist signing, but we also know that sooner or later — as the moral pressure mounts and as Americans of conscience speak out — that companies will sign… We urge your company to sign sooner rather than later. It’s the right thing to do. Refusing to sign sends out the wrong signal, which is neither good for fair employment nor business.

Sincerely,
Fr. Sean Mc Manus
President
Holy Land Principles, Inc.