Racist Sectarianism is the Original Sin of Northern Ireland–ELEVENTH SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO AND TEXT
Posted By: November 28, 2020
VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/7O4YpSj2bCE
ELEVENTH VIDEO
Racism and Sectarianism — Northern Ireland’s Original Sin
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Hi, I’m Fr. Sean McManus, president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus in Washington, DC— and Chief Judge of the World Peace Prize.
And this is our eleventh social-media-video on England’s undemocratic partition of Ireland—and on our “One Ireland Petition.”
The One Ireland Petition states:
“ Ireland, too, has the right to be
One Nation under God,
indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.”
This splendid Petition has now been signed by over 18,000 people. It is posted on Change.org — On Facebook and on IrishNationalCaucus.org
I ask you to, please, sign and share this splendid Petition, and to promote it every way you can. It is free and only takes a few minutes. It is very important—and a very practical thing we can all do to show our love and solidarity for Ireland.
Now, remember we are fast approaching the 100th Anniversary of England’s criminal and cruel Partition of Ireland—enacted by the London Parliament, with the assent of the King of England, on December 23, 1920. …
Imagine such cruelty two days before Christmas! Imagine the racism and sectarianism!
State-sponsored racism and sectarianism are the twin evils of this world.
This is the truth I have been proclaiming all my life.
In the context of Ireland, racism means anti-Irish. And sectarianism means anti-Catholicism.
Let me explain that, please.
Beginning in 1169, England got a foothold in Ireland. Now remember up to the 1530s, England had been a totally Catholic country. …
So, before England’s Reformation, England just used State-sponsored racism—hatred and contempt for the Irish— as its method of oppression.
But after the Reformation, England added the extra, deadly method of oppression— Stateponsored hatred and contempt for Catholicism: in other words, sectarianism.
In 1920, when England was forced to accept it could no longer hold onto all of Ireland’s 32 Counties, so, it retreated to the north-east corner of Ireland —to just one-sixth of the island of Ireland.
England then drew an arbitrary line and Border around Six Counties——a line that had never existed in thousands of years of Irish history— and with imperialistic and colonial hubris proclaimed a brand new country/ a new entity/ a new discovery!
What a fraud! What a gerrymander! What a total violation of national sovereignty, national self-determination, and international law!
Partition was an utterly undemocratic and criminal act, especially because just two years earlier, Ireland had voted by 73% for national independence.
Furthermore, you see, the only thing that dictated that undemocratic line and Border was a racist and sectarian headcount.
Within that artificially created area, there were a million pro-England, anti-Irish and anti-Catholic people, to a half-million Irish and Catholic people. …
That is why it can be said that racism and sectarianism are Northern Ireland’s Original Sin.
And that’s how England has held on to that tiny corner of Ireland since 1920.
However, as Bob Dylan sang “the times, they are a-changin.” Or, as Blessed Martin Luther King, Jr. loved to quote: “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” … And this is so, not just because of the Good Friday Agreement, which I fully support.
Please bear in mind these three key points:
NUMBER ONE: The large, gerrymandered Protestant/Unionist majority no longer exists in Northern Ireland.
NUMBER TWO: Scotland—the spiritual and cultural home of so many Northern Ireland Protestants—now itself seems to be heading for independence… That has huge implications for the Protestants of Northern Ireland—and for the much-vaunted “Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
AND NUMBER THREE: Brexit is dragging Northern Ireland out of the European Union, even though a majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union.
These three points change everything. …
So, this means the One Ireland Petition is perfectly timely, practical, and meaningful.
It calls for unity, not division; for solidarity, not segregation. It says “no” to racism and sectarianism.
And it calls for the building up of The Beloved Community, as taught by Blessed Martin Luther King, Jr., in all of Ireland’s 32 Counties— One Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all…
Justice and respect for Protestants, Catholics, and Dissenters —for people of all faiths and no faith.
Come and join us in this splendid cause. Please sign the Petition.
Thank you for watching.
God save Ireland.
