SOLIDARITY CALL

Posted By: February 17, 2022

                   SOLIDARITY CALL

NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS, BOBBY SANDS DAY, MAY 5.

 By Fr. Sean Mc Manus, President/Founder, Irish National Caucus, Washington, D.C.

February 17, 2022

Nationalists/Republicans/Catholics in Fermanagh/South Tyrone —and in all the Six Counties of Northern Ireland—in the upcoming Northern Ireland Assembly elections should follow the example of Black Americans in the 2020 presidential elections in which they made sure Joe Biden was elected President.

Black Americans put aside “internal” disagreements and disputes and did not vote for racist or

sectarian candidates—nor did they refuse to vote (which would have amounted, in effect, to the same thing as voting for a racist, sectarian candidate).

In other words, Black Americans did not cut off their nose to spite their face.

Black Americans seized the opportunity to help right historic wrongs, and they had the high self-esteem to do so. Nationalists/Republicans/Catholics must do likewise in the elections on Bobby Sands Day, May 5, 2022—the perfect day for solidarity.

There are, of course, different issues in this upcoming election in The North, as there always are in any election, but there is one overriding issue in this 102nd Anniversary of England’s partition of Ireland—unilaterally enacted by the London Parliament, with the assent of the King of England, on December 23, 1920. This issue is: Are you for Irish unity and against England’s Partition? There is no escaping that question.

Being against England’s partition, of course, also means being against all its attendant evils: racism (meaning anti-Irish), sectarianism (meaning anti-Catholicism), and the denial of equality, human rights, truth, justice, and national self-determination … not to mention, being against State-collusion, State-assassinations, and State-coverups.

Nationalists/Republican/Catholics in Fermanagh/South Tyrone, and all the Six Counties must not be blackmailed or brow-beaten into thinking “it’s time to let go of all that” because it’s in the past. No, it is not. Injustice, if not righted, is always in the present, as Black Americans now have the confidence to assert. It is not about revenge or failure to forgive. It is about building up The Beloved Community in solidarity, justice, truth, and equality—based on democracy, respect for human rights, and national self-determination.

And Nationalists/Republicans/Catholics must not listen to false and outrageous charges that if they vote AGAINST racism and sectarianism, they are being racist and sectarian! A strategy often tried against Blacks in America.

In official Catholic Social Teaching, the four social values are: Truth, Justice, Love, and Freedom. Was the artificial State of Northern Ireland founded on those values? Has the State been maintained for 102 years on these values?

And, lest we forget, Saint Pope John Paul II taught — in the words of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace— “Peace is founded not only on human rights but also on respect for the rights of peoples, in particular the right to independence.” (Page 69. #157). And the same Pope famously taught us: “Peace is the fruit of solidarity.” (Sollicitudo rei Socialis, “On Social Concern,” no. 38. December 30, 1987).

The founding motto of the Irish National Caucus (February 6, 1974), now the popular internet “One Ireland Petition,” puts it this way: “Ireland, too, has the right to be One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” This, of course, is based on the American Pledge of Allegiance, which makes sense for an American-based organization because it resonates strongly and irrefutably with Americans, but also with all who believe in democracy, justice, and human rights. (Only a handful of people wrote to me saying they would sign the One Ireland Petition if I removed the mention of God … As if I were the person to remove God from the American Pledge of Allegiance!!!).

Pending the election (and a Border Poll, of course) an excellent way for people in Fermanagh/South Tyrone, and all the  Six Counties of Northern Ireland, to declare where they stand is to sign and share the “One Ireland Petition” — https://www.change.org/IrelandOneNation

And, then, to vote for those who can best bring about One Ireland, “with liberty and justice for all.” Anything less is a dereliction of patriotic duty, a sign of low self-esteem, and utter folly.

END.

 

Irish National Caucus •Capitol Hill• P.O. Box 15128, Washington, D.C. 20003-0849

Tel.202-544-0568 • Fax.202-488-7537 • Sean@IrishNationalCaucus.org • Barbara@IrishNationalCaucus.org

Website: www.IrishNationalCaucus.org