|
Now
that the tide has turned against the warmongers, watching
the worms wriggle makes fascinating viewing. Pat Rabbite
suggests that maybe if we were as intelligent as he
was, we would have realized by now that his counterpart
in Britain has really been against war with Iraq all
along. We just couldn't see it. Good man Pat. Good
man Tony. Maybe its got to do with the way that Labour
Party leaders here and there, have become accustomed
to speaking out of both sides of their mouth at the
same time. We haven't quite caught up with what they
really mean, that is if they ever really mean anything.
For the tens of thousands who marched in Dublin and
throughout Ireland yesterday, and the tens of millions
more who marched across the globe there was no such
confusion. In what was possibly the largest single
co-ordinated mobilization in human history there was
absolute sense of clarity about Tony "W"
Blair's role in all this. Along with George Bush and
the most reactionary right wing Cabinet in US history,
Blair has brought the world to the edge of catastrophe.
If, in the changing circumstances the worm does turn,
we should not allow ourselves to fall for the line
that Tony was really a nice guy all along, just trying
his damnedest to keep those Texan's in check.
For months now we have been told that war is inevitable,
literally inevitable. Every day for weeks every Colonel
Blimp half wit who could be rounded up has been paraded
across the airwaves to make the case for bombing Iraq.
From morning till evening, from Marion Finnucane to
Pat Kenny to Joe Duffy we have been reminded of how
we have to get ready to fight the good fight. We have
been reminded. And reminded. Remember our "blood
ties" with our American cousins. Remember that
we depend on the benevolence of US investment. Remember
that we must do what our masters, sorry slip of the
tongue, our "allies" tell us. We must always
do what our "allies" do. Our "allies"
right or wrong. That's what neutrality means Fianna
Fail style. Pat even had two gun slingers on his show
in the form of Des O Malley and Dairmud Mc Dermott
complaining that the soldiers at Shannon would not
be allowed to shoot the "so-called peace protesters."
Its well past time that we wised up and listened to
those voices that we never hear. We owe an enormous
debt of gratitude to the Irish Anti War Movement and
the global anti war movement for not succumbing to
the "inevitability" of war thesis. We own
them more than we might yet be able to imagine for
their guidance in combating fatalism and demonstrating
that protest does work. We owe an enormous gratitude
to those who have been unafraid to say that this war
is about oil and greed and consolidating the interests
of the multinationals. It's about imperialism, the
highest from of capitalism, which is precisely what
the First World War and World War 2 and the Vietnam
War and countless other 20th Century wars were all
about. It's about who controls the worlds resources
in the 21st Century and has nothing whatever to do
with the ordinary people of Iraq. Anyone who thinks
that Bush or Rumsfeld or Blair or Straw gives a fig
for the women and children of Baghdad or the human
rights of those who live under tyranny is either a
liar or a half wit. Its time to call it as it is.
If the UN was so concerned about defiance of its international
resolutions how come the bombs haven't been raining
down on Tel Aviv, given that Israel continues to be
in breach of no less that 64 UN resolutions.
Even if the UN does manage stand up to the US for
once, will Bertie still continue to sanction our participation
in the US war efforts through the use of Shannon as
part of the military buildup? It will be interesting
to see how Bertie, the master wriggler gets of the
hook on this one. Even if the US goes it alone without
a UN Resolution will he make the annual pilgrimage
cap in hand to Pennsylvania Avenue in March to pay
homage to Pax Americana and our "special relationship."
Perhaps he and all other Irish political leaders should
task a stand and for once forego the shamrock and
the shenanigans and the shoneenism at the White House
this March, as a sign of the opposition of the Irish
people to the war plans of Bush and Blair. It time
we stood up and were counted.
Index: Current Articles + Latest News and Views + Book Reviews +
Letters + Archives
|
