March 30, 2016
Letters Editor
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
358 North Shore Dr
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Dear Editor:
Ms. Keating and Mr. McCabe offered a measured and qualified commentary on the Easter Rising implications (“The Easter Rising 100 Years later” 3/27) which eclipsed the British propaganda editorial in the New York Times. Well done.
But to clarify three points. Those who died on Hunger Strike were initially classified as political prisoners and with a stroke of Margaret Thatcher’s pen became common criminals. The glorification of the gun is a British Imperial tradition not an Irish one. Anyone observing the Trooping of the Color in London will ready acknowledge that. In 1916 Dublin was the British commercial hub and references to a “tiny section” of rebel followers and ‘vast majority of Irish Volunteers” marched to war with the British Empire are qualitative British terms without historical substantiation.
Their concluding admonition for “..all Irish-Americans to “..recognize this country [the 26 county Republic of Ireland] has come of age” is unfortunate. The UK has ignored Belfast Agreement Treaty obligations; interferes with Ireland’s political process with media manipulation; and spies from Cheltenham to mock Ireland’s citizens privacy. Until the “murder policy” of Britain recently described by Amnesty International and documented in A VERY BRITISH JIHAD( Larkin) and LETHAL ALLIES (Cadwallader) is fully disclosed, Ireland remains a colony, a client State.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Cummings
12 Marion Ave
Albany, New York 12203-1814
518-650-6049
Michael J. Cummings, a native of Springfield, Mass., is a graduate of St. Anselm’s College (B. A., 1968) and New York University (M. P. A., 1970) and a former member of the National Boards of the Irish American Unity Conference (1996-2013), the Ancient Order of Hibernians (2001-2008), and the Irish Northern Aid Committee (1988-1996). He served six National AOH Presidents, 5 IAUC National Presidents and two National Chairman of INA primarily in public relations capacities. He is the only person to serve on the national policy making bodies of all three major Irish American organizations. He also served on the Commission on Peace and Justice of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
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