During me recent travels in the USA I tried to keep in touch with developments here since the June election. I heard that May and her Tories needed the DUP to form a government in Westminster and I thought ‘happy days’. This is bound to end in disaster for both parties. It is a good result for those of us who are opposed to any return to a border of any kind on this island. It is a good result for Jeremy and Labour party and it is time he was thinking about his future cabinet.
It was not easy to find out what was going on since the news in the US is dominated by the actions and utterances of one Donald J Trump. Every word he utters, every twitter he posts is broadcast and analysed on the TV news. It is interesting to watch the differing interpretations on the two main News channels – CNN opposed to Trump and Fox News which is very pro-Trump. The pro-Trump analysts on Fox News remind me of the arrogance of the DUP spokespeople –especially Jeffrey Donaldson. The Trump supporters are never afraid to insult and abuse members of the Democratic Party or anyone else who does not support their point of view. I also realised how deprived we are here without a news channel that challenges or opposes the pro-British viewpoint.
I tried to get the New York Times every day, even though it is a pro-British paper- a bit like the Irish Times. I remember that when I was in New York during the hunger-strike in 1981, the British government agents in New York and Washington were feeding the NY Times every day with Brit propaganda. At present the NY Times seem to have two reporters in London –Ed O’Loughlin and Steve Erlanger- who report on matters relating to ‘Norn’ Ireland. Of course they would never dare use the term ‘Norn’, always ‘Northern Ireland’, which is “a province” of the UK somewhere out in the Atlantic off the coast of Scotland. I am not sure if they refer toScotland as ‘a province of the UK? I doubt if either of these reporters ever set a foot in any part of Ireland. There is never a mention that this so-called ‘province of the UK’ happens to be part of a small island called Ireland and that it has always been part of the historic Irish nation until the British decided, after the 1916 rebellion, to partition this island in order to maintain its influence and control with the help of the Unionist party at the time. It had prepared for this by using the old colonial tactic of divide and conquer throughout the 1800s. They used all kinds of propaganda like Home Rule is Rome rule to build up an armed resistance to the political movement for Irish independence. It was this decision by the British that further divided the Irish people.
For British propaganda purposes according to the NY Times, Sinn Fein is ‘a mainly Catholic party’. According to the NY Times the other main party in the ‘province’ is “the mainly Protestant” Democratic Unionist Party (sounds better than the DUP) which wants to remain part of the United Kingdom. The New York Times takes a very sympathetic view of the Unionists and of the British government’s efforts to bring peace to this troubled land. The British are, after all, their oldest allies even if they were once their oppressors.
Anyway, the tide is turning and things are not the same anymore and before long those reporters for the NY Times will have to come to Ireland to report on the growing demand for independence and sovereignty. They will not be able to do that in London because the momentum is here on the island of Ireland.
By the way, I found that, during my travels, the best commentary by far about what is happening here is on the Jude Collins blog and I was able to tune in almost every day until my credit ran out.
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