Mála Poist

Catholic award for Thatcher difficult to comprehend

A Chairde,

It beggars belief that Margaret Thatcher has been awarded the highest honour that the Catholic Church can bestow for her work in "promoting better understanding and dialogue between different faiths" (my quotation marks).

In a ceremony at Westminster Cathedral, the former British Prime Minister was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Francesco Pompedda. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor was also in attendance at the ceremony, where Thatcher was welcomed into the order with an insignia and scroll inscribed with her name.

Understandably, this was greeted with incredulity in many sectors of society. Labour MP Stephen Pound was absolutely staggered by the award. "It would be difficult to find a more inappropriate recipient of a Papal honour. She is a person who has promoted division at every turn. For thousands of my constituents her policies led to unemployment, negative equity and generally promoted misery in communities," said Pound. "Central to the ethos of Thatcher was that there was no such thing as community, which runs contrary to the core teachings of the Catholic Church."

Fr Jerry Kivlehan of the London Irish Centre expressed "incredible surprise" when he heard of the award. "She made very little effort to understand ethnic groups like the Irish. Her attitude toward the Hunger Strikes in Northern Ireland and the imposition of the poll tax spring to mind. There are certainly others more deserving of awards for their services to the poor and marginalised in society."

These sentiments were echoed by Ellen Teague, a peace activist: "Justice and peace activists at grassroots level will be very disappointed to hear that the Vatican is to give Margaret Thatcher a papal award. I would have thought the church's social teaching would preclude such an honour being handed to a former world leader who publicly stated that she did not believe there was such a thing as society. Her very name stands for policies such as monetarism, privatisation and hostility to trade unions which have undermined the fabric of British society."

I am sure that it is not alone people in England who are astounded by the bestowing of this award. Thatcherite policies regarding the coal mining industry decimated Welsh communities in the 1980s, a decimation from which they have not recovered. Closer to home, her indifference to the H-Block Hunger Strikers and her insistence that Bobby Sands was a British subject living in part of the 'United Kingdom' illustrated her unwillingness to recognise the rights and sensitivities of others.

During Thatcher's term as Prime Minister, 10,000 individuals in the Six Counties were convicted in non-jury courts on confession evidence obtained by torture and ill-treatment in interrogation centres. In 1979, the British government inquiry, the Bennett Report, disclosed that 1,600 formal complaints of assault backed up by medical evidence had been lodged. Not one RUC officer was questioned, charged or convicted.

Thatcher has repeatedly referred to former Chilean dictator, Augusta Pinochet as 'her friend'. Pinochet is a deeply hated enemy of his people. He headed up the US-backed junta that overthrew the Allende government in 1973. At least 30,000 Chileans were killed or "disappeared" during the coup and in the following years under Pinochet's rule. More than one million people were forced to flee the country and become exiles. One could go on and on.

The decision by the Vatican to bestow an honour on a woman whose arrogant interference in other countries and her support for despotic dictators resulted in so much pain and suffering is inexplicable. As a person who is well aware of her human rights' record and also as a Roman Catholic, I am disappointed that this tribute was seen as fitting and one of which Thatcher was deserving.

Cllr Risteárd Ó Fuaráin,

Sinn Féin Chiarraí, Trá Lí.

Support Coke boycott

A Chairde,

An International Boycott on Coca-Cola products was launched this July by the World Social Forum, of which we are indirectly associated (the Irish Social Forum of which to my knowledge Sinn Féin is a member, is a member of the World Social Forum).

College Cumainn throughout Dublin and perhaps further afield are actively campaigning for a Ban on Coca-Cola products in their respective campuses.

The Bring Them Home Campaign has welcomed the International Boycott as anything that exposes the horrendous human rights abuses in Colombia can only help Martin, Jim and Niall's case.

Seán Crowe even met with workers in a Coke plant in his recent visit to Colombia.

Isn't it about time then that we came out with an official position and publicly supported the International Boycott against Coca-Cola products?

For more information see: http://www.killercoke.org

Seán Ó hAdhmaill,

Dublin 5.

Ógra logo

A Chairde,

We are writing in protest at the recent change in the Ógra Shinn Féin logo. We feel that the petrol bomb on the old logo doesn't necessarily have to be a symbol of violence and that it represents the radical Republican Youth struggle against imperialism. The Easter Lily also represented the start of the republican struggle from which we evolved. Our attitude is that if something isn't broken, why fix it?

The main grievance with the logo is that it closely resembles graffiti. Is it not hypocritical for republicans to be against anti-social behaviour while having such a logo? West Waterford Ógra is boycotting the new logo as we feel it is an embarrassment to republicanism.

We are also writing to publicise the crisis in Ógra regarding leadership. Put simply, we have none. It is necessary for Ogra to have a leadership to draw the party's attention to youth issues. We think an Ógra convention is needed as soon as possible. There is also large scale misinformation within Ógra itself, and this problem could be rectified with an Ógra newsletter.

Ógra Shinn Féin,

Dún Garbhán.

No tax breaks for film industry

A Chairde,

I found it a bit predictable that Sinn Féin called on Charlie McCreevy to reverse his decision to eliminate the film making tax incentive. How can this be squared with calling for the low corporation tax to be raised?

Why does Sinn Féin feel they have to side with the arts, rightly or wrongly? I have always found the arts to be elitist. I'm no tax expert but it seems to me that the companies that the low tax entices into Ireland have been mildly beneficial to the ordinary working man and woman, certainly bringing jobs with more long-term prospects than the film industry, where jobs by their very nature are temporary, as a film has to be shot within a short timescale.

I'd also question whether films bring in tourists to the extent the film industry would like us to believe. Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan may have been shot on location in Ireland using the FCA as cheap labour, but any filmgoer thinking of going on vacation with these films in mind is going to end up in Scotland or walking beaches in France.

Michael Walsh,

Limerick.