Value our young people

A Chairde,

Thank you for the article by Mick Derrig on male suicide.

He says ``this is a very discriminating killer... almost always the victims are young males''. Absolutely, but he did not mention that almost all are a certain type of young male. They are almost always gentle, quiet, seemingly happy young men and friends and family cannot figure out what has gone wrong.

Could I add that it is not just the image of their father's life that does not appeal to them. Many of these young men simply do not relate to their own peers, who now have to compete even more ruthlessly than previous generations to climb the social/economic ladder. There is nothing wrong with the young suicidal men themselves but there is very much wrong with the society in which we all live. We are all poorer for the loss of these sensitive people whose dream in life was not attainable in this hurried, rigidly structured world.

It may not be obvious but we really are entering a new age in which the whole person will be nourished and valued. The sooner we get together to join up the existing networks of complementary health, education, banking and communication, etc., the sooner we will welcome in the new age of which our gentle brothers and sisters are the heralds.

We all need courage to face down the Vincent Brownes of this life. There is a mean streak in our media which I believe Mr. Browne typifies. On the other hand, a broadcaster like Anne Daly is worth emulating if audience is to be informed and interviewee respected. It would take someone of her calibre to air this subject with the awe and humility it deserves.

Mick, it may seem that ``no one else seems to care'' but it really is that people are lost for words to empathise. Families are doing their best for their children but the social environment can be a very hard place. People are so shattered when there is a suicide in their family that they often retreat into themselves in shock.

My own beautiful, gentle, smiling niece committed suicide when she was 24. I could not begin to describe what this loss has meant to our family.

So it really is up to people as a whole who value a truly cross-gifted society to help ensure that all our young people are valued for what they are.

Noelle Ryan,
Belfast.

Male Suicide

Mick Derrig makes a passionate plea to concern ourselves with the high preponderance of young men among suicides - young men who don't want to enter a manhood ``that is derided and discarded by an aggressive male-hating ideology... in a state where social policy is based on the immaculate conception, where the father doesn't exist''.

There is much that is objectionable in the vision of manhood society holds out to youth, not least of which is the male as the master race, which the `aggressive male hater' has sometimes derided, in an unsuccessful attempt to discard. Is this the ideology which might help young people to face into their manhood?

Pity about them.

The master-slave relationship does not make for happy campers on either side. Nor is it every young man's wish to join `masterhood/manhood', especially if it holds out female circumcision, foot binding, or just slapping around as the preferred way to realise his masterhood.

Thrusting a seed into the receptacle is scarcely sufficient grounds to demand a part in the upbringing of the progeny. The mores of the state no longer guarantee you that part which failure to communicate as humans might rob you of.

Pity about it.

I don't personally look to ``PfP to put a value on young male Irish lives'', or accept the ideology of masterhood, which underlies NATO's designs for aggrandisement, as the recipe to deal with young men's alienation, Irish or not.

It's the very rejection of the master/slave relationship, as it persists, and the aspiration of a conversant partnership of two human beings, that might ground a tolerable vision of humanity for when you grow up.

There is more than the father missing from the immaculate conception.

Name and address supplied.

Death by Assassination

Murder Will Out

After more than 200 years, we now have more than circumstantial evidence of Wolfe Tone's last days in jail and it reinforces all nationalist opinion that his death was contrived by the British.

In July of 1973, a document was discovered in Paris written by the French emigré medical doctor who attended Tone in his last days in jail. This document was taken back to Dublin and not translated from Latin to English until last year. The doctor, Benjamin Lentaigne, was a member of the English army, the 15th Dragoon Guards, and a man hostile to the revolution.

Briefly, he recorded ``an unusual neck wound suffered by an `unnamed' prisoner which indictaed that a pistol bullet passed through his throat (etc. etc.). This account is given in The Irish Journal of Medical Science last year.

To cover up their foul deed, the government refused repeated requests by Tone's family to have their medical doctor admitted to see their son, but all to no avail. It is fairly obvious the government had something to hide and were afraid their assassination attempt - botched though it was - would be exposed and the French government would take reprisals on the many English army officers who at that time were POWs in France, if Tone were executed and not accorded his status as an officer of the French army to avoid the death sentence. To cover up, the French doctor simply slashed Tone's throat and the English lie was born; death by suidice.

Some time previously, Napper Tandy, another United Irishman, was arrested and sentenced to death, but being also a French army officer, he claimed POW status and was released. Tone knew he had the same avenue if need be, but the government would not let their most dangerous individual go free, so his death was engineered to make the French think it was suicide.

Down the years, the British have always peddled their lie as to the truth of Tone's death in order to discredit him and his ideas for a country free from British interference. This lie has been perpetuated by pro-British historians for the same motives as their friends in London. Many Irish clergy, Catholic bishops included, have strenuously denounced Tone and all he stood for; one bishop a few years ago, referring to Tone, called him ``cut-throat Tone''. The money that went to build Maynooth by the British government was being repaid with interest.

Cathal Quinn,
Killala,
County Mayo.

Fundamentalist motives

A Chairde,

I read Pádraig MacDabhaid's article titled ``Fundamentalism and unionism not far apart'' and would like to add a clarifying statement about politically motivated fundamentalists and true God fearing fundamentalists.

True fundamentalism is apolitical and preaches a ``greater'' love for one's brother and sister. It's about using biblical principles to guide one's life for the glory of God and the betterment of mankind. Politically motivated fundamentalists preach accendancy, superiority and sectarianism. It's about using power and deception for pride, politics and the glory of oneself.

While I agree with Mr MacDabhaid's statements about Clifford Peebles, I would like to let you know that there are a few of us republican fundamentalists out there who know where to draw the line between politics and faith.

Arthur Costigan,
Easton,
Pennsylvania,
USA.

Colourblind detention

A Chairde,

Recently Dino, an East Timorese acquaintance of mine was singled out and detained by immigration officials at Dublin airport.

Although Dino is Timorese, he is also a Portuguese and therefore, European passport holder, legally living and studying at university in Dublin. He was returning to Dublin on this Euro/Portuguese passport.

For what other reason would he have been singled out from all the other passengers going through the Euro passport corridor other than because of the colour of his skin?

That's what this country has come to under the dictatorship of the minister for ``Justice'', John O'Donoghue.

Derek Redican,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24

Paddy's Parade disgrace

A Chairde,

Having read the article online in An Phoblacht regarding the SDLP backing unionists as far as funding the St. Patricks Day Parade 2000 in Belfast, I'm shocked.

Should an international petition of some sort be circulated to help turn the tide on funding for the parade I would be happy to sign it.

Thank you for your fine publication.

Charles McLaughlin,
Albuquerque,
New Mexico,
USA