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In defence of Longford judge
I READ with total shock and
disappointment the front page of the last issue of
your newspaper, which called for the resignation
of Judge John of Longford District Court.
In all honesty, his
statement threatening to ban coloured people from
stores was an overstatement, considering the fact
that not all coloured people shoplift. He forgot
that we have many coloured professionals in every
sector of the economy in this country. However, he
has made an apology for his comment, and to me his
widely published statement was not made out of
racism.
If we must call a spade a
spade, this learned gentleman was frustrated and
disturbed with the alarming increase in the number
of shoplifting cases he presides over in his
court, with people of African origin having a big
percentage.
As an immigrant paper, I
expect you people to call on these shameless
Africans to desist and retire from their shameful
criminal life, which has brought dishonour to
other Africans, instead of calling on the judge to
resign. We should remember that this man has
worked hard to attain his present position.
I want all Africans to
remember a statement by a Nigerian scholar Dr.
Matthew Hassan Kukah during his recent visit to
Dublin: Let’s remember the son or daughter of whom
we are.
These few people should
turn over a new leaf, instead of giving themselves
criminal records for pretty things.
As we make our bed so we
lie on it.
John Ohoro
Eyre Square
Galway
Letters to the Editor
War and Human Rights
Sir,
While many people will be astounded by the
Government’s somewhat contradictory positions on
Iraq and what seems to be a complete absence of
any ethical reasoning for it’s decisions on the
issue, the reality is that successive Irish
Governments have failed to elucidate any form of
ethical foreign policy.
Ireland has grown dependent on the EU, Britain
and the US for setting foreign policy with the
result that our stance on a range of issues is
anything but human rights-based. For instance,
less than 12 months ago, human rights groups
pleaded with the Irish-funded UNFPA to cease
supporting a population control programme in
Vietnam.
The money it seems, is being used to fund a
campaign of genocide against minorities such as
the Degar Peoples in Vietnam.
Yet, to this day, the funding continues and
rather like the innocent Iraqis - who will bear
the brunt of any war, and the human rights of
peoples in far away places such as Vietnam - seem
to be somehow less important. The anti-war
protests clearly illustrate that the Irish people
want a just and ethical foreign policy, a policy
that is first and foremost, human rights-based
rather than one based on economic or political
convenience.
Yours…
Luke Desbonet
Tuam Road, Galway
Letters
to the Editor
Tibetan National
Uprising Anniversary
Sir,
Many will be unaware that the 10th of March was
the anniversary of the Tibetan uprising of 1959,
when Tibetans staged a massive protest against the
occupation of their country by communist China.
The uprising was brutally suppressed by the
Chinese, and forced Tibet’s Dalai Lama into exile.
Following this, our then Foreign Affairs Minister
Frank Aiken, stood up at the United Nations and
attacked Chinese aggression against the Tibetan
People, in the most forthright and strident terms.
Ireland, during this period, had established
itself as an independent voice for the smaller and
poorer nations, a country that was not afraid to
point out the wrongs being perpetuated by other
more powerful states.
Sadly, Ireland’s stance on Tibet is now
governed by economic convenience.
The cultural genocide currently being
perpetuated rarely, if ever, receives Irish
Government attention. The only notable
contribution that Ireland has made in recent years
in respect of Tibet has been a financial one,
through our funding of the United Nations
Population Fund.
This fund, until recently, financially
supported the Chinese campaign of forced abortions
and sterilisations of Tibetan women, hardly a
laudable accomplishment.
The Irish Government would do well to recall
the words of Frank Aiken in 1959 at the United
Nations General Assembly, when speaking of the
suppression of the Tibetan people;
"Looking around this Assembly, and looking at
my own delegation, I think how many benches would
be empty here in this hall if it had always been
agreed that when a small nation or a small people
fell into the grip of a major power, no one could
ever raise their case here; that once they were a
subject nation, they must always remain a subject
nation."
Yours…
Mairtin O’ Maolruaidh.
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