Ups and downs of Rising debate
It is encouraging that Irish society has the capacity to weigh a foundational rebellion in moral terms.
Be certain, in America there is no such debate regarding the morality of the American revolution.
This lack of self-reflection is one of the reasons America has proven so very vulnerable to the sort of moral failure that the nation currently displays.
Irish society should congratulate itself for allowing sanctimonious apologists for British imperialism and terrorism to criticise those who clearly don’t know how good their forebears had it under the British and, more importantly, for reflecting on whether its own actions - even the ones it holds most dear - were morally justified.
Yet it is also dismaying that, despite the level of spirited debate, there isn’t a recognition that what’s done is done and there remains a need to deal with where one goes from here.
However it happened and whatever its moral quality, the rebellion unfolded into independence from Britain. The nature of the imperialist British state is something that should always be rejected. It should not be forgotten because England today perpetuates its imperialist and terrorist legacy in Iraq as well as closer to home in Northern Ireland.
Today, unfortunately, the Irish Government provides passive support to imperialists and terrorists who are the latter-day equivalent of the British state that occupied and terrorised Ireland for centuries.
Shannon airport should be declared off-limits to military forces pursuing illegal wars of aggression or torture missions in keeping with Ireland’s declared neutrality.
The airport’s availability to such forces flies in the face of Irish public opinion, and thus in the face of the democratic ideals that the Irish republic is supposed to embody.
Let’s not shoot James Connolly over and over again.
Steven A Harrington
Black Ball View
Knockroe East
Allihies
Co Cork
