STORMONT DEBATE ON MARIAN PRICE INTERNMENT

international | crime and justice | news report

Saturday February 04, 2012 11:35

by BrianClarkeNUJ - AllVoices

Still Sectarian Bigotry

A sectarian bigoted debate on the re-introduction of political internment without trial in the instance of Marian Price in British occupied Ireland with video.

The Political Interment Of Marian Price

The debate on the internment without trial of Marian Price, tabled by the SDLP MLA Pat Ramsay, was conducted on the 30th of January 2012. To any seasoned observer of the politics of Stormont, once dubbed " a Protestant parliament for a Protestant people, " by Lord Craigavon the father of Unionism, the debate was a throwback to the same sectarian bigoted Parliament, prior to the Irish Civil Rights Movement, the introduction of internment by Brian Faulkner and the ensuing 40 years of war with British Occupation on the Irish street.

The debate followed traditional strict sectarian lines, without an ounce of humanity or wisdom learned from the experiences of the heartbreaking conflict. The debate opened with an impassioned plea from SDLP MLA Pat Ramsay along humanitarian lines, pointing out the recruiting potential of internment, which previously filled Provisional ranks, when they then campaigned stridently against it. Not so on this occasion, there was an insipid talk from Sinn Fein's Raymond McCartney along with an embarrassing um-ah meandering hesitancy, from his colleague Ms McCann.

The Unionist bloc with their colleagues in Alliance engaged in finger pointing on Marian Price's failure to learn the lessons from the past conflict oblivious in their own denial in their bigoted sectarian diatribes. The Sinn Fein delivery of Ray McCartney was insipid while his colleague Ms. McCann was notable with her meandering, um-ah contribution lacking any display of sisterly, solidarity, contrasting sharply with the SDLP position, of holding MI5 to account, along with their unaccountable English Home Secretary.

Alban Magginnis delivered a passionate, oration on modern, civilized, enlightened standards of progressive democracies, dealing with political dissidents of conscience or in this instance a traditional Irish republican, which fell on closed minds guaranteed to keep the Occupied British scum state, in everlasting prejudice, bloodshed and ignorance. Nothing it appears has changed with either this British colonial parliament or its neo-colonial equivalent in the south, other than a few cosmetic exercises besides the inclusion of pathetic, provisionals whimpering, since the establishment of both Stormont and Leinster House, less than century ago.

In a bitter debate in Stormont on 24 April 1934 on the rights of Catholics, Lord Craigavon asserted at length,: "Since we took up office we have tried to be absolutely fair towards all the citizens of Northern Ireland. Actually, on an Orange platform, I, myself, laid down the principle, to which I still adhere, that I was Prime Minister not of one section of the community but of all, and that as far as I possibly could I was going to see that fair play was meted out to all classes and creeds without any favour whatever on my part."

George Leeke replied: "What about your Protestant Parliament?". Craigavon replied: "The hon. Member must remember that in the South they boasted of a Catholic State. They still boast of Southern Ireland being a Catholic State. All I boast of is that we are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State. It would be rather interesting for historians of the future to compare a Catholic State launched in the South with a Protestant State launched in the North and to see which gets on the better and prospers the more. It is most interesting for me at the moment to watch how they are progressing. I am doing my best always to top the bill and to be ahead of the South."

http://www.causes.com/causes/650765-bbc-democracy-live-... ;@

http://bit.ly/BIGOTSdebate