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Dear Richard and others, You distinguish between the Irish and the British public in your second paragraph below. I'd like to point out that the Celtic peoples in general have a completely different point of view (Weltanschauung) to social and political issues than the English. I am native Welsh, and my upbringing and knowledge about the Irish situation, as well as the Middle East, has always been very different than my English counterparts. This is notwithstanding the same exposure to media propoganda. Some cultures in Britain seem to be able to recognise essentially English establishment (or Oxbridge) views and to maintain a critical attitude in relation to them. This does not mean, however, that we have as yet worked out a constructive and innovative social and political strategy to offset the English status quo. We need to do this, and together with people of goodwill who are themselves "English". I was proud to be with such people, and many other cultural groups, at the vigil outside Cambridge Guildhall on August 6th to mourn the 9th anniversary of sanctions against the Iraqi peoples. The Irish Government and people also have the respected advantage of having worked hard to attain a highly respected position in the European Community. The English, meanwhile, have remained caught up in US antagonism to a united and democratic Europe. As Europeans, we will have to work long and hard to develop and maintain our putative European Project. And the militaristic English establishment will have to decide to commit to this, or to remain a distant satellite of the US. Vicky Russell On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, richard byrne wrote: > > Dear all, > On August 6th I joined Cork CND in commemorating the 9th anniversary of > sanctions on Iraq by protesting at the airport in Cork. Cork CND > members held a city centre protest the next day on Saturday 7th August, > and are now adopting this as an ongoing campaign. > > Reaction from Irish people was far more sympathetic than the British > public, including the man in the photocopying shop who gave a discount > on petition photocopying when he saw that it was an anti sanctions > petition. > Why the difference? > Maybe its easy to sniff at foreign policy enforced by someone else's > government, or maybe its freedom from the media bombardment in the UK. > But it was encouraging to find that people encountering the issue often > for the first time reacted in a natural way that was reassuring about > humanity. > (Incidentally the Irish F.O. while not distancing themselves from the > US and UK, did say that they "liked the French proposals " for lifting > the sanctions.) > > Richard Byrne. > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com > > -- > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. > To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT > the whole list. Please do not sent emails with attached files to the list > *** Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html *** > -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Please do not sent emails with attached files to the list *** Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html ***