Surely there are at least four groups of people who should be going to the courts in rage over the undemocratic treatment they are getting.
One is the Sinn Féin party which is being ruthlessly attacked. Another is those who are not members of that party but vote for Sinn Féin and are being denied their most basic democratic rights. A third is other political parties, especially the SDLP, who, if London and Dublin succeed in destroying Sinn Féin, will be their next target. And a fourth, those who are not members of Sinn Féin, who do not vote for Sinn Féin, have no sympathy with Sinn Féin policies, but have some regard for saving what progress we have made as Europeans towards democratic government.
All these four groups should be united in protest against one of the most vicious attacks on basic democratic principles we have seen since the dictators. We should also be proceeding with our best lawyers into the courts with a view to reaching the European courts as quickly and as effectively as possible.
Those interested in the possibility of taking such legal action should surely come together and talk about it privately and publicly. Or is it true that we have become so accustomed to being insulted that we don't notice it any more?
It is too serious to allow that to happen. It becomes most serious of all when those insulted get used to it and no longer notice it; and when those who insult you don't even recognise they are doing anything wrong (that helped the rise of the European dictators); and worst of all when those who are insulted feel it does not matter because they are powerless to do anything about it.
When all these factors come together, as they are doing in Ireland now, you are heading for big, big trouble. Because such is the Kingdom of the Dictators.
Just think about one current insult for a moment, an insult that nobody is saying anything about: a man just elected leader of one of the churches in Ireland, what does he do as one of his first public acts? Why, he insults the Catholics of course. Hardly a moment's delay. The new Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland publicly announces he is not going to invite the Catholic archbishop – who is the most eminent office-holder in the Irish Catholic Church – to his inauguration.
Does it matter? Well, just think about it. If you are having a party and you don't invite someone, what difference, people understand that. But if you are having a party and you announce publicly on radio and television that you are not inviting so and so, that is a carefully honed, fully intended affront. Who does that? Anyone you know? Probably not, because most of the people you know are guided by the ordinary rules of civilised behaviour among people for whom courtesy is important.
We are lucky in many ways, but one of the penalties for being well brought up and belonging to a good tradition of courtesy is that when discourtesy comes barging in at you, you feel a sense of betrayal and hurt all the more.
Most people will care about whether an archbishop goes to a Presbyterian Assembly just about as much as they would about whether Aunt Delilah invites Uncle Raymond to the christening. But every person involved will feel a sense of outrage if Aunt Delilah announces on radio and television and in the papers that Uncle Raymond is not being invited. Such rudeness is unlikely with most of us, but there is always a small minority of people for whom rudeness is great gas entirely.
The lack of outrage at this calculated affront to the Archbishop of Armagh makes one feel nervous that perhaps we are indeed getting so used to insults that we don't notice them any more. All the more reason why we should be hauling London and Dublin and others into court as early as possible and as often as necessary. To discipline them. To teach them manners.
They talk about a peace process. What peace process is possible if on the one hand you have governments denying the most basic of democratic principles and on the other you have public figures handing out insults to those who have treated them with the courtesy natural to them? What a pity it is when governments and others who could influence the situation in Ireland for good decide instead to select one set of people for degradation in the hope that thereby the other can flourish.
Ugh!
