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IAUC board member Michael Cummings has written another fantastic letter on the media's coverage of politics in the north of Ireland, this time to the Christian Science Monitor:

February 1, 2010

Dear Editor:

I wish to commend  the insight of  “Northern Ireland:  power-sharing dispute threatens to freeze peace process” (1/30).  Your coverage of the conflict in Ireland has generally been more accurate and substantive  the other major papers but  10 years after the so called Good Friday Agreement  some still can’t get it right. 

Three points stand out in your summary which merit mention.  First, unlike a recent New York Times article by John Burns,  Jason Walsh did  not use the misleading buzzwords often supplied by British Information Services e. g. “the mostly Protestant DUP and the mostly Roman Catholic Sinn Fein.”  These phrases are meant to continue the myth of a religious struggle within Christianity in Ireland.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The struggle has always been about national and unionist politics and governance.  It amuses those in Sinn Fein to be so referenced as their positions often oppose Catholic church social teaching.  Second,  Professor Bean’s reference to the “choreographed …cyclical crises”  is right on point.  What many have come to realize is that the instigator and choreographer of all the staggering and stumbling politically is  a British government manipulating and pandering to their loyalist allies.  Third, the selection of commentators in the article are not the usual suspects.  In citing the views of Ms Purvis, Caragh O’Donnell, and Mick Fealty you more accurately portrayed the community views then the platitudes of politicians. 

Sincerely,

Michael J. Cummings

Member, National Board

From the Andersonstown News:

As unionist calls for financial reparations from Libya goes into overdrive, the Director of Relatives for Justice is appealing to the families of nationalist and republican victims to keep their minds focused on uncovering the truth.

Mark Thompson was speaking after a delegation of MPs from the North, including the DUP’s Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson, returned from Libya at the weekend hailing their mission as a success.
However, Mark says that he wouldn’t bank on the Libyan regime forking out for victims of IRA violence.

“The Libyans aren’t indicating that they are going to provide a compensation package,” he said. “If the Libyans are minded to do anything, and that’s a big if, it appears that it may be an overall general package aimed at the community, the business sector and victims and survivors, it would be available to everyone.”

RFJ have been inundated with calls about the Libya issue in recent weeks and they have in turn, been in contact with Libyan officials, says Mark.
“Only half of the truth has been going to Libya, we have been providing them with the whole truth,” he said.

“Ever since the news of this Libyan action entered the public domain after the release of Al Magrahi, families, rightly and understandably, were outraged at the hypocrisy and double standards of unionism and the British government – they quite rightly referenced the South African weapons and the role of the British in assisting the loyalists.

From Relatives for Justice:

Speaking in response to the DUP's motion concerning the re-definition of a victim of the conflict Relatives for Justice Chairperson Clara Reilly issued the following statement;
 
'Jeffrey Donaldson, and the DUP, are pandering to a very small constituency of people bereaved that are not representative of the broader community of those affected by the conflict who, unfortunately, have refused to move forward with the rest of us.
 
'Essentially this is an anti-agreement group - ironically created and exploited by the DUP during its opposition to the agreement.