IAUC Responds to Christian Science Monitor Article on Power-sharing

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