From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Apr 15 1998 - 14:25:46 MDT
From: mark@unicorn.com
>Only one problem... the Irish government have made clear on many
>occasions that they don't want the IRA and definitely don't want
>the Northern Protestants; AFAIR they even changed their
>constitution recently to remove any claim on Northern Ireland. You
>can't seriously suggest dumping millions of Protestants into one
>of the most staunchly Catholic countries on the planet?
Who's dumping who? They already live there..... When I was a
practicing Catholic most of my neighbors were Protestant, we didn't
go around killing each other over it. The difference in religion is
just a small part of it.
>Uh, so an Irish Protestant who was born in Ireland, grew up in
>Ireland, lives in Ireland, and comes from a family that's been
>living in Ireland for centuries is an invader? I think you're
>letting emotion get in the way of reality; which is the main
>reason why nothing has been solved in Ireland despite decades of
>warfare.
Loyalists do not consider Northern Ireland part of Ireland, nor
themselves Irish, but a party of Britain and themselves British
citizens.
>In reality, of course, while the soldiers have on many occasions
>acted reprehensively against the Republicans -- and IMHO some
>should have been up in court on murder charges for it -- their
>main job is to keep the Republican extremists and Unionist
>extremists apart, not to act as an invading force.
Like a few months ago when they led the Loyalists on a march
through Catholic neighborhoods?
>But the vast majority of Northern Irish don't want that, and the
>Irish government don't want that, so how is it going to happen?
>Trust me, the majority of British people and government would be
>glad to get rid of Northern Ireland and give it to the South if
>they could do so.
I've never met anyone of Irish decent who did not want
reunification. If troops are needed to keep the factions apart for
now they should be U.N. troops, not British soldiers. This would be
a good first step.
This is the extropian component of this subject, how could we
resolve this conflict, and what actions could we take in the future
to avoid creating these situations?
Brian
Member,Extropy Institute
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