A Tangled Web

Cads in the Capital



IRA Army Council member and 'MP' in self-imposed exile, Gerry Adams, is off to London to speak at the launch of the European Social Forum. I'd imagine Gerry would expect us all to thrown our hats in the air at the sight of him speaking in the city instead of excusing its destruction through nitroglycerine nefariousness.



The guest list reads like a headcount of a local lunatic asylum. First off, there's newt-loving Ken - himself partial to a bit a Irish republican propaganda. Other cranks include Gareth Pierce, a solicitor who would probably take Osama Bin Laden to bed to persuade him to choose her as his Brief; various Sinn Fein personalities; obscure trade union leaders; Michael Finucane, the son of the man who was perpetually shy in revealing his alter-ego; and the leader of a Belfast mosque. Doubtless the Irish republican contingent will use the time to persuade crowds of assembled gullible dimwits that genocide, mass slaughter, kneecappings galore and punishment beatings can be airbrushed away as trifling consequences of UK sovereignty over Northern Ireland.



I would like to suggest my own list of key speakers for the chosen topics. How about the following:



War and Peace - Sir Norman Tebbit



Democracy and Fundamental Rights - Michelle Williamson



Social and Women's Rights - The children of Jean McConville



Global Justice - President Alvaro Uribe (whose father was kidnapped and killed by FARC)



Against Racism and the Far Right - The families of Joseph Lemmon, Reginald Chapman, Walter Chapman, Kenneth Worton, James McWhirter, Robert Chambers, John McConville, John Bryans, Robert Freeburn and Robert Walker (the victims of the Kingsmill massacre who were singed out and killed because they were Protestants)



Sustainable Society - Martin McGartland



Now, a gathering with these speakers would actually get to the truth of the underlying personas of Irish republicanism over four decades.