Ireland: Proud Gays and Shy Provos Sat, 12 Feb 2000 02:42:16 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Irish News 9 Feb 2000 Proud gays and ashamed Provisionals By Ray O'Hanlon EENIE Meenie Miney Provo. Over the last couple of years the pendulum in the American press has gone one way, then the other, on the matter of who is the baddest crowd in Northern Ireland. The Unionists have had rough weeks and so too have Sinn Fein, either as a separate entity, or lumped in with the IRA. Last week was a bad one for both, but mostly for the Provos. As a long shadow fell over the political wing of the peace process, editorial writers from New York to Los Angeles and Washington DC to Chicago, took the Provisionals to task for not coughing up some, if not all, of their weapons. For David Trimble, in contrast, it was all pure hay. Knocked more than once in the past by editorial writers, Trimble was the man of the moment, a veritable Captain Courageous. "The fault lies squarely with the Irish Republican Army, which has taken no steps toward handing over its arms." opined the Washington Post. The Post didn't leave at simply the Provos. Sinn Fein dodged the Post's bullet but the Clinton administration and Irish-America's political leadership was given the lash. "For neither the administration nor the leadership in congress is willing to denounce the IRA for its intransigence. The silence harms the prospects for a settlement that was once a fine-testament to American's peace-making prowess," the Post stated. The paper pointed out that the "Irish lobby in Congress" had never missed a chance to denounce Protestant intransigence. But now a deafening silence was coming from the likes of Senator Edward Kennedy and Congressmen such as Pete King and Ben Gilman, chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee. King and Gilman, along with Richard Neal and Joe Crowley - all four are co-chairs of the Ad-Hoc Committee for Irish Affairs - had previously condemned what they described as "artificial deadlines on the decommissioning issue." That cut little mustard with the Post. "The apparent one-sidedness is out of step with Irish popular opinion..... Meanwhile the White House waffles, perhaps believing that private pressure on the IRA is more effective. But the IRA's leaders need to know that their allies in this country will not indulge them if they break up the peace process. The president should publicly insist that the IRA begin disarmament." The tone was not very different in the Chicago Tribune. "Trimble's courage has not faltered: Adam's assurances as to the IRA's disarmament plans have rung false." According to the Tribune, the IRA's position that its guns were silent and that it posed no threat to the peace process was "utter nonsense." The editor concluded by stating that the IRA had to begin giving up its "vast arsenal" as a show of good faith, "or it will have to shoulder the responsibility for a return to British rule in Northern Ireland. And if Gerry Adams cannot persuade them to do so, he must admit to having misled not just his political opponents, but also the Catholic people of Northern Ireland, whom he has claimed to represent." In New York, it wasn't much better for Adams, or the IRA. "It came as no surprise, but its profoundly disappointing nonetheless, that peace in Northern Ireland seems to be foundering on the refusal of the Irish Republican Army to start turning in its weapons," wrote the New York Post. The New York Times editorial headline read: "Dangerous Stall by the IRA: The Times accused the IRA of running the risk of "reawakening a conflict that almost all of Northern Ireland's people want to see ended for good." The paper decided that "Ulster Unionists quite rightly, are feeling abused." The Los Angeles Times was of the view that "decommissioning should begin at once" while The Christian Science Monitor, a paper respected for its foreign coverage, blamed the situation on an "unwillingness by the IRA to leave behind a way of life built on the threat of violence." Meanwhile, and a big meanwhile at that, there is no peace process whatsoever afoot in the long running feud between the organisers of the New York St Patrick's day parade and the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organisation over the latter group's demand that it be allowed to march in the parade behind its own banner. ILGO, indeed, in now waging a war on multiple fronts. A case opened in federal court in Manhattan last week pitting ILGO against the City of New York, it mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, and the New York police. And in what promises to be an unusual hearing, a six-member jury is to decide whether ILGO has been denied its civic and constitutional rights over exclusion from the parade. The case taken by ILGO was rejected by the same federal court back in 1996. However, it was subsequently sent back for trial by a federal court of appeals. ILGO contends in the suit that the city should award the group a parade permit so it can conduct a "legal" protest march up Fifth Avenue, the route of the parade, on St Patrick's day. "Its very unusual for a case like this to get a hearing." said ILGO spokeswoman Anne Maguire. Maguire, a Dubliner, and a familiar figure in ILGO ranks over 10 years of St Patrick's day protests, was the first witness in the court hearing. ILGO is arguing that it has a constitutional right to free expression, just as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which runs the parade, enjoy. ILGO arguments have been heard in courtrooms before, but this will be the first time that they will be considered by a jury. "Once ILGO exposes in open court the discriminatory practices of the police department, the mayor and the city administration, we are confident that our rights will be vindicated by a fair and impartial jury." ILGO said in a statement. ILGO came to court aided pro-bono by one of New York's biggest law firms. The Hibernians were also allowed to state their case to the jury. The confrontation brings back memories of previous rounds in court back in the early nineties. ILGO and the Hibernians slugged themselves to a standstill at the time, the Hibernians eventually coming out winners. Ironically, the city was on ILGO's side in those early days of protest. But 10 of years on, New York is a different town with a different mayor. Like the parade itself, the row spawned by conflicting views of rights, and what is right, is now spanning the centuries. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytsxp-02.12.00-02:42:17-25060