Letters to the Editor, ‘DUP racists attack Irish language again’

Dear Editor,

Gregory Campbell used the opportunity of the DUP annual conference to declare that his party would treat the long-sought after Irish language Act like ‘toilet paper’.

His comments were greeted with loud applause by the assembled bigots who had previously cheered when he had held a yogurt pot aloft to the conference.

Earlier this month Campbell caused deep offense when he uttered the words ‘Curry my yogurt can coca coalyer’ as a parody of the Irish language ‘Go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle’ (thank you speaker) in the chamber of Stormont.

It might be possible to take some comfort if Campbell’s comments were the uttering of a lone racist, but they aren’t. His utterances about the Irish language are reflective of the racist, sectarian, homophobic and misogynistic ideology at the core of the DUP.

Founded by Ian Paisley in 1971 the DUP has been built upon a repugnant foundation of religious-political supremacy over the Catholic / nationalist population of the Six Counties.

Whilst claiming to be a ‘law and order’ party the DUP have never been afraid to use the muscle of the ‘loyal orders’ and the unionist death squads to intimidate the Catholic / nationalist population and political opponents from within what it sees as its’ ‘community’.

The DUP should be viewed in the same category as the KKK, Golden Dawn and other facist / racist organisations. As such they should be challenged and confronted at every opportunity by all right-thinking people.

But instead the political establishment, in both the Six and Twenty-Six Counties, treat them as allies and partners to implement austerity and privatisation policies across the island.

Only this month Sinn Féin and the other smaller parties in Stormont signed off on another DUP-led austerity budget in the Six Counties – further cutting public services and transferring yet more public funds into private hands.

Instead of effectively challenging and excluding the hate-mongering of the DUP, the political establishment have chosen to place it at the heart of ‘government’ in the Six Counties.

Providing a clearly racist and fascist organisation, like the DUP, with this type of political cover is not only morally wrong, it is also extremely dangerous as it legitimises and mainstreams their extreme-right wing ideology.

History is littered with the consequences of what happens to minorities on the ground when parties like the DUP are accepted as ‘normal’ and fitting partners for governance.

It is long past time for Sinn Fein, the SDLP, the Alliance party and others to remove their fig leaf of political cover from the DUP.

Stephen Murney – Eirigi Newry

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=47023

Posted by Newry Times News on Nov 26 2014. Filed under Community, Letters to the Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry