Time for Reflection: The Celtic Tradition

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Sat Feb 12, 2005 20:33

Kevin, a most enlightening article.

Today, a Saturday yields the next edition of the Village...I find the content most interesting.

I now only grasp Gerry Adams comments:

'The publication of the so-called 'Independent' Monitoring Commission Report this week has further exacerbated the situation. The IMC is a child of the British and Irish governments. To create it, they had to step outside the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, and the Taoiseach has a representative on it' .
The IMC is entirely dependent upon British Security and intelligence agencies.........(Consider Pat Finucane case......)

Now what about the Rule of Law, the Geneva Convention? What about Ireland and US planes landing in Shannon?.....What about eminent Queen's Counsel like Michael Mansfield who quite open state their position regarding the breach of the Geneva Convention by the UK and their intervention in the War in Iraq?

Weapons of Mass Destruction did not exist in Iraq inspite of of all Intelligence.....in fact Dr. Kelly was short of humiliated by investigations about his findings. We must all note, he chose to take his life.......the pain and doubt cast upon his judgment no doubt had a large part to pay.

And here we are in Ireland......approaching the conclusion of 10 years hard work in a peace process that has worldwide implications....

There is a robbery from a bank.....a lot of money was stolen......but remember people did not die or like in Iraq continue to die.....

My grandfather was a Judge at the time of the Rising and thereafters in Ireland. I never met him but people often pass on sayings he used......The one that means most to me is 'Beware of the Vested Interests?

Immediately, I say why did our Irish Government agree to the IMC - to the lay mind it appears that vested interests may be a problem, particularly as it lies outside the terms of the 'Agreement'.

I value Justice; I command both Common Law; and the Law in England. Many people are in fact interested in the Old Brehon law which pre-dates English Law and pre-dates the introduction of Law to Ireland by Queen Elizabeth in 1500.

I met a young South African several years ago; we exchange letters but the one token she left with me was the advice to read obituaries.

Presently in the South of Ireland many people who hold or held positions of importance are embraced by corruption allegations!!!

Mentors, Role Models, are an essential to people. I noted recently in the Economist the Obituary of Lord Scarman and I thought I would share it with you....

Leslie George Scarman, a Lawyer and Judge died on December 8th at the age of 93.

This is a man who rose via scholarships through the ranks of the legal profession.

Lord Scarman was man appointed to investigate the Brixton Riots in 1981. He took this assignment on board by being able to enter schools and community halls to talk to the ordinary people and find out what happened. The chaos spread to other cities and the police were carrying out Stop and Search on as many black young men as possible. The stabbing of a young man brought the matter to ahead. This was deemed to be the worst outreak of disorder in Britain in the 20th century.

Interestingly and what ought to be the case: Lord Scarman's report stated the obvious. It found that the area was horribly deprived with unemployment figures among young black men of close to 50%.

The report stated that the 'policing was often immature and racially prejudiced'.......it went so far as to say the riots were a simple response to perceived harassment by white officers. What this indicates is the ability to learn from the social problems in America and try to avoid ghettos in England.

These were ground-breaking recommendations.......what has happened viz a viz the 'Independent' Monitoring Commission and 'say their vested interest and no tangible evidence'

Lord Scarman had impressive career, he had got a scholarship to Radley and then to Oxford. He was called to the Bar in 1936 and took silk (Queens Counsel) in 1957. He was appointed a High Court Judge in 1961 and by 1965 he was appointed the first Chairman of the Law Commission (appointed by Labour Government) to rationalise and codify the statutory laws of England. He was particularly good at deleting the defunct bits of legislation.

The Conservatives were deemed not to trust him yet it was difficult to piggeonhole him politically.

Lord Scarman chaired the Inquiry into the Northern Ireland Unrest of 1969. As in the Brixton Inquiry, he came down on the side of the 'oppressed and disenfranchised' minority.

In his retirement, he campaigned for the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six (suspects who were falsely charged with IRA bombings in mainland Britain.

Yes, the people who have just received an apology from Prime Minister Tony Blair.......we all must accept change and try to forgive...........

Maybe, we ought to have a Peace and Reconciliation prgoramme for certain members of Governments......to ensure they have no 'vested interests' in promoting Peace.


Michelle Clarke (Personally, I find knowledge and wisdom very strong attributes in people).

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Sat Nov 11, 2006 01:24

Philosophy, history, add in the corruption perspective and then think seriously about the Island of Ireland and what is happening at present.

We were the Island of Saints and Scholars........The Book of Kells exemplifies same.

Then we had our own quite distinctive legal system .... the Brehon Law. Many scholars today exist.......but we in the most part are too busy in our hectic chaotic lives to sit and dwell, think and pay homage to the system that evolved in Ireland hundreds of years - before the Normans came.

It is here I revert to the article on Behon Law written by Kevin T. Walsh in 2005.......

The irony is today the baton charge at the Corrib and the Leas Cross Report........Some serious thinking is needed.........the spirit of the people appears to be rising up!

This is but more to a chronicle of unacceptable social justice infringements......let us think.......

Michelle Clarke
Quotation Gandhi
'You have to be the change you want to see in the world'

by Kevin T. Walsh - Social Justice and Ethics Mon Apr 09, 2007 21:42

Now here is a provocative question?

What is the outcome?

Do we trust the Government to act in a responsible way?

Do we trust MNC's to pay fair amounts of taxation and adhere to ethical and social responsibilities that fall in their remit? What about the media - does freedom of the Press still apply?

'Trust dominates the news and politics....trust matters in political life now in a way in which it didn't say ten years ago. Trust is the big issue of the 21st century. BUT in the absence of an understanding of trust and the corrosiveness of mistrust, we can't say that this trend has enriched public life' Trust from Socrates to Spin, Kieron O'Hara.

Trust is a concept that follows an evolutionary path. It takes knocks through increased crime rates, corruption scandals as in the case of Enron, and the systematic approach of the Tribunals appointed by the government. The Morris Tribunal tackled the Garda corruption in Donegal; the Barr Tribunal examined the case of John Carthy from Granard, a man who suffered from bipolar/depression who was shot dead in what the media recorded as a Garda seige. The Mahon Tribunal continues to unfurl the corruption that has contributed to the growth of the Celtic Tiger but which cannot continue.....

The Good Friday Agreement to fruition? Would it happen? This is an example of building Trust, over time, with people who had two different interpretations of the Island of Ireland.

John Hume spoke of 'Diversity in Unity'. It seemed a dream. To the very end Revd. Ian Paisley, DUP convincingly stated that he would never sit with Sinn Fein. Paisley's famous words were Never Never Never but his son Ian Junior must have listened to the Donny Osmond song the 12th of Never because now Never has come as Deal Done Forever - until of course the 12th of Never!!!!

You see Politics is a dirty game and Trimble was the real fall guy in this. A decent kind of man, a law lecturer, and a friend of our own President Mary McAleese but you see Paisley was self made and the difference was - when you can appoint yourself Doctor Ian with no degree to substantiate, it really means you are a shady character - maybe Taoiseach ahern has a view here.

At the moment in science, Adams and Paisley have one things in commons - they both wear glasses and now the glass has come global and diverse this is the glass of change and equality and Hope for the next generation of Peace and a quality of life that the people in the North were deprived of since the Treaty.

Quotation Bertrand Russell
'To understand our own time and its needs, history, both ancient and mediaeval, is indispensable, for only so can we arrive at a form of possible progress not unduly dominated by axioms of the 19th century'