Hi all,
As citizens of the world we should all be very troubled by developments in the United States. Trump is in power for a week so far and we have already heard news about building a wall between the United States and Mexico, removal of climate change data from the EPA website, removal of funding for organisations that provide information about abortion, publishing a list of crimes committed by immigrants, not allowing immigrants with valid visas into the United States, increasing military expenditure, re-opening of CIA internment camps, removal of privacy rights for non-US citizens and re-legalisation of torture (waterboarding). No thinking person could help but be outraged by these developments and what seems like a downward spiral into a worse world for all of us. We have been thinking about this for the past few days and have wondering if this is the point in our lives that we were going to look back on and wish we had done more to resist.
You might know that there has been a petition circulating calling on Enda Kenny not to attend the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The discussion so far in the Irish media regarding the proposal has focussed on the Muslim immigration ban as if this were the sole justification for his not going. While the Muslim ban is obviously terrible, and probably illegal, focussing on this particular policy misses the philosophical underpinning which is the real problem and the real issue we need to be fighting. Instead of focussing on the individual policy decision, the objection we have to Trump is much more fundamental than that.
We have heard from our politicians about how important the meeting with the President on St. Patrick’s Day is….but that’s exactly the point! Leo Varadkar, for example, has said that the meeting won’t be “smiles and shamrocks” but, of course, it obviously will be! Or, at least, that will be how it will be presented in the worldwide media.
Our politicians are our elected representatives and it is important for us all to make sure that they remember that - they represent us and hereby we withdraw our mandate to them to represent us to Trump on St. Patrick’s Day. There should be no gifts from the Irish people to Trump. We live in a democracy and we need to make our voices heard. When the next election comes around, if we are unsuccessful in this campaign we need to make sure that our politicians regret going against our collective will. They need to be assured that we will remember this issue and vote accordingly.
The symbolic value of not attending represents a national statement that we, the people of Ireland, not only condemn racism in the form of the Muslim ban but also the fundamental tyranny and fascism that Trump represents.
In 2015, we had the opportunity to stand as an example to the world when we voted “yes” in the marriage referendum and we have an opportunity to lead by example again now by refusing to allow our politicians to meet with Trump.
What to do?
Sign the petition: my.uplift.ie/petitions/shamrock-not-in-my-name
Write to your TD
Like or share this message and get the word out: #NotInMyName