Open Letter 17/6/09 Bandwagon Internet

open letter 17/6/09

Irish bandwagon internet campaigns for more secular Iran

In recent days internet sites (in Ireland and across the world) have been alite with messages, campaigns and rants of support for the ‘pro-democratic’ or anti-mullah parties in Iran, many of these voices have been silent during the blatantly similar injustices seen in our own State, committed by governments just as corrupt and a Church just as devoted to its own supremacy .
These bandwagon pseudo-political activists forget that this country has been dominated by an unelected Church for centuries, and that our constitution and laws are directed by the hierarchy of that Church and not the will of the electorate. Despite the flood of abuse cases proven by the law courts in Ireland we still maintain the status quo of 85% of national (primary) school run by religious orders, and a large percentage of our secondary schools deemed as Catholic and managed by the Church. The Catholic Church has burrowed itself into every aspect of Irish political and social life over the past two centuries and has continualy dictated law, ethics, morals and political principles based on it’s own bigotries and financial needs. It has also, unashamedly, abused it’s self-acclaimed position as guardian of the Irish people, from closing it’s doors in the Famine to closing its ears and minds to the ten of thousands of abused children in it’s care over decades.

Iranians like all people deserve to live in a free and democratic society where the stupidity of Religion is retained in the minds and homes of those who wish to practice their primeval faiths; but those in glass houses should not throw stones. The Irish pseudo-political activists (some of whom I accept are genuine in their conviction for world democracy) should look to changing the systems of their own nation before preaching to others how they can better themselves, or supporting campaigns for justice aboard while ignoring the injustices within earshot of there laptops and PCs. Perhaps it is time those on twitter, face book and other sites opened their curtains and faced the problems we have created in our own Nation.


Steve Downes