Comparing the <i> Contras</i> to the IRA’s Struggle

Recent comments by President Reagan in support of the contras fighting to overthrow the Nicaraguan government prompt a comparison with American support for those struggling to overthrow the Northern Ireland statelet.

On Feb. 22, President Reagan explained that aid to the contras was aid to “those who fought a revolution to escape the dictatorship, to have democracy, and then had it taken away from them by some of their fellow revolutionaries.” This is precisely what occurred in 1921 when Britain by threatening “immediate and terrible war” forced the partition of Ireland in defiance of the democratically expressed wish of 80% of the Irish people in the general election of December, 1918, for a unified independent Irish republic.

Reagan describes the Sandinista government as “totalitarian, brutal and cruel.” This may be the case, but unlike the British government, the Sandinistas have never been found guilty of deliberately inflicting torture on prisoners as Britain was by the European Commission on Human Rights in 1976, a finding later confirmed in January, 1978, by the full European Court of Human Rights, which found Britain guilty of inflicting “inhuman and degrading ill treatment” on Irish prisoners.

Imagine Reagan’s reaction if a group of visiting Americans were subjected to a carefully planned assault with deadly force by the Nicaraguan police while attending a nonviolent political rally. This is what occurred in Belfast on Aug. 12, 1984, where numerous Americans were seriously injured and one Irishman was killed.

As reported in The Times (Feb. 17), Reagan, to justify American aid to the contras , cited American support for Simon Bolivar who helped overthrow Spanish imperialism in Latin America. The Sandinistas, however, do not represent any imperial power, although they have accepted arms from the Soviet Union to defend themselves. The recent elections held in Nicaragua, which were deemed fair by international observers, showed that Daniel Ortega has more popular support among Nicaraguans than the very popular President Reagan has among Americans.

The statelet of Northern Ireland, however, is overtly imperialistic, a vestige of the same British imperialism that was overthrown here, with the assistance of thousands of Irish volunteers in George Washington’s army. Its claim to democratic legitimacy is based on the support of about 60% of the 1 1/2 million people in “Northern” Ireland, an entity created to secure British interests in Ireland, which does not encompass three of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster, including Ireland’s northernmost county, Donegal, which, with its largely Catholic and nationalist population, was left as part of what the British referred to as “Southern” Ireland.

Thank you, President Reagan, for your tacit endorsement of the IRA struggle to overthrow British imperialism and re-establish democracy in Ireland. The freedom-loving Americans who regard the IRA as you regard the contras , as “brothers and freedom fighters,” will take heart from your words.

MICHAEL A. McDERMOTT

President, Irish National Caucus of California

Newport Beach