Metro Eireann headline queen pledge forced on north migrants

national | rights, freedoms and repression | other press

Tuesday March 27, 2007 16:13

by Harry Wells

They should be offered option of Irish or British citizenship

Metro Eireann has highlighted an anomaly affecting migrants to the North of Ireland. They are forced to pledge allegiance to the British Queen when seeking citizenship rights.

In line with the Good Friday Agreement, they should have the right to opt out of this feudal coercion of pledging allegiance to an unelected monarch and to a contested state in the north of Ireland.

The Alliance Party and Sinn Fein have opposed this feudal remnant, that has so far been forced on over 600 migrants. Already controversial in Britain, it is completely unsuited to the situation of contested nationality in the north of Ireland.

British impose queen pledge on ethnic minorites in North

This is something that could be easily facilitated by the Irish government. Those deemed to qualify for citizenship could be offered the optionto swear allegiance to a republic or to a monarch. It seems a simple solution. Alternatively, the citizenship process in the North could be made neutral.

Michael McDowell, the Minister for Justice in the south, should facilitate the taking of Irish nationality by qualifying applicants in the North. Will he?

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Comments (4 of 4)

Reporter

by Robert Carry - Metro Eireann

Tue Apr 03, 2007 13:04

I wrote this article, glad to see it was picked up somewhere.

Cheers,

Robert.

The name's Barry, Barry Bond, and I demand a meeting with the UN Secretary General

by Harry

Tue Mar 27, 2007 20:15

Barry has an unerring ability to pick a fight on a point of irrelevancy. Here is a golden opportunity to support the right of migrants to opt out of a British identity when applying for citizenship in the North. What does he do with the opportunity presented by the piece in Metro Eireann? He slaps it down and refers to a challenge mounted at the UN by an organisation that few in the world have ever heard of and that even fewer voted for in the recent elections.

issue settled

by Barry - 32 csm

Tue Mar 27, 2007 19:43

Under the GFA and as far as both governments , British and Irish are concerned the constitutional issue in Ireland was settled in 1998 . They have made this quite clear on a number of occasions such as Bertie Aherns address to the norths chamber of commerce in Belfast and his rejection of both the SDLPs and Sinn Feins calls for green papers on unity . Further clarification of the constitutional situation occured within Leinster House with the formal banning of any discussion on future unity within the chamber . As far as both governemnts are concerned there is no longer any dispute over sovereignty in the north between Britain and Ireland following the dropping of articles 2&3 and the acceptance of the unionist veto , re-marketed by constitutional nationalists including Sinn Fein as the "principle of consent" .
Therfore the onus is on Harry to tell us how exactly the norths sovereignty is "contested" . The only challenge to British sovereignty in the north is currently lodged at the UN general assembly , a submission by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement challenging the legtimacy of British claims to sovereignty over Irish national territory under various UN charters that Britian is in breach of vis a vis its occupation of north eastern Ireland .. If Harry is aware of another challenge then Id like to hear about it .
If Harry is referring to "nationality" , ie ethnicity as being contested..well it isnt . Anyone born in Ireland is allowed to call themselves Irish providing their parents arent Africans

Protester condemns British slavery hypocrisy

by Press Association

Tue Mar 27, 2007 18:02

Britain, whose state and empire was partly financed by the slave trade, has tried hide that fact by claiming to be responsible for its abolition. They are clapping themselves on the back because William Wilberforce, who campaigned for an end to slavery, was British. It doesn't seem to occur to them that the slavers were British too.

The hypocrisy was exposed when Toyin Agbetu protested publicly to the British Queen that she should be ashamed of herself. He said of black people, the descendants of the slaves, "We should not be here - this is an insult to us".

And the British want ethnic minorities in the North to pledge allegiance to a monarch whose ancestors presided over the slave trade and the Irish famine.

Huh!

Protester disrupts slavery commemoration

Press Association Tuesday March 27, 2007

A protester interrupted the service being held to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act today.

Toyin Agbetu brought proceedings at Westminster Abbey to a halt when he ran in front of the altar and shouted: "You should be ashamed."

"We should not be here - this is an insult to us," he said. "I want all the Christians who are Africans to walk out." The Queen and Tony Blair were among those attending the commemoration.

Security guards rushed forward to apprehend 39-year-old Mr Agbetu, who yelled at them to let him go before he was eventually escorted outside several minutes later.

At one point, he was surrounded by seven bodyguards and two Abbey ushers attempting to control him. Once outside the building, he was restrained by police.

He demanded that the Queen apologise for her ancestors' role in supporting the slave trade.

"The Queen has to say sorry. It was Elizabeth I. She commanded John Hawkins to take his ship. The monarch and the government and the church are all in there patting themselves on the back."

He said he was from the Ligali Organisation, a pressure group for African equality, and had planned the protest in advance.

"This nation has never apologised ... there was no mention of the African freedom fighters," he added. "This is just a memorial of William Wilberforce."

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Metro Eireann headline queen pledge forced on north migrants

Comments (4 of 4)