Truly
the more things change the more they stay the
same. Sure some will say you can't make this comparison…because…because
it's Vichy French State apples and Irish Free
State oranges.
However,
England's occupation and interference in Ireland
differs from Germany's occupation and interference
in France by a matter of degree… not kind.
Therefore, it's all the same bitter fruit.
Even
more similar are the re-actions of the occupied.
All of a nation's people once invaded will respond
accordingly: some will actively and passively
resist by fighting and rejecting the occupier
while others will actively and passively assist
and collaborate with the occupier.
And
of course there will be no end to the excuses
and apologias from the collaborators during and
even after the occupation.
When
Germany conquered France and established the Vichy
Regime, there were all kinds of treasonous French
people who argued that Vichy was the path or stepping
stone to eventual freedom for France and that
the Resistance was not - because it had no alternative
and was only delaying the day of French independence
and unification as promised by the Germans.
Sound
familiar?
Ah
yeah, but for the Resistance we would've had our
freedom long ago. Now why does that only sound
absurd coming from the mouth of a Vichy Frenchman
and not from FF, FG, PD, or SDLP?
In
short, it's because Vichy lost and its supporters
were rightfully jailed and or marginalized after
the War in a free and independent France where
the French language not surprisingly is mandatory.
The
exact opposite has happened in Ireland. Our two
little partitioned Vichy states have "won"
and our Republican resistance has lost once again.
As
such we have to continue to suffer the slings
and arrows of the colonial and neo-colonial native
cliques who are only too happy to uphold a double
standard for direct and indirect British occupation
and rule here.
Even
our elections boil down to choosing between this
Pro-Brit party or that West Brit Party. And almost
all the candidates running are expressly or impliedly
Vichy Irish.
So
we are on the whole a nation of grovellers not
de Gaullers.
That's
why imperialism is never a good thing. Not only
does it rob, kill and injure millions, it infantilizes
occupied people and will even make a bad situation
worse as Bush and Blair have done in Iraq in order
to control the supply of oil there.
As
Robert Fisk has said, if asparagus was Iraq's
main export, Bush & Blair would never have
invaded and occupied the place. The name of the
game is always what's in it for the invader and
occupier. Talk by them of their neutrality and
beneficence are transparent lies.
No
wonder General David Petraeus (the Pentagon's
current guru of counter-insurgency) is talking
about the need for a long term Anglo-American
occupation of Iraq which is why he referenced
the long term British counter-insurgency campaign
in Northern Ireland when he said:
"Iraq
is going to have to learn —as did Northern
Ireland— to live with some degree of sensational
attacks."
Translation:
Iraqis are going to have to learn to tolerate
foreign occupation and rule and all that goes
with it - just like the Irish did and do.
Petraeus
has made a prophet out of Bernadette Devlin. After
all, didn't Devlin say in 1998 (after the Provos
signed on to the GFA) that imperialists the world
over would be looking to replicate this British
model of counter-insurgency? Well you can say
you heard it here...right from the mouth of America's
chief counter-insurgent.
Now
look for Bush & Blair to partition Iraq in
three while "re-deploying" (Democrat
Congressman Jack Murtha's favourite word) to their
Kurdistan sector in northern Iraq and insisting
upon devolved Anglo-American rule (via the UN?)
in what will be left of East and West Iraq.
Rest
assured there will be bi-partisan support for
this in the US Congress and the British Parliament
(and their Irish Dail echo chamber) all in the
spirit of our Vichy good...your Vichy bad.
Pray for Iraq and call all de Gaulles!
