A letter to the editor of the Derry Journal opens with:
Who so quickly initiated, arranged and managed the State funeral of Lyra McKee?
It’s an intriguing question. It leads to other questions, including: If Lyra McKee was born, reared and lived in Fanad Drive, in Creggan, where she was murdered; if she was straight, not gay; unemployed, not a journalist, when she was murdered by republican militants; would a president, two prime ministers, political party leaders, dignitaries and notables from public life and from civil society attend her funeral in St. Mary’s cavernous chapel in Creggan?
Ask the same question, if a police officer had been killed?
Answers to those, and to similar questions, point to an uncomfortable truth: that despite our earnest assertions and our best efforts to the contrary, there may indeed be a hierarchy of victims in theworld.
It may be that different occurrences trigger different responses, depending on the story the world tells itself about them.
Like …
The fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is a tragedy, an historical, architectural and cultural affront to the world, so grim that people grieve and empathise in large numbers and to great depths.
The bombing of historical buildings in Yemen; ancient settlements and towns, mosques, libraries, civic edifices; does not elicit the same outpouring of international grief.
The fire at the cathedral was accidental. No one was injured or killed. The bombing in Yemen is strategic and planned. It is enacted by the armed forces of Saudi Arabia, using aircraft, weaponry, intelligence and expertise supplied by powerful countries such as the UK and USA. People are injured and killed on a daily basis.
Millions of philanthropic euros have been committed to restoring the magnificent cathedral of Notre Dame. No philanthropic monies have been committed to restoring schools, farm buildings, waterworks, shops, houses and mosques in Yemen.
Why?
Is it because the people of Yemen are largely poor? Largely Muslim? Largely Arab? Is it that such philanthropic millions are destined to be spent in Europe rather than the Arabian peninsula? Then, why not spend those millions on the refugees and homeless people, subsisting under the shadow of the great Christian cathedral?
Or is it that the story of the cathedral fire tragedy is higher up the victimhood hierarchy than the story of the bombing of Yemen?
If the Christ were walking the planet today, occasionally kicking over the counting tables of financiers as he went, what story would he live? Where would he put the money?
The cathedral restoration fund?
The fund for homeless people and refugees?
The fund for the salvation of Yemen?
Which story would he favour?
Letters to the Editor; Derry Journal; 3.5.2019
www.facebook.com/DaveDugganWriter
No comments:
Post a Comment