Coincidance - Principia Discordia

184 COINCIDANCE
over Europe. Do you think most Europeans agree with your harsh verdicts about President
Reagan's policies?
Absolutely. President Reagan has done more harm to the United States,
in the eyes of the world, than the Soviets could have accomplished in
decades. The U.S. government has lost all moral credibility. 1 fear that
Reagan has damaged the U.S. irreparably, which is a shame because he has
thereby weakened the cause of democracy.
By the time this appears in print, Mr, Reagan's visit to Ireland will have occurred and there
will almost certainly he massive demonstrations against him. Would you explain to our readers
why so many Irishmen and Irishwomen feel moved to make such protests?
Well, first of all, I would like to explain that the planned protest
demonstrations are against Reagan only. Ireland still has great affection and
admiration for the American people. Apart from their undoubted contributions
to democracy in the past, the American people will always react in favor of
justice and against injustice, in my opinion, once the facts are placed before
them. The Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights were largely inspired by such Americans as Eleanor
Roosevelt and Averill Harriman. The Irish as a people have a special debt of
gratitude toward the United States for giving shelter to Irish emigrants in
the past and for supporting our struggle for national liberation early in this
century. Nobody in this country regards the American people with
anything but warmth and affection. You could see that in the enthusiastic
welcome we gave President Kennedy when he came here. But present
government, the Reagan government, are regarded as international
terrorists. The shelling of Lebanese villages was well reported here in the
press and shown on TV. The invasion of Grenada was a cause for horror
and distress, also, and we share with most Europeans a keen feeling of moral
revulsion at the nuclear missiles being deployed all around us. And because
of the number of Irish priests and nuns who have served as missionaries in
Central America, we perhaps know more than other Europeans about the
atrocities committed there by governments financed and armed by
Reagan's administration. From my own experience as UN observer in
Namibia, I am satisfied beyond doubt that were it not for U.S. support of
South African tyranny, Namibia would now be free and independent.
Reagan's supporters will claim the demonstrations are just a Communist plot...
Nobody will believe them; there will be too many priests and nuns in
these protests. Informed Americans know as well as we do that the
government of El Salvador was responsible for murdering an Archbishop
while he was saying Mass, for murdering and raping four nuns, ana for a
daily continuation of such atrocities. Why if the rape and murder of four
nuns had happened in Russia, there could nearly have been a nuclear war as