Segregation

Sectarianism blossomed in North Ireland much the same as in The Netherlands in the first six decades of the 20th century. Dutch Protestants didn't mix with Catholics, each bought groceries and bread in shops of their own denomination. Inter-marriage was considered sleeping with the devil in between. As boys we had fights with the other group using skates as fine weaponry. Going to the primary school in the nearest city Leiden, one had to run a gauntlet of rock throwing kids from the "other" school. Catholics in the 19th century were not permitted to practice their religion in public and were set back in education. As late as the sixties,a Catholic scholar would not get appointed as professor in Leiden or VU Amsterdam. Even today in Family Law and Child Protection Council is dominated by Protestants and their patriarchal culture of family life.

Recently I read some history of the Belfast Harland & Wolff shipyards and the role played in struggle for independence and the violence and deaths. Just as the Civil Rights movement is a hard struggle after abolition and President Lincoln until present day. Emotions and bad feelings have stayed in the separate communities. White supremacy in the US, England, South Africa and Australia has been a scourge for too long. The EEC project has suffered a serious setback with the advent of our new "partners" from former Soviet style countries.

After the calamity of 9/11 the division in society has been propagated through Islamophobia and Xenophobia encouraged by the likes of Ariel Sharon and Bibi Netanyahu. Each Western European state has its very own Geert Wilders, Filip Dewinter and Nigel Farage and growing populism. I am quite uncomfortable with politics in Brussels and The Hague today. In foreign policy Human Rights have been placed on the back burner in order to increase great wealth of the upper 1% and investment in weapons. There's is no policy in place for energy sustainability, climate change and investment in disarmament. Stop the propaganda to go to war!