June, 2019
It is 35 years since Ronald Reagan’s visit to Ireland – first week of June 1984 - and thousands of people in Dublin, Galway and Tipperary, protested against Reagan’s Latin American policies. My parents, Denis and Chris joined the protests. At the time they were members of a prayer/discussion group that reflected on issues of global justice and they drew a lot of inspiration from their parish priest, the late Peter Lemass, who was familiar with Global issues arising from his work as a filmmaker with Radharc. They were then younger than I am now, which makes me reflect that some things don’t change, just age. The photo was taken by Colm Keating just before they set out on the march from Garden of Remembrance. Colm was particularly intrigued by the slogan on the bus. The national protest against Donald Trump takes place tomorrow, Thursday at 6pm, same venue. There are lots of things about Trump that are objectionable, but to be honest I don’t believe his personal attributes are worthy of public protest. His racist policies and attitudes towards immigration however, are.