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Edmund Burke will speak for Pat too

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

The victim was only one of over 3,500 people killed as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland since 1969.
Why are so many people coming from so far, and what compels so many people who cannot come, to remember this man and the principles for which he sacrificed his life?
Good people realized when they heard the shocking news about this murder that it was not just another regrettable but unremarkable statistic; another killing that would soon be forgotten except within the victim’s family.
The rule of law itself became the victim that day. Those granted license to act outside the law had exercised that license to murder, as others would exercise the same kind of license to torture and terrorize.
Some politicians had come to believe they could operate beyond the bounds of the law.
That young lawyer, lying on his kitchen floor after being shot 14 times in front of his family, did not die in vain. The murderers had come to implant terror. But the world saw a different harvest emerge from the blood on that kitchen floor.
State sponsored terrorism went largely unchallenged until, in its growing arrogance, it engaged in deeds that shocked the conscience of people in whose name these acts were carried out.
Those who will speak at Trinity College are being brought together by an eminent human rights organization, British Irish Rights Watch and its widely respected chair, Jane Winter.
A judge, a prominent English barrister, well known human rights leaders, an English investigative reporter and a United Nations Special Rappateur will be among those speaking about Patrick Finucane’s life and legacy.
They want to celebrate all the good that Pat did during his brief 39 years of life. They want to celebrate the courage that brought honor to the legal profession. Most important, the conference will refresh our collective conscience about why a credible public inquiry must investigate the circumstances of Pat’s murder.
President Obama, by his execution of three Executive Orders on January 22, sought to right the wrongs that were committed during seven years of secrecy and cover-up.
The attorney general, the secretary of defense and other national security figures will investigate what occurred while we operated secret detention facilities, used secret memoranda to authorize torture, and ignored our treaty obligations.
The president recognizes that the rule of law and national security are not mutually exclusive; rather, they reinforce one another.
Governments and morally compromised politicians can, and will, engage in wrong-doing, including authorization of murder and torture.
The reaction of a government and its people after discovery of serious crime that goes to the heart of the government’s legitimacy will define the history and culture of that nation.
Ordinary, decent people seek the truth, especially in respect to acts that were carried out in their name, but which offend their basic moral and legal principles.
The question remains as to when responsible people in the United Kingdom, who harbor a deep respect for the rule of law, will no longer allow a cover up of murder to define the British system of justice.
Edmund Burke, the man for whom the theatre at Trinity College is named, was born in Dublin in 1729 and went on to be arguably one of the most influential political philosophers of the 18th Century.
During his time as a member of parliament, he argued with the full vigor of his compelling intellectual and oratorical skills the legitimacy of American claims to liberty and self determination.
He argued against protectionism that would favor the economic interests of some within the empire at the cost of others, especially the people of Ireland where British economic policies had already reduced much of the population to destitution.
He argued against extremes of religious discrimination still popular in his day. He knew his positions were not popular but he never allowed such considerations to compromise moral imperatives.
Of the many notable observations Burke made during his long career as a political philosopher and parliamentarian, we most remember the wisdom of his admonition: “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that the good men do nothing.”
It is fitting that a conference to remember Pat Finucane will occur in a place named in honor of the man who uttered this timeless warning.

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