Demo Day

With decent intentions, I made my way to the anti-racist demonstration outside the City Hall in Belfast on Saturday. It was the right thing to do and while I had planned my day reasonably well. I was 30 minutes late and the central part of the demonstration was over. I hung around for a while and chatted to various people I knew. The mood was upbeat and there were musicians, trade unionists, travellers, people from many nationalities and even some politicians around. But there should have been more people present.



And really, I should have arrived on time and with my family with me. It would have been a chance to show my disgust at the recent attacks and it would have introduced my children to the concept of demonstrations, passive protest and the value of conscience and community. But like many other people, I had compromised by good intentions with other bits of the social and family life. A few days later, I discussed this was a few friends. One of them came up with a line from Edmund Burke:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

And you know, I think he may be right.