The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.27           August 11, 1997 
 
 
Letters  
Blow to British empire
In the shadow of Hong Kong's reversion to Chinese sovereignty, the big-business media here ran figures for the number of colonized people ruled by the British Empire in 1945 (760 million) compared to July 1, 1997 (168,000), which explicitly means that they considered Hong Kong, with its 6.4 million, the last significant bastion of British colonialism.

When I asked one of my workmates to read down that published list of post-June 30 British colonies and tell me what was missing, his reply was instantaneous: Northern Ireland! He's neither Chinese nor Irish, but is originally from the former British and French colony of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

Hong Kong's return serves to strengthen the self- confidence of Irish fighters and their allies around the globe that no matter how long it takes, Ireland will be united and free.

Doug Cooper

Sydney, Australia

Turkey is not imperialist
The June 23, 1997, issue has what I feel is an error. The In Brief section has an item entitled, "Iraqis say Turkish troops out!" I will quote the first sentence: "Hundreds of people assembled May 29 in Baghdad to denounce the invasion of northern Iraq by 50,000 Turkish imperialist troops" (my emphasis).

This is an error. Turkey is not an imperialist country. The invasion of Iraq is reactionary to the core, but let us be careful in our characterizations. There are only two imperialist powers located in the area -Greece and Israel.

Georges Mehrabian

Athens, Greece

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of general interest to our readers. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.

 
 
 
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