Colm O'Gorman, resign

Amnesty is not fit for purpose under its current leadership

I posted about this last night but I didn’t give any context. Iseult White is the granddaughter of Sean MacBride, founder of Amnesty, and she is not happy about that organisation calling for the removal of political representation of women.

Iseult White @iseult

I wake up feeling just as sad and shocked as I was last night. It is right there front and center on @amnesty website - we campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. If that is so why sign a letter that demands removal of legitimate representation from some.

Amnesty Ireland’s Colm O’Gorman has been on the back foot since he ‘proudly’ signed the letter and it’s telling that the only support he’s getting is from David paisley, who mocks and harasses women and then tries to cover up the evidence. (Here’s the podcast version of the video he successfully got YouTube to remove).

Others (women, mainly) haven’t been so supportive.

Tverdost Join a union! 🇫🇷 @Tbepgoct

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland What were you thinking? My god, Ireland’s misogyny is still at large!

Siobhan Scullion @scully1066

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland So much for Ireland's silencing of women, abuse and misogyny being in the past. Now womens organisations and humans rights organisations gang up to further punish silence and abuse the women of Ireland. My heart breaks, "have we not suffered enough?"

The Emperor is Naked♀️🕸️🇮🇪 @irishbeebooks

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland You should be ashamed, it's a travesty.

Jools @JoolsJuevans

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland This is one of the most disturbing statements I've ever read. Right side of history my arse.

mcbab @micrabam

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland This is a huge mistake and will follow you for a long long time. You may want to think again

Candy Outten @CC_Wellness7

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland 🤔

Jools @JoolsJuevans

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland Amnesty fighting to remove women's voices. You couldn't make it up. Disgraceful.

Helen @helliehells

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland Resign now.

Teano Sugar stands with JK Rowling 🔴 @SugarTeano

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland A human rights organisation signing a letter calling on the removal of political representation for woman who hold the "wrong" opinions is about as 2020 as it gets. This is utterly shameful.

Francis Harris @fharris2011

@SugarTeano @ManManlyMan1 @Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland I’ve seen surprising stuff during the woke wars, but Amnesty demanding the termination of democratic freedoms really takes the biscuit

Heinz Kiosk @TomMcClelland4

@Colmogorman @AmnestyIreland Wait? What? Gender theory has replaced Roman Catholicism as an unchallengeable religion in the Republic? So they’ve gone from believing in Christian souls, for which there is no evidence, to belief in Gendered souls, for which there is also no evidence.

But by far the most satisfying response was from White, whose raw despair over the letter elicited some of Colm’s now-familiar careless, dismissive misogyny.

“Did you read it” indeed. For me, the exchange was reminiscent of another howl of outrage, when Senator Joe McCarthy was asked “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” and quickened the end of McCarthyism. O’Gorman is no Joe McCarthy, but my God, isn’t that faint praise for the head of Amnesty Ireland?

Amnesty Ireland’s HQ is named Sean MacBride house, but White knows that as long as they support the silencing of women, its current occupants are trespassing.

(NOTE: On this week’s ‘Mess We’re In’, we’ll be talking to two of the women O’Gorman is trying to silence, Ceri and Lauren from LGB Alliance Ireland. See you on Wednesday at 4pm!)