Sir, - You printed, without comment, the following statement attributed to a local Macedonian official concerning the present Balkan war: "We are not Africa. This is Europe. We are the cradle of civilisation . . . we have standards" (The Irish Times, May 8th).
Not alone did your correspondent not raise the proverbial eyebrow at this example of gratuitous racism, but the sub-editor in question chose to highlight it above the rest of the story. We can only assume, therefore, that this reported comment met with your approval and that you likewise expected it to make "sense" to readers of The Irish Times. I should hope it did not.
Africa is not less civilised than Europe nor, historically speaking, is Europe the "cradle of civilisation". And one doesn't have to be a historian to know that it was we Europeans who, in this century alone, unleashed two wars on the planet, the horror of which humanity has never witnessed before or since.
The Irish Times has been to the fore in publishing the plight of refugees and other foreign nationals who are reportedly suffering from a rising level of racist harassment and abuse in this country. Only last week you published a report on a TUI anti-racist and inter-cultural training programme for teachers, in which I stated our belief that education is the key to a better understanding between people of different ethnic backgrounds. We are at a loss, therefore to understand how this lapse in your reporting standards could have occurred.
Our members who teach in multi-cultural schools and colleges inform us that it is not the more "ignorant" and overt displays of prejudice and racism that are hardest to confront and overcome. Rather, it is the covert, almost casual racism sometimes displayed by educated people who should know better. - Yours, etc.,
Joe Carolan, President, Teachers Union of Ireland, Orwell Road, Dublin 6.
Mr Carolan's suggestion that that the presentation of the comments in question must equate to editorial approval is either naive or self-serving. - Ed, IT.