Manic Street Preaching

This blog will probably encompass a lot of issues today so bear with me on this if it is a bit manic.

While reading Mark Devenport's entries on the BBC website (see 'interesting sites') he made some comments that struck a chord with me, more so than usual. Covering the usual political paddy-whackery that is the St. Patrick's day celebrations at the White house he found time to visit the 'Newseum' at the National Mall in Washington (commemorating American journalism) and also St. Paul's Chapel in New York - set-up as a place of reflection and remembrance near Ground Zero.

Although he was more impressed with the latter, the experience of the two, he contends, confirmed his belief that some form of museum or place of commemoration should be established in Northern Ireland. But this desire for recognition and remembrance of the Troubles, voiced by Devenport and many others, is not without problems.

Anyone who follows the news will know of the arguments regarding a conflict resolution centre proposed in the now defunct redevelopment plans for the Maze site or the more recent controversy surrounding the £12,000 recognition payments proposed in the Eames Bradley report. Both issues clearly stirred deep feelings in the community and are testimony to the fact our past is still having a considerable bearing on our present.

I was at the press launch for Eames Bradley in the Europa hotel. For someone from the post-troubles era (in the sense that I cannot remember in any great detail the last throws of the conflict that existed during my younger years) it was quite disturbing.

To sit in a room with people I knew had suffered greatly during the conflict and watch them argue openly and at times aggressively over the proposed payments, exchanging recriminations and getting visibly upset, was shocking. Its one thing watching it on TV, quite another sitting right next to it.

The controversy played out in the media for a week or two, was subject to the same analysis and ' the intractable Irish problem' diagnosis and then left the front pages. For the families involved however, the struggle to come to terms with the trauma and grief of years of violence here continues.

Mark's visits to these museums and his musings on the need for some form of commemoration stood out for me - after months spent on a thesis covering the whole area, my summations on the issue were the same. Everyone knows issues relating to our past need to be dealt with, it was refreshing to hear a formiddable and astute political journalist get to the how he believes we should do so in earnest.

How poignant it is that I write a blog on this topic on the same day a 17-year-old boy is charged in relation to the recent death of the PSNI officer gunned down by so-called 'dissident republicans.'

This boy may have read about the Easter Rising, Wolfe Tone and various other venerated physical force republican dates in history but no amount of reading, or even understanding of the issues, could possibly justify the actions carried out by him (if he is guilty) and his ilk. They are tailcoat republicans - just as there are tailcoat loyalists - who justify sectarianism and violent acts on the back of a by-gone era where, in the midst of civil strife, taking up arms to defend a belief could arguably be justified.

Nowadays it is not, and thanks to the politcal agreements reached in Nothern Ireland, will it ever be again.

The feet dragging on dealing with our past comprehensively is why such coat-tailing exists.

Ofcourse I'm not saying there is a complete solution to these issues and that once dealt with, they can all be put away in a box labelled 'do not touch,' - but simply ignoring the problems and calling them a poisoned chalice allows our society to become poisoned - as three dead security force members and the existence of yet more peace lines attests to.

During my research I spoke to victims groups and victims. The two obvious commonalities between all of them in their search for reciprocity was that a form of 'story-telling' and remembering our experiences of the conflict was a way forward, there was also a recogniton on their part that there couldn't be a one size fits all approach.

The Saville Inquiry, the work of the H.E.T and other modes of reinvestigation into past events have all encountered well documented problems. The clear positive experiences of those who took part in them however, was the inherent catharsis in telling one's story and the realisation that there was someone willing to listen to it.

For this reason I think Mr Devenport is on the money when he talks of a commemorative museum such as St. Paul's in New York. It would be there for people to visit, tell their story, and hear others'. It can also be ignored by those who don't want to use it.

Aneurin Bevan (and the Manic Street Preachers) said: 'This is my truth tell me yours.' This seems to hold a lot of hope for those who lament the seeming unending capacity for people in the north to cannibilise our troubled history for their own ends.

It seems to me an implementation of these sentiments, in the form of a commemorative museum, is the only way our society can disentagle itself from the legacy of our past and in doing so neuter these 'dissidents,' and begin the long road to healing old, but still weeping, wounds.