50 years on, why does the British media continue to fabricate the story of the Troubles?

It is strange today to see the same old British media model for interpreting the Troubles period in Northern Ireland being rolled out again.

The story goes that in 1969, the British troops went into keep law and order between two religious feuding tribes. The IRA were the cause of the problems – the denial of civil rights to the Catholic side of the population easily forgotten.

When I went to the Northern Ireland for the Guardian newspaper in 1994 to mark the 25^th anniversary, there was, as now, little mention of Loyalist paramilitaries and their collusive role working with various parts of the security apparatus.

The visit was an eye opener for me. I had grown up in the years of the Troubles but viewed it from a London perspective. Beautiful places like Warrenpoint and Crossmaglen were identified as the sites of various atrocities. The place was militarised in a pseudo-religious conflict. To say I came back with a somewhat different view was an understatement.

The trip started in Derry, meeting the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday. I sat in the front room of John Kelly, whose brother Michael was gunned down on Bloody Sunday. Michael’s picture was on the wall, the family had been unable to grieve and move on at all – life had stopped in 1972.

I met other relatives at the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry, they were in a similar time warp. I stayed in touch with John over the years, meeting him at the Saville Inquiry hearings into Bloody Sunday, when it took evidence in London and later sharing his joy at the final report and subsequent apology from the Prime Minister.

The journey in 1994 also took me to Newry and Crossmaglen, seeing the observation points in the fields.

Then there were the watch towers in Belfast before finishing in Dublin with a meeting of the relatives of those who died in the Dublin Monaghan bombings in 1974. The feelings of these relatives were similar to those of the Bloody Sunday relatives –a lack of closure, unfinished business.

What I came back from this trip with was a feeling that the truth needed to be told in the British media about what was going on in the north of Ireland. There also needed to be some sort of truth and reconciliation process if the country was ever to move on.

Fast forward to today – 50 years on and still it would appear the truth cannot be told. The old British government propaganda of the feuding tribes, with the British army trying to keep the peace in the middle - the IRA as the cause of the problem - persists. We continue to deceive ourselves as to what went on in the north of Ireland in Britain’s name.

It has profound consequences for the rest of the UK in terms of civil rights, policing and many other things.

Had the civil rights issues been addressed in 1969, instead of providing a military response, then the years of conflict and blood shed may have been avoided. Instead, not only were the civil rights issues not addressed but the whole conflict spread to the remainder of the UK, leading to more loss of life and liberties.

Not only were civil rights not restored in Ireland but more were lost as the conflict impacted the justice system across Britain – with rights to assembly, silence and trial by jury all dying on the altar of the Troubles.

Then there was the damage done to the criminal justice system by the miscarriages of justice that occurred in the Irish cases. The championing of the judge only Diplock courts.

Many of the errors of the Troubles were subsequently built upon with the next war on terror that came after 9/11. Detention without trial came to the whole of Britain. The draconian measures of the Prevention of Terrorism legislation, such as detention without charge were extended from seven to 28 days (Tony Blair had wanted 90 days at one point). The Muslim community replaced the Irish as the latest “suspects” to be policed.

The reality is that the Troubles did untold damage not only to the island of Ireland but across the whole landmass of these islands. There was little positive coming out of any of it, until the peace process of the 1990s. The divisions remain in Northern Ireland. There have been piecemeal efforts at reconciliation but the political will has been lacking to do something comprehensive like set up a full truth and reconciliation process along the lines of the South African model. And as we have seen, there has been little effort made on the part of media to start telling the truth of what went on, even 50 years after it all started.

The danger moving forward is that if we continue to believe a false interpretation of what went on, the mistakes will be repeated. The peace process is already under pressure, with the ongoing stalemate at Stormont and the threats of a no deal Brexit. It is up to us all to ensure that we do not go back to the future in the north - and the best way, particularly for journalists to ensure that does not happen is to start telling the truth of what really went on.

published - Irish Post - 7/9/2019