Sir, – While Gerry Adams received support from his sympathisers around the world, from New Zealand trade unionists to Basque separatists, and while twitter raged with retweets of “Tiofaidh ár lá”, the families of the over 3,700 killed in the Troubles relived the politicisation of their loss. Being a victim of the Troubles means being the victim of very public, very complex trauma. Notions of justice, truth, reconciliation are abstract ideas that while they might be desirable for most they are, in the context of a sectarian conflict, likely unachievable.
For the family of Jean McConville, who have already been through a very public and very painful process that culminated in their presence on a desolate beach in the hope of finding their mothers remains, their personal and family history became an open book. For the McConvilles being victims of the Troubles not only meant loosing their mother, it meant loosing their home, being institutionalised, being threatened and a very long struggle with the truth.
However what seems to matter in the very public dissection of the abduction and murder of their mother Jean is some notion of innocence, some idea that she was perhaps in some way complicit in her own demise. In cases such as this the notion of innocence is the holy grail, the loss of an innocent victim being the “most” horrendous of all.
In conflicts between divided societies perceptions of innocence depend on the perpetrator of the attack, the community affiliation of the victim, religion, family history, allegations of disloyalty, media coverage of the death and the form of politicisation applied to the death. This should not be the case – victims of the troubles are just that, the victims. However, they bear the burden of “preventing progress” by seeking truth and justice, notions that are increasingly counterpoised against peace.
Those who have been forced to sacrifice so much cannot be asked to sacrifice again in the name of peace, a peace that was negotiated on the back of those who died. It cannot be “peace at any cost”. – Yours, etc,
Dr ORLA LYNCH,
School of International
Relations,
University of St Andrews,
Scotland.
Sir, – How can the Taoiseach state with conviction that there was no political interference in the detention of the Sinn Féin leader? He had it on the authority of the British prime minister. Now, let that be that! – Yours, etc,
JOSEPH DOYLE,
Smithstown,
Thomastown, Co Kilkenny.