Not such open minds
By Mary Nelis
``Loose talk costs lives''. Remember that old slogan which used to
be written on walls all over nationalist areas? It's true that
language and its relationship to the war in the North has
profoundly affected our perceptions of events over the past 30
years. Certain words and phrases have become familiar only to
those of us who live here, words like clarification,
decommissioning, phrases like shoot-to-kill, the wrong place at
the wrong time, loose talk.
My favourite is the phrase used by the RUC when they want to
cover the truth about some ghastly deed. ``Keeping an open mind,''
was how they announced the brutal murder of Gerard Devlin, a
respected member of the GAA and father of two children. It was
the RUC ``first strike'' report and a deliberate example of how
reports of incidents involving loyalist paramilitaries can be
distorted to create the impression that such incidents had no
sectarian involvement.
The instant the RUC stated that they were ``keeping an open mind''
on this brutal murder, the entire nationalist population of the
North knew that this was a sectarian murder carried out by the
loyalist paramilitaries specialising of attacks on pubs, bookies
shops, taxi firms, mobile shops and GAA clubs.
The RUC, loyal collaborators that they are, kept an open mind on
the murder for these days, until it became such a media farce
that Ronnie Flanagan was wheeled on to admit it was sectarian.
Apart from the news value of the open mindedness of the RUC, such
announcements usually give the killers ample time to go to
ground.
The propagandists for the RUC officers understand the importance
of the first report, the first headline, which goes out over the
wire taps, the satellites and the Internet.
Most RUC press statements are formulated to avoid showing
loyalist connections to the murder of nationalists. Indeed, the
impression is created that such murders have no paramilitary
connections, unless of course there is republican involvement.
The RUC Press Office then goes into overdrive. If the
international media picked up the RUC report of Mr Devlin's
murder, they could be forgiven for believing he died in a pub
brawl, for it was reported initially as a neutral death.
The budget for the RUC and British army propaganda machine must
be collossal, since we know from event such as Bloody Sunday and
Gibraltar that the first reports relating to those tragic events
were written before the actual happenings.
Even though such reports are later exposed as lies and
distortions of the truth, the media, with few exceptions, are
willing accomplices in the British government propaganda war in
the North.
Investigative journalists are an endangered species. How often
have we heard of the media sitting in posh hotels, waiting for
the press release of events from RUC headquarters?
We are now in a situation where the peace talks are being used by
the British government in a plea bargaining scenario with
loyalist paramilitaries, in an effort to keep on board the
unionist community as a whole. The role of loyalist organisations
in the murder of Catholics must be played down.
``Keeping an open mind'' simply means that despite the best efforts
of those sincerely committed to trying to find a resolution
within the talks, the RUC and the Intelligence Services have
decided the nationalist community should be exposed to the
loyalist death squads.
This scenario was clearly illustrated by Ronnie Flanagan after
the attack on the residents of Garvaghy Road when he stated that
if he re-routed the Orange march, loyalist paramilitaries would
kill Catholic civilians. The march was not re-routed and
Catholics are continually being murdered.
Ronnie Flanagan feels no obligation to protect them. Such
pronouncements by the Head of the RUC gives the clear impression
that the murder of Catholics is viewed as an essential political
tactic to keep loyalists in the talks. But then Unionist
leadership, the law and order brigade, have not called for their
expulsion. And the media has decided that Gerard Devlin's death
is part of an acceptable level of Catholic murders.
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