There has rightly been an outcry over the transfer of Jason
Campbell to Long Kesh from Scotland where he is serving a life
sentence. Campbell cut the throat of a 16 year old boy in a
Glasgow street simply because the boy was wearing a Celtic
jersey. His transfer was requested by the PUP (who represent the
UVF) as ``a confidence building measure''. Campbell, they argue, is
a ``political prisoner''. Not surprisingly, the PUP have been
reluctant to explain how the brutal murder was political.
But it really should not surprise people that loyalists would see
the killing of a Celtic supporter as political. After all, many
of their prisoners are in jail for killing people simply because
they were Catholics. Even more telling, loyalists have in the
past taken rapists on to their wings in Long Kesh. But only
certain rapists. Only those who had committed a ``political rape'',
that is those whose victim was Catholic.
It says a lot about the ideology of loyalism. And about the PUP.
A friend dropped into Trinity College in Dublin the other day
where he came across a recruitment stall for the Ulster
Unionists. Nice to see them returning Trinity to some if its fine
old traditions. My friend bought the autumn issue of their glossy
little magazine The Unionist which, at £1, is not the best value
he ever got. It has sixteen pages with loosely spaced text. I
reckon it was equivalent to two pages of An Phoblacht. That makes
us twenty times better value. Just as you would expect.
But never mind the text, the pictures are deeply spookly. No
hard-hitting political images here. In one article snowdrops
break through ice (``we can see a new and better future blossom''
the caption says - geddit?); in another a woman turns her face up
to the driving rain (``we can dare to dream dreams of a better
tomorrow''); and perhaps weirdest of all, in David Trimble's
article, a cat and dog get friendly (``reconciliation is
possible'', it says).
What can it mean? Join the Ulster Unionists and let six year olds
on hash design your literature.
A caustic comment in a vox pop carried on a radio news report
encapsulated the nature of the justice system in the Six
Counties. Speaking about the British government's recent
announcement removing internment from existing `emergency'
legislation, a Belfast street seller remarked: ``Aye. Dead on. Try
telling that to Collie Duffy.''
Our old friend Alan Clarke is at it again. He tells us that the
way to deal with the IRA is to ``kill 600 people in one night, let
the UN and everyone else make a great scene and it's over for 20
years.''
What a disgrace! The old buffoon! The Tory idiot! Only 600? I
know at least 800 people would be terribly disappointed if they
aren't on his list. He needs to kill at least 6,000. No, probably
60,000 just to make sure. In fact....
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)