From Kerry to Garvaghy
SF Ard Comhairle member Donal Cusack, along with a group of
fellow Kerry republicans, spent a week with the people of the
Garvaghy Road during the siege of their community. Here he
describes his experiences.
The relentless, 24 hour a day security presence made it very
difficult to relax or sleep, and through it all was the fear that
residents were going to endure a repeat of the shameful scenes of
1996, when the five day standoff ended with the RUC venting its
hatred of this community by beating residents off the Garvaghy
Road.
While out patrolling the area with residents, many opinions as to
what might happen were expressed, the most common being ``we're
going to be beaten off that road again, the march will go ahead
eventually''. That so many felt this way despite the decision of
the Parades Commission and repeated assurances from Tony Blair is
an indication of how little confidence residents had that their
rights would be respected. This is a community that knows all
about betrayal, a community whose people quite literally take
their lives in their hands when they venture into central
Portadown.
As Breandan McCionnaith stated recently, ``since the Good Friday
Agreement, this is the only community in the north which is still
burying its dead''. The fears within the northern nationalist
community that innocent Catholics would pay with their lives for
the Drumcree standoff were realised with the horrific, sectarian
murders of the Quinn children in Ballymoney. Many Garvaghy
residents fear that they too will pay in the months ahead, as
Adrian Lamph and Robert Hamill have in the recent past.
Watching events unfold on TV in the Drumcree community centre
(open 24 hours a day for tea, coffee, food and craic), there was
an often surreal atmosphere as we realised that scenes occurring
only a few hundred yards away were often dominating global news
bulletins. There were cheers and whistles of derision as Orange
leaders appeared on screen issuing ritual and meaningless
denunciations of sectarian violence which they had orchestrated
and encouraged.
It was extremely frustrating to hear commentators describing the
Orangemen and the Garvaghy residents as two sides of the same
uncompromising coin. But who was refusing to engage in dialogue?
Not the residents, who ask only to be left in peace, and to have
their rights, culture and identity respected in their own
country. A long difficult struggle lies ahead before these basic
rights are realised; we all need to redouble our efforts to
ensure that this happens sooner rather than later.
As the time came for us to head south to Kerry, we felt a mixture
of relief that the worst appeared to have passed, anger at the
senseless loss of life and the treatment of the Garvaghy
residents, but also hope and encouragement at the spirit and
resilience of a wonderful community.
I would like to take this opportunity to say, on behalf of Kerry
republicans and nationalists, go raibh maith agaibh to the
residents of the Garvaghy Road for their brilliant hospitality,
particularly the women who came out to patrol their area
alongside the men, as well as keeping the community centre open
24 hours a day (there are too many to mention - you know who you
are). Also thanks to the international human rights observers
whose work was so vital, as well as all those, north and south,
who came to support this courageous community.
I have heard many comments from different sources discussing the
Drumcree standoff in terms of ``win/win'', or ``win/lose'' outcomes.
But regardless of what the future brings, I believe that the
Garvaghy residents will always be winners; they are an example to
us all.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)