Republican News · Thursday 05 August 1999

[An Phoblacht]

Tearing down the walls


The photo exhibition of nationalists killed by the state organised by Relatives for Justice

Since 1969, 83 people from Ardoyne and 56 people from the Ligoniel and Bone areas of North Belfast have lost their lives as a result of the conflict.

What is most prominent on the minds of the people in these communities is the role the British crown forces have played in the deaths of many of these people.

The experience of the nationalist people of these areas is reflected in all nationalist areas throughout the whole of the Six Counties of Ireland occupied by the British.

In organising an event that allows the relatives of these dead to speak about their experience, the Ardoyne Fleadh organisers have done their community a great service.

The experiences of nationalists killed in this conflict have almost been written out of history. Those who have survived this trauma, made sure that their story and their courage in coming forward to tell this story in Ardoyne is an example to us all.

In the West Belfast Festival there were also events organised that allowed the relatives of people who were killed by the state to tell their story .


Robbie McVeigh addresses the Tribute to assassinated lawyer Rosemary Nelson

On Monday Springhill - The Forgotten Massacre was the focus. In St Aidan's school on the Whiterock Road, the Springhill Community opened their own inquiry into the killing of six of its members by British Paratroops. They need their own inquiry because the British will not give them one.

Then on Tuesday, there was the Tribute to Rosemary Nelson, which remembered the life, courage and commitment to justice shown by a woman of immense courage. Rosemary was regarded as the Voice of the People, it was an accolade earned and one that was truly deserved.

The event in St Mary's College was well attended by those she befriended over the years and by those she stood with throughout many a threatening experience.

Also on Tuesday, the Relatives for Justice opened their new offices on the Falls Road. On display were photographs of hundreds of nationalists killed by the state - a reminder if ever one was needed that those nationalists who were killed were not to be ignored.

Thursday sees the Damien Walsh Memorial Lecture. He was shot dead at the age of 17 by a loyalist death squad at his place of work.

By speaking out, the families of the hundreds of nationalists that have been killed by the state and its death squads are tearing down the wall of neglect and silence the state has built around them.

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