Unlocking the secrets of war

By Fr Des


The Féile panel discussion about Amnesty underlined how difficult our problems are after a war.  So many people have been hurt in so many different ways – killed, bereaved, injured, insulted in their streets and homes, false imprisoned, falsely accused and in a multitude of other ways.
How can you relieve the hurt of so many people? To ask a government to do it is to ask one side in a conflict to do what it cannot do. On the other hand people must not be left to do it on their own. The people of Derry had to work for years to force governments to recognise what happened to them on and around one Sunday. The people of Ballymurphy are now on the same road. So unless the people themselves do it the work of healing our community will not be done, but without the  cooperation of those with power, it will be more  difficult. People have the right to know what happened to them and why. Governments and other bodies with power have the duty to help them.
Killing  civilians in Ireland was  done to a pattern, not the vicious action of a few mentally disordered state soldiers.  People had to be terrified and  the soldiers’ morale  to be kept up. That is largely what  the Ballymurphy and North Belfast and Springhill and other killings were about. Like the Washington government describing what it intended to do in Iraq – shock and awe, wasn’t that the term they used?
As one of the panelists pointed out we have to create a future in which the dignity of all our people is recognised. Then the wisdom of the people comes into play, a wisdom which would have prevented war if it had been allowed to. In time people will do what they have always done –  they integrated, lived together, worked together, played together after the disasters of  government-sponsored riots, world wars, struggles for work, they did it successfully, and would have done it better had not agitators stirred up  false fears of each other.

Dignity
So, given the progressive creation of a decent society  in which everyone’s dignity and right are respected, given the wisdom of people who have suffered and forgiven so much, isn’t it we, the people, not governments and other powerful agencies who will heal the hurts and create peace? If so, how can governments be made to help the people, neighbours, fellow citizens do it?
As these conversations between people go on all possibilities will  be discussed. Governments can decide that no cases will be pursued about events before a given date. Amnesty like this goes back thousands of years in human history, removal of penalties, remission of debts. It is a sign that a community is strong enough and confident enough of its own maturity to treat their people that way.
That does not satisfy the need and the right of people to know what happened to them, their families and neighbours. Information about any incident should not remain locked away in some filing cabinet in police or other government offices. People have a right to know and there are strong reasons for demanding that all official files must be open to all people who are mentioned in them. The myth of state security or operational sensitivity should not be allowed to prevent it. Why should what police or government say about you be their secret when it is our right to know?
Perhaps the greatest progress will be made in all this when we are convinced that what we get from government and other powerful groups is not their favour, it is our right.