A Handshake With King Charles As He Approaches His 100th While Those Who Suffer Today Deal With The Psychological Impact?

Posted by Jim on September 14, 2012

by Damian Herron on Thursday, September 13, 2012                                     Northern Chair of the Free Gerry McGeough Campaign

Thirty-six years after the Blanket Protest began the psychological and physical impact on the lives of those political prisoners and their families who were involved is to be examined at a conference in Belfast on September 15th. That protest took place during a time of conflict.

Thirty-six years later during what is termed a time of peace and a time for moving on, Gerry McGeough and his family are experiencing the psychological and physical impact of political incarceration on alleged activities thirty-seven years ago.

Martin Corey and his family experience the impact of internment without trial and one hour after the conference closes, people will take to the streets of Dublin in protest against the psychological and physical impact of British injustice against Marian Price and her family.

Thirty-six years later in 2012 the protests and strip searching continue, this time in Maghaberry prison.

What is happening against Irish Republicans is a result of a Dissident Unionist initiative to dismantle the Good Friday Agreement in conjunction with an almost obsessive need to appease rather than hold to account the anti-peace process Unionists.

The arrest of Gerry McGeough in 2007 should have brought Sinn Féin out of what was soon to become their power sharing political comfort zone “to ensure pain and suffering never again become the experience of any Republican, Unionist and English or Irish citizen”.

The attitude in 2007 of a muzzled tolerance towards one of the finest examples of political policing against a political opponent was a step back into our period of conflict which ended with a verdict of twenty years imprisonment.

Five years later and Martin McGuinness is “allowed” to shake the hand of a British Queen while the incarceration of Gerry McGeough, the internment of Martin Corey and Marian Price and the dirty protest within Maghaberry have been “allowed” as examples of how the Dissident Unionists are willing to compromise and work towards peace and reconciliation.

Thirty-six years from now, on September 15th 2048, will our own children suffer British injustice and Unionist persecution because of their political opinion? Will those who suffer today find themselves dealing with the psychological and physical impact of a muzzled tolerance towards British injustice and Unionist persecution? Will our grandchildren be forced onto the street of Dublin in protest against the British policy of internment while the future leadership of Sinn Féin “allow” a handshake with the British King Charles as he approaches his 100th birthday?