It
was predicted in advance of the trip by the McCartney
women to Washington, that such a journey would be
the zenith of their campaign in terms of the publicity
it could expect to accrue. Not because it would
produce a negative reaction of any consequence at
home. It was always going to be beyond the powers
of even Sinn Fein's duplicity and double standards
to mount a counter campaign based on principled
opposition to Bush. Sinn Fein does not have any.
This much at least has been evidenced through the
countless trips by party leaders to the White House.
Sinn Fein may claim with much justification that
such trips are the price to be paid in a world of
realpolitik where the radical tail hasn't a snowball's
chance in hell of wagging the reactionary dog. At
the same time any such assertion denies it the moral
high ground from which it could plausibly criticise
others who decide to meet the US president and who
cite pragmatism in their own defence.
From
the moment their plane touched down on Irish soil,
the McCartney women were going to find the going
tougher. A more enhanced public spotlight than that
provided by the corridors of power in the world's
most powerful nation, does not exist. Media fatigue
rather than planned disengagement would kick in.
The carnivorous news beast needs to be fed on new
events and even Sinn Fein's capacity for faux pas
after faux pas is not inexhaustible. Although this
would not be immediately graspable in the wake of
recent suggestions in a Sunday paper that the main
knife suspect in the Robert McCartney murder case
was also a middle ranking official in Sinn Fein.
The party as always was a day late and a dollar
short. It never acknowledged the party role of the
knife suspect until the reports appeared. The crime
is in the cover up.
Despite
their best efforts it may well turn out that the
family of Robert McCartney will never get the justice
they pursue. Their sole recompense could be to end
up living with the knowledge that they behaved justly.
For that reason some observers have begun suggesting
that the campaign should be wound up. Such advice
would seem hasty and ill judged. Few campaigns for
justice have succeeded after only three months.
Relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims are now in
their thirty third year of campaigning. For the
Finucane family it is year sixteen. Even if the
McCartney women's endeavours to put killers in the
dock fails, an inability to obtain justice does
not preclude campaigning against injustice. As the
publicity dimension of the campaign inevitably eases
down the gears, the injustice perpetrated against
this family has not diminished one iota. Democracy
gains more from injustice exposed than injustice
denied. In terms of the Northern Irish conflict
the McCartney women have added a powerful impetus
to the function of democratic scrutiny. Such scrutiny
ought to be expanded not restricted. The McCartney
campaign should not pull back for the sake of levelling
down. Other campaigns should try to emulate it by
pushing forward.
No
one is beyond criticism and those opposed to the
women, for whatever reason, must be free to voice
their concerns. In some cases this has taken the
form of run of the mill adversarial discourse, but
in others the deliberate smear has acquired a more
central role. At the milder end of the smear spectrum
has been the view that 'they're glory-hunters. They
couldn't care less about their brother. They'll
say anything to be on TV.' Also, the smear has taken
the form of whispers about the financial clout of
the women.
About
a month ago on my way to see a friend who lives
close to Dublin Airport I disembarked from my bus
outside the main terminal. I saw three of the McCartney
sisters standing outside the building. It was my
first chance to speak to them face to face since
the Friday after their brother's funeral. They had
walked outside the terminal for that famous 'McCartney
smoke.' Such is the need to sate the craving that
on one occasion they stepped outside the White House
only to find themselves locked out. On this occasion
they were waiting to catch a flight to Brussels
to promote their justice campaign to members of
the European parliament. They had bussed down from
Belfast. I told them I had done likewise only I
used the new service departing from Jury's Hotel
and that it was only £8 return. Their reaction
was one of 'if only we had known.' They paid a much
dearer price at Ulster Bus.
That
instant crystallised more than any other the lack
of monetary weight behind the women's efforts. There
was no fleet of cars to whisk them off to the airport,
no entourage of advisers, nor swathes of PR people.
Newspapers later reported that three of the women
were unable to cough up the money to make the trip.
I was also struck by the despondency that seemed
to permeate their demeanour. They looked haggard
and drawn. There was no sparkle in their eyes. These
were people carrying a burden, not celebrities strutting
on the international catwalk. From my brief conversation
with them it was all to easy to discern that they
longed to be somewhere else, back with their own
families, pursuing their lives. They had found themselves
thrust into the public eye as a result of something
they had no control over and wished had never happened.
Yet what they do, they do well, leading me to suspect
that it is their aplomb that annoys many of those
hostile towards them. Picture Catherine McCartney
fronting the campaign for the Colombian three. Her
current detractors would exalt her as Irish heroine
of the century, even if she were to shout 'they
were only bird watchers.'
No
matter what way the campaign twists and turns, there
exists a visceral resentment towards the intellectual
and strategic ability of the McCartney women. The
quarter from where such antipathy emanates seems
to position women in a category where they apply
themselves to the practical arts of washing dishes,
changing babies and making beds. Cerebral activity
is a men only club. Who can recall a woman ever
facing an accusation of being on the Provisional
IRA army council? No hint of it on yesterday evening's
News Night either. Consequently, there are those
always willing to find no evidence of Sinn Fein
leaders on the army council but an abundance of
it pointing towards a team of Svengali advisers
working on the McCartney campaign, always at hand
and ready to impart nuggets of strategic wisdom.
It is as if working class women are incapable of
self-organisation and are in need of assistance
from others - the experts. Truth is, left to advisors
the issue may have been buried along with Robert.
The
recent vigil at the murder scene indicated that
this was still acknowledged by many. Despite earlier
attempts at intimidation from the type who like
to knit at the side of Madame Guillotine, the event
went ahead. As we stood in the pelting rain, the
dank streets of Belfast seemed far removed from
the glitzy corridors of Washington. That mattered
little to the six women. Only Robert did. Long after
the cameras have gone, they will still be there.
