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It
is not that often that I would be in Downpatrick.
The last time was almost ten years ago and then it
was to visit life long republican friends. This occasion
saw me there to talk with other republicans. Ten years
back, whatever this or that difference between us
all, we could at least complain or boast of belonging
to a republican community oppressed and harassed by
the British. Things have moved on since then. Only
some republicans now face harassment. Most galling
is that it is not at the hands of the British but
instead is currently inflicted by other republicans
who once faced it themselves.
As
a result of The Blanket having previously highlighted
the plight of those republicans still opposed to the
administration of British rule in Ireland - regardless
of who administers it - we had been asked to go to
Downpatrick to speak with the parents of a young man
who was the victim of a shooting carried out, we were
informed, by Stormont republicanism. It was a familiar
story. With nothing to show for the war other than
an end to the war, those who ordered it waged react
with violent fury to others who challenge their writ.
Joe O’Connor in Belfast, Paddy Fox in Tyrone,
Micky Donnelly in Derry - all these republicans previously
faced the wrath of the Green shirts; now the malevolence
has spread to Downpatrick - its victim, Kevin Perry.
We
arrived in the working class home of Francie and Geraldine
Perry in the early afternoon. It was the first time
that we had met either of the couple. We found them
agitated and uneasy but determined. They were not
going silently into the night while their son lay
in the local hospital, incapacitated by five bullet
wounds. They would have their say. And The Blanket
- being a Section 31 free zone - would give them a
platform from which to say it.
Geraldine
Perry sat on a chair in her kitchen smoking while
she spoke to us at the table. These were working class
people in a working class home. The locality in which
they lived reminded me more of Ballymurphy than Norfolk
on the Glen Road. Few Armani suits would be found
hanging in the wardrobes in these homes. She explained
to me and my colleague that six days before Christmas
her son Kevin was dragged from his house by five men
into a back garden and shot in the shin, ankles and
hands. He had also been subjected to ferocious attack
which inolved the use of a hammer and a nail bar,
leaving him with a hundred stitches. Before asking
her what organisation was responsible I smiled and
commented that on another occasion when I asked a
question like this and published the answer Sinn Fein
sent a Glenbryn-type hate mob to my home to rant and
rave, threaten and berate. Like the Holy Cross School
parents, obviously undeterred - they can come back
howling if they want - I proceeded with my business.
Geraldine claimed that Kevin was adamant that the
people who shot him were members of the Provisional
IRA. The local Provisionals in the town were also
said to be boasting that he was one of their victims.
Word came back through the republican grapevine to
the family that the reason being put about for the
shooting was that Kevin had threatened a senior member
of the IRA, something the hospitalised man strenuously
denies.
The
backdrop to the shooting was laid out for us by Geraldine.
In September 2001, her son Pat was attacked at a Sinn
Fein function in Downpatrick by party members. ‘The
attack took place in the toilet of the premises where
the function was being held. A prominent member of
Sinn Fein held Pat down while party colleagues kicked
him about the head and body.’ Those who carried
out the assault claimed that Pat had ties with an
alternative republican grouping. This was to prove
the catalyst of a slander campaign. ‘Since then
a prominent member of Sinn Fein in South Down has
criticised the family for over a year on the basis
of anything he can. He has waged a campaign of slander
and innuendo.’ Geraldine fiercely disputed the
allegation against Pat. In any event it does seem
strange that he would turn up at a Sinn Fein function
if he was a member of an alternative republican grouping.
Geraldine
did point out however, that the Christmas prior to
the assault on Pat, his brother Kevin - now hospitalised
- despite holding strong republican beliefs had made
enemies within the Provisional Republican Movement.
The latter told him he was a persona non grata after
he had the temerity to complain about malpractices
being indulged in by some within that movement. In
his view their activities were bringing republicanism
into disrepute but the present leadership seemed prepared
to let things go as it had lost its way.
In
April of 2002 there was an attempt to shoot Pat. At
the time it was not clear who was behind it. The family
readily admit to having differences of opinion over
the likely perpetrators. But then local Provisionals
began to boast in the pubs in the town that it was
they who had targeted Pat. Geraldine, worried out
of her mind, admits there are times when the thought
flashes across her mental vision that the local Sinn
Fein councillor has been in some way responsible for
her house being subjected to RUC searches: ‘is
it just to reassure themselves that there will never
be any thing in this house so that when they attack
it they can do so in the knowledge that everyone here
is defenceless?’ She says, however, that she
has no evidence that the councillor in question has
done any such thing.
Geraldine
complained bitterly of a sustained campaign in the
local media waged against her and her two sons. Her
husband Francie says ‘we have lived here all
our lives and suddenly in the past year we have just
become criminals.’ Like his wife he is in no
doubt that the senior local Sinn Fein member has been
feeding the local paper this line. He also claims
that the same official has been trying to circulate
a spurious story that ‘dissident republicans’
carried out the attack on Kevin. Geraldine added that
a sign of the power the Provisionals are allowed to
have is that such a spin can go unchallenged in the
media and that the media virtually ignored the shooting
to begin with. ‘What chance have ordinary people
in these estates when a gang can just shoot you and
the media turns its back?’
The
family’s worries are compounded by an additional
factor. Geraldine cares for her infirm 72 year old
mother Mary in the house. After the shooting incident
involving Pat the care workers were taken off as the
location was now considered too dangerous for them
to work in. Geraldine then tried to circumvent this
problem by applying for a home in nearby Drumaness.
While the Housing Executive claimed that the family
had fulfilled all the necessary criteria for the application
to be granted, the arrival of a bullet at Housing
Executive premises led the Executive to conclude that
the Perry family were at risk of death if they were
allocated the house and the offer was subsequently
withdrawn. That decision may now be subject to a judicial
review.
As
a result of the family's concerns over this type of
friction they approached Sinn Fein. Two party officials
visited the home and told them they would deal with
the matter and would return within two weeks. According
to Francie before the two weeks had expired 'we found
out how they intended dealing with the matter - Kevin
was beaten with hammers and shot.'
Francie
concluded our discussion by saying that the family
were really fearful for the safety of their sons:
The
police came last week and told us that Pat’s
life was under threat. While they refused to tell
us who was behind the threat, it is clear that coming
immediately after the shooting of Kevin that the
Provisionals are behind it. We call on Sinn Fein
and the IRA to state publicly and clearly that neither
organisation poses any threat to the safety or lives
of our sons and that both will be allowed to get
on with their daily lives.
We
were not surprised by what the Perry family had to
tell us. We had heard similar accounts all too often
in the past. We had no reason to disbelieve their
version of events but that did not prevent us asking
others what they thought. One former republican prisoner
who no longer actively engages in political life,
told us:
The
Provos want to run the show and still any dissension
arising out of opposition to their participation
in the peace process and their future participation
in the PSNI. Good people have been put out of the
Republican Movement as soon as they began to ask
questions. Kevin Perry and his brother are no better
or worse than any of the other young men in this
town. Kevin's behaviour since he spoke out against
the Sinn Fein set up is no different from it was
before he spoke up. Then he was a decent guy. The
minute he disagreed with them he became 'anti-social'.
What really happened? The Provos decided to blacken
him because they could not face criticism or dissent.
The
only way that the type of activity described in this
article will end is for the Sinn Fein leadership to
come clean about the limitations of its strategy.
Republicans opposed to the present strategy know that
the Provisional IRA lost the war. Rather than hounding
those who wish to say just that, the Sinn Fein leadership
should accept responsibility for leading us into a
war that could not be won and that was ultimately
ended on terms that were on offer in 1973. Persistently
dissembling that the republican struggle was somehow
successful and that the present strategy is the continuation
of it by other means rather than the abandonment of
that struggle entirely fools only those who wish to
be fooled and leads others to feel they were cheated
rather than defeated. The ingredients for tension
are built in to the process of denial. Tariq Ali complained
recently about those with power treating citizens
like children so that 'they can carry on spoon-feeding
them lies.' A leadership not honest about its achievements
will continuously feel the need to suppress those
who are. The emperor has no clothes. What is so terrible
about that? Denying it.
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