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After
many years of intra-community conflict in Ballymurphy,
the McMahon family - perceived to be a ‘problem’
by its neighbours - has finally been compelled to
pack its bags and move elsewhere. While there are
young children in the family who bear no culpability
for the behaviour of older family members their rights
went by the wayside in all of this. Against this there
was a genuine feeling in the estate that the children
were used as a shield by their older brothers and
that ultimately there was no alternative but to force
the family out. Many would feel that as the family
are to be quickly re-housed and were not unceremoniously
dumped on the street no rights were in fact violated.
There
is little doubt that had the family pulled its horns
in it would still be living in Ballymurphy. As one
of those behind the move to evict the family said,
many attempts had been made in the past to avoid this
point ever being reached. The "long and sustained
pressure" to induce it into leaving, which Ballymurphy
residents spokesperson Rosemary Lawlor referred to,
would have dissipated and fizzled out. The family
itself ensured that it remained in the public gaze.
Communities
must have some means of dealing with "neighbours
from hell" otherwise daily life can take on a
hellish character for those living alongside them.
The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has said as
much himself. And it can hardly be claimed that he
wants to violate the rights of his neighbours. But
already in the discourse employed by the forces behind
the campaign to expel the McMahon family can be found
an ominous inflection.
Liam
Stone, usually not over the top in his response to
community problems, has spoken of "the start
of a peaceful, non-violent approach to dealing with
families which the community does not want living
among them". Micky McMahon of Whiterock Westrock
Residents’ Association has claimed that "this
is a sign that families will only be able to live
in the community when they claim the respect of their
neighbours". Language of this sort raises the
question of what type of rights do families have against
the community?
A
loose perusal of Liam Stone and Micky McMahon’s
views might conclude that both men are speaking strictly
against the backdrop of the McMahon family and that
nothing further can be inferred from their comments
which might be seen to impinge on the situation of
other families. A tighter reading however might conclude
that a new discourse is being created through which
people are being positioned into groups - those who
have the power to demand respect and those too powerless
to resist and who must therefore acquiesce to the
community regime which in turn is invariably shaped
by those most powerful within the community and whose
power is not always derived from the community.
In
the case of the McMahon family there are already rumblings
that despite the widespread dismay at its behaviour
only a minority of neighbours signed a petition calling
on the Housing Executive to have them evicted. Furthermore,
whispers are alleging that a Sinn Fein member has
been lined up to secure the house. None of this has
been substantiated and may of course merely be the
inevitable envy and resentment accompanied by back-biting
that goes on when frustrated people think their allocated
place in the waiting list should be higher than it
is. Sinn Fein members like everyone else need houses
to live in and some have been on the list for years.
But house allocation should be above any suspicion
of political vetting or favouritism. And given that
the local Sinn Fein councillor has been to the fore
in pressing the Housing Executive to move the family,
no matter how justified her motives in this particular
case may have been, the need for total transparency
and public accountability at every step of these processes
is considerably amplified. Without such openness and
susceptibility to public scrutiny the rumblings that
already exist may continue to grow and call into question
the legitimacy of a strategy which if managed properly
and impartially at least has the potential to alleviate
community suffering.
Moreover,
relating back to the comments of Liam Stone and Micky
McMahon, what is it that people have to respect -
their neighbour’s political opinions among other
things? People can treat the political perspective
of their neighbours with absolute contempt if they
so choose without fear of being harassed on the grounds
of ‘no respect’. The pseudo charter that
was once put through the doors in these estates more
or less felt obliged to concede that principle if
only on paper.
If
justice is to prevail in the communities in which
we live then in order to reside in them people need
only abide by the agreed and established, non-hierarchical
and transparent customs that regulate day to day behaviour.
Outside of that, what their neighbours think of them
or whether they respect them or not is irrelevant.
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