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As
David Trimble took the 'impartial' decision as the
leading elected representative of the peoples of N.
Ireland to do his walk-about in Cluan Place I and
several other trade union activists co-incidentally
took up the invite to visit Clandeboye Drive on the
same day. We spent approximately two and a half hours
there on which I shall give an objective account of
those hours 4.30pm-7pm. The last time I was in the
Short Strand was in answer to the call for an anti-sectarianism
rally in which we witnessed both a person being shot
and the rally attacked. Yet on that evening's televised
news coverage I watched media revisionism in full
flow in which the portrayal of the ' two warring tribes'
were at it again. Yet my perception is that there
was a deliberate attempt by some to portray a non-reality
that evening. Yet again the media scrum accompanying
Trimble's visit into Cluan Place and his unrepresentative
approach on that day said nothing for the reality
on the ground.
We
arrived unannounced to the Short Strand at approximately
4.30pm. The streets were all but deserted, apart from
a few kids playing. It seemed quite normal from the
onset until we went further into the estate. My first
impressions could only be described as seeing severe
destruction and devastation. Homes were boarded up,
screens smashed, roofs broken up in pieces all coupled
with a certain stench and the visual impacts of paint,
petrol, acid and blasts bombs. On seeing the material
damage inflicted I wondered of the deep psychological
damage on not only individuals but on the community
as a whole, which would also no doubt be reflected
within the residents of Cluan Place. Yet despite such
destruction I did see a community within the Clandeboye
area attempting to shelter the kids and the vulnerable
from the worst with small initiatives such as painting
the boards which protect their windows and doors with
flowers, plants etc - in effect trying to provide
some normality in a 'not normal situation'.
Residents told us of their concerns and the unrelenting
attacks against a backdrop in many cases of media
complacency or worse. 4.52pm: bottles and bricks come
over the interface into Clandeboye Drive hitting windows,
roofs and landing in the still largely deserted streets.
We stood in hallways for shelter still talking to
residents as this continued expecting the arrival
of the PSNI especially as David Trimble was about!
We ventured through people's homes and into their
back yards which face directly onto the interface
wall. Clearly visible were houses boarded up, roofs
wrecked, oil tanks covered as petrol bombs had been
targeted against them - all situated on ground littered
with debris
5.47: over now come paint bombs narrowly missing a
colleague as we again survey the area. A resident
invites me into his home to shelter me from the now
home made bombs coming into Clandeboye Drive (where
are those PSNI?) A resident arrived at the door of
the house with some of my colleagues to show us a
video of the attacks. Although such videos have been
given to the press they have not made there way on
to the screens. The video showed a continuous barrage
of items coming over the wall into Claneboye Drive
and, surprisingly, a hose also being used to soak
rooftops. The reasoning for this was that some of
the tiles on the roofs in Clandeboye were in the process
of being repaired and by soaking the roofs the attackers
were making such repairs difficult to carry out. The
man's kids then proudly showed us some of their golf
ball collection that had been used to attack their
home. I understood the pride they felt in showing
us their collection as at a similar age I had collected
plastic and rubber bullets: a different era but, unfortunately,
ever similar worlds.
6.16: Now, outside bricks and bottles sporadically
but increasingly come down. There are more people
in the street. Yet they are mainly the elderly residents
and the curious kids. Some of my colleagues again
venture along the interface as others continue to
talk to the residents. A loud bang occurs. Had those
PSNI arrived? No it was now fireworks raining into
the streets coming again from over the wall. Again
residents invited us into their homes. As I talked
to an elderly lady in her home, cracking noises came
from the back of her house. We went and looked out
of her back window and saw fire works in her back
path. Then as I looked up at the interface wall, from
Cluan Place came a sustained barrage at the houses.
Looking out of the bullet proof windows amongst the
items I seen A hammer head which could only have been
thrown by grown men.
The elderly lady at her wits end and in tears asks,
'why do we have to live like this, like caged animals?
Why is this being allowed to happen? Does no one care'?
She tells how she has nothing against Protestant people:
'in fact the Short Strand have many mixed marriages'.
The problem lays in the ongoing and organized attacks
on a daily basis on her community. As I left her home
I pondered on the fact that this was the year 2002
and such was happening in our society, yet so little
is actually done to stop it. This is no coincidence
as even large sections of the media are attempting
to make 'it a wee world within a world ' attempting
to isolate the problem by portraying it as 'it's just
them at it again'. Yet the material and psychological
destruction within both 'communities' gives them not
a process of peace but a process of division.
6.53: Again on the street with bottles and bricks
still coming into the street. I notice sliced hose
pipes in different parts of the street and inquired
as to why. I was told that the residents use the pipes
to put out petrol bombs as at times the PSNI prevent
the fire engines coming in. The PSNI also slashed
the hoses.
7.01:
The barrage is intensifying with again fireworks coming
over. Two and a half hours after our arrival, home
made bombs, hammer heads, fireworks, bricks, bottles
ar stillcoming over the wall into the estate; no sign
of it being stopped and no sign of those PSNI.
We had seen enough. When I got home I watched the
media scrum around David Trimble. Yet as I observed
him doing the hundred yards dash back to Cluan Place
followed by the press scrum, in response to reports
of attacks on Cluan, and as I watched him hold that
golf ball in his hand, I knew that it had begun to
move on from witnessed revisionism to perceived political
reasoning and selfish interests. Although one can
not practically equate that golf ball with the attacks
we witnessed within Clandeboye on the same day, the
revisionism had in fact been accomplished through
omission. After all it would be easier to go with
the flow and follow the 'two tribes' theory and reinforce
perception as reality rather than being prepared to
face up to the reality. As the elections draw closer
party 'traditional' politics and rhetoric will intensify
leaving less space for resolutions as the perceived
political and practical sectarianism between parties
hardens in the fight for votes. The interface areas
can be a battle field for votes but it shouldn't be
a battlefield with or of peoples lives.
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