A SILENT MESSAGE RINGS LOUD FOR MEN OF VIOLENCE
A silent message rings loud for men of violence
AS the last of the Omagh bomb victims were laid to rest yesterday a succession of moving graveside tributes graphically illustrated how the town's Catholic and Protestant communities have been drawn together, as never before, by the atrocity, setting a fine example for the entire nation to emulate.
With 16 patients, including six children, still receiving medical care, many will bear the scars and pain of their physical injuries for the rest of their lives. But they will also carry deeper psychological scars which will continue to burn into their minds for months and even years to come.
It is vital that long-term support systems be established to help victims and their families regain some semblance of normal life, if that will ever be possible. Deep gratitude is owed to the hospital staff and counsellors who have worked tirelessly in the aftermath of the bombing. Thanks to their dedication many lives have been saved.
Predictably, in the aftermath of the atrocity, the Government's security response has been generally endorsed by a public anxious to ensure the men of violence are hunted down. They must become so isolated that it will be impossible for them to blend into the landscape as they have done in the past, a situation for which the community at large must carry much of the blame.
In this context, warnings have been issued against demonising towns associated with terrorism. Experience has shown, however, that where extreme republicans lived in local communities, they have enjoyed a misplaced form of protection.
This misguided sense of loyalty has been exacted from the people, partly through intimidation but also because of traditional feelings of loyalty to the republican ideals of Wolfe Tone. His was an inclusive concept, embracing Catholic, Protestant and dissenter. But, tragically, Tone's ideology was effectively hijacked by the Provisional IRA in the 60s and turned to their own warped cause.
While there can no longer be any hiding place for terrorists, it is important to heed civil libertarian warnings underscoring the need to guard against breaches of human rights in the process of cracking down on terrorists. At the same time, however, they must be made fully amenable to the provisions of the Government's no-nonsense law and order package.
Tomorrow at 3.10 p.m., a minute's silence will be observed the length and breadth of the island. If this communal prayer for the dead and injured is to have the desired effect, the sound of silence must ring deafeningly in the ears of those who seek to impose the bomb and the bullet on the Irish people.
Courtesy of Irish Examiner
AS the last of the Omagh bomb victims were laid to rest yesterday a succession of moving graveside tributes graphically illustrated how the town's Catholic and Protestant communities have been drawn together, as never before, by the atrocity, setting a fine example for the entire nation to emulate.
With 16 patients, including six children, still receiving medical care, many will bear the scars and pain of their physical injuries for the rest of their lives. But they will also carry deeper psychological scars which will continue to burn into their minds for months and even years to come.
It is vital that long-term support systems be established to help victims and their families regain some semblance of normal life, if that will ever be possible. Deep gratitude is owed to the hospital staff and counsellors who have worked tirelessly in the aftermath of the bombing. Thanks to their dedication many lives have been saved.
Predictably, in the aftermath of the atrocity, the Government's security response has been generally endorsed by a public anxious to ensure the men of violence are hunted down. They must become so isolated that it will be impossible for them to blend into the landscape as they have done in the past, a situation for which the community at large must carry much of the blame.
In this context, warnings have been issued against demonising towns associated with terrorism. Experience has shown, however, that where extreme republicans lived in local communities, they have enjoyed a misplaced form of protection.
This misguided sense of loyalty has been exacted from the people, partly through intimidation but also because of traditional feelings of loyalty to the republican ideals of Wolfe Tone. His was an inclusive concept, embracing Catholic, Protestant and dissenter. But, tragically, Tone's ideology was effectively hijacked by the Provisional IRA in the 60s and turned to their own warped cause.
While there can no longer be any hiding place for terrorists, it is important to heed civil libertarian warnings underscoring the need to guard against breaches of human rights in the process of cracking down on terrorists. At the same time, however, they must be made fully amenable to the provisions of the Government's no-nonsense law and order package.
Tomorrow at 3.10 p.m., a minute's silence will be observed the length and breadth of the island. If this communal prayer for the dead and injured is to have the desired effect, the sound of silence must ring deafeningly in the ears of those who seek to impose the bomb and the bullet on the Irish people.
Courtesy of Irish Examiner
Further Information
Publisher: THE EXAMINER
Ref: TEX/137
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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