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The Other View | ||
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Issue No.1 Summer 2000Loyalist Ex-Prisoners ExhibitionA Republican Appraisal by John NixonIf you go up to Castlereagh, if you go up todayIt's there that you will find Winston Churchill ReaWe will never forsake the blue skies of UlsterFor the grey skies of an Irish republicThe above two clichés have, throughout my life, been etched in my memory. I saw them on the walls in the cells below Crumlin Road courthouse in 1974, This was my first ever experience of perceptions of UVF prisoners.Epic/Mid-Ulster's office has been based in Armagh City for well over a year. They take a proactive role in the community and have competent, motivated staff. In the city itself there are only a small number of ex-Loyalist prisoners. In Armagh's Unionist communities being a loyalist ex-prisoner is often a stigma not a status. There are almost 100 hundred Republicans in Armagh and district for whom no like service exists In this respect Epic have superseded their objectives.I visited their recent exhibition 'A prison Experience' which was hosted in The Palace the home of the local council who also fund assisted the project. A groundbreaking achievement in itself given the council's political make-up. It was my first encounter with loyalist gaol culture in all its aspects. I wanted to see how they represented their gaol experience. Perceptions are everything.About thirty or so turned up at the opening many of whom were nationalist/republicans from local community groups and organisations who Epic had invited. Along with me was a woman whose father, a Sinn Fein activist, was killed by a local UVF man who was also a serving member of the UDR. Two 'screws' in prison uniform greeted all that entered the gallery, a converted 18th century hayloft.Our attention focused on a short drama written by William Mitchell (no relative to the Billy Mitchell who writes for this magazine) and performed by Alistair Little both former prisoners (why can't I use the term POW's?). It was based upon the emotional experience of a prison visit. I found a lot of identification. It addressed all the emotional issues but what surprised everyone was the open antagonism Loyalists prisoners exhibited for the prison regime at HMP Maze. 93% of the NIPS (Northern Ireland Prison Service) are from Unionist background.A PC monitor intermittently downloaded Kesh photos. If anything they were a unique fashion statement; ubiquitous denim, well washed jeans, jackets, shirts, Docs, Ben Shermans, sideburns and seventies hairstyles. Take away the background symbols of loyalism and they could be from the Falls or Bogside, or indeed, Armagh. If there was anything we had in common, it was this expression of a working class ethos.Gusty Spence's photograph figured predominantly in the earlier era of Kesh photos and he is credited with much. His cult status was well reflected in the iconography. You only achieve this in republican culture when you're dead. Gusty was instrumental in the politicisation process. It was in the UVF cages that many raw recruits learned Irish history or heard Irish spoken for the first time. They acknowledge being taught to believe that the map of Ulster was a composite entity. It has been a long learning curve indeed, for the political cadres of the UVF.This was epitomised via video episodes of the Rev Ian Paisley proclaiming that he will smuggle guns into Ulster himself, for Protestants to be ready, to be alert, that they would fight and that they would be right. Nothing different but that was just the point.A song recalling the valour of Pte Billy Mc Fadgean who died on the Somme and was awarded the VC was performed. Alongside thousands of nationalists from an un-partitioned Ireland McFadden died that small nations might be free. So they were told. I was conscious of the anomalies. This link with the past has deep and important significance. Historical continuity plays an important role as a legitimising agent. We all do it whatever the controversy. Perceptions are everything.On the stands were the paraphernalia, all too familiar, of prison creativity and culture: Leatherwork, wallets, purses, belts, glasswork, woodwork, miniature lambegs, sashes, hankies, paintings, varnished plaques, photo portraits of graduations, paintings of Gusty. Nothing of Celtic origin though, which I thought was a defining factor.Artefacts for families and loved ones attracted an audience. I stood with the dead Sinn Fein activist's daughter who was confronted with a poignant reminder of the reality of the conflict. A silk sable coloured heart-shaped cushion on which was hand painted two AK 47's and the name of the UVF man who had killed her father. There were roses too ... on the margins. It was dedicated to his wife. There are many anomalies.Also on display were enlarged graphic photos of IRA atrocities, Bloody Friday, Shankill, Kingsmill. There were many dedications to dead UVF volunteers.For me it presented a bit of a culture shock but for everyone it was a process of acculturation. I would like to see a comparative Republican exhibition. All our differences and commonalties out in the open. As I was about to leave a poem quoted by a UVF prisoner caught by attention. I recognised it immediately from Clark Howard's epic book about life in Alcatraz, Six Against the Rock. It really does put all prison experience in a Universal context:'Grey Life'I awaken to Grey,
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