Justice, Poets, and Festivals

The morning correspondent is Patrick Burke:

We were able to sleep in an extra hour this morning so everybody arose at around 8:30. After, we completed our normal morning routines and walked down to the gate to be picked up by the cabs. Our first activity on the schedule was a meeting with two members of “Relatives for Justice.” This is a group of nationalists who support the relatives of victims killed by unionist paramilitary groups, such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defense Association (UDA).

Robert McClanahan and Mark Syke were both greatly affected by the violence of the paramilitary groups. Robert lost his sister and both his grandparents. Mark was a victim of this violence in a direct way as he was shot and lost many friends to the UVF while he was in a bootmaker’s shop. However, the main points they made weren’t on a personal level, but on “firinne,” the Irish word for “truth.” Among other things, this includes the campaign for the truth about collusion between British state agencies and Unionist death squads.

Collusion, in relation to Northern Ireland, is the relationship between the British government and Unionist paramilitaries and the ways that they supported each other. This is a very delicate issue to be making accusations about, but some of their arguments seemed to make some sense. They explained to us how the UVF was originally set up in 1913 to oppose Britain in some cases, but they later became the police force. They went from an illegal group to the police force that was greatly against Catholics and nationalists. They also delved into the issue of Brian Nelson, a British agent who was also a member of the UDA. Nelson used his authority in the British government to smuggle many weapons from South Africa. He is responsible for the deaths of 229, according to the Collusion pamphlet we received. The main victims of these crimes were Sinn Fein representatives/members, civil rights activists, election workers and Catholic civilians.

Relatives for Justice wishes to spread information about collusion throughout the United Kingdom, especially the county of Ulster. They would like to have a public inquiry into the matter, as opposed to an inquiry put up by the British government which would, they believe, be heavily biased. They are seeking a public official of any kind to hold a court investigation into the issue of collusion and bring justice to the many families affected by its injustice.

Our afternoon correspondent is Jayson Lesyk:

After a quick lunch at Queens, we walked down to the Student Union to grab coffee and headed to Dr. Eamonn Hughes’s final lecture on Irish literature. We had already prepared for this last meeting by briefly going over the packet of poetry he had passed out to each of us.


Since we were familiar with the literature, it really sank in fully as we absorbed all his Gaelic knowledge. He informed us about different types, styles, and themes of northern Irish poetry. We also gained more understanding of topics we had covered in our pre-departure classes with Mrs. Varnish such as Field Day, a literary group started primarily by Bryan Friel and Seamus Heaney. Though Dr. Hughes had claimed prior to our first class with him that we would be “sick of the sight of him” by the time we left, we were saddened at the end of class today.

Back at the residence hall Ms. Duarte gave us a reading quiz over the novel we have been reading the past few days, Reading in the Dark. Not to brag, but I personally got an eleven out of nine total points. We discussed the challenging novel for a while until some people from the group we will be doing service with arrived. Gareth, Machelle, and Sam discussed what service we will be doing for a Lower Castlereagh community group. For the twelfth of July celebrations, they are sponsoring a daylong festival, which they hope will transform the event into a community celebration that is positive.

We then departed for dinner at a high-end Chinese restaurant called Welcome where we had an excellent meal, exchanged riddles, and took pictures with the Buddha statue. Then we returned to the residence hall, picking up ice cream on the way. We arrived home and finished our journals and reading assignments. Another terrific day in Belfast!