The English press critic Roy Greenslade once coined the term “hierarchy of death” to describe the huge difference between British media coverage of different types of violence associated with the Troubles. There were he asserted four groups of victims as far as the media was concerned. Group 1 was made up of English people killed in England, i.e. victims of the IRA’s British bombing campaign. These victims dominated TV news bulletins for days and put a great strain on the Brazilian rainforest.
The second group were members of the security forces killed in Northern Ireland (NI) who could at least expect a mention on the 9 o’clock news and a photo in the papers. Group 3 was made up of civilian victims of republican violence followed by the fourth group, victims of loyalist killers. Both of these groups, which constituted the vast majority of the Troubles’ victims, tended to get little more than a perfunctory mention by the English media. Another day, another dead Paddy.
These days, with the IRA having stopped blowing up London and shooting soldiers, groups 1 and 2 no longer exist. Of the two remaining sections, victims of republican violence continue to attract significantly more coverage than the greater number of victims of loyalists. While the international media was lauding last months “put your feet up, lads” statement from the Provos, they missed the real story. While the IRA were getting their heads patted for promising not to kill anyone, loyalists have been engaged in a bitter feud and continuing their seemingly endless campaign of intimidation against Catholics who live in mainly Protestant areas.
Here’s the real news from NI in the summer of 2005: The LVF and UVF are locked in a feud over drugs which has left four men dead (so far). The youngest victim, Craig McCausland, was murdered in front of his partner and children. He was not a paramilitary. As part of this feud, several hundred masked men took over a housing estate in east Belfast and put several families out of their homes.
But, while they have been fighting among themselves, loyalists have also found the time to continue their attacks against Catholics who are unfortunate enough to live in their proximity. Rarely a night passes without a pipe-bomb, petrol bomb or paint bomb being thrown at Catholic property. Last week the police issued Catholic residents in Ahoghill with fire blankets. These kind of attacks have been going on for years.
Yet none of this seems to register in Britain or further afield. I would be surprised if any of my non-Irish readers were familiar with any of the events I have just described. This little corner of western Europe gets more like a cross between Sarajevo and Naples every day, yet no-one seems to care, least of all the supposedly sovereign government of NI.
The big news from NI is not the words of the IRA, it’s the actions of the UVF, the UDA and the LVF. I’ve said before that I’m deeply sceptical about the Provos “historic” statement, but even before their wind up order, they were far less active than their loyalist counterparts. The most pressing question of the moment is not “Are the IRA for real?”, it’s “What is to be done about loyalist paramilitarism?”
But only the SDLP and Sinn Fein seem to recognise this. All the other actors - the two governments, the southern parties, the unionists and (with some exceptions) the media - do a great disservice to everyone in the north by ignoring the rampant gangsterism and sectarian bloodlust in our midst.