In
May 1974, at the height of the loyalist Ulster
Workers Council strike, bombs went off in Dublin
and Monaghan killing 33 people and injuring hundreds
more. The UVF was blamed for planting those bombs,
but there is a controversy about whether or not
British secret services were also involved. This
huge number of casualties makes the Dublin and
Monaghan bombings the most deadly incident of
thirty years of Irish war. This fact today seems
to be ignored or forgotten. There is an official
amnesia both in the North and the South of Ireland.
It is worth comparing the official and media reactions
to the Dublin and Monaghan bombs with those to
the 1998 bomb in Omagh. The two incidents have
many things in common. But official and media
reactions to the two incidents have been quite
different. The media presented it as the worst
incident of the Troubles. The media has given
extensive coverage and support to the campaign
of the relatives of the Omagh bomb victims, whereas
the campaign for a public inquiry into the Dublin
and Monaghan bombings remained isolated for more
than two decades. The BBC aired a television programme
naming individuals allegedly responsible for the
Omagh bomb asking the public to help the police
bring those individuals to justice, whereas a
campaign of witch hunt and prosecution was lead
against a 1993 Channel Four programme about the
Dublin and Monaghan bombings because it alleged
British intelligence were involved. There is extensive
police work trying to catch those responsible
for the Omagh bombs, and in comparaison little
has been done to bring those responsible of the
Dublin and Monaghan bombings to justice. "Omagh"
has entered the discourse of the British, Irish
and American government, while the very few references
to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings makes it look
as if they never happened.
There is plenty of talk about the "lost lives"
of the Troubles. But the sharp contrast between
the treatment given to the victims of the Omagh
bomb with that given to those of the Dublin and
Monaghan bombings clearly suggests that there
are different categories of victims, "first class
victims" as well as "second class victims". Victims
of what the media calls the "Troubles" are fundamentally
unequal. Some victims are worthy of being remembered,
others less. In political terms, there is no such
thing as pure "lost lives". It is not a question
of "hypocrisy", that the media or the government
give a first class treatment to some victims and
not to others; it is a question of power. If a
given social group has a sufficient degree of
control over the media and the State apparatus,
it will have the power to define who is a first
or second class victim according to its interests.
Memory and victimology are not above politics,
they are a reminder that individuals are not only
unequal in life, but also in death. Don Mullan's
book on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings is trying
to rescue their victims from the official amnesia.
The book is far less a study of who carried out
the bombings or about British intelligence collusion
with loyalists than a moving tribute to their
victims. The major part of the book consists of
testimonies of people who were witnesses to the
bombings, or wounded during them, what they remember
about the events and how it has affected their
lives ever since. The relatives of each of the
thirty three victims also talk about the loss
of their loved ones. The author lets the people
speak for themselves, the unique voice of each
individual expressing grief and trauma in their
own true words. The approach of the book is pretty
similar to the author's previous "Eyewitness
Bloody Sunday". It has its strengths, but
also its weaknesses as it somehow lacks analytical
considerations.
The second part of the book deals with the controversial
question of British involvement in the bombings.
The author concentrates less on the actual evidence
of British involvement, than on the story and
question of official cover up and denial of alleged
British intelligence involvement. The author clearly
shows that some people and institutions are above
crime investigation. Because some people are in
a position of social power, they can be above
official investigation and define who is to blame.
The immense power enjoyed by MI5 and MI6 means
that they can cover up their alleged involvement
and put the blame purely on the loyalists. This
has been helped by the fact that the media coverage
has been more marked by censorship and self-censorship
than by asking critical questions. Don Mullan
is calling for a public inquiry into the Dublin
and Monaghan bombings modelled on the Bloody Sunday
Inquiry. But the critical question is what could
such a public inquiry really achieve ? Some campaigns
really have to struggle to get justice, because
it goes against the interests of some people in
a position of power. The campaign of the relatives
of the Omagh victims to bring those responsible
for the bomb to justice does not go against any
established interests, it even suits them as it
is about putting people opposing the status quo
to jail. Whereas the campaign of the relatives
of Dublin and Monaghan victims to seek truth and
bring those responsible to justice has been met
by the resistance of the British and Irish establishments
as it would mean investigating the operations
of the secret services. This leaves us very pessimistic
about the chances of a public inquiry the author
is calling for of ever finding the truth about
the bombings and bringing those responsible to
justice.
The case of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings is
a concrete example of the formal "equality" and
"rule of law" within capitalist society. De Jure,
nobody is above the law or above investigation
and prosecution. De Facto there is. De Jure everybody
is equally entitled to have justice, De Facto
there is inequality. It shows how "democratic
accountability" of government institutions can
be an illusion. If there are grounds to believe
that British intelligence is involved in such
illegal activities like this book alledges, it
shows how little control ordinary citizens can
have over their State apparatus. The fact that
a government agency is prepared to use such indiscriminate
violence for its own ends clearly demonstrates
that the State apparatus cannot be used or reformed
by any progressive government. It will be ready
to use force against anyone who is going against
established interests. The different issues related
to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings show that
the media, justice or government of our country
is not neutral, but operates to suit particular
interests. Don Mullan's book is a timely reminder
of this.
