August 23rd Monday edition
$quinter really, really, really hates dissidents, and wants to let the whole world know. This is understandable as his lovely middle class lifestyle can only be maintained if ‘Gerry A’ (Squinters mate apparently) continues to keep west Belfast friendly for peelers and business investors, and he remains the loudest cheerleader.
This is why during the last ten years of struggle and suffering in Maghaberry, a period which saw; two dirty protests, two hunger strikes, one prisoner dead in solitary confinement, one more dead in PSNI custody, forced integration, dozens of prisoners beaten, prisoners strip searched and degraded along with their families, and hundreds of west Belfast citizens take to the streets in protest, Squinter instead chose to use his paper to take the piss out of each and every effort to help the POWs, as well as to felon set and criminalise the POWs themselves.
This week Squinter has for the second time, jumped on the fact that a POW supporter spelt Maghaberry wrong on a wall some weeks back (talk about avoiding the real issues).
Squinter shows the picture of the writing and then launches a piss poor comedy sketch regarding ‘an active service unit’ whose job is to write slogans on walls.
Squinters two imaginary ‘Volunteers’ are then given all the usual characteristics Squinter gives to ‘dissidents’, ie; pig thick stupid, uneducated, idiots, more or less the same characteristics British tabloids have given to republicans for 200 years.
The first thing that jumped out at me when reading this crap was Squinters opening line, ‘In many ways Maghaberry Jail is little different from Long Kesh in the 70s and 80s’, to me this was a type of disclaimer, a bare acknowledgement to the suffering he knows the prisoners went through, before saying ‘fuckem’.
Now, Squinter (both using his real name and in his shite comedy bit) has no problem in opening other republicans up for scrutiny on their beliefs.
As such I would have no problem in asking ‘what would Squinter know about prison conditions anytime anywhere?.
As Squinter will well remember, he was left red faced by a former woman POW in his favourite drinking establishment one night when she pointed out ‘You spent your whole life avoiding active service, what would you know about prison?, apparently Squinter had tried to join in on yarns of actual Felons, including one who obviously recognised him as a setter.
Over the years Squinter was so determined to wreck the Maghaberry campaign through his paper that prisoner support groups had to eject all photographers and journalists from public meetings. He helped justify Provo hard men destroying POW benefit nights through making up lies and refused to publicise cases of Real IRA POWs in England being denied medical treatment because they were “not local stories”.
After a while one begins to wonder, just what is Squinters problem, why does he hate principled republicans to the point of actually attacking a prison protest and anyone who supports it?, this brings me back to my first point, Squinter needs to see the ‘Dissidents’ fail, his lifestyle absolutely depends on it.
Squinter didn’t write about the faeces and urine soaked cells the POWs lived in, he didn’t talk about the suffering and struggle, he saw where some young lad tried to express his support for Irish republicans incarcerated by his beloved PSNI, and he took the piss out of him instead.
Squinter, as an uneducated, illiterate dissident, let me tell you outright ‘UR A DCIKHEAD’.
Very well articulated points raised in your article!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like lightyears ago but I once found his column mildly funny. Nowadays I wouldnt even buy that rag, it has become so far removed from it's previously held principles under the stewardship of the O'Millionaire et al.
Maith thu!