One of the most moving sights on TV in recent days has been the families from Liverpool whose loved ones were killed at Hillsborough so long ago. I don't understand it but it does seem that David Cameron saying he's deeply sorry in the British House of Commons means quite a bit to them. As did his almost word-for-word apology to the Derry families who lost loved ones on Bloody Sunday. The one difference that strikes me is that the apology was followed almost immediately by talk of justice by was it Cameron or Clegg. Frankly, that sounds more like it. Your loved one died a cruel and unnecessary death, decades later someone says "Oh, sorry" - and that's it? The families in Liverpool shouldn't have to call for justice - the state should deliver justice without being asked.
You'll have noticed too I expect that Cameron's word-for-word to the Derry families stopped short of the word "justice". Is that a way of saying that relatives of innocents killed by the stupidity and incompetence of higher-ups in the South Yorkshire police force are more deserving of justice than relatives of innocents killed, not by stupidity and incompetence of higher-ups in the British army (and beyond), but by the deliberate actions and commands? Not to mention the almost identical cover-up in both cases. I find it hard to believe that the fair-minded British public (they are fair-minded, aren't they?) wouldn't demand justice for the Liverpool families and the Derry families. But I can't recall hearing any such demands.
Meanwhile, An Taoiseach today met with those families who lost loved ones in the Kingsmill massacre. They too deserve justice. As do the families who lost loved ones in the Dublin/Monaghan bombs. But it seems that some barbaric acts are more worthy of attention than others. What's it called? Ah yes. A hierarchy of victims. The law is a ass and justice is a joke.
I hear more than a hint of nationality and the parochial here, Jude, which is a pity in itself. Many 'English' people deplore the failures of their government, and public bodies, to act with justice and truthfulness. Saville was different, and we rejoiced to hear the truth, as we did with the Hillsborough Report this week. But consider too the individual cases, such as the incomplete explanation of the death of Dr. David Kelly, which was similarly hindered by a law that prohibits disclosure of documents. The Labour government in 2009 had to waive the 30 year rule so that the Hillsborough documents could be disclosed before time. Yet, the Sun Insurance Company, which insured Sheffield Wednesday FC, still legitimately refuses to disclose privileged papers.
ReplyDeleteAll this suggests to me that it is not nations, or their comparably ephemeral governments, that we should identify as enemies of justice, but the habit of secrecy by which those in power, and the organisations they control or favour, sustain themselves. Courts must uphold justice, not buttress power, everywhere; secrecy too must be outlawed everywhere, as the enemy of freedom and justice. In these matters, which government or nation is without fault? Hierarchy has no meaning in relation to justice and truth.
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