FACING THE TRUTH - BBC2
Firstly, I'm annoyed I didn't give this series my full attention. I hope they repeat it, soon. That said, lastnight's episode had me glued to the tv and numbed me quite frankly...
The show held the format of an 'around the table' conversation with victims of The Troubles here in Northern Ireland and people who were involved in the violence. Archbishop Desmond Tutu acted as facilitator in this show and was assisted by;-
BBC Press Office wrote:Harvard University's Donna Hicks, widely experienced in conflict resolution dialogue, and Lesley Bilinda, whose husband was killed in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and who went on a journey to try to find his killers and learn the truth about his death.
Psychologist and trauma counsellor Nomfundo Walaza, former director of the South African Trauma Centre for victims of violence and torture, was also present.
I said at the start of this message that lastnight's episode numbed me. I wasn't lying.
Michael Stone, a former volunteer in the Loyalist paramilitary organisation the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) was questioned by the brother, widow and family members of a man Stone claimed to be involved in targeting and assasinating based on intelligence gathered by a regional battalion of the UFF.
Dermot Hackett worked as a breadman for the Mother's Pride Bakery and delivered to customers on both sides of the political divide. He was a Catholic but had many Protestant friends. One of the regional battalions of Michael Stone's organisation had him targeted as a Republican and marked as an enemy soldier in the
Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). A claim that his family have always maintained as untrue...
Watching Mr. Hackett's widow cry and express, not only her grief at the murder of her husband, but the consequent upheaval it cost to her family, health, home and the death of her mother 6 months after her husband's murder, was harrowing. Michael Stone sat silently across the table while Mrs. Hackett asked him why he had done this. When he answered, he was concise and wanted to express his perspective and how he came to be involved in the murder of Catholics and Republicans. He detailed what life was like for a Loyalist killer and how his own family life was ruined because of his involvement.
At many points in the show, either due to camera angles or editing, I got the feeling Michael Stone wasn't facing up to everything by directly talking to the Hackett family. I may be wrong, but he appeared to direct his answers to Archbishop Tutu and the above named panel and only briefly appeared to talk directly at the Hackett family.
He spoke of how he lived a double life as a killer. He would attach a trailer onto the back of his car and told his wives (married twice) that he was going off for the weekend, under the pretence that he was a builder. He also said he had to dirty his denims with cement and clay to make it look like he had been working as a builder. He spoke about how intelligence had been gathered and how he tested the automatic rifle used in the murder a few weeks beforehand and how he was in no doubt, due to this intelligence, that Mr. Hackett was his enemy...
Several questions were asked of him. One, from Mr. Hackett's brother made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. All throughout the interview, Stone had spoken of his discretion while working as a Loyalist killer. Mr. Hackett's brother asked him why, if that was the case, was he so open on the day he launched a grenade and gun attack on a Republican funeral and on camera. Stone answered as best he could and described his frustration that a Republican funeral was taking place just up the street from where he lived. How he had to do something...
Towards the end of the conversation and in the other interviews it was requested that both parties shake hands if at all possible. My heart went out to Mrs. Hackett. She tried to be forgiving but broke down in floods of tears. Mr. Hackett's brother explained just how much she had been suffering and those left around the table acknowledged this...
I grew up in this country and all throughout, I was friendly with members of both communities. I am from mixed parentage and have never fully understood the conflict. Thankfully, life in Northern Ireland has changed. There isn't the same amounts of hostility in both communities and many initiatives have been set up to tackle the divisions in politics and religion. It will take several years to bring us all back to a point where acceptance and forgiveness are embraced here in Ireland, but imho, this show, despite my views on religion, was a step in the right direction...
To read the full BBC Press Office announcement on Facing The Truth, click
here...
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Haven't the poor bastards heard of coke? Actually, in total fairness to this show, it ran back to back with the re-runs of Shameless, so that in itself is a winner in my opinion. Paul Abbott's Shameless - Masterpiece in black comedy and drama...
