Well people, sorry I haven’t been about much this week. I’ll try to turn the posting up a notch over the next few weeks to make up. In the meantime though, turn your attention to the website of everybody’s favourite victims group.
In my last post I shared my concerns over Willie Frazer’s part in the Alec Reid controversy. In that post, someone left a comment about Frazer’s hypocrisy, given that the FAIR website draws links between Irish Republicanism and Nazis, so I decided to investigate further. The bit that jumped out at me was the line:
We are a non-sectarian,non-political organisation working for the interests of the innocent of terrorist victims based in South Armagh,Northern Ireland.
What a noble sentiment. I went on to read Willie Frazer’s biography on the site. I think everyone should read this to get a perspective on the man’s background and the events that have shaped his outlook.
The rest of the website is not so noble. Frazer (and whoever else contributes to the site) provides an impressive dossier of Republican violence in the South Armagh region, and relates many tales of ongoing criminal activity in the area.
The bitterness and hostility on the site make me wonder if Frazer is an appropriate person to run a victims group. Some of the content appears to be written from a clearly Protestant Unionist viewpoint (although it claims otherwise). Worse still, I can’t find any evidence of healing, more like rubbing salt in the wound, stabbing a knife in it a few times and then dressing it in razor wire.
Basically, the FAIR website is an outpouring of bitterness and resentment and depite what it says is extremely political. I would almost go so far as to say that it is a thinly veiled anti-Sinn Fein pressure group and though I have no love for Sinn Fein, I think it is wrong to use the grief of innocent people as political capital.
Who appointed William Frazer to this position? What are his qualifications in helping others deal with grief and anger and loss? Who is funding this organisation? How are they helping people look to a peaceful shared vision of the future?
Finally, given his involvement in arguably sectarian/political rallies like Love Ulster, is William Frazer the right person to work with bereaved and traumatised victims of terrorist violence? I don’t think so. That’s not to denigrate the man himself, but I feel he has yet to properly deal with his own experiences, his hurt and anger before attempting to help others.
To illustrate my point, take a look at the FAIR website and compare it with another victim’s site, Healing Through Remembering.
Tuesday, November 1st, 2005 // Northern Ireland: Politics
