Month: March 1989

So I Always Looked The Other Way

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A cartoon by ‘Cormac‘ (Brian Moore) is turned into a mural on Belfast’s Whiterock Road by Mo Chara Kelly. The mural satirizes the ad below urging people to call the confidential telephone to report terrorist activity. Instead, the protagonist can no longer ignore the violence of the British Army and calls the Sinn Féin office.

1 When the Brits were having a go … “Who cares?” I thought.
2 And when something really rough happened I just trained harder to forget it … “Anything for a quiet life, see.”
3 But where’s it got me? What have these brave lads in khaki done for me? Soldier: “We’re not here to do things for you; we’re here to do things to you.”
4 RUC commander: “Hey, don’t forget us. We’ve done our share of wrecking homes, harassing people. We’ve murdered and tortured and …”
5 And when I saw their kind of justice I thought “There’s got to be something better than this.” Judge: You may think I’m a corrupt Orange bigot. But I know that I’m a very well paid corrupt Orange bigot! And the only justice you’re going to get is British justice.”
6 So I made up my mind. I wanted these thugs off our backs. “Is it any wonder that the British tourist is the most despised person on earth?”
7 You see I want a decent future, and it’s not going to happen while these “heros” are the dirty work of British imperialism. And it’s not going to happen if you’re waiting for someonse else to do something.
8 622112. “Hallo? Is that the Sinn Féin office?”

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Copyright © 1989 Peter Moloney