Achieving Justice
Sometimes achieving ‘Justice’ involves great struggle.
I suffer from many nightmares and have done so for many years. Strangely, I didn't have them during the 15 years I in spent in prison after being wrongly convicted, with three others, for the 1975 Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings. It was almost as if I was in the eye of the storm while I was inside, and everything was being held back for a replay later in my life. Our case is well known now as one of first major miscarriages of justice. I am often contacted by people who, like me, spent many years on death row after being wrongly convicted. People ask whether a case like ours could happen today. Of course it could. I know of many innocent people still behind bars and I know there are echoes of what happened to us in cases that are still coming to light today. We were tortured – guns held to our heads. The case against us was circumstantial. We tried to get people to listen to what had happened to us, and it took years before our voices were heard outside.
When a society is based on injustice and inequality the struggle for justice becomes almost impossible. People and minority groups are faced with terrible discrimination, their opportunities are restricted therefore wealth, justice and equality isn’t divided equally amongst all members of society. This injustice causes a feeling of anger and bitterness which easily evolves in escalated violence which could lead to intense riots and in some cases civil war which has risen from injustice and alternatively peaceful protests are undertaken. In the movie ‘In the name of the father” we see the IRA struggle for a united and peaceful Ireland, pitted against a society where Catholics have systematically been marginalised.
When the law fails to uphold itself the standards of justice set by society, achieving justice can seem impossible. If racism itself is ever eliminated, it will only fade away with time, being replaced by another prejudice involved with
I suffer from many nightmares and have done so for many years. Strangely, I didn't have them during the 15 years I in spent in prison after being wrongly convicted, with three others, for the 1975 Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings. It was almost as if I was in the eye of the storm while I was inside, and everything was being held back for a replay later in my life. Our case is well known now as one of first major miscarriages of justice. I am often contacted by people who, like me, spent many years on death row after being wrongly convicted. People ask whether a case like ours could happen today. Of course it could. I know of many innocent people still behind bars and I know there are echoes of what happened to us in cases that are still coming to light today. We were tortured – guns held to our heads. The case against us was circumstantial. We tried to get people to listen to what had happened to us, and it took years before our voices were heard outside.
When a society is based on injustice and inequality the struggle for justice becomes almost impossible. People and minority groups are faced with terrible discrimination, their opportunities are restricted therefore wealth, justice and equality isn’t divided equally amongst all members of society. This injustice causes a feeling of anger and bitterness which easily evolves in escalated violence which could lead to intense riots and in some cases civil war which has risen from injustice and alternatively peaceful protests are undertaken. In the movie ‘In the name of the father” we see the IRA struggle for a united and peaceful Ireland, pitted against a society where Catholics have systematically been marginalised.
When the law fails to uphold itself the standards of justice set by society, achieving justice can seem impossible. If racism itself is ever eliminated, it will only fade away with time, being replaced by another prejudice involved with