Reading John Minahane’s account of the targeting of Roger Casement put me in mind of an incident which happened to me in November 1985. It was an attempt to discredit me, to put me ‘beyond the pale’—and it was because I helped to promote political views which conflicted with a core objective of the British State.
The event happened around November 1985. The Anglo-Irish Agreement had just been signed between the UK and the Republic, as a result of pressure on Margaret Thatcher from President Ronald Reagan.
The most controversial provision of the Agreement was that it provided for an Irish Dimension in Northern Ireland governance.
The Unionists regarded that as the thin edge of the wedge: and it drove them wild. There were huge protest marches in Belfast.
I was involved in publishing a series of pamphlets, demonstrating that the Northern Ireland system of government (majority rule) was fraudulently anti-democratic because of its exclusion from the politics of the state of which it formed a part leaving only community-based politics which was an incitement to sectarian conflict. A number of attempts were made by officialdom to block the circulation of these pamphlets.
I was staying in London when a Belfast colleague rang up and told me that members of the Serious Crimes Squad had called to his door, looking for me because I was running a child sex brothel in York Road, and warning him that if he knew where I could be found he must not warn me. Warning would of itself be a serious crime
What gave some credence to the story was that I had taken the man’s 16 year old son on a bird-watching weekend, organised by a Belfast nature group, and I had shared a room with the boy for one night in a Youth Hostel.
However, the whole affair was ludicrous: and it was viewed as such by all concerned.
This attempt to generate panic seemed to be well-judged. It was directed at a well set-up professional couple in sensitive occupations, and I had often taken their young sons on camping holidays.
In fact, it was misjudged. My friend rang me immediately and the matter was disposed of in a minute. We knew that the Special Branch would be monitoring his response to their visit, and would know that they had failed because he had not been intimidated.
I wrote to the police, demanding to know why they pretended to be looking for me when they knew very well where I was, and inviting them to come and arrest me and frame me if they could.
What must have disconcerted the authorities was that I failed to run for cover! Instead I wrote to various politicians about the attempt to smear me—and notably to the Rev. Ian Paisley, who was the most personally trustworthy of them.
No doubt the smearers were watching his mail and realised that their ‘dirty trick’ was in danger of rebounding!
No more was heard of the matter.
However, the conclusion to be drawn from this story is salutary. If the authorities were prepared to go to such lengths to discredit an insignificant person involved in fringe politics, to what lengths would they go when a famous humanitarian personality—known around the world for his exposures of atrocities in the Congo and South America—was undermining the national consensus on ‘Evil Germany’ during a time of War?
Casement had to be discredited at all costs. And the weapon of choice for the British State was sexual innuendo and paedophile allegations.
Angela Clifford
A Note From The Editor:
Readers will be aware that we have published extensively in this magazine and elsewhere on the issue of Roger Casement and whether the diaries attributed to him are authentic or forged.
The essential point is whether there is any evidence of a manuscript of the kind in question existing in 1916. There was no such document in the Book of Evidence used by the British State to get a Guilty verdict and a sentence of Execution brought in against him.
The allegation of homosexual crime played no part in his conviction. It was introduced only when a campaign against his execution began to be raised.
It was introduced in the form of some typed pages, said to be extracts from a Diary. These were shown confidentially to some influential individuals to frighten them from signing the Reprieve Petition.
Homophobia was very strong in the English middle class in those times and the typescripts were not questioned for the most part.
The typescripts were shown to these individuals, not given to them—and are not to be found in official archives.
However we have been informed that a copy of the typescripts exists in the Churchill Papers. This fact speaks volumes. Churchill guiding passion was war! He was made for it! Casement would have been an object of anathema to Churchill on account of his opposition to the manufactured war with Germany. Perhaps we need look no further for the guiding spirit behind the attempt to ruin the reputation of a prominent campaigner against the Crime Against Europe!
The document called the Black Diary made its public appearance forty years after the typescripts were used for a hanging, and serious questions had been raised about them.
There is no evidence that it existed in 1916 and no plausible explanation of why, supposing that it did exist, it should have been hidden by the State for two generations.
The circumstantial case against authenticity is strong. Nothing but a circumstantial case exists either way.
Jeffrey Dudgeon OBE has never engaged with the circumstantial case: he merely makes an assumption of authenticity based on belief.
He has submitted material to this magazine for publication that essentially rehashes points made in his book that assumes authenticity. We cannot see the point of publishing this material. He has not refuted the case for treating the ‘Black Diaries’ as forgeries and we see no point in repeating particulars from his book that have already been refuted here and elsewhere.
Editorial Team
Roger Casement: The Crime Against Europe. With The Crime Against Ireland Introduction by B. Clifford. 184pp. Index. ISBN 0 85034 101 9. AB, 2003. €18, £15
From:
Irish Political Review 