Fr. Des Wilson column 23 Oct 97 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source:Beananti@aol.com Andersonstown News, 23 October 1997 Fr Des column Whatever you say, say it on tape People talk to representatives of the Dublin administration only at their peril. This has been proved by the events of the past week. The publishing of people's privately expressed views - given under the impression that the Dublin administration would respect their privacy - is not the main issue. The main issue is, that what you say to a Dublin civil servant in Belfast can be relayed to other civil servants, to the Dublin administration, to various diplomatic bodies including British embassy officials, and from there it is only a small step to British officials in London and from there, doubtless, to the RUC in Belfast. It would be foolish of any democrat to believe it is otherwise. For those of us who gave up talking informally to such people years ago last week's events proved what we realised long ago,namely that there is no such thing as confidentiality among governments,however confidential their civil servants may be. Years ago I was invited to an informal discussion arranged, I was told, by the Peace People to see if problems between the British army and the people could be solved. I was asked to bring along other community group representatives. I informed other community groups but did not recommend that they attend. At the meeting I was confronted by a British army officer who admitted two things : one, that this meeting had been suggested not by the Peace People but by the British army and two, that it was in effect an intelligence gathering operation from which he would report back to his bosses what was said at the meeting. I was invited by a member of the American consulate staff to meet -informally - a person who was identified only by his first name. I was mistaken about who the person was whom I was to meet. It turned out to be a high ranking British army officer and here again it was an intelligence gathering operation, this time sponsored by the American diplomatic service. I was asked by a Fine Gael senator to take part in a BBC film which would, he assured me, include no political party people. I had no objection to appearing with political party people but he said this film was to hear suggestions and views from others. I agreed to an interview. When the film was shown I saw with surprise that unionist party members were interviewed including DUP party representatives. Sinn Fein members were not. The film was using people like me to express certain views while at the same time ignoring the elected representatives of the people. I sent word to the Dublin administration that that senator was never to approach me again for any purpose whatsoever. In the early seventies the British Army sent in Catholic and Protestant army chaplains to talk to people informally, ask them questions and report back. They were found out and had to be withdrawn from circulation here. A priest friend was invited to an informal dinner party by a diplomat. I told him - not that he had any need to be told - to use his mouth at the dinner party strictly for eating purposes. A few days after the event he told me that the advice was sensible. He was put sitting at the dinnertable beside Maurice Oldfield, the head of spying services here who at the time was cultivating the company of Catholic priests. I was invited by a friend to a party. I went and found myself sitting beside the head of the RUC. During the meal he showed some interest in getting community people to talk informally to his people. I said I was independent and never had to report back to anybody what I said or did, and asked could he guarantee that his people at any such informal meeting would not be reporting back to police barracks anything that was said ? Of course he could not, he could obviously promise the direct opposite. I heard no more from him about it. What surprised me was how decent friendly people were being used by these operatives and how innocent events like meals - intended by the hosts as opportunities for friendship - were manipulated by government to suit their own purposes. The events of the past week in which innocent people invited to meals found themselves in a spider's web came as no surprise. Thanks be to God I haven't met anyone I can identify as a Dublin or London administration operative for some years. Maybe I have, though. Maybe I was invited out to a confidential chat by somebody who had to get back on the evening train. During the past 30 years film crews, radio interviewers and such came into our districts. Some of them we know were democrats like ourselves. Others went away with vast quantities of filmed and taped material which was never broadcast. Where did it go? Was it ever available to government people gathering information as well as to those who made radio and television programmes? At times I asked that any material of mine that was not broadcast should be destroyed. I got some assurances but somewhere there may be miles of tapes in which are expressed the political, religious and other views of democratic people who in all decency tried to help others to understand what was happening here. Who sees it ? Some years ago some of us came to believe that talking to Dublin or London administrations - in any of their various forms - should only be done with great prudence and caution . The past week's events have shown how right we were. If you must talk to government broadcasting companies like BBC and RTE, to Dublin administration representatives, Westminster bureaucrats, do what Tony Benn does - record every syllable and tell them you are doing it. And demand that any material taken for broadcasting purposes be destroyed - in your own presence - if not broadcast. And never underestimate the appalling depths to which some political manipulators have dragged politics in Dublin. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-10.26.97-11:14:29-22279