The horror of what happened in Manchester last night struck home like a punch in the face when I first heard it. At the time of writing, 22 people are dead, among them children. You may be sure that total will rise. Witnesses spoke of seeing body parts, of faces studded with shrapnel, of blood and bodies everywhere. The three news programmes I normally flick between in the morning – RTÉ Radio 1, BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio 4 – all were dealing with nothing else. It was the worst tragedy Manchester has suffered in decades, and the city rallied in support of those affected, with taxi-drivers refusing payment and people taking strangers into their homes for the night. Meanwhile, the radio programmes told us where in the arena the bomb had gone off, at what point in the evening, whether it was a single bomb or one of several, pondered whether the bomber was a British citizen. There was the occasional back reference to the IRA bomb in Manchester in 1996.
The one thing we didn’t get was comparisons of the Manchester slaughter with bombings in the Middle East. For example, did you know that, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), 119 Syrian civilians were killed by ISIS in March of this year? That included 19 children and 7 women. Maybe that doesn’t surprise you too much, since ISIS have been responsible for so many horrors in Syria and outside it. However, SNHR also reports that in the same month, Russian forces killed 224 civilians, including 51 children and 42 women.
And if that doesn’t revolt you, since it was perpetrated by Putin’s Russia, try this: in March of this year, the US-led coalition forces killed 260 civilians, including 70 children and 34 women.
It’s perfectly possible that you knew this already. I didn’t. Not because I set out to avoid hearing of such deaths, but because they get hit-and-miss coverage by the media. Think about it for a minute. Western forces – you know, the civilized ones – killed around five times as many women and children in one month as were killed in Manchester last night. And you may be sure if you dig for the figures, you’d get comparable slaughter last month and this month as well.
Why don’t we hear about it? Because our media decide, rightly or wrongly, that the deaths of innocents, if they’re not like us, don’t really matter. That’s why they are given minimal coverage. And before you jump up to tell me about the heart-reading report you saw on telly one night, answer this: when’s the last time the entire two hours or more of BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Ulster more or less shoved everything else aside to tell us about the deaths of Syrian women and children? Yes, yes, we’re naturally more interested in disaster which happens to people like ourselves. But it’s still stony-hearted of us.
The other thing you’ll have heard not a whisper of during this morning’s programmes is the reason Manchester happened – and all the other mass attacks on ordinary people in Europe. None of any kind. The general line is “It’s pure evil.” And yes it is. And Trump and others will come on and say “We gotta get rid of ISIS”. But if you’re going to counter evil, it’d make more sense to do some thinking about the reason for people strapping bombs to their body and setting them off in crowded places. Denunciations and condemnations are dim-witted and a waste of breath.
Brave commentary Jude and true. However, as you say, a vile act among a host of similar atrocities. Can anything be done to bring it all to an end? Or is the ordinary citizen powerless, a mere pawn in a battle for supremacy between meglomaniac world powers?
I agree with Pat, a very brave article. We might also question whether there is a strategy of tension being employed by the deep state. We have already experienced its numbing effects here in Omagh. Nothing would surprise me.
Agree totally with pat and seen, a very brave and well written article that sets the mind thinking, not taking anything away from Manchester or any Atrocity but the mere figures of civilians killed in Syria and to not even make the news is atrocious. My own thinking is something more sinister is going on here, these wars may never end
Get ready for the onslaught Jude,some of our neighbours don’t like it when facts are aired in the wake of horrible events such as yesterday’s.I’ve been watching the news reports this morning…….the reason,the real reason for such attacks,simply avoided.Beggars belief.
Very good jude
I , too, would endorse Jude’s article and the views of previous contributors. The first and most natural human reaction is to empathise with those killed and maimed, and the suffering of the families and community there in Manchester. In the wider context, I become indignant listening to Jeffrey Donaldson and his ilk forever likening a terrorist atrocity elsewhere to past events here, and the likes of Pierce Morgan this morning on ITV raising the ” angry ” temperature. This terrible atrocity has been a while in the coming but has been expected somewhere in England for quite a while now……. and as Jude has alluded to , western powers, notably USA and UK, if not raining down bombs in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, are guilty of supplying arms to some of the most iniquitous, oppressive and unstable regimes in the world………… I don’t know what the answer to all of this is……
It’s hard not to feel sympathy and compassion for the young people whose lives have been cut short and families left bereft by an unknown attacker in an act of political terrorism. But spare a thought too for the children and families in the Middle East and elsewhere who have been annihilated by unknown attackers in acts of political terrorism.
agree with all comments so far, there is a direct connection between what is happening in the middle east and the atrocity in Manchester. We know that our own “troubles” did not fall out of the sky, au contraire, were a result of the unjust events that happened here over centuries. I know from deep personal experience the pain of losing family members by acts of violence and have, like many others, put it in the context of the political events at the time, difficult, I know………….
Absolute and heart felt sympathy for all in Manchester…. a lot of dead and broken bodies and homes wrecked and lives devastated…terrible…… In the upcoming election will people still vote for the warmongers like Fallon and May ? Who brought this carnage home to Manchester ? Who created and funds ISIS ? Who fabricated the weapons of mass destruction ? Who is ultimately responsible for the crows coming home to roost and willing to sacrifice their own citizens ?
Great article Jude and straight to the main issues without spin, which, is what, we seem to be getting from the media these days.
A very thought provoking article Jude. Heart goes out to all those families affected by this brutal act of savagery on innocents.
The media have been the most disappointing aspect of our society slipping slowly towards a war that the vast majority of people do not want. The media should be acting as a check on the powerful interests in society who play the public like pieces on a chess board.
It was with utter despair that I watched the NI early evening news around teatime as one of our female reporters posed he question “should we be bringing the army back onto the streets of Belfast in the wake of the Manchester attack”?
I thought to myself what have we come to when we are hearing views so devoid of common wit being aired as if they are a reasonable suggestion.
We Irish are far more savvy than the average Joe across the water. The average Brit worships their military, they either don’t care or else support actions carried out by their heroes in far flung lands populated by funny and scary brown people. They can bring everything down to good and evil. I heard on the news that some members of the bomber’s family have been arrested in Libya but Libya is a total mess. Thanks to people like Cameron who dropped guns and other weapons of death into the place a few years ago. To get rid of Gaddafi. He was the tyrant responsible for spreading evil around the world. He is gone now but things are actually worse. Stop interfering in Muslim countries. It has nothing to do with the west. People like Blair and Bush and Cameron and May bear a lot of responsibility for the deaths of those innocents whether in Europe or the middle east.
I wonder if the securocrats (AKA the Deep State) didn’t manage to stop this one because May was looking under pressure and a bit shaky. Especially when young people are registering to vote, presumably for Labour. Then they can trot out all the ‘Corbyn supports terrorists’ shite. We know they are well capable of ‘procuring’ shootings and bombings.