Voices from inside: The Hidden Journals of Long Kesh
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Voices from inside: The Hidden Journals of Long Kesh
While much has been written on the experience of republican prisoners during the conflict from 1969 onwards there has been comparatively less attention paid to writing produced by the prisoners themselves. There was a vibrant culture of education and debate inside the cages of Long Kesh, but while we have many second-hand accounts of this, relatively few copies of journals produced by the prisoners have survived.
Luckily, Paddy McMenamin not only edited one of these journals for a period, but managed, with the help of his family, to smuggle several issues out. Reproduced here, they provide a fascinating snapshot of the debates taking place amongst just one group of Provisional IRA prisoners in cages 10/18 between 1974 & 1976. There is politics of course, global and local, but also history, culture, sport and craic. Despite the official narrative of the time, it is clear these young men were neither 'mindless terrorists' nor 'criminals'!
The author has done all those interested in our history a service by keeping the journals safe.
His commentary reminds us not only of the horror and tragedy of the time, but also that these young men were grappling with how to make sense of the conflict they had been thrown into. This book is an importnat contribution to understanding the politics of modern republicanism.
Brian Hanley, Assistant Professor, Trinity College, Dublin; Historian of Modern Ireland
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