The Long Awaited……And Many Times Delayed….Website Launch

The Long Awaited…………And Many Times Delayed….
Website Launch

 

Thursday 14th June seen the launch of the longkeshinsideout website.  It was intended to be a small low key affair and invites were sent to around 50 people.  Almost 70 people turned up at Farset for a presentation that lasted around an hour and a half.  It was certainly encouraging to see such a good crowd and especially so to witness people from many different corners of Northern Ireland.

 

  From an individual ex combatant point of view there was encouraging representation and also from the perspective of different groups and organisations.  Apart from this it was also heartening to have present those who have earned the title of “critical friends “.  Conspicuous amongst the latter were Roy Garland, Chris Hudson, Conal Parr, and Gary Mason—a positive sign and one that promotes the notion that perhaps we are assembling a vehicle that can facilitate many passengers—many from different backgrounds. 
                                                 A somewhat delayed start then due to a little—more than welcome—overcrowding and an initial overview by William —outlining the rationale behind establishing such a webpage.  Uppermost in his summary was the need to invalidate the now well versed and equally well worn argument that portrays us as Neanderthal’s who cannot string a sentence together and prefer to be dripping in jewellery rather than charm.  He touched on the other age old adage that Republicans are writing us out of our history when in fact the truth is that we have consistently failed to write ourselves in.  This website, William continued can give us a platform to launch in article form—or by writing creatively—by political commentary—or merely by sharing or interacting with others.  The skills required were in abundance within the room and further afield but to date there had been reluctance or a lack of confidence that prevented some from participating, William concluded. 
                   Bobby continued in the same vein by giving a short presentation of the site that allowed people to see—for the first time in many cases—what we have achieved so far.  He struck a very resonant chord in showing a photograph—from Compound 21 around the early 80’s—where he demonstrated that out of the 9 people in the snap many had went on to gain fantastic academic achievements—or be instrumental in many ways post conflict.  Throughout Bobby’s presentation and subsequent input from Billy and Robert the theme remained the same.  We have a viable and new—to us at least—podium which, if utilised properly has the potential to further our assertions that we have the requisite skills that can show Loyalism in a more positive light.  The observations and comments from the critical friends also give reasons to be optimistic and many of their visions and ideas are certainly worth thinking about.  The conclusion must be that we have produced a worthwhile webpage—it’s an excellent idea—but can only fully realise the huge potential if accessed and utilised by all of those it was created for.

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