Rest in Peace now.

international | racism & migration related issues | opinion/analysis Thursday December 16, 2004 13:04 by iosaf mac diarmada

The Madrid 11 bombing inquiry has ended with a condemnation of all politicians

"You sirs have talked only about yourselves and not of us..."

"from the 11th to the 14th we awaited our dead".

"on the 14th I voted I still hadn't received his [her son's] corpse"

Pilar Manjón - spokesperson for the victims of Madrid 11.

198 dead. 50 non spanish citizens. over 1900 wounded including non spanish citizens. REST IN PEACE

Between the 14th of March and the 14th of December 2004, men took the stand in Madrid to make their declarations to a public inquiry on the bombing of Madrid's trains which killed 198 people and left 1900 injured.

In all, 23 men made their statements.

Men who are important, and indeed some appear to think they are great.

Men who have been or are charged with the responsiblity of security, government, and defence of Madrid.

Men who included the then prime minister, the then leader of the opposition, the then head of the secret service and current ambasador to the Holy See, the then minister of the interior, the then opposition spokesman on the interior, the chief of police, the chief of the army section charged with civil security.

They spoke and spoke,
blamed and blamed.
and from the Irish Times to the TV viewer monitoring companies, comparisons were made.

Finally many of those who read and read
had had enough.

The association of victims of the Madrid 11 attacks were not included in those 23 public men's statements. Indeed those 23 men had thought to leave their submissions "in camera" and off TV and off line. But many of those who read and read said no.

The 24th person to testify was the 1st woman.

Pilar Manjón lost her son on the 11th of March.
She wore black and is still in mourning and cried as she denounced the men of politics, and security and the armed forces for their arguments and accusations that have made no mention of the suffering of the group she is spokesperson for.

Her dignity can not be underestimated.

From the morning of the 11th of March, I have written to indymedia ireland of what happened, from my perspective in Barcelona, of the shock and terror of seeing train carriages exactly like those I daily use to travel destroyed.

50 of the 198 who died were like me immigrants.

That is slightly over a quarter, they were posthumously granted Spanish citizenship and their remains were returned to their families the cost borne by the Spanish State.

Like me they had no right to vote for any of the men who have made such lengthy and barbed statements in the meantime.

Like me they were workers. Unlike me the majority were going to or returning from the lowest paid jobs of cleaners, asembly line workers. Most probably shared twin loyalties to the countries and cultures of their birth and the country to which they had chosen to move, to integrate in, to live in, to love in and (if they could have) grow old in and prospered.

all Rest in Peace now.

May the good people of Ireland, the UK and the english speaking and reading world and maybe those important men who think they are great and wise -

learn something from all of this.