Today I want to be quite unequivocal, therefore I am starting this column with three simple questions for the Rev Mervyn Gibson, grand secretary of the Orange Order, and the DUP elected representatives who attended the launch of the art exhibition by the loyalist serial killer Michael Stone.
Firstly, what message does your attendance at this exhibition as public figures send out not only to the victims and families affected by the murderous actions of Michael Stone but to all other victims and their families?
Secondly, what message does your attendance at this exhibition by Michael Stone send to the police officers who risk their lives to apprehend terrorists like Stone? Or to their families who have been intimidated by terrorists because their relatives were in the PSNI?
And finally, what message does your attendance at this so called art exhibition by a serial killer send out to our young people, particularly those in loyalist areas who are emerging in a post conflict society, as to the sort of role model they should celebrate and emulate?
Frankly, the answers provided to date have been unconvincing. The vast majority of us who grew up and suffered because of paramilitaries of whatever hue don’t cherry pick between our most and least favourite former terrorists.
We do, however accept that where there is a mandate we must respect that mandate and move on.
We also must be careful not to apply double standards on how we deal with those responsible for violence depending on which side it comes from.
Let’s be clear, the only side that paramilitaries protect was and is their own. Every ordinary citizen in Northern Ireland was collateral damage to the terrorists, immaterial if they were Catholic or Protestant, unionist or nationalist.
There is a new arts collective in east Belfast teeming with young talent showcasing the best of the cultural revolution on our doorsteps and yet it is killer Michael Stone who gets lauded for slapping paint on canvas with the enthusiasm of a manic ten year old.
One of the organisers of the exhibition was reported as quoting David Trimble’s famous post Belfast Agreement line ‘that just because you have a past doesn’t mean you can't have a future.” Of course, Michael Stone, the multiple murderer, is entitled to rebuild his life, something his victims' families cannot. That said, in rebuilding his life Mr Stone should have the grace and humility and out of respect for his victims, do it quietly. His art pieces in the exhibition, which I struggle to believe are of any artistic value other than the notoriety of the painter, contains loyalist imagery which an organiser of the exhibition described as of importance to many in the loyalist community in Northern Ireland.
Forgive me for not buying into any of this hogwash. Michael Stone killed in the name of loyalism. His paintings are a reminder of that.
He even broke the original terms of his release under the Good Friday Agreement, which was an extraordinary kick in the teeth to the generosity of this society which stomached his release in the first place.
Personally I wouldn’t care if Stone painted with the skills of Picasso or Freud, there is no reason for this man to be feted and celebrated. If people with little appreciation for artistry and even less respect for the victims of the Troubles in Northern Ireland want to buy this sort imagery from the hands of Michael Stone, then so be it. The shelves of Waterstones are full of revisionist texts written by all sorts of former northern paramilitaries masquerading as literature so why not Stone’s paintings as art? Even former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is apparently going to give us a cookbook - which one suspects will be like the policies he borrowed from other parties - gathered from other people!
To date there has been too little attention being paid to victims and their families and far too much concern for the former combatants. It’s one thing to help rehabilitate former prisoners but it's an entirely different thing to laud them. Those who mocked the murdered father of Willie Frazer on a bonfire placard aren’t licking their hateful ways of the ground. We need to call out this behaviour.
As for Michael Stone, it's a pity for his victims' sake that he didn’t take a paint brush in his hand before lifting a gun.
