1971 Pop Goes Northern Ireland

# Mother, mother

# There's too many of you crying

# Brother, brother, brother

# There's far too many of you dying... #

Now that the impetus of the civil rights movement as it was

has died away,

some Catholics are turning out on the street in a weird frustration

inspired by the feeling that nothing tangible has happened

to change their lot.

They throw their rocks because

the Unionists are still in Stormont Castle,

unemployment is still soaring.

# War is not the answer

# For only love can conquer hate... #

The IRA, in its new vigour, has found a fertile breeding ground.

A 19-year-old girl was tied up last night and jeered at by women

and others after she'd had her head shaved

and been tarred and feathered all over her head.

All because she'd been going out with a British soldier.

What do you think about it? It's the best thing to do.

What would you do if you found your daughter going out with a British soldier?

I would hand her out to the women who took the girl last night.

And have her tarred and feathered? Yes.

Are you in favour of tarring and feathering?

Wholeheartedly, yes, I am in favour of it.

Are you in favour of it? Definitely. Yes.

And are you in favour of it? Definitely. And all my friends are.

In the last few weeks,

there's been a very dramatic and very real revival

in the IRA's savage role in Irish politics.

One British soldier is dead and several others badly wounded.

Gentlemen, you are members of the Provisional IRA? Yes, that's right.

That's correct.

Your reputation in England at the moment is as a bunch of cold-blooded murderers.

Can you say anything that would change anybody's opinion on that?

We don't believe that the situation has developed far enough politically

to take armed action against the British forces now.

There hasn't been any successes

from the efforts that have been made up to now

of uniting the Protestant and Catholic working classes in the North,

and I think that this is the first ascension to a struggle against British imperialism.

The three dead soldiers are still lying in the pathway in a ditch up

there, up a cart track just off the main road out of North Belfast.

# Amazing grace

# How sweet the sound... #

Young David McCaughey, who was 19, was on guard,

so didn't go out with his brother.

I had him in to talk to him.

I gave him a whisky.

I found, in fact, it was I needed the whisky, not him.

He was a courageous lad.

He took the news extremely well.

# ..was lost But now I'm found

# Was blind but now... #

Tell them what you want!

WOMAN SHOUTS

Do you think internment would really solve the situation or bring peace?

It will. It will.

The security forces know the men in this town that has the guns

that are using them.

We are not trying to provoke,

but we know that the powers lie with the government to intern leaders

of the subversive movement.

# I once was lost

# But now I'm found

# Was blind but now I see... #

MEN CHANT

# Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me

# Twice on the pipe if the answer is no

# Oh, my sweetness

# Means you meet me in the hallway

# Whoa, twice on the pipe

# Means you ain't gonna show... #

I'm always tempted when they hold these things in front of me

to say something very rude.

I know. Spoiling their soundtrack for them.

# Pulling the string with the note that's attached to my heart

# Read how many times I saw you

# How in my silence I adore you... #

I was responsible in the first step on the ladder.

And after all, if you can do that,

you're glad when you see somebody get up top.

MUSIC: Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield

# Hush now, child... #

Is it as bad as it looks? I'm afraid so.

# Your folks might understand you

# By and by

# Just move on up

# Toward your destination... #

I say Faulkner must go!

Hear, hear!

And I go further tonight and I tell you, Faulkner will go!

CHEERING

MUSIC: Get It On by T Rex

# Well, you're dirty and sweet clad in black

# Don't look back and I love you

# You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah

# Well, you're slim and you're weak

# You've got the teeth of the hydra upon you

# You're dirty sweet and you're my girl

# Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

# Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

# Well, you're built like a car

# You've got a hub cap diamond star halo

# You're built like a car, oh yeah

# Well, you're an untamed youth

# That's the truth with your cloak full of eagles

# You're dirty sweet and you're my girl

# Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

# Get it on, bang a gong, get it on

# Well, you're windy and wild

# You've got the blues in your shoes and your stockings

# You're windy and wild oh yeah... #

If a person in a government office can suddenly just issue a statement

that you are not allowed to do such and such a thing because

those who are dedicated to the overthrow of the state threaten something,

then this is a wrong use of law.

# You went away and left me long time ago... #

The system of government established here in 1920 has obviously failed

and we are asking them to make changes in that system now in order to ensure

participation by both sections of the community.

# I hear you knocking

# But you can't come in... #

I hope that in this way we will indicate to the whole Ulster community

that the Northern Ireland Parliament is really a Parliament for all the

people of Northern Ireland.

This latest trouble in Londonderry follows an incident last night when

a soldier opened fire on a crowd

who had been rioting for about two hours.

The Army's version is that the man who was shot,

and eventually died in a hospital in Letterkenny,

was carrying a rifle,

but this is disputed by the people who live down in Bogside.

The deaths in Derry were a final but important straw.

If, as responsible public representatives,

we were unable to obtain action on an issue such as this,

an issue which has outraged our constituents,

what role is there for us in the present parliamentary system?

The businessman who's behind production of most of them didn't want to be interviewed,

but he insists he wasn't politically motivated.

He's in the textile trade,

and he says he was backing a hunch when he ordered the first 10,000.

This gamble has obviously paid off, for he has now sold 46,000.

Morning, sir. Good morning.

I see you are wearing the Ulster emblem.

Are you wearing it in preference to the Union Jack this year?

Yes. Why? Well, I think because it's the flag of Ulster.

The Union Jack comes under Great Britain,

and I think it's only right because you are in Ulster

to wear the red hand of Ulster as the emblem of Ulster.

# So we waved our hands as we marched along

# And the people smiled as we sang our song

# And the world was saved as they listened to the band

# And the banner man held the banner high

# He was ten feet tall and he touched the sky

# I wish that I could be a banner man

# And the drums went boom and the cornets played

# And the tube oompahed all the way

# And the kids and the dogs were laughing as they ran... #

What can I do for you this morning?

Do you feel that last night's explosion set the 12th off in the wrong manner?

Last night's explosions don't surprise me at all.

All right, let's leave this place now.

I shall leave and then all of you leave. Well, you leave first.

Let's leave it as it is.

Very well. I will take my soldiers away first.

And first, the headlines...

Two men have died in rioting in Belfast after a big round-up

of suspects this morning, which was followed by an official announcement

that there is to be internment.

The main target of the present operation is

the Irish Republican Army.

I cannot guarantee that the actions we have now taken will bring this

campaign swiftly to an end.

We may yet have to endure as a community,

but if we endure with courage and steadiness,

the utter defeat of terrorism is sure.

MUSIC: Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who

# We'll be fighting in the streets

# With our children at our feet

# And the morals that they worship will be gone... #

Where are you going now? I don't know where I'm going.

55 Derwent Street.

And we are wrecking the house as soon as the woman moves out to make sure that no Taigs get into it.

Come on. Move on. OK.

# They decide and the shotgun sings the song... #

There wasn't much rioting last night,

little stone throwing and no pitch battles between the troops and the mobs.

Instead the bullets flew,

turning the night into one of the most dangerous and frightening that

I've known in the city.

The British Army is claiming a major defeat on the IRA.

Today Brigadier Marston Tickell insisted that the internment of men

arrested on Monday had been a catch up to the Army's highest expectations,

that the soldiers had killed 20 to 30 men in the fighting

and so defeated the hardcore of the gunmen.

# The change it had to come

# We knew it all along

# We were liberated from... #

The British Army seem to think

that they've now got hold of the leaders of the IRA.

What do you say to this?

They've arrested one brigade officer and one battalion officer.

The others are what we term as volunteers or privates.

You mean that they haven't even got near the leaders at all?

They haven't, no.

Since the soldiers become well known in the streets they patrol,

hostility can become fixed on an individual.

You seem to be a fairly unpopular man here in the Clonard.

Does it bother you? Not really. I've got the gun, they haven't.

It's been said that the Army's got a couple of months to finish it.

What'll happen then, do you think, if the Army hasn't brought peace?

The Protestants will take it in their own hands and they'll finish it.

Do you think that the Protestants are strong enough to take it

into their own hands? Yeah.

What's holding them back at the moment?

They don't want to fight against the Army.

Just now, they think we're their soldiers fighting for them.

And they don't seem to realise, if they take up the gun, on their side,

we're just as liable to shoot them as we are to shoot anybody else,

you know?

# Where's your mama gone? Where's your mama gone?

# Little baby Don Little baby Don

# Where's your mama gone? Where's your mama gone?

# Far, far away... #

Mr Lynch now clearly commits himself and his government to support by

political means what the IRA seeks to achieve by violent means,

the overthrow of the Government of Northern Ireland.

# Far, far away

# Far, far away... #

Mr Wilson and Mr Heath are agreed on one thing.

And that agreement must be burst right open.

They are agreed that there shall be no third force.

We say there must be a third force!

# It's a god-awful small affair

# To the girl with the mousey hair

# But her mummy is yelling no

# And her daddy has told her to go

# But her friend is nowhere to be seen

# Now she walks through her sunken dream

# To the seat with the clearest view... #

The car had come into the area and went down a particular street

where the barriers are sealed off and they allocate men to go down

different streets and take the necessary action.

What sort of action?

Which would be putting planks across the road with nails in them.

To puncture the tyres to get the car demobilised.

# As they ask her to focus on sailors fighting in the dance hall

# Oh, man, look at those cavemen go... #

How do you defend yourself?

We have no arms and we have no intentions of holding arms, because

if anything did happen,

then we would be treated as armed rebels

just the same as the rebels that would be attacking us.

MUSIC: My Sweet Lord by George Harrison

One day it may be possible like a fairy story

for everybody in this whole world,

not just here, not just anywhere,

to live together in peace and happiness.

# My Lord

# I really wanna see you

# I really wanna be with you

# I really wanna see you, Lord but it takes so long, my Lord

# My sweet Lord... #

I heard a knock at the door.

I was sitting in my office and the door knocked.

I went out to open the door and just as that, this fella had a gun,

got me behind the door.

Then after that, a whole crowd of fellas came in and planted a bomb in the showroom,

and then went in and planted a bomb in the workshop.

# I really want to show you, Lord

# But it won't take long, my Lord

# Hallelujah My sweet Lord

# Hallelujah Mmm, my Lord

# Hallelujah My sweet Lord

# Hallelujah... #

I have urged Mr Faulkner very, very strongly

that he ought to try and take account as much as he can of

the views of the elected minority leaders.

I hope he can do that, and unless he does that,

the minority leaders will find it difficult to come and talk to him,

and I think it is necessary that they must be brought into the picture.

There was a genuine, honest invitation to participate.

The basic aim is to provide what I hope will be a sensitive,

understanding, realistic Catholic voice in the Cabinet.

And the Army's chief theoretician on this subject of counter insurgency,

Brigadier Frank Kitson,

has today published an assessment of this kind of warfare.

Clearly the aim of the Government ultimately is to regain and retain

the allegiance of the people,

but you can't necessarily equate each individual measure with that,

and it is sometimes necessary to do unpleasant things which lose

a certain amount of allegiance for a moment

in order to produce your overall result.

# War is hell When will it end?

# When will people start getting together again? #

When I opened the door,

an officer put a pistol against my head and said, "Roberts."

I said, "No, Rogers."

He said, "I want you under the Special Powers Act."

And I got the first bag on my head.

A very tight-fitting bag.

And the minute it went over my head,

I lost contact with the outside world.

And you were made to run a gauntlet of military Red Caps and RUC men

from the door of the army barracks out to a helicopter

which had its rotaries whirring.

You didn't know how far up you were getting,

but coming down, all of a sudden we were kicked out.

Men were just screaming.

The noise was driving me crazy, and the thirst

was driving me crazy.

And I just wanted to die quick.

The Special Branch men who were interrogating me seemed

rather embarrassed and they said, nothing to do with us.

This was just the Army.

To me, it'd be lucky if some of us 12 men don't end up insane going

through this torture.

I come away from here reinforced

that internment was the right solution.

# Something tells me something's gonna happen tonight

# I read in the papers that Gemini people would make it tonight

# Stars will be shining my sign is aligning with love

# So come on and make it

# Let's take everything that we've been dreaming of... #

Reactions to Mr Wilson's plan were predictably mixed and passionate.

I think if we had a united Ireland, everything would be all right.

It'd be brilliant. If we just pulled the British troops out

and leave us to fight our own battles.

Protestant people of the North of Ireland

would not approve of his plans.

Why not? Well, you've only to see it for yourself.

We wouldn't approve of it.

# So get it together you'll see it's gonna be all right

# Something tells me something's gonna happen tonight... #

The wee newspaper boy shouted at me, "Mister, don't go in there,

"they planted a bomb." And he ran by me.

Did the man do anything to the parcel?

He lit a match. He lit it.

He lit something at the side of the parcel?

If people believe that there is a hell, I can feel it.

It was in there today.

The people that are going to look at this, that is what it's like.

There's it there.

# It's coming on Christmas

# They're cutting down trees

# They're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace

# Oh, I wish I had a river

# I could skate away on... #

And an official IRA unit was sent here to destroy the house as

a reprisal for what was called the destruction of working-class houses

and property by British troops in Northern Ireland.

Senator Barnhill was accidentally shot.

A statement says that they informed his wife that her husband was dead.

She ran from the house to her neighbour's about half a mile away.

And when she had gone, the IRA unit said that they went ahead

with their task and blew up the house.

Belfast's full team of 25 collectors visited streets where they hadn't

been seen for six months.

And they had a company of Queen's Own Highlanders to look after them.

The ratio of riflemen to meter men being more than three to one.

In the event, the meter men didn't find any cash shortages much greater than they expected.

They'd been called in because local people with meters full

to overflowing were worried that their Christmas gas supplies

might be affected, so they asked the Army about it.

The Army asked the gas board.

And the gas board asked its meter men.

They agreed to do the job, but only if they got full protection.

# Yes, there were times I'm sure you knew

# When I bit off more than I could chew... #

We in Britain will do all we can to help you to find solutions to your

problems here in Northern Ireland.

And solutions which can be found by agreement,

by consent and not imposed by the force of intimidation and terror.

# And did it my way... #

Fear not, for behold I bring you tidings of great joy that shall

be to all people.

For this day is born to you a saviour who is Christ the Lord.

I thank you all for my little son and I shall keep all these things

in my heart. If you love him, keep his commandments.

# So this is Christmas

# And what have you done?

# Another year over

# And a new one just begun

# And so this is Christmas

# I hope you have fun

# The near and the dear ones... #

The case against you is too strong.

It's not a question of whether you'll be found guilty, but when.