| Description | Interview with Kevin Mitchell from Derry. He talks about collecting for Republican prisoners being the extent of his own activism, working at the Birmingham Sound Recording factory and the influence of different trade unions there. He discusses attempts to work to rule which were broken up by trade union officials from Belfast. He remembers the Catholic church becoming involved in previous strikes, advising the men to go back to work because of the shortage of jobs, and the factory closing with the loss of 1,500 jobs without the union making any response. He goes on to talk about leaving Derry to work in Glasgow as a machine setter/operator. He expresses his feelings about the unions and government allowing the BSR factory in Derry to close and thinks that the unemployment this caused raised tensions in the city. He discusses the other factors influencing the formation of the civil rights movement including high levels of unemployment, Orange marches through Catholic towns and the city of Derry when Catholics were not allowed to have marches, and the siting of the new university in the Unionist area of Coleraine. He talks about levels of emigration from Derry, getting a job in Lisburn at an American owned factory and his belief that big firms are being given financial assistance to locate their factories in certain areas. He mentions a non-sectarian movement called the Ulster Movement and explains why he does not think efforts at reconciliation will succeed because people take sides automatically at times of civil disruption. He wishes that people could understand that sectarian divisions are exploited to prevent change, and that working class Catholics and Protestants in Derry live in similar conditions. He thinks that Unionist minority are afraid of losing Derry as a stronghold and feel that they are guarding their heritage, and discusses their control of the wards in the city and the structure of the Orange order. He talks about his fascination with Orange marches, enjoying the Irish tunes and Scottish Jacobin tunes that the bands play without realising their origin, and describes being attacked by an Orange man while trying to cross the road during an Orange march and almost being arrested by the police for causing trouble (tracks 1-14).
Total: 31.58 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF571E0552680 |