| Description | Interview with Gerry Matlett. He talks about people's changing attitudes towards the police reflecting the situation in Derry, the teaching of Catholic history in schools, Irish Catholic mythology expressed in children's games, playing Catholic sports such as gaelic football, and being imbued with sectarian attitudes from an early age. He discusses the development of an international Catholic consciousness and the awareness of persecution, and talks about the 'softer' sectarian attitudes of both the Catholic and Protestant middle class, the feeling amongst many that Irish Catholics are superior in their religious morality to Catholics of other nationalities (tracks 1-5).
Another man talks about his childhood in the Bogside, the influence of Nationalist politicians during the 1930s and their intimidation of his father and family because they supported the Labour party. He talks about his father's job as a dock labourer and his political involvement as a trade unionist. He goes on to discuss the jobs that he and his siblings have done, including being in the armed forces during the Second World War and working in England and Scotland. He expresses his identity as a British subject and his belief that he is entitled to the same rights in employment and housing as everyone else, and talks about being away from his own family for most of his married life, working in England as a joiner on a number of power stations (tracks 6-9).
Track 10: silence 1.05 mins
Track 11: silence 0.25 mins
He continues to talk about how he became involved in a political movement to campaign for unemployed people in 1965 and the activities the committee set up, particularly to help people with skills who had worked in trades in England but were unable to get a job in Derry, and to fight their case at the Labour Exchange. He discusses the unemployment figures in Derry, the factory jobs that his children do and their feelings about their lives. He compares their lifestyle with the poverty of his childhood, and talks about the increase in social venues that enable Catholic and Protestant young people to meet each other. He thinks that young people have better attitudes, that older people should not indoctrinate the young in sectarian hatred,and acknowledges that there are extremists on both sides. He discusses the help that his brother's Protestant neighbours gave him when his sons were killed in an accident, and how that changed many of his friends' opinions about Protestants (tracks 12-17).
Total: 32.23 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0080980 |