Member-only story
The Massacre at Ballymurphy in August 1971 and A Real ‘Atrocity Exhibition’.
‘‘In attempting to counter subversion it is necessary to take account of three separate elements. The first two constitute the target proper, that is to say the Party or Front and its cells and committees on the one hand, and the armed groups who are supporting them and being supported by them on the other. They may be said to constitute the head and body of a fish. The third element is the population and this represents the water in which the fish swims. Fish vary from place to place in accordance with the sort of water in which they are designed to live, and the same can be said of subversive organisations. If a fish has got to be destroyed it can be attacked directly by rod or net, providing it is in the sort of position which gives these methods a chance of success. But if rod and net cannot succeed by themselves it may be necessary to do something to the water which will force the fish into a position where it can be caught. Conceivably it might be necessary to kill the fish by polluting the water, but this is unlikely to be a desirable course of action.’’
— Brigadier Frank Kitson, Low Intensity Operations , page 49
I had been intending to write a piece on The Atrocity Exhibition by J. G. Ballard after having reread his ‘novel’ last week as part of my interest in the concept of…
