The Megrahi forum
CATHERINE CZERKAWSKA
Our house lies directly under the flightpath which was being followed by the plane that fell out of the sky onto Lockerbie that night. Only a few minutes passed between us and disaster. Since then, I have never been able to hear the roar of jet engines overhead without experiencing a little frisson of worry, until the noise fades safely into the distance. I’m certain that if I had been more personally involved I would be just as unforgiving, just as bitter, as the majority of the friends and relatives of those who died so horribly.
But I’ve read Jim Swire’s thoughtful and thought-provoking analysis of the case against Megrahi. Swire seems to be a good man placed in an impossibly tragic situation. If he, with clear-sighted intelligence and every reason in the world for desiring revenge, has been moved to spend so many years in pursuit of an unpalatable truth, if he and others, equally well informed, if not quite so personally involved, believe that there has been a serious miscarriage of justice, then I must pause for thought.
MacAskill was in an impossible situation and for me, at least, he came across as a brave man (braver than me, for sure) who took a deeply unpopular, but deeply moral decision. I was moved by his speech and for the first time in a very long time, I felt admiration for a politician. I was, therefore, slightly taken aback by the intensity of the reaction especially that of friends whom I admire. I still like and admire them. But I can’t change my opinion. I’m only comforted by the fact that a number of other people whom I also like and admire, agree with Swire and MacAskill.
The waters are now muddy with outrage, with accusation and counter accusation, mostly from people who are even less affected by Lockerbie than I am, with my occasional momentary discomfort at the sound of jet engines overhead. The media have treated MacAskill with a facile and dismissive cynicism. There is political capital being made on all sides and bandwagon jumping of the very worst sort. But the truth remains: to take a decision which you believe to be right, but for which you know you will be pilloried, is brave and praiseworthy.
‘The perpetration of an atrocity and outrage cannot and should not be a basis for losing sight of who we are, the values we seek to uphold, and the faith and beliefs by which we seek to live.’
MacAskill’s own words say it all. In Swire’s personal situation, I doubt very much if I would be able to agree. But that’s why we have democratically elected leaders. If more of them could contrive to behave according to this admirable tenet then the world might be a safer place for all of us.
Catherine Czerkawska is a playwright and poet
[click here] for Alison Prince
26.08.09
Issue no 130
THE
CHANGING
MOOD
Kenneth Roy
assesses the shift in Scottish opinion since Megrahi’s release
[click here]
FACES
OF
SCOTLAND
I.
A painting by Frank McNab symbolic of Scottish thought
[click here]
II.
A photo-essay by Islay McLeod symbolic of Scottish emotion
[click here]
THE
MEGRAHI
FORUM
A collection of pieces on the ethics and politics
of Megrahi’s release
Click below for:
Walter Humes
Tessa Ransford
Rose Galt
Andrew Hook
Jill Stephenson
R D Kernohan
Bruce Gardner
Sheila Hetherington
Catherine Czerkawska
Alison Prince
