A Tangled Web

Raze the Maze!



Republican efforts to have the former Maze Prison transformed into some sort of shrine to the dross formerly incarcerated there have stepped up a gear. Whilst the overwhelming majority of decent democrats would, quite rightly, like to see the Maze flattened and obliterated - both physically and mentally, the republican ex-prisoners group, Coiste, is spearheading discussions on the plan, and has enlisted the 'expertise' of South African academic, Gerard Corsane, who was instrumental in turning Robben Island into a major tourist attraction.



If South Africa wishes to retain the places where terrorists and murderers were imprisoned that is a matter for them. After all, they weren't averse to putting a known terrorist into power as the country's first post-apartheid president, so why should they raise objections about the promotion of Robben Island? In the United Kingdom, however, we should not be considering anything which could portray terrorist filth as something other than terrorist filth. Could you imagine how prolific the republican propaganda machine would be in the event of a Maze museum? Republicans would be busily informing everyone - from their own proselytised prols to the naive tourists patronising the site - that the Maze was Ulster's own version of Devil's Island, instead of the more accurate description of a penal analogy to a Holiday Inn.



Terrorists were locked in the Maze for a reason. The prison is now closed and should be bulldozed (what a pity its former inmates could not be inside during demolition). The last thing Ulster needs after six years of deforming democracy is a physical manifestation of the folly of terrorist placation.