 My name is Adrian Kerr. I am the manager of the Museum of Friedaire Which was a project set up by the Bloody Sunday Trust to tell the story of the events that happened in this area in the sort of late 1960s early 1970s Events which are world famous on their own the the civil rights movement the dissent in the conflict the massacre on Bloody Sunday but these are events which have always been told from The British point of view from the other point of view We needed something to balance that To tell the story from the side of the people here the people who actually live through it the people who are most affected But it's it's a community story Told from the perspective very much and very subjectively from the perspective of that community But it's this community that suffered most in the era that we're talking about So it is only right that their story their memory Be given a proper Presentation and that's what the museum was set up for it's vitally important that the museum is where it is We're right on the spot where the events of Bloody Sunday happened the battle the bog side was right outside the door So many of the key events happened around here When you have the opportunity to tell a story in exactly the right place It should be taken it makes a story so much more powerful when people realize that they're standing exactly where it happened And as well as the belt and we have the staff who were directly involved John whose brother was killed and who was our himself Jean whose brother was also killed so Even on the management on the board of management. It's all people who were directly involved. So it's all of this adds to The very first hand and personal account that the museum sets out to present and That people who come to the museum want to see they want to see that first-hand account They don't want an academic version of this though the personal account is so much better and because we have The opportunity to do that through the site through the people through the artifacts then That is the way we have to tell the story the role of this museum is to present this community story Like I said before it's it's an internationally known story. It's been written about for decades People's image of this community is based on that story And it's only fair that this community has the opportunity to Give their version of those events that is how they're being judged when people hear the name bog side around the world They're thinking of the late 60s the early 70s when the bog side was the center of world news. It was a violent time People need to know the truth of that where the violence came from you know This community has been labeled because of those years And it's only fair that they have the opportunity to answer that and show why all of this happened from their own perspective A lot of the people around here a lot of the older ones live through these events You know, they're still part of our lives. They're not history they're still affecting us every day and People want thankfully now people want to learn about it People are traveling from all over the world to learn firsthand what happened here the proper account of what happened here not the media Account that they've been given for years, which was very very best towards the British side and people here. I think are glad That there is an opportunity now for people from all over the world To learn the truth about what happened here. Not what we're told over the years But what the actual truth was remembering and commemorating and resolving the past is a vital step towards healing it because You know in the north we have a very very diverse range of perceptions of history We're never going to agree on all these different perceptions One man's terrorist another man's freedom fighter the usual cliche. I Don't think the point is that we have to agree What we have to do is reach a point where we can discuss the differences in history and understand and acknowledge the other person's point of view Before we can do that we need to present all those different points of view, you know and people need to be able to present it in their own way The need to have the freedom to be honest about what they're saying whether that offends others or not and We need to reach a point where we can go and look at all these different perspectives of history Not necessarily agree with them all we definitely won't agree with them all but We need to be open to understand and acknowledge and what others experienced So we can discuss it argue about it whatever but It becomes Something we all accept rather than something that we've heard about we have always had a good relationship with the Union's community I mean we work with the apprentice boys museum, which would be a manifestation of a Unionist-oriented history though not of the recent conflict We have had numerous groups from within the Unionist community visit in the museum and Like I said, we don't expect them to come here and agree with everything we're saying in the museum We just hope that they will come here and understand it And that's the experience we've had so far that when Unionists come to the museum They realize it's a museum about human rights, about civil rights. It's not a political museum And that's where we get some really interesting discussions from people who We're not preaching to the converted then we're talking to people who we need to understand Recently and this is where I get on to one of my favorite rants the so-called National Museum in the north opened a gallery on the recent conflict and Because it's government sponsored government run has to satisfy everyone has to offend no one Has ended up being totally bland and asinine and as a complete waste of space in my opinion It gives a version of conflict that is It's just cold facts and figures. There's no human feeling on it And I don't think there's any point in doing this unless you allow that human feeling to come through This is a story about people All of the stories that need to be told about the north about the conflict here are stories about people And the recent stories they can't be told in a cold academic way. They're not facts and figures The reality is for centuries the walls were what kept Catholics out and protected Protestants That's gone centuries ago but To a certain degree the walls are still seen as a symbol of that the way that they look down on the bog side the way it's They're like a symbol of the old Unionist order looking down on nationalists Now this is symbolism based on history of centuries ago In reality now the walls are a tourist attraction You know, everybody goes up in the walls. Everybody walks around them You know the blog the whole city, but there is still some vestige that old history attached to them, which is the exclusion The walls were built to keep Catholics out that Our regional government can't come up with a policy on how to remember the past Because they've all got such different viewpoints of it. They can't even agree who a victim of the conflict is I mean from a republican point of view everyone who died during a conflict is a victim and equal Unionists won't accept that for instance a member of the IRA Who died on active service can't be seen as a victim. This say he's a criminal Then we've got the rule of Britain and all of this who are still in denial That they were a part of the conflict They still argue the point that they were a peacekeeping force here between two warren tribes, which is complete rubbish so and then we have individuals and organizations who Are obstructing any sort of proper Discussion of the past because they wish to hide or minimize their own role in it So This is a debate that's been going on for years and there's years left in it Not only of how we deal with the past in terms of dealing with unsolved crimes or whatever from the conflict But how we deal with it in terms of telling the history and all none of that Is being resolved at the moment. There's just no agreement Between the governing parties in the north as to how we can do it And there's no prospect of any agreement The two sides are so far apart on it. My own opinion is that Museums like this are as I've said earlier doesn't have to be museums. It can be other sorts of projects sort of ground level community based Initiatives for remembrance and memory Are what we need not something coming from a government who have an axe to grind and who will Have a bias one way or another but Let the communities do it themselves where we know what the bias is We know a loyalist community is going to tell a loyalist story We know a republican community is going to tell a republican story. That's the way it should be, but that's honest You know if we at least it's honest remembrance what we're planning on and hoping to start Within hopefully the next six seven months Is an extension of the museum what we have at the moment is We've got the central exhibition and it works But we do so much work with school groups. We need a space for that We have a fantastic documentary archive Which is great for research purposes, but i'm the only person that's got a key to that archive no one else can study it except me at the moment And we just need a space for temporary exhibitions for conferences stuff like that And that's that's what the plan is hopefully we'll start at sometime early next year And that'll mean we can do all the work about remembrance and education Around this story on this site on their own history we could actually host Displayers like that And bring not only histories that we agree with but even histories that we also disagree with We can bring them into the museum and have them on display here and Let this community come and see what other we we want people to come to this museum to see what this community has experienced But it's also important that this community can see what other communities have experienced So if we could bring in exhibitions from loyalist unionist areas in here So people from around here could come and see them. They'll be They're all small steps along the route to resolution, but they're vital steps. There are generations who have already been damaged by the conflict But there are generations to come who haven't And we don't want to have to leave it to them to resolve what we went through If we can resolve it now then Our children grandchildren don't have to So it doesn't drag on in the other generations, you know since The beginning of the peace process on the ceasefire is 94 The role of the european union here has largely been to try and Buy peace in the north. We are coming up to our fourth round of peace funding And that has been Over the past 20 odd years has largely gone to projects working towards reconciliation shared future cross community projects stuff like that so For us and our own Procure little conflict Europe has been a source of funding To try and help us resolve these issues And that's really it. We're so absorbed in our own conflict here And we're looking at our own memories our own memorialization There's very little thought of what's going on outside even A lot of the loyal order marches during the summer Are actually commemorations of like the battle of saum and stuff like that So on one level they're linked to wider european remembrance But there is much a part of unionists here celebrating how loyal they were to britain And therefore how disloyal the nationalists were So again, even while they're looking at a wider european conflict They're very self-centered on the north people here And sure it's probably the same with other conflict situations. We're so focused on our own That we're not looking at what's going on outside. It's only when i've started Becoming involved in this project that i found out that there is a A european dev remembrance for victims of terrorism now Here where the word terrorist is thrown about all over the place mainly at republicans by unionists You would think there'd be some capital made out of a european white dead or a member of victims of terrorism I only found out it existed a couple of weeks ago I mean i've been working on memory And reconciliation issues for most of my adult life unionists constantly use the word terrorist here. They end up republicans I mean speaking as me not as the manager of the museum. I am an Irish republican I don't See Irish republican paramilitaries as terrorists There are some that are in clear breach of the Geneva convention Especially state killings A number of cases have gone to the european court And These are cases where the british army or police have been involved in the killing And the court has ruled against britain And britain has just ignored The rule of the european court Now it has been ruled that Investigations carried out in the past Were not article 2 compliant because the investigators in state killings are too close to those that they are investigating britain's response to that is or was okay I will not do it again, but it doesn't look back in the when they've done in the past they argue that Only investigations undertaken since that ruling Have to be article 2 compliant and that ruling was only by 10 years ago So all of the killings during the conflict involved in the british army are the police They say well they're helping before that ruling so they're not covered back So britain has had a fairly long history Of completely ignoring The european court of human rights when it comes to the north They completely ignore amnesty international reports on their own human rights abuses here Like well any criticism of britain for its role in the conflict here britain ignores While condemning other countries for doing the same sort of thing It's got the benefit of how we can tell the story and How we can be part of trying to resolve it when you're dealing with such a recent history We're close enough to it Or we're still at that point where resolution is needed. So I believe that proper story telling proper memory can be a major help towards the The resolution of the conflict, but like I said You balance out the fact that when you're dealing with something so recent you have to be so careful There have been an awful lot of conflicts in europe especially since the second world war That to my understand they're just completely ignored in european policy and they shouldn't be there These conflicts all affect each other The vast majority of people killed in the conflict in the north of ireland died in the north of ireland But quite a few died on mainland europe It was a lot killed in britain, you know this spread beyond our borders other conflicts have spread beyond borders as well but Even when the conflict itself doesn't the impact can't through immigration and stuff like that So I don't think any of the conflicts are completely isolated the one geographic area So they shouldn't just be looked at as part of that single geographic area and I think there's always lessons to be learned and you know Pointers to be taken from how other people have got through a conflict of how they'll resolve the conflict So greater communication between different areas that have had a conflict is has to be a good thing You know if even if it's only Tips on how to bring certain people in the dialogue or anything like that. It can be fairly small or it can be right up to The issues about how to set up a government in a post-conflict situation But you learn not by going to look at other situations. So any sort of communication between different areas Any sort of joint commemorations any sort of joint remembrance. I think has to be a good thing Now whether it would work as already explained in the north we're very So focused on our own conflict that most people don't even know about the european days of remembrance one of the the things that we have here is If you want to organize an act of remembrance somebody has to organize it Depending on who you organize it here The other side is are going to be alienated a bit Yeah, if republicans try to organize a commemoration for everyone killing the conflict in the north unionists would condemn it and vice versa But if the european union were organizing something You know it was coming from outside of here There might be more chance of wider involvement Because the way we are here nobody will take part in something organized by the other side. There are ways of bringing Information and learning about different conflicts around With a wee bit of imagination so While i'm not sure About any immediate benefit of european wide remembrance I think there would eventually be a benefit from it So It's something i would certainly support I'm not sure how It's something i think should happen, but i can't describe exactly how i think it should happen it's still very very vague but There could definitely be a benefit in In a wider european remembrance policy to take in all the conflicts And there's also an insult in the fact that there isn't