Making History.

Depending on what angle you are looking from, the protest at the swearing in of our new UN-ELECTED Balliff was a resounding success. Naturally I can only give it to you from my angle and this is why I see it was a success.

Late last year when the HDLG investigation was in full swing and the Jersey Care Leavers Association had been formed, I e-mailed the JCLA offering my support, in the way of a small financial donation, fund raising, printing leaflets, raising awareness etc.

To my dismay I had no reply and therefore was not taken up on any of my heartfelt offers. It was the time of the Senatorial elections, and knowing one of the candidates was a care leaver (not abused) I explained about the e-mail I had sent with no reply. He told me that it might be because the Care Leavers just don’t trust anybody, and as they were not long formed as a group they were probably not very organised yet but I should get a reply soon……….I never did.

However I, in my own way, persisted by Blogging, contributing to Blogs and forums to highlight the struggle of abuse survivors and the injustices I believed, and still do, they were experiencing and still are.

To cut a very long story short, I have now become friends with a number of abuse survivors who, when we first met, more than likely didn’t trust me. One thing, in my opinion, was apparent and that was they were still “victims” that is to say they were in “victim mode” They (not all) had all but given up any kind of hope, didn’t see the point in trying to get justice, were just brow beat and completely demoralised.

On Thursday July the 9th 2009 at the protest of the swearing in of Michael Birt as Balliff I saw, for the first time, in one particular abuse survivors eyes and heard in her voice not only hope but the feeling of POWER. She asked “when is the next protest”? Up until a few weeks ago she had neither.

Some will argue that is a false sense of power and hope and it is not fair to string her , and others along, I would argue the opposite. I know the nightmares some of these people suffer, the self harming, the suicidal tendencies, the feeling of no self respect or self esteem, the feeling of complete hopelessness and helplessness. If their pain and anguish could be relieved by the feelings of power, strength and hope, even if it was only for a couple of hours on a Thursday afternoon then, in my opinion it was a success!

MAKING HISTORY.

All those who were protesting became a part of a landmark day in the history of Jersey. Never, to the best of my knowledge, in EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS has there been a protest at the swearing in of a Balliff, that was until Thursday July the 9th 2009. As much as the “accredited” media are trying to play this down it is in-escapable, HISTORY WAS MADE THIS DAY!………..Were you there?

The video’s below were taken by two members (on separate cameras ) of “Team Voice” which is expanding its membership and readership. The video footage, in my opinion, is in stark contrast of what has been reported by the “accredited” press. From what I have seen of our local media reporting of the event it was just a little bit of a Senator Syvret side show.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This demonstration was organised by the Care leavers themselves and a handful of supporters. They paid for and designed the “Justice” t-shirts, the banners, the whistles, the placards, all with their own time and money. Senator Syvret had very little input into the making of this demonstration. He did no more than any of our elected “representatives” should and that is to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people they are elected to represent and credit to him for doing it.

Don’t get hoodwinked into the “media spin” of diverting the attention from allegedly horribly abused children in our States “care” system and the subsequent alleged cover up and not prosecuting States “care” workers and turning it into the Stuart Syvret show.

This is about “JUSTICE“?, CONCEALMENT COVER UP, THE JERSEY WAY and doing everything we can to either bring the alleged victims some justice or exposing our Government for, at the very best, ITS FAILINGS.