Why has it been difficult to obtain peace in Northern Ireland?
Why has it been difficult to obtain peace in Northern Ireland? There is a large variety of social, political and religious reasons why it has been hard to obtain peace in Northern Ireland; there have also been many events that occurred in Northern Ireland that seriously hindered peace progress talks. These are four events that seriously effect peace in Northern Ireland right up to the current day, the Civil Rights Movement, Bloody Sunday, Hunger Strikes and Peace Movements. All these events will be described in my piece of work, I will identify why they happened and who was involved. I will also explain how a power sharing agreement took so long to be put into place because of the impact these events had on the prejudice between Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Unionists. The Civil Rights Movement was a series of Nationalist Catholic marches held between 1967 and 1972 in Northern Ireland, these marches were organised to protest against the discrimination Catholics faced at that time. This discrimination came in many forms for example Catholics found it harder to get houses and some families were on the waiting list for years while single Protestants were placed in homes before them. They also found it hard to get their children good education, or even get themselves a job because many employers would only take on Protestants. It even effected voting as not every Catholic was aloud to take part in the election campaign. So the Nationalist Catholics organised many marches demanding equal rights and to stop prejudice against them. Though these marches were organised with peaceful intent they often turned into mass riots and conflict between Catholic and Protestant civilians. Sometimes it was suspected terrorists had infiltrated peaceful marches and caused violence that often escalated into riots and these caused innocent people to get seriously injured. One of the most famous riots was the Battle of Bogside; this riot took place in Derry and lasted from 12-14 August 1969. The riot saw over five hundred women and children evacuated out of the area and caused over 1000 casualties. It was clear the Irish police and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) alone could not deal with mass violence on this scale so to try and stop the riots the British Government sent paratroopers in to try and obtain peace. The paratrooper’s main objective was to try and destroy the IRA which was quickly reforming. But many Irish people saw the paratroopers as occupational forces and because of this they where largely hated by Catholics. This led to a lot of tension in and around the country and even led to a slight collapse in the Northern Irish government as they only half met the demands of the people involved with the Civil Rights Movement. This caused uproar as Nationalist Catholics still felt discriminated against so they continued to act out violently in public protests, this lead to one of the most tragic days in the history of Northern Ireland, Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday was the 30th of January 1972, it began as a march Londonderry organised by the Civil Rights Movement to protest against internment. Internment began in 1971, this was a law passed by the British Government
allowing suspected terrorist in Northern Ireland to be arrested and imprisoned without charge. Catholic Nationalist was strongly against internment as most of the people arrested where Catholic, when there where almost equal amounts of terrorist on both sides. Some of the Catholics that were imprisoned became subject to torture like lack of sleep, this lead to national outrage. Pre-organised marches at this point by British Government 15,000 Catholics still congregated in the middle of the city on the 30th of January 1972 and began a protest march. But later that day violence began as Catholics began to throw rocks and ...
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allowing suspected terrorist in Northern Ireland to be arrested and imprisoned without charge. Catholic Nationalist was strongly against internment as most of the people arrested where Catholic, when there where almost equal amounts of terrorist on both sides. Some of the Catholics that were imprisoned became subject to torture like lack of sleep, this lead to national outrage. Pre-organised marches at this point by British Government 15,000 Catholics still congregated in the middle of the city on the 30th of January 1972 and began a protest march. But later that day violence began as Catholics began to throw rocks and other objects at British paratroopers who responded by opening fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians and killed thirteen of them, some of which were shot in the back. This did not help the peace process at all; the nation was again outraged, the little trust between Nationalist and paratroopers had now been totally destroyed and the deaths of those thirteen civilians were considered murders, the people that died were considered martyrs to the Nationalist cause. This strengthened the IRA‘s cause and they began to get funding and weaponry from other countries, such as the USA, they seemed to many to have proven their point that they needed to attack the Unionists and paratroopers and not just defend the Nationalist. It also affected power sharing talks between Nationalists and Unionists, Nationalist Catholics across the country saw the paratroopers as murders, and what added insult to injury was the fact that the paratroopers were not disciplined in any way for they had done, so hatred between Catholics and paratroopers and Catholics And Protestants (who by many were blamed for the deaths on Bloody Sunday) severely escalated. Catholics began to say there was no way they would ever share power with murderers, how could they ever trust the Government and Protestants to not make the same mistakes, how could they be sure there would not be a second event as catastrophic as Bloody Sunday, this meant any peace agreement between Nationalists and Unionists would be delayed. If one was put into place just after the Civil Rights Movement it would have lead to a national outrage as the hatred and violence between Nationalists and Protestants that many did not see peace as an option and many would refuse to stop the violence. The Civil Rights Movement and all its marches, including Bloody Sunday still have a big impact on peace today. Even though in 2007 a power sharing agreement was reached there is still a lot of prejudice and anger between the Nationalist and Unionist. Nationalists look back at events such as Bloody Sunday or the Battle of Bogside with hatred towards Unionists and Unionists will do likewise, it is very difficult for the people involved to forget the past and forgive their opponents. People still do not trust the British Government after the paratroopers murdered those thirteen men and this has made it difficult for the British Government to make any major decisions influencing Northern Ireland as they would widely be discredited and not accepted. Another factor that has made it difficult to obtain peace in Northern Ireland is the Hunger Strikes of 1980-1981. Members of the IRA that had been imprisoned were treated like everyday criminals, but they wanted to be recognised as prisoners of war. Prisoners of war were treated differently than normal prisoners, they got to wear there own clothes, aloud to organise their own activities in the prison, they would have freedom of association, they would serve less time for their crimes then a normal prisoner and they would not have to participate in prison work. The members of the IRA that were inside the prison believed they should be know as prisoners of war and get their privileges for a variety of reasons, for one they were jailed from a court without a jury, they felt the situation in Ireland was a war whether the Government would admit it or not and also members of the IRA that had been in the jail before them had these privileges but they were taken away as time progressed. But the British Government refused to grant them these privileges and did not allow them to be known as prisoners of war, this caused uproar with the IRA members that were imprisoned and other splinter groups. A while before the hunger strikes were put into place members of the IRA in the jail went on a thing known as the ‘Dirty Protest’ this is were prisoners would cover the walls of there cell with their own excrement, though it caused extra work for the prison workers and made the jail generally filthy it did not have a large effect on the outside world. It did not bring much attention to the prisoner’s situation and it was clear a larger demonstration would have to come to place to have a big enough impact to affect the outside world, the prisoners felt hunger strikes were the best way to achieve their goal. The leader of the very first hunger strikes was called Brendan Hughes, but he was not seen as a good leader at the time and made a vital mistake by calling the strike of when he thought the British Government would give in to their demands but they did not. So weeks after the first attempt at a hunger strike Bobby Sands took over as the leader and developed a plan were a new person would go on strike every week, this was so there would be roughly a death a week if the British Government did not give up to their demands, a death a week would have the ultimate shock factor on the public. Even when the hunger strikes began and Bobby Sands, who opted to be the first strikers, was about to die Margaret Thatcher refused to intervene, she did not want to admit to the situation in Northern Ireland as being a war and that meant not allowing the prisoners on strike to be know as prisoners of war, she also did consider there crimes any different as the crimes of the over prisoners, she famously declared ‘crime is crime is crime; it is not political.’ This sparked outrage across Northern Ireland as there was huge support for what Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers were doing, such support that Bobby Sands was elected as an MP while he was starving in jail. When Booby Sands was announced dead May 5, 1981, he was aged 27 and was on strike 66 days, he was known as a martyr for the Nationalist cause and for the IRA. The national outcry that occurred after his death resulted in more people joining the IRA and a big increase in their activity. The British Government and Unionist were once again considered murderers by the majority of Nationalist people. Over 100,000 people attended Bobby Sands funeral, which was over one fifth the Catholics population in Northern Ireland at the time. The media coverage of Bobby Sands death sparked a wave of support and sympathy around the world for him, the other hunger strikers, and what the IRA were trying to achieve. There were huge protests on the street and violence around the country in support of what the strikers were doing. The Unionist and British response to the hunger strike was reactionary, they tried their best to stop the hunger strikes by trying to half meet the prisoners demands but they did not solve the root of the problem, the peoples pride and passion and their believe that they were correct. Eventually ten prisoners died as a result of the hunger strikes and the British Government proposed that prisoners from the IRA and other terrorist organisations were given many advantages that prisoners of war were given but they still had to participate in prison work and were not presented with the term prisoners of war. After the hunger strikes Margaret Thatcher boasted that that they had not cave in to the demands of the hunger strikers and it was a victory for the British Government. But the political effect of the hunger strikes was huge, the British government and what they stood for were resented hugely again by the Nationalist in Northern Ireland, people saw them as murders and lyres and with the events of Bloody Sunday still on peoples mind the British and Unionist were hated more then ever by Catholics. This effected peace in the long run as well power sharing was not accepted for so long because of events such as this and the passion behind them. Nationalist do not want to share power with the murders of one of there heroes Bobby Sands, and do not want to share power with people that they considered caused through there unfair democracy such violence and disorder in Northern Ireland for so many years, that caused so many lives to be lost. There have been many peace talks based around Northern Ireland over the years, most were to do with power sharing but many broke down because of events like the Civil Rights Movement and hunger strikes. The first major peace talk was the 1973-1974 power sharing executive; this was agreed between the major political parties and William Whitelaw the Northern Ireland secretary. The power sharing executive, known as the Sunningdale Agreement, suggested that a new power sharing assembly was elected to govern Northern Ireland and that a power sharing executive represented the main political parties and guaranteed to share power between the Republic and Northern Ireland. Although this agreement was well received by most parties, the DUP opposed the agreement and refused to join. A general strike was organised in May 1974 by the Unionist Ulster workers council brought Northern Ireland to a halt. This caused the power sharing executive to resign and as a result of this direct rule from Westminster returned, the Sunningdale Agreement had failed. The next attempted peace agreement was the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement; this was between Margaret Thatcher and the Irish Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. They agreed to an intergovernmental conference that would be held regularly, they would keep cross border co-operation on political legal and security matters, the British Government accepted the possibility of a united Ireland in the future, but only if the majority of Northern Ireland consented and the Republic of Ireland accepted the existence of partition and the principle of consent. Nationalist across Northern Ireland were divided in their reactions, the SDLP saw it as a big chance for progress but Sinn Fein saw it as enforced partition and did not approve. Unionist resented this agreement and would not coincided with what it was saying, big strikes and demonstrations followed the release of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the violence of the people and paramilitaries was worse then ever, the agreement had little effect and therefore failed. One of the most major peace talks was the 1998 Good Friday Agreement; also know as the Belfast Agreement. It was signed in Belfast in April 1998 by the British and Irish governments and was approved by most Northern Ireland parties, the only major party to disapprove of the agreement was the DUP. It was though approved by most of the voters of Northern and the Republic of Ireland. The final Agreement was posted to every household in Northern Ireland and put to a vote in May it included plans for a Northern Ireland assembly with a power sharing executive and new cross border structures involving the Republic of Ireland. There were also controversial plans on paramilitary’s giving up their weapons and the early release of paramilitary prisoners. A vote was also held in the Irish Republic, the result was staggering with 71% of people in Northern Ireland and 94% in the Republic voted that the agreement should be accepted. Throughout the first three years of the agreement, Unionists said the Government and major Nationalist parties were failing to live back up the rule for decommissioning of arms, as many paramilitaries such as the IRA were simply not handing over their guns. Moreover, Sinn Fein said the British Government did not demilitarise quickly enough, they stated they could not force anyone to give up arms and that the agreement only stated that the parties should use all their power to make paramilitary’s give up their guns, they had discovered a bit of a loophole and arguments quickly started. Eventually after much debating a power sharing agreement has been signed recently in 2007 that the Republic and Northern Ireland are both happy to consent to, it took so long to come to a power sharing agreement that all parties are happy with because of all the complications along the way, a lot of these from the ‘battles’ Unionists and Nationalist have fort with one another down the years, this caused a lot of hate and prejudice between Catholics and Protestants which lead to events such as Bloody Sunday and the hunger strikes that represented what the Irish people stood for at the time and there pure passion for what they believed in. All these events left such an aftermath that people would not consent to any peace agreements or power sharing until the situation had cooled down, we can only hope that the 2007 agreement brings peace to a troubled Northern Ireland and the civilians that live there. But will the peace last, and will all the political parties and paramilitaries be able to keep peace and settle down, we can only wait and see what the future holds for Northern Ireland. By Callum Newbury
