Unionists felt threatened by the Catholics of the south and feared that their country could once again come to be under the rule of the Republic. This led to discrimination of the Northern Irish Catholics and the aim to keep them from getting any power at all in Northern Ireland. Catholics were discriminated against in employment situations, they were treated as second class citizens when it came to housing and the worst discrimination arose when it came to local government issues.
The Protestants were afraid of Catholic rule so they did all they could to prevent it in Northern Ireland. The local governments, i.e. county and city councils had a lot of power as they were in charge of housing and employment. Ulster government made it so that Catholics had very little say when it came to elections and voting on government issues. Only people who owned property were allowed to vote and as Catholics owned less property, due to discrimination as regards housing and employment, they had fewer votes. A businessman who owned several properties could cast up to six votes depending on the number of properties, whereas a household of six people only had the one. Another Protestant system to prevent catholic influence was gerrymandering. This is a way of legally rigging the votes by the way that each area is divided up. Each local area was divided into districts called wards. The government made sure that the borders of these wards fell so that the majority in each ward was protestant. This meant that the result of the vote would be in favour of the Protestants.
The siege mentality of the Unionists and the way that Republicans in the North saw themselves as second class citizens led to feelings of hatred and rivalry between Catholics and Protestants in the North. This encouraged many sectarian attacks. These were minor aggressive displays by ordinary people of the two communities. For example, ordinary Protestants attacking ordinary Catholics and vice-versa. However, these attacks escalated and by 1969 fierce fighting broke out between Protestants and Catholics. On the 12th August 1969 there was a parade held by the Orangemen which started off as a peaceful parade. Soon, however, as they marched past the catholic area of Bogside there were sectarian clashes and rioting broke out. It took 1,000 of the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) to contain the crowds. Over two days the RUC tried to overcome the Catholic rioters whilst being pelted with stones and petrol bombs. A few days later, the British Army arrived to maintain order. This event is known as the Battle of the Bogside and it marks a pivotal point where the troubles in Ireland became more than just arguments and resentment between the parties and true hatred expressed through violence.
The British Regular Army was sent as a peace-keeping force to protect civilians of Northern Ireland. The British Army had perfectly good intentions of peace-keeping and separating the two groups when they first entered Northern Ireland, but the outcome was extremely different. At first the Army were welcomed by the citizens of Northern Ireland but soon they were seen as being Unionists rather than an impartial party and were as before a soldier might have gone to a catholic household and be welcomed in for a cup of tea, he was now shunned and spat at.
The IRA, throughout the troubles, was fighting with militant tactics against the British and the Unionists in The North. They planned and carried out many terrorist actions against their enemies in hopes to get what they wanted, a United Ireland. They believed, like many republicans, that attacking the British and intimidating them would make them feel threatened into giving Northern Ireland back to the Republic. They believed that violence would help them achieve their aims and their attacks got worse as the British and the Unionists refused to back down. There were many horrific attacks carried out by the IRA as I said but here are a few.
The planting of a bomb in Harrods in December of 1983 aimed at Christmas Shoppers in London. Six people were killed, 3 of which were police, and 90 were injured. On July 20th 1982 two bombs were let off. One was in Hyde Park, which killed two of the household cavalry who were performing ceremonial duties. The other detonated in Regents Park underneath a bandstand where a military band was performing to 120 spectators. Seven people were killed. In July 1972 The IRA planted and let off 20 bombs in Belfast city centre. 11 people were killed and 130 injured. This became known as Bloody Friday.
In Birmingham possibly the most infamous IRA bombings occurred called the Birmingham Pub Bombings. The IRA let off two Bombs in two central pubs in Birmingham, The Mulberry Bush and the Tavern. The bombs killed a total of 21 people and injured many others.
However it was not only the IRA performing acts of violence. To counter act and fight off push the IRA back to The Republic of Ireland The Unionist groups were also committing acts of extreme violence. In 1969 a Catholic named Sammy Devenney was battered to death by the RUC in his own home.
Perhaps most notably, in 1972 on Sunday 30th January a peaceful protest for civil rights began in Derry. Thousands of people were involved. British paratroopers arrived and for no apparent reason shot dead thirteen Roman Catholics. Rioting soon broke out and this day came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
There were people however, who favored non-violent methods in attempt to achieve what they wanted. For example the Alliance Party was involved in a number of peace talks and negotiations, as were the Sinn Fein and other political parties. They believed that negotiatory tactics were a better way to achieve their aims.
In the Maze prison, the most secure prison of its time, built with a unique H-block for high security purposes, another tactic was being put into practice. Republican prisoners began what was called ‘the dirty protest’ in 1978. They refused to wash and spread excrement all over the walls and floors of their prison cells in protest to achieve better rights to clothes for prisoners. Another protest that took place in the Maze prison was the Hunger Strike. Prisoners refused to eat until the British Government and Unionists gave them what they wanted, to wear their own clothes. The Hunger strike began on 1st March and finished on October 3rd after the deaths of 10 prisoners. By then the prisoners were allowed to wear their own clothes. Perhaps the most famous of these protesters was Bobby Sands. He began his hunger strike on 1st of March and got himself a lot of publicity over it by running for an election, which he won. However after 66 days Bobby Sands died on May the 5th. His death caused rioting in Northern Ireland and in the Republic 100,000 attended his funeral. The next day, provisional IRA prisoner, Joe McDonnell started a hunger strike to take the place of Sands. After Bobby sands, the pioneer of the Hunger Strike another 9 prisoners including Joe McDonnell, died for their beliefs. These protestors were using manipulative tactics. They were playing on peoples emotions to get themselves sympathy in the hope of people giving in and giving them what they wanted just to end their suffering.
Even now, after the formation of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, incidents, mainly sectarian attacks, still arise. In 2001, some young Catholic girls who attended Holy Cross Primary School had to walk from Ardoyne through the protestant area of Glenbryn. They fell victim to sectarian attacks, and were intimidated by the Protestants of the area. The school sits on the border between the Catholic and Protestant districts so it is the setting and cause of many disputes between the two communities.
Between 1969 and today both communities have tried many different approaches to achieve their separate aims. However, these approaches have one thing in common. The passion of the two communities and their firm beliefs about what they want for Northern Ireland. It is this that is the underlying vein that flows through all the attempts by both communities, peaceful or otherwise, to achieve their goals.
Part 2: Can there be peace in Northern Ireland?
The problem in Northern Ireland is that both parties believe so strongly that they are right and neither will give way willingly. Therefore, as one side wants Northern Ireland under British Rule and the other wants a United Ireland, there is conflict. Peace is only possible if either side gives way or a compromise is reached. As neither side will give way The Good Friday agreement seemed a sensible compromise to which both parties agreed. There were gains and losses for both communities. The main loss for the Republican/Nationalists was the decision that Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom; under British Rule for as long as the people of Northern Ireland want it so. So they had lost their hope of a United Ireland but what had they gained? The compromise was that Catholics in Northern Ireland now had a say in government, and there was an end to gerrymandering. Also Republican prisoners in the Maze Prison, who had been imprisoned via internment, were to be released. The Unionists had Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and an end to the armed struggle. However, the prison releases left a bitter sting as many were seen as terrorists who had terrorised and murdered their families and friends.
The terms and conditions were that the IRA would decommission their weapons and the British Army presence in Northern Ireland would be decreased massively; an end to army patrols in the streets.
This seems like a sensible agreement but will it work? Since the Agreement sectarian attacks have continued, like the Holy Cross Primary attacks in 2001. The key to peace in Northern Ireland is for peoples’ attitudes toward one another to change. This can be done by no amount of peace talks and negotiation. It will only take time. The idea of hatred between the two groups is firm set into the people’s legacy, people take pride in their History and the history of Northern Ireland is rivalry between the Protestants and the Catholics. This is true on so many levels. There is the fact that Protestants and Catholics have been opposed since the Protestants broke away from the Catholic ways and formed a new church based on the ideas of Martin Luther. The roots of the rivalry between the Irish Roman Catholics and the Protestants and the English Government grow very deep. In 1558 the protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England land from the Irish Roman Catholics and gave it to English Landowners. Thus began the government discrimination of the Catholic society. In 1641 there was an Irish rebellion in which 3000 Protestants were killed. In 1649 Oliver Cromwell, a firm Protestant, slaughtered Irish Catholics of Drogheda and Wexford.
The battle between the Protestants and Catholics in Ireland has been going on a lot longer than the years that are referred to as the troubles, 1969-1989. Many attempts to restore peace have been tried and failed before the Good Friday agreement. The partition of Ireland itself and the setting up of two separate governments, being the main example. However, far from restoring peace it aggravated the situation. So who is to say that this time it will work?
From the point of view of the Sinn Fein and the IRA and other political Republican parties, nothing has really changed and what is to say that they will not begin another armed struggle? In 1994 there was a ceasefire declared between the IRA and the British Army which lasted 18 months. The IRA broke this agreement by setting off a huge bomb in Manchester that weighed 1,500kg. 206 people were killed or injured and 70 thousand square metres of office and retail space was devastated.
This time the IRA had agreed to decommission their weapons. However there is a disagreement as to the meaning of decommissioning. From the Republican point of view it is putting them in huge concrete bunkers and in old barns etc. However the British Government would have them handed over or destroyed so they can never be used again. The British Government have said that unless this happens the then the Northern Ireland Assembly which was abolished in Stormont after the Good Friday Agreement as The Sinn Fein were suspected of intelligence gathering, will never be re-established which means Catholics will lose their say in government. This is just one obstacle that stands in the way of peace in Ireland.
Other obstacles are sectarian attacks that may, as before, escalate to war. On November 9th 2002 a Roman Catholic was crucified and sectarian attacks have risen since the Good Friday agreement. Between November 2001-2002 there were 258 attacks, 92 by the Republicans, 176 by the Republicans. This could be an indicator that there may be a slide back to the armed struggle which is not wanted by anybody, but it may be inevitable if these attacks escalate enough.
I think that if people’s attitudes change towards one another through education of the younger generation, as it is those who govern our future, peace is possible. If children are taught to befriend others of a different religion or background, then they would not grow up seeing them as people to fight against but as people to live alongside peacefully. However the parents of this generation are firmly set in their beliefs and the Rivalry that has been passed down from the generations before them and as children learn greatly from their parents unless they are encouraged from an early age to form their own opinions then they will adopts those of their parents and the whole cycle will begin again. We can hope for peace in Northern Ireland but we have to be realistic about the future. It is impossible for both sides to get exactly what they want and unless they can see things from the others point of view and be content with and abide by an appropriate compromise then the armed struggle will begin again and war will once again break out in Northern Ireland.