The Northern Ireland conflict

Dear readers!

In today’s history class, the teacher thought us about the Northern Ireland conflict. Something I find amusing, since earlier this week we read “The Father and the Son” in English class and that is a short story about the Northern Ireland conflict in Belfast. Maybe is an interdisciplinary topic? I think they are collaborating with each other’s subjects. This topic is very historical and extremely exciting, so I have to tell you all about what I had learned. Just want to clear something up, the troubles is another name for the Northern Ireland conflict.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and it consists of a majority of Protestants. The Northern Ireland conflict was basically between the Catholics and the Protestants. The Catholics were mainly Irish and they felt like they did belong in Ireland and on the other side we have the Protestants. They were mainly British and therefore they felt like they did belong in United Kingdom. To understand the conflict we got to go back in time. In 1169, England invaded Ireland and then Ireland became a part of England. That is when the Protestants came into Ireland. Because the majority got changed from the Catholics to the Protestants, the new majority began to suppress the old majority. The Catholics did not like this form of treatment. Another event that is important is the Battle of Boyne. The Battle fought. of Boyne happened in 1690, King James that was a Catholic and Irish vs. William III that was a Protestant and British, William won this battle. One cause to the Northern Ireland conflict is when Ireland got more independence from the United Kingdom in December 1921, since the majority was Catholics.  First Ireland was called Irish Free State, but later Ireland was named the name it carries today, Republic of Ireland. In 1923, England invaded Northern Ireland since they meant that Northern Ireland should be a part of United Kingdom. One big cause is when Ireland was given their full independence in 1948. After long suppression, the conflict was provoked after they got inspired from the Civil Rights Movement in USA in the 60s. The Troubles began on 5 October 1968, when the Catholics lead a civil rights march in Londonderry.

The conflict evolved to be territorial, political, ethnical and a fight for equal rights for the Catholics. It evolved to be a fight for equal right because the Catholics was been exposed to suppression for a long time. They did not have the same opportunities as the Protestants were given. The Protestants were given the best jobs, the best neighborhoods, and the best schools. This created tension among the Catholic, who got the poorer jobs, the worst neighborhoods and the poorer schools. They protested since their Civil Rights was stolen away from them in Northern Ireland. The Protestants answered by sending inn more British military and policemen. On 30 January 1972, the Catholics were demonstrating a peaceful, but chaotic demonstration and they unfortunately clashed into some policemen. The policemen fired shots into the crowd, 14 people died and 16 people were injured. The event on 30 January was called Bloody Sunday. That event has gotten really famous and even U2 has written and performed a song about Bloody Sunday. Regrettably, Bloody Sunday only lead to more violence and not a peaceful agreement. In 2010, the British government took the responsibility for the tragic killings and injuries that occurred on Bloody Sunday. Both sides had two huge civilian armies. The Catholics got IRA (Irish Republican Army), which is an Irish Republican revolutionary military organization. In those 30 years, which is the length of the conflict, IRA was responsible for the killing of 1800 people and they are the most known at the Catholic side. On the other side, the Protestants got UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force), which is a Ulster Loyalist paramilitary group. From 1968 to 1998, UVF was responsible for the killing of 1000 people and they are the most known at the Protestant side.

On 10 April 1998, a peace agreement was developed under American mediation. That peace agreement was signed on Good Friday. Therefore it is called the Good Friday Agreement. It was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s. The agreement was signed between the Catholics and the Protestants. In 2005, Saint Andrews agreement was signed. St. Andrews agreement said that IRA would destroy all of their weapons.

Today in Northern Ireland, when you travel around everything seems quite normal on the surface. However, it is still divided between the people. Catholics live in the Catholic areas and go to Catholic schools, while Protestants live in the other areas and goes to state school. Even though many live in seperate area and go to sepearte schools, some live in the mixing areas where the Catholics and the Protestants live side by side. More children go to schools that are called “Intergrated schools” which try as hard as they can to balance their intake of Catholic children and Protestant children. So Northern Ireland seems to reconcile from the conflict and get a society that even better when the conflict ended than when it first started.

See ya guys around, Villemo

Sources:

Notes from class

 Haugen, Hellevi m.fl. (2009). Targets – engelsk vg1. H.Ascheloug & Co (page 152-153)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/troubles , 09.10.2014