Northern Ireland Troubles (1969-1998) PDF

Midterm Exam 76 The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1969~1998) Week 9 2024/12/4  Northern Ireland 1921~ Derry/Londonderry  Sunday (2002) Channel 4: TV drama 1972 Bloody Sunday 2002: co...

Midterm Exam 76 The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1969~1998) Week 9 2024/12/4  Northern Ireland 1921~ Derry/Londonderry  Sunday (2002) Channel 4: TV drama 1972 Bloody Sunday 2002: commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Derry/Londonderry Directed by Charles McDougall Written by Jimmy McGovern Opening Scene: Derry in 1968 ~ 71  Sunday (2002) The coal man gave me the job. I was grateful for it, cos this was Derry in 1968. Britain was booming, Europe was booming, but Derry was on the dole. I was lucky, I was working. ‘on the dole’ = registered as unemployed and receives money from the government  Allocation of jobs Protestants: better chance Catholics: more likely to be unemployed Few Catholics → government jobs.  Discrimination in Jobs ・Catholics in Derry/Londonderry (60%) →administrative, clerical, technical jobs (30%) ・23 Catholics ← 319 top civil servants (1969) ・6 Catholics ← 68 senior judges (1969) ・1,952 Catholics (15.4%) ← gas, electricity, water industries (publicly owned business)  Local election 1 protestant = 6 vote A rich Protestant: 6 votes 1 catholic = 1/6vote → That’s a businessman. A Protestant. In ‘68 he owned a company so he got six votes. Six Catholics living in a house: only one vote → The family only had one property so they only got one vote between them all.  Local election ‘ratepayers only’ Ratepayer: a person who owned or rented property and therefore had to pay local taxes called rate. ‘multiple voting’ the right of property owners with large ratable values to have up to six votes.  Civil Rights March So in 1968 we marched for jobs, houses and the right to vote. This is what the world saw on its TV screens. Slogan: ‘One Man, One Vote’ (reformed in 1969: First election → 1974)  Civil Rights Movement Civil Rights Movement in the US in 1960s Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) founded in 1967  Bogside ‘bog’ = an area of land which is very wet and muddy (COBULID) The Bogside erupted. Free Derry was born. Battle of Bogside (Aug. 1969) → Reaction to a march by the Apprentice Boys, celebrating the 280th anniversary of 1689.  ‘The siege of Derry’ 1689 13 young apprentice boys closed the gates of Derry against the Catholic soldiers. James II, confident that the city must surrender, went to the walls of Derry himself to demand it, but the Protestant citizens lined the walls and shouted: ‘No Surrender!’ Joan Lingard, The Twelfth Day of July. 1970, p.10 → They were besieged for 105 days. → 8,000 out of 30,000 died Derry/Londonderry: Walled City Top of the city walls  Bogside Bogside Tower Observation tower over looking Bogside (1985) Walled City Bogside  1969 Death of Sammy Devenny → first death of the Troubles The Battle of the Bogside (Aug.) The British Army came in. (Aug.) IRA Campaign began. (Nov.)  Free Derry Corner 1969 1984 2018  The British Army came in. (Aug. 1969) IRA Campaign began. (Nov. 1969)  In 71 the army killed two local men, strengthening support for the IRA. The government introduced Internment, imprisonment without trial. (Aug. 1971) ‘Daddy – stop them.’ ‘Wait for me, boys.’  ‘everyday wee riots’ ‘There’s that eejit there again.’ ‘Oh, God love him. Somebody has to.’ wee = little, small eejit = idiot  Housing ‘What about a house?’ ‘Said come back after I have ten weans.’ ‘Cheek.’ [weans = children] ‘Aye. Protestant woman with no weans and she’s got a brand-new house.’ ‘Because she married to B-Special. That’s how she got the house.’  B Special A member of a part-time largely Protestant police force functioning in Northern Ireland (Collins English Dictionary) B Specials were kept until 1970.  ‘We are shite.’ ‘I’m sick of being treated like shit.’ ‘We’re Catholics. We are shite.’ shite = shit  Derry/Londonderry “Doire” = oak grove → Derry 1609: Plantation of Ulster (Guilds of London) → Londonderry 1689: the Siege of Derry Catholics : Protestants = 2 : 1 Derry- ‘/’ (stroke) -Londonderry → Stroke City  ‘Siege Mentality’ Protestants’ discrimination against Catholics: based on their fear and insecurity They are surrounded by Catholics.  Partition of Ireland 1920: The Government of Ireland Act →Two Home Rule Parliaments (Dublin/Belfast) Northern Ireland: 6 Counties （1921~) Southern Ireland: 26 Counties The War of Independence (21 Jan. 1919~ 11 July 1921) The Irish Civil War (28 June 1922~ 24 May 1923) →Irish Free State ( 6. Dec. 1922~) Ulster Unionist Propaganda  Keywords Unionists: those who support the ‘union’ with the UK → Loyalists: more extreme type of unionists who are ready to use violence Nationalists: those who support for a ‘united Ireland’ or 32-county Ireland. → Republicans: those who are ready to use violence cf: Irish Republican Army [IRA]  Republican: Dictionary definition In Northern Ireland, if someone is Republican, they believe that Northern Ireland should not be ruled by Britain but should become part of the Republic of Ireland. In the United States, if some is Republican, they belong to or support the Republican Party. Collins English Dictionary  In the North: 1921 24 May: Elections for the new parliament 21 June: George V opened the first NI parliament cf: defence, foreign policy, income tax (Westminster)  Northern Irish Society Protestants : Catholics = 2:1 Protestants’ (Unionists’) control over: → Parliament and Government = A one-party state Before 1969: → Every member of the NI cabinet: Protestant → Almost all were members of the Orange Order Orange Order 12 of July: The Battle of the Boyne → Orange march  Unionists’ Voices ‘Partition is better than a united Ireland. We will try to make Northern Ireland work to our advantage.’ ‘The Catholics cannot be trusted they are traitors to Northern Ireland. As our PM Basil Brook says “Our country is in danger. No surrender! We are King’s men.’  Unionist‘s Voice ‘We must keep control of Stormont. As Lord Craigavon put it,’: “We are a Protestant parliament for a Protestant people.” Stormont: Location of parliament buildings Stormont = Northern Ireland parliament and Government Parliament Buildings @ Stormont Built in 1933  Unionists catholics ‘Traitors must not be allowed to run local councils. We must fix boundaries so that Unionists always win.’ → Gerrymandering  Derry/Londonderry in 1967 Ward Voters Catholics Protestants Councillors South Ward 11185 10047 1138 8 Nationalists North Ward 6476 2530 3946 8 Unionists Waterside 5549 1852 3697 4 Unionists ward 23210 14429 8781  Gerrymandering 73 local councils in Northern Ireland 11 controlled by nationalists (Catholics) 62 controlled by unionists (Protestants) 12 councils in border areas (majority of the people were Catholics but Unionists had been in control) Gerrymandering A C B A C B A C B  Unionists ‘The new police force needs to keep a close check on Catholic traitors.’ → ‘B’ Specials ‘We must keep the support of loyal Protestants – they must be given good jobs … and good houses of course – in different parts of town’  Catholics as second-class citizens Allocation of jobs Protestants: better chance Catholics: more likely to be unemployed Few Catholics → government jobs Housing Elections →introduction of gerrymandering  Nationalists’ voices ‘Partition is wrong. We will have nothing to do with “Northern Ireland”. We will not have anything to do with the new government.’ ‘We will not join the new civil service or police force. We will “opt out” of life in the north just like the south opted out of the UK in 1922.’ irish free state ≠1919  Nationalists ‘These gerrymandered elections are a farce. Unionists do not want democracy.’ ‘The Protestant police force is always picking on innocent Catholics.’ ‘Catholics are unfairly discriminated against. …’  Hopes of peaceful change 1950-68 1956-1962: IRA’s new campaign of violence Ordinary Catholics: didn’t support the IRA →IRA temporarily abandoned violence 1959: Sean Lemass (Taoiseach, PM): (South) →Less hostile to the Unionists in the North 1963: Terence O’Neill (PM) 1965: Lemass paid a visit to O’Neill @ Stormont Two turning points in the Troubles Bloody Sunday (1972) →The rise of the IRA catholics, nationalists Hunger Strikes (1981) →The rise of Sinn Fein (political wing of the IRA)  Bloody Sunday in Derry 30 January 1972 Organized march against Internment catholics Some young marchers threw stones at the army. british The army replied with water cannon and rubber bullets. Soldiers opened fire upon the crowd and killed 13. March against Internment  Internment Policy of putting up people suspected of violence in prison without trial in order to restore peace. [Other Key Words section] Cause massive resentment among Cs. Increased the fears of working-class Ps. Ps feared that the IRA will become angrier Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday  First Inquiry (Widgery Tribunal) Lord Chief Justice Widgery “There would have been no deaths in Londonderry on 30 January if those who had organized an illegal march had not … created a highly dangerous situation in which a clash between demonstrators and the security forces was almost inevitable … each soldier was his own judge of whether he had identified a gunman.” (1)-a Widgery Report (178 pages)  ‘whitewash’ = deliberately attempt to conceal unpleasant or incriminating facts about a person or organization.  A Civilian Witness “… at one stage a lone army sniper fired two shots at me as I peered around a corner. People could be seen moving forward … their hands above their heads. One man was carrying a white handkerchief. Gunfire was directed even at them and they fled or fell to the ground.” Simon Winchester in The Guardian, 31 January 1972  Father Daly ‘In later years, many young people I visited in prison told me quite explicitly that they would never have become involved in the IRA but for what they witnessed and heard of happening on Bloody Sunday.’ The Guardian, 26 January 2002 Father Daly on the day