History of the Troubles 101, pt. 1
I'm having trouble posting this, possibly because it's so long. So I'll try it in two shots.
I have noticed, while talking to a lot of my friends back home about my trip, that there are several fundamental flaws in their understanding of the situation over here in Northern Ireland. The largets of these I'll dispel here and now. The Protestant/Catholic conflict here in Norther Ireland is not a holy war. It is not based on confliting ideologies, nor led by religious fanatics...ok, so Ian Paisley might be considered a religious fanatic, but that's besides the point. This conflict is about two very seperate cultures with two very different views of what their country should be being forced to live in each other's laps. History has shown us repeatedly that whenever this situation occurs, it's not long before stuff starts getting blown up.
So today, in order to let you all have a better understanding of the country that I'm in, we'll start with a brief history lesson. Ireland was a Catholic nation, thanks to the work of St. Patrick, along with many other missionaries. In fact, Ireland was the refuge of the Christian faith during the Dark Ages, and succeeded in effectively reeducating Europe. In the 1600s, Britain decided that it didn't like have another country at its back, and so began its conquest. It took them a while, but eventually they did take it, with the Flight of the Earls marking the last of Irish resistance. Britain moved in, but they only really controled about half of the island, known as the Pale. Everything beyond this area was thought too wild and the people too savage to deal with (Hence the term "Beyond the Pale" meaning something that's really out there and bizarre). There were numerous uprisings and revolts, but none were successful until the 1916 uprising, which resulted in the partitioning of Ireland in 1921. Most of the island became the Republic of Ireland, while the northern corner became Northern Ireland, and remained a part of Britain. This was because so many of the people in that area were of British descent and wanted to remain in Ireland while still staying in their homes in Ireland. This is what leads us to the present day conflict. See, in order to maintain order, the British had been "planting" British and Scottish settlers into the area. These settlers were Protestant (The British Anglican and the Scottish Prepyterian), and became an aristocratic minority, ruling over the Irish Catholic. While the Catholics were the majority, the Protestant British used a system of Gerrymandering to rig the voting such that the Irish Catholics could never gain power. England then instituted a series of laws which were designed specifically to keep the Protestant British in power, and to keep the two cultures from merging. This segregation of cultures worked so well that even today less than five percent of marriges in Northern Ireland cross the religion/cultural barrier. The worst of these laws were the Penal Laws, which enforced such things as giving the Protestants first pick of land and housing (to the extent of being able to kick any Irish Catholic out of their home if a Protestant wanted it), restricting what jobs Catholics could get and the quality of horse they could own (not worth more than five pounds).
Jump ahead to the mid 1960s. Ispired by the American Civil Rights movement, the Irish Catholics (known as Republicans for their desire to become part of the Republic of Ireland) began their own Civil Rights movement, organizing marches and demonstrations in an effort to gain equality. At the same time, some Republicans decided to take it a step farther, and began a campaign of bombing the British police. This group became known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In an attempt the quell the IRA, the police (all British) started Operation Motorman, which was aimed at gathering up all of the young men they could find, to the extent of raiding houses in the middle of the night, and interring them without trial. The Republicans took up this issue along with their civil rights marches. The Protestants (called Unionists) called in the British Army, hoping they could better control the people. Other paramility groups also formed to combat the IRA, and caused as many deaths, if not more, than the IRA themselves.
I have noticed, while talking to a lot of my friends back home about my trip, that there are several fundamental flaws in their understanding of the situation over here in Northern Ireland. The largets of these I'll dispel here and now. The Protestant/Catholic conflict here in Norther Ireland is not a holy war. It is not based on confliting ideologies, nor led by religious fanatics...ok, so Ian Paisley might be considered a religious fanatic, but that's besides the point. This conflict is about two very seperate cultures with two very different views of what their country should be being forced to live in each other's laps. History has shown us repeatedly that whenever this situation occurs, it's not long before stuff starts getting blown up.
So today, in order to let you all have a better understanding of the country that I'm in, we'll start with a brief history lesson. Ireland was a Catholic nation, thanks to the work of St. Patrick, along with many other missionaries. In fact, Ireland was the refuge of the Christian faith during the Dark Ages, and succeeded in effectively reeducating Europe. In the 1600s, Britain decided that it didn't like have another country at its back, and so began its conquest. It took them a while, but eventually they did take it, with the Flight of the Earls marking the last of Irish resistance. Britain moved in, but they only really controled about half of the island, known as the Pale. Everything beyond this area was thought too wild and the people too savage to deal with (Hence the term "Beyond the Pale" meaning something that's really out there and bizarre). There were numerous uprisings and revolts, but none were successful until the 1916 uprising, which resulted in the partitioning of Ireland in 1921. Most of the island became the Republic of Ireland, while the northern corner became Northern Ireland, and remained a part of Britain. This was because so many of the people in that area were of British descent and wanted to remain in Ireland while still staying in their homes in Ireland. This is what leads us to the present day conflict. See, in order to maintain order, the British had been "planting" British and Scottish settlers into the area. These settlers were Protestant (The British Anglican and the Scottish Prepyterian), and became an aristocratic minority, ruling over the Irish Catholic. While the Catholics were the majority, the Protestant British used a system of Gerrymandering to rig the voting such that the Irish Catholics could never gain power. England then instituted a series of laws which were designed specifically to keep the Protestant British in power, and to keep the two cultures from merging. This segregation of cultures worked so well that even today less than five percent of marriges in Northern Ireland cross the religion/cultural barrier. The worst of these laws were the Penal Laws, which enforced such things as giving the Protestants first pick of land and housing (to the extent of being able to kick any Irish Catholic out of their home if a Protestant wanted it), restricting what jobs Catholics could get and the quality of horse they could own (not worth more than five pounds).
Jump ahead to the mid 1960s. Ispired by the American Civil Rights movement, the Irish Catholics (known as Republicans for their desire to become part of the Republic of Ireland) began their own Civil Rights movement, organizing marches and demonstrations in an effort to gain equality. At the same time, some Republicans decided to take it a step farther, and began a campaign of bombing the British police. This group became known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In an attempt the quell the IRA, the police (all British) started Operation Motorman, which was aimed at gathering up all of the young men they could find, to the extent of raiding houses in the middle of the night, and interring them without trial. The Republicans took up this issue along with their civil rights marches. The Protestants (called Unionists) called in the British Army, hoping they could better control the people. Other paramility groups also formed to combat the IRA, and caused as many deaths, if not more, than the IRA themselves.
posted by Xan at 1:14 PM
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