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Ireland, the first colony |
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NORTHERN IRELAND
1922 When the Republic of Ireland with capital city Dublin gained independence from England, in Ulster the majority who were either Protestants and Presbyterians voted to remain as part of the "United Kingdom". This created a religious cauldron. The minority being Catholics, who very much against their wishes, were not part of the new independent republic and remained in Ulster as second class citizens. Catholics are generally therefore called Nationalists while almost to a man the Protestants are Unionists. That is they want to remain part of a union between Britain and Ireland. Belfast is the capital city.
1968 "The Troubles". In Northern Ireland, following partitioning the minority Catholics in the north had to put up with the sort of treatment that should have been predicted from arrogant Presbyterians and less so Protestant Anglicans. The former continued to think they were the chosen race and produce leaders like Ian Paisley who is an embarrassment to all reasonably minded Protestants. Ian Paisleys supporters still feel Catholics should be treated as second class citizens and hence all the best jobs are not available to them. Similarly with housing and education and work in the police force. Hence the "Troubles" which began as civil rights marches by the oppressed Catholics which the Presbyterians read as Nationalism. Finally this erupted into armed warfare as in desperation the Catholic marchers attacked the Protestant police. The British government responded by sending in the troops, then the IRA for a long time asleep, armed to protect Catholic neighbourhoods. This urban gorilla war lasted 25 years until a truce was negotiated in 1994 under an Anglo-Irish agreement. The parties involved being, the IRA represented by Sinn Fein for the Catholics, supported by the Government of Ireland and a mix of Anglican and Presbyterian parties headed by David Trimble of the Ulster Unionists and supported by the British Government. In the mean time many of the civil rights issues have been corrected but Northern Ireland remains effectively an Apartheid society with separated schools, churches, streets and housing estates and a police force almost 100% non Catholic. This does not bode well for the immediate future.
1972 Bloody Sunday. The British Government decided violence had risen to totally unacceptable levels and internment (imprisonment without trial) was introduced for those were intelligence pointed to terrorism. NIRCA announced it would hold a protest rally in the town of Derry on Sunday, 30th January 1972. The British Paras were given the job of policing but although starting peacefully something caused the Paras to open fire and carnage ensued. (13 dead). Despite an inquest nobody knows why it all went wrong. NIRCA=Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association which is non sectarian.
Paras= British elite parachute regiment.
1985 The Anglo Irish agreement signed by Margaret Thatcher (PM England) and Garret Fitzgerald (PM Ireland) paved the way for the affairs of Ulster to be directly influenced by both England and Ireland. The trigger was the death of two Catholics "terrorists/freedom fighters" who had been imprisoned without trial by the British and starved themselves to death. (Bobby Sands and Francis Hughes)
1998 The Good Friday Agreement moved the joint Anglo Irish initiative further forward involving the creation of three new bodies.
A Northern Ireland (local) Assembly; A North South(of Ireland) Ministerial Council: and a "Council of the Isles" involving representatives from the English and Irish Governments and the devolved bodies of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. This was coupled with a controlled release of political prisoners and a simultaneous decommissioning of military hardware. The latter belonging to the IRA has been a problem even under the independent eye of a retired Canadian General.
2002/3 Progress towards peace is stop-start but must make the world wonder if peace can be achieved in a land were different fundamental religious sects live side by side? The land still has an apartheid feel with Catholics and Protestants still separated by street and schooling. A Catholic teenager of 16 is unlikely to have ever met his/her Protestant counterpart. There is no move to change this dangerous divide.
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