The North Irish Conflict also known as the Troubles was a sectarian conflict from the 19th century to the 20th century which centered on the confrontation and segregation amongst Catholics and Protestant communities, for the ‘liberation’ of Ireland. As McGarry argues: “The traditional republican position is that sectarian division in Ireland is not the result of primordial hatred or deep-rooted sentiments. Rather, it is seen as a consequence of Britain’s historic policy of divide and rule” (111). This conflict was the result of the long history of confrontations and discrimination between the Irish and British communities. The British colonization and its imposition of language, culture and religion originated this sectarian division and conflict.
The causes for the Troubles can be traced back to the 1800s with the Act of Union which created ‘The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’, a union which enhanced the British oppressing power. One of the most devastating episodes in Ireland’s history that illustrated this suppression was the famine. The starvation of the Irish population; in contrast to the exhilarating prosperity experienced of the British accentuated their deep divide leading to the Troubles in the 20th-century turning. The early 1900s witnessed the disconformity and rebellion of the Irish population against the unification, culminating in the 1916 Easter Rising and the failed attempt to establish an Independent Irish Republic. Nevertheless, the echoes of this unsuccessful rising echoed throughout the rest of the century causing the 1921 Partition Treaty, the creation of Northern Ireland −or Ulster in Celtic− and the Irish Free State. Ulster, often regarded as ‘place apart’ within the UK (Hayes & Campbell 10), would become the main location for the rest of the century’s Troubles through the juxtaposition between Catholics and Protestants.
During the 1960s, the world saw the emergence of the ‘New Left Politics’, especially in 1968, which, in Hepworth’s words was a “global network of movements for democracy, personal autonomy […] challenging fascism, imperialism and capitalism” (17). However, this peaceful and civil rights movement was going to be eclipsed in Northern Ireland by the re-emergence of armed republicanism (ibid. 18) particularly with the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Derry, the capital of Ulster, mirrored the nation’s conflict between Protestants and Catholics, and the constant discrimination and marginalization against the latter, reflected in the walls constructed in the city which segregated the population. Therefore, in 1969 the first grand confrontation of the Troubles ignited: The Battle of Bogside. In the Bogside neighborhood, Derry, took place the clash between Republicans and Unionist, provoking the intervention of the British Army and the militarization of Northern Ireland. Kenneth Branagh’s film Belfast (2021) explores this turbulent period through the perspective of Buddy, a nine-year-old protestant boy, and his family living in the North Irish capital and their experience of the Troubles. The film, challenges the us/them dichotomy by portraying Buddy’s family condemning the violence from both sides: “There is no our side and their side in our street. Or there didn’t use to be, anyway. It’s all bloody religion. That’s the problem.” (00:14:10). The film also reflects on the growing tensions amongst non-partisans, like Buddy’s family, who are uninvolved in the protestant’s riots against the Catholic community in Belfast: “We’ll keep it simple. You’re with us or you’re against us. Clock’s ticking. You’re a soft touch! Time for real Protestants to step up!” (00:45:46). Belfast depicts the impossibility of remaining neutral; there was no middle ground, only the right or wrong side depending on your religious believes.
Tensions intensified in the 1970s as violence during the Troubles reached peak. Following the Battle of Bogside, the IRA reemerged, increasing the street riots and state violence, demonstrating their abusive power and destructive capacity, which led to Bloody Sunday. According to Hayes & Campbell the loss of control in Derry and the failure of internment −imprisonment without charges, primarily Catholic men− provoked a violent reaction from British Army towards the Catholic community during a march on January 30th, 1972 (17). Bloody Sunday was described as “one of the most traumatic events which characterized the violent Troubles in Northern Ireland” (ibid. 19).
In his poem “Ireland 1972”, Paul Durcan contemplates the constant death surrounding both North Irish communities: “Next to the fresh grave of my beloved grandmother / The grave of my first love murdered by my brother” (lines 1-2) Nevertheless, this perspective is challenged by U2’s song “Sunday Bloody Sunday” condemning the senseless violence and death in the country: “And the battle’s just begun / There’s many lost, but tell me who has won? / The trenches dug within our hearts / And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart” (1:40). Therefore, Bono and his band call for unity and peace, arguing, “How long, how long must we sing this song? / ‘Cause tonight we can be as one” (2:08).
After one of the most violent periods of North Irish history, the 1980s were a decade characterized by efforts to seek truce and reconciliation. During this time, brutality had become part of the everyday life. For instance, depicted in Paul Muldoon’s poem “Ireland terrorist attacks and bombs had become normalized as part of daily life: “The Volkswagen parked in the gap / But gently ticking over. / You wonder if it’s lovers / And not men hurrying back / Across two fields and a river” (lines 1-5). Nonetheless, the 80s promoted a ‘counterinsurgency’ and pacification, as seen with the promulgation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 (Hayes & Campbell 29). This accord was described as “the most significant and carefully prepared development in the relationship between Britain and Ireland since the partition settlement of the 1920s” (Aughey & Gormley-Heenan 390). In other words, the agreement consisted of a pact and understanding between the two “major traditions that exist in Ireland” (ibid. 389). Therefore, this agreement marked an initial step towards peace, and the eventual resolution of the conflicts in 1998. Nevertheless, the promise of social healing did not happen immediately, the agreement did not turn back time but rather acknowledged the different relationships and focused on their constructive rather than destructive potential.
Eventually, in the 1990s, the possibility of power-sharing with the Norther Irish government emerged, leading to the end of the Troubles with the Belfast Agreement, also known as the Good Friday Agreement. As McGarry claims, the agreement embraced a ‘bi-national compromise’ in which “unionism and Irish nationalism should enjoy a ‘parity of esteem’” (120). That is, the agreement emphasized equality and the protection of all individuals, and the views of all parties’ in the same manner (ibid. 121). However, the peace process could not take place effortlessly, as expressed by Allan Gillis in his poem “Progress”. Despite the poem’s idea to move forward, it describes a backwards movement, underlining the idea of how healing will take generations: “They say that for years Belfast was backwards / and it’s great now to see some progress” (lines 1-2). Moreover, despite the agreement meant a ‘peaceful’ time, anxiety and uncertainty about the future persisted. This is reflected in the 2018 series Derry Girls. Although being a comedy show, it deals with the lives of a group of five Catholic girls and a Protestant boy in Derry. The third and last season of the show focuses on the Good Friday Agreement, and the uncertainty that it provoked in the population: “Things can’t stay the same. And they shouldn’t. No matter how scary it is, we have to move on, and we have to grow up because things, well, they might just change for the better” (“Episode 7” 44:22). Hence, the show promotes the idea of moving forward and beyond differences for a better and more peaceful future.
Works cited
Aughey, Arthur & Gormley-Heenan, Cathy. “The Anglo-Irish Agreement: 25 Years On” The Political Quarterly, vol. 82, nº. 3, 2011, pp. 389-397.
Branagh, Kenneth, director. Belfast, Focus Features, 2021
Durcan, Paul. “Ireland 1972” The Selected Paul Durcan, The Backstaff Press, 1982.
“Episode 7” Derry Girls, created by Lisa McGee, season 3, episode 7, Hat Trick Production, 2018.
Hayes, Patrick & Campbell, Jim. “Bloody Sunday in context” Bloody Sunday: Trauma, Pain, and Politics, Pluto Press, 2005, pp.9-24.
Hepworth, Jack. “‘The Age-Old Struggle’: Introduction” The Age-Old Struggle: Irish Republicanism from the Battle of Bogside to the Belfast Agreement, 1969-1998, Liverpool University Press, 2021, pp. 1-16.
McGarry, John. “Northern Ireland, Civic Nationalism, and the Good Friday Agreement.” Northern Ireland and the Divided World: Post-Agreement Northern Ireland in Comparative Perspective, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp.109-136.
Muldoon, Paul. “Ireland” Poems 1968-1998, Faber and Faber, 2001.
U2. “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” War, Island Records, 1983. Spotify app.