The Ghosts of Belfast: Part 1

This weekend I got to head up to the north of Ireland for the third installment of “official” Mitchell bonding. Our long weekend focused on teaching us about a more modern history of Ireland, one that defines Northern Irish politics and culture…"The Troubles." I think "The Troubles" is the perfect name for what happened in Northern Ireland. It denotes that something bad went down but it has an air of mystery to it and as you will see and as I'm learning the complexity of the violence does leave you with the question sometimes that is at the core of most murder-mysteries, "who done it?" I’m going to break this post up into two parts because I learned a lot but mainly because I've taken the liberty of turning this blog into my own personal classroom (and now the drop in site hits makes so much sense...). This first one will be more context and history and the next one will be a run through of the weekend. In general, thanks for reading!

Here is the history of Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland means the 6 counties in the north part of the island, which have been one of the four countries of the UK since 1921) in the past 50 years condensed into a few paragraphs. I can only imagine the horror if some of the scholars I met this weekend happened to read this. Luckily, I think my three fans are in Mississippi. 

Here is a breakdown of terms. You should be scared, there will be a quiz later.

Catholic, Nationalists, Republicans: want to see a united Ireland where they feel that the Roman Catholic Irish identity will be respected

Paramilitaries: IRA (Irish Republican Army: The Official and Provisional, by the mid-70s the provos as they are often known is the group we are most likely talking about)

Political Parties: Sinn Fein (political wing of IRA), SDLP (Social Democratic and Labor Party)

Sinn Fein's current office in West Belfast on Falls Road with the mural of Bobby Sands on the side of the building. Sands was a member of the IRA and died in jail while on Hunger Strike. In 1981 IRA members in prison took on a hunger strike campaign to demand rights as a political prisoner instead of classification as a regular prisoner. Political prisoner status leaves certain freedoms like being able to wear your own clothes, but the strikes stood for much more than just getting to wear a jumper (what we would call a sweatshirt or hoodie). 

Protestant, Unionists, Loyalists: want to stay a part of the union of the UK, feel that identity as an Ulster Scot Protestant is central to this part of the island, and in later times that the UK is a better home than Ireland

Paramilitaries: UDA (Ulster Defense Association) and UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters were the name used by UDA under violent attacks) and  UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force)

Political Parties: DUP (Democratic Unionist Party), Ulster Unionist Party, and smaller Progressive Unionist Party (linked to UVF) and Ulster Political Research Group (linked to UDA)

Belfast is a city geographically divided by religion and allegiance. All of the neighborhoods take up markings to denote what sort of area you are entering and often to promote community pride. While many of the murals have changed drastically over the years and there is a push to have them all promote peace, some still remain. Like this one on Sandy Row, a well known Loyalist area. 

The third party of conlfict in this is the state itself. The British Troops and police (RUC-Royal Ulster Constabularty) are often cited as instigators of violence or perpertrators themselves. They also get equal criticism from both sides. Just because one group is classified as loyalists and unionists does not mean they are uniformally pro-British. 

I'll say this once, but I feel like I should be saying it after I write any line for this post. Every bit of this conflict is complicated. Within the Catholic v. Protestant conflict there are really high levels of in-fighting and feuds kill just as many as actual fighting between paramilitaries. There is also a class element present. Most of the actual violence and deaths take place in very working class neighborhoods. Then probably the most complicated part to put into words, identity. From the outside you wonder, why are neighbors killing neighbors? But I think at the core of this conflict and most others, there is a sense of deep rooted identity with certain sides. People define themselves based around the conflict and that sort of identification can often be the biggest barrier to peace. Last bit on this line of complexity, language is really important and tricky when talking about Northern Ireland. For decades people were causious of how they choose words because it could get them killed. And now in talking about the conflict, it also can show your side of bias. A great example, some might call the men of the IRA freedom fighters while calling the men of the UFF terrorists. And vice versa. 

So here goes a paragraph to explain a complicated history...
The Civil Rights Movement led by Catholics (former post on Derry helps to explain this some) began to demand civil rights for full and equal citizenship within Northern Irish society. This is highly debateable, but many would agree that when they didn’t get those basic rights from the government, they were pushed into the hands of more radical and violent forces. The IRA emerge (not for the first time, but that’s another piece of Irish history) to bring what they see as an end to an unjust occupying government (the British) and to use, sometimes violent and deadly means to bring about a united island of Ireland. The response to this was that the UVF (also not a new organization) along with the UDA originate to protect mainly Protestant neighborhoods and then form more militant paramilitary wings. The bottom line is that through the 1970s, 80s and 90s Northern Ireland is a violent place with what I would call an incredibly complicated civil war taking place in working class neighborhoods. This time of violence is referred to as "The Troubles." And while the count varies, at the end of the violence over 3,000 people were dead. An incredibly important piece of this period of history is that the self-government of Northern Ireland is abolished in 1973 by the British Government (their reasoning being the excessive violence) and Northern Ireland becomes a place of direct rule (this also helps reason why the British troops had such a part in the conflict). 

Flash forward 20 years and the tides slowly begin to change. In 1994 Sinn Fein calls a ceasefire and for the first time talks begin to move towards a peace agreement. The US seriously invested in the idea of Northern Irish peace and Senator George Mitchell (cough, cough) becomes part of the negotiating team. By 1998 the peace agreement is signed. The agreement signed on Good Friday and officially titled the Belfast Agreement is more often known by the day it was signed. The agreement includes a lot of pieces, so I'm going to do the easy route and direct you to wikipedia. The important part to note is that a power sharing government was established and Sinn Fein officially entered into the Northern Irish Assembly. 

So there you go. Conflict in Northern Ireland in a blog post. For the few of your that made it through all of that and are actually reading this last line, I commend you! And remember this is all "according to Chelsea" so if you are really interested this stuff check out some other sources. Here are a few to get general ideas...
BBC
CAIN
Northern Ireland After the Troubles-(which one of my professors edited)


Cheers Yall!
Chelsea