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| Photo by Susan Plageman | ||
| DIVISION: This Belfast "peace" wall is one of many built to seperate Catholics and Protestants. British troops erected the first one in 1969; residents added more. |
By Lisa Schubert, 17, Y-PRESS
ELFAST, Northern Ireland -- On a cloudy Wednesday in a Protestant neighborhood of West Belfast, a group of kids bent over the sidewalk and painted the curb red, white and blue.
They were marking their territory, though it was unnecessary. The murals, anti-Catholic graffiti and Union Jack flag already revealed the neighborhood -- on Lord Road in Ormeau -- was Protestant.
What further divides the neighborhood from the Catholic area just down the street is a black corrugated-iron "peace'' wall. This wall and others like it separate many neighborhoods of Belfast. While British troops installed the first one in 1969 to quash the violence between Catholic and Protestant mobs, area residents have erected others as protection from "the other side,'' which then builds a wall of its own.
According to the 1991 Northern Ireland Census of Population, 53 percent of Belfast residents live in segregated all-Catholic or all-Protestant neighborhoods. But the walls between them now grew from more than religious differences.
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The conflict began more than 800 years ago when Britain tried to take over what is now Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
According to Belfast: A Pocket History, in 1171, King Henry II began England's many incursions into Ireland, which was ruled by Gaelic lords.
British influence grew throughout the century so that by 1609, Britain had conquered Ireland and awarded the land to Scottish and English Presbyterian settlers.
In 1690, the Protestant William of Orange claimed the British throne from the Catholic King James II in the Battle of the Boyne. The Protestant victory is still celebrated with yearly marches on July 12.
William of Orange encouraged Protestant settlement, and by 1703, these settlers had taken from Catholics 95 percent of the land that makes up Northern Ireland today. Massacres by British settlers caused the former landowners, who were poorer and less educated, to relocate to the south and west of Ireland.
In 1916, Michael Collins and 1,000 other Irish Republicans led the Easter Rising in Dublin in a bid for Irish home rule. War began in 1920 and ended in an agreement in 1921 that gave the Irish control of 26 primarily Catholic counties in the Republic of Ireland and allowed the British to maintain control of the six counties of Northern Ireland, which had a Protestant majority.
While politically this was a partial victory for the Irish Republicans, they suffered economically. The most profitable industries of Ireland (linen factories, shipbuilding and cotton mills) were in Northern Ireland, which was still under British rule.
Unfair voting regulations kept the Protestant majority in power, and it discriminated against Irish Catholics in housing and jobs. For example, voting districts were arranged so that none would have a Catholic majority and some wealthy Protestants could vote more than once.
In the late 1960s, the continual economic and social discrimination of Catholics in Northern Ireland caused a series of riots and demonstrations patterned after the U.S. civil rights movement. In 1967, the Civil Rights Association was formed.
Riots turned bloodier and more violent. In 1969, British troops were called in to calm the rioting in Belfast and Londonderry (or Derry, as the Catholics call it).
Nearly 500 people died from 1969 to 1972, and the British decided that rule from London (Westminister) and British military presence were necessary.
Troops remain today and in recent years have been increased during the marching season in July and August, when both Protestants and Catholics celebrate their histories with more than 3,000 marches.
Extra troops were needed last month because violence occurred when the Orange Order, the largest pro-British Protestant fraternal group, marched through a Catholic area in Portadown. Car-jackings, riots, bonfires, shootings and bombings were widespread.
Since the late '60s, the violence in Northern Ireland, labeled the "Troubles," has resulted in more than 3,224 deaths according to a Royal Ulster Constabulary spokesman. A 1995 RUC report cited 35,108 shootings and 14,885 bombings as terrorist activities.
The Troubles derive from the divisions of the past, but they are not simply reactions to religious or economic discrimination.
Terrorist and paramilitary groups (such as the Catholic Irish Republican Army and the Protestant Ulster Volunteer Force and Protestant Ulster Freedom Fighters) are often to blame for the violence. Still, the basic mistrust between Catholics and Protestants on the street remains.
Protestant children march in parades today because, some said, it's a family tradition. Catholic children throw rocks and sticks over a "peace'' wall out of boredom.
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All of these elements -- history, paramilitary activities and mistrust handed down from parents to children -- make understanding the causes of the Troubles difficult.
What's at stake is clear: Who will rule Northern Ireland?
The answer is different for unionists and loyalists, the majority of whom are Protestant, and nationalists and republicans, the majority of whom are Catholic. Unionists and loyalists insist that Northern Ireland remain under British rule, while republicans and nationalists demand that Northern Ireland unite with the Republic of Ireland.
Republicans and nationalists differ in their approach to a solution. Republicans support a united Ireland at all costs, including military and physical force. Nationalists disapprove of violence. In the same way, loyalists support paramilitary activity in order to remain with Britain, while unionists take the non-violent approach.
The peace talks, postponed in March, are scheduled to resume Sept. 15. Ten political parties are certified to sit at the bargaining table. Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA, can't participate unless the IRA cease-fire, called three weeks after those kids painted the sidewalk, holds for six weeks.
Everyone in Northern Ireland hopes peace is at hand and, if found, will stay.
But history, nearly eight centuries of it, leaves people with little hope.
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Ben Young, 16; Katie Beyer, 15; Andrea Cowden, 15; Andrew Clark, 11; and Megan Minkner, 11, contributed to this report.
Printer-friendly versionThis story originally ran in The Indianapolis Star on August 17, 1997.