Breaking Borders

I just finished watching a TV show called "Breaking Borders." I saw their first episode last week where they were in Israel, but wanted to write about this week's show where they were in Northern Ireland. The show aims to go into areas where there were/are wars or conflicts and bring all the sides together over a common meal.

 

I am a mix of nationalities (as are most Canadians and Americans.) I'm: French, Spanish, French-Canadian, Polish, Canadian, Irish, American and British - Scottish and English. I have Protestant and Catholic roots. I have visited England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. I have also studied specific British and general European history in college. Why do I say all of this? Because it shows that I am a mix of each side and have not only studied about what went on, but have also been to the places and met the people. I am not an expert, but have more knowledge than the majority (on all sides) on the following: The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the current problems within the area.

 

The English started the problems when King Henry II took the whole island of Ireland in 1171 and centuries of English rule took hold. To help solidify their hold on Catholic Ireland the English brought in Protestants from Scotland (the Scots-Irish.) In 1801 the English created the United Kingdom of Great Britain (ie England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland. After the Irish War for Independence the British allowed most of Ireland to become a Dominion in the British Empire and in 1949 the southern part of Ireland became a full Republic. The northern part of Ireland  - where the majority of the Protestant Scots-Irish that the English moved there lived - was kept under complete British control and became Northern Ireland (it has many names depending on what side you are on.)

 

It should be noted that even today there is no true religious freedom in any part of the United Kingdom since the British Monarch can only be a Protestant (and before the rules of succession were changed in 2013 they couldn't even be married to a Catholic.) With that kind of favoritism of one religion (ie Protestantism) over all other religions lets you know right away where the British Government back in the 1920s and even today, stands.  From the time it was separated from the rest of Ireland in 1921 Northern Ireland had a 3-tier class system. At the top were the British, then came the Protestant Irish  and at the bottom were the Catholic Irish. It was an accepted fact that the British and Irish Protestants would receive the first pick of: jobs, housing and anything else they wanted including being government officials and the police force while the Irish Catholics would get whatever remained. That system reigned until the 1960s.

 

Civil rights movements were gaining full force over much of the Western World in the 1960s (ie blacks, Indians and women in the US) the same force was starting in Northern Ireland. The Irish Catholics, who had officially been at the bottom started seeing the changing world around them where different groups were gaining their freedom and they believed they too deserved to be equal citizens and have the full rights to any position as the Protestants. In October 1969 a non-violent Irish Catholic civil rights group marched for equality and were beaten by the Protestant police force (the RUB.) Many people consider this the start of The Troubles the same way the start of the black Civil Rights Movement in the US really started with peaceful marching in Birmingham, Alabama in May 1963 and the police there attacking the demonstrators - mostly children.

 

So you have the Irish Catholics who really only want their share of equality in Northern Ireland and the Irish Protestants, who ran all aspects of the Government, not willing to give them anything. Violence between both sides heated up with bombs going off and people being killed. In August 1969 the British Military (ie the Protestants who created the problem in the first place by dividing  the area and allowing the open discrimination of the Catholics) deployed to Northern Ireland in force - the first time since World War 2. At first the Irish Catholics saw the British arrival as a peaceful move to stop the Catholics and the Protestants from killing each other. Soon the real agenda of the British Government and their Military in Northern Ireland was revealed to the world - they were not there to keep the two sides apart but to help the Irish Protestants retain their power and control over the Irish Catholics and to save face for the United Kingdom as they had moved from a World Power to a crumbling Empire after 1945.. It is as though the Southern Segregationists in the US had received military aid from Washington to go after the blacks in their civil rights movement rather than what really happened with Federal US troops going into the South and protecting the blacks.

 

What followed were 30 years of attacks and killings. The British and Irish Protestants targeted any Irish Catholic and the Irish Catholics (who now called for a return to a united Ireland) targeted any British soldier or Irish Protestant. The Irish Catholics were clearly outnumbered and out-gunned and while they did do some inexcusable things during the 30 year conflict (innocent people did get wounded and killed) the majority of attacks and killings were carried out by the British and the Irish Protestants (ie the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre and numerous "operations.") The only difference is that the British and Irish Protestants were in full-control of all major media and government ministries and so simply covered-up their crimes. I was actually in Northern Ireland in 2010 when the British Government released the findings of the second investigation into the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre (the first being a fake investigation in 1972) that showed the members of the British Army's

1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment massacred 14 innocent people and wounding another 14. The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, even apologized for the crime.

 

To the British and the Irish Protestants the Irish Catholics were over-stepping the class system they hadn't helped to create and asking for equality was unthinkable. There was no "separate but equal" in Northern Ireland (as there was in the southern part of the US until the 1960s.) There was only "obey us or else." That arrogant stance is what started  The Troubles and led to an estimated 3,500 dead on all sides with around 48,000 wounded. The Troubles officially ended in 1998 with the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland agreeing to the Good Friday Peace Deal. That 1998 Deal officially gave Irish Catholics equality  - the only thing they wanted back in 1969. Irish Catholics would now be incorporated into the Government, the police force (renamed the PSNI) and other groups and organizations. Had the British Government, the British Military and the Irish Protestants done just that decades ago (in 1921 or at least in 1969) the 30 year fighting would not have happened and all those people, from all the sides, would not have been killed or wounded.. It took 30 years for the British and Irish Protestants to step down from their high horse and give a group of people - the Irish Catholics - the basic civil rights that every group deserve.

 

Getting back to the show. It claims to bring all sides of the conflict together to eat a common meal and try to start a dialogue. In their Israeli episode they brought a Palestinian from the West Bank, an Israeli from Israel and Israelis from settlements in what some countries call occupied Palestine. They left out a Palestinian from Gaza - which is a good thing since the terrorist group, Hamas, controls Gaza. For the Northern Ireland episode they had an Irish Protestant who had been in prison for trying to kill a Catholic, they had an Irish Catholic who had been n prison for trying to kill a Protestant and an Irish journalist (they never mention if he was Catholic or Protestant.) They should have also included a member (or even a former member) of the British Military since they committed many crimes and massacres in Northern Ireland.  

 

The TV show does a good job of showing what is currently going on in Northern Ireland 17 years since the Peace Treaty. I felt it back in 2010 when I travelled around Northern Ireland. It was at the end  of  June  - just before the Parade Season - you could see the bonfires being made. No side (whether Irish Protestant or Irish Catholic) should be allowed to parade through the other's territory. Allowing them to do so is only asking for trouble, riots and violence. Yet they are still allowed to. Northern Ireland has been nearly completely segregated since the 1960s with peace walls in many places keeping the two sides separate. More peace walls have been build since 1998 then were made during the 30 year Troubles. They are there for a reason. The conflict and violence is still there, just under the surface, and more work needs to be done on all sides before things can really be considered normal in Northern Ireland.

 

I know this may seem anti-British or anti-Protestant to some, but this is not about anti-anyone. Like I stated above I am British, I am Irish, I am Protestant and I am Catholic. I have read the history of Ireland when it was completely under British control through the division of the country, the creation of Northern Ireland, the discrimination of the Catholics, the violence, murders and operations of The Troubles to the Peace Treaty and current-day Northern Ireland. You may not want to hear the true, historical facts, but they are there and there's no denying what happened and why. The sign of true progress is for a British official and an Irish Protestant official to acknowledge their groups' role in creating the conditions that led to The Troubles as well as the violence and murder their side did during the 30 year war to hold onto their power-base. Once that is done then an Irish Catholic official should acknowledge the role their group did during The Troubles with its violence and murder. You can't really move forward (especially from 30 years of violence) without first admitting your mistakes and working to correct them. Most people (officials and the ordinary) do not accept responsibility or admit their mistakes and so nothing will really change in Northern Ireland in the foreseeable future and that's a shame since the region has a lot of potential.