Vivien Gibney

Vivien Gibney

Vivien Gibney was a 17 year old Protestant Girl from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

She was from a Family of eight.

On December 1,1971 Vivien was standing in a Pharmacy (a Chemist) in Cliftonville Circus, Belfast to buy some Makeup when she was shot in her head by the Provisional IRA (Catholic) who were firing at the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Police) who were investigating a Traffic Accident in which a Child had been knocked down.

She died 4 days later.

No one was every convicted for her death.

The Troubles started when Northern Irish Catholics peacefully started using Civil Disobedience (following Martin Luther King's example in the US) in 1966.

Since Northern Ireland was created in 1921 the British set-up a System that awarded the Northern Irish Protestants while keeping the Northern Irish Catholics as Economic and Political Outsiders.

An Example: When new Housing was being made throughout Northern Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s (after the German Bombing Raids on Northern Ireland during World War 2 in which 50,000 homes in Belfast were destroyed alone) the British placed the Northern Irish Protestants in charge of who received these New, Modern Homes.

There are many instances where the Northern Irish Protestants in charge of Housing  gave a 4 Bedroom House to a Single Northern Irish Protestant Woman with no Children over a Northern Irish Catholic Family with Children simply because of their Religion.

Another Example: Northern Irish Protestants were given the majority of Government and Police Jobs over Northern Irish Catholics (with some jobs 99% Protestants and all jobs at least 60% Protestants.)

The Northern Irish Protestants did not want to give up what little power the British gave them and so attacked and killed the Northern Irish Catholics (the same way American White Southerners did to American Black Southerners in the 1950s-1960s.)

The British sent in their Military in 1969 and at first the Northern Irish Catholics saw the British Military as a buffer between them and the Protestants and welcomed them (Northern Irish Catholics hoped the British Government and the British Military would be like the American Federal Government and the Federalized National Guard who went into the American South and stopped the White Southern Racists and the violence.)

That support changed after the British Military openly sided with the Northern Irish Protestants and started massacring unarmed and peaceful Northern Irish Catholics (ie. The 1970 Falls Curfew, the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre, the 1972 Bloody Sunday, etc.)

After Bloody Sunday, the Northern Irish Catholics and the world had direct proof that the British Government and Military fully supported the Northern Irish Protestants and sought to keep the Northern Irish Catholics “in-their-place” through any means  - including murder.

The British Government and the British Military covered-up and lied about their role for decades, but have since openly admitted their crimes. From 1972 until 1998 it was open-warfare with the British Government, the British Military, the Police and the Northern Irish Protestants on one side and the Northern Irish Catholics on the other.

 The death and violence hit not only Northern Ireland, but the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, West Germany, Gibraltar, the Netherlands, Germany, etc.

Northern Irish Catholics didn't receive Full Equal Rights (as the Northern Irish Protestants and every British Citizen had) until 1998.

The Troubles only ended when the United States stepped-in to get all the sides together (the same way we did in the Former Yugoslavia around the same time.) 1,935 Civilians were killed and over 50,000 wounded, injured or permanently Disabled.