Northern Ireland Between 1963 and 1972 - Essay Example

Why the British Government was such an Ineffective Arbiter Between the Competing Forces Whose Interests Collided in Northern Ireland Between 1963 and1972: A Critical Review Why the British Government was such an Ineffective Arbiter Between the Competing Forces Whose Interests Collided in Northern Ireland Between 1963 and 1972: A Critical Review Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, and for many years, it has been the site of "a violent and bitter ethno-political conflict between those claiming to represent Nationalists, who are predominantly Catholic, and Unionists, who are predominantly Protestant".1 Although Unionists by far make up the majority in Northern Ireland, the Nationalists represent a very significant minority, and thus absolutely must be considered as being just as influential in ways overall. The Unionists and Nationalists have always - and still to this day are - considered as being competing forces, and the British government, which is the organization that should have had the most influence on these competing forces, actually had quite little influence on them overall, especially between the years of 1963 and 1972. This particular time period is one of the most important in regards to the entire history of the competing forces between the Unionists and the Nationalists and even in regards to Northern Ireland overall, and in order to understand why the British government was so ineffective during this time, there are several key issues that need to be discussed in regards to this matter. By addressing and examining different people's points of view, as well as integrating somewhat of a personal opinion, we will be able to not only answer the argument of why the British government was so ineffective in this regards, but also the things that they should and could have done in order to best mend relations between these competing forces. Furthermore, we will be addressing the issue of why there was only a political initiative being tabulated after all of this, in the year 1973, and why it was not done before this, as it certainly should have been. This is what will be dissertated in the following. Between the years of 1963 and 1972, there was much turmoil that took place in Northern Ireland, particularly in regards to the competing forces of the Unionists and the Nationalists. The Troubles is a term which is used to basically describe the era that is in discussion here, however the Troubles actually initialized in the early 1920s. It is a term which is used to describe "the latest installment of periodic communal violence involving republican and loyalist paramilitary organizations, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the British Army and others in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s until the late 1990s ending with the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998".2 Although the Troubles are considered as having truly initialized during the late 1920s, they really did not become acknowledged as to have had begun until the year 1968, when there was widespread rioting and public disorders all over Northern Ireland that had broken out at the marches of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). This was one of the main times when the British government should have stepped in and really done something to arbiter these competing forces however they in a sense basically stood by and did nothing. There are a few different reasons that can be used to explain why this is, and one in particular is the fact that they were afraid. Basically, although the Nationalists (Catholics) made up the majority of the population even at that time, it was the Unionists (Protestants) who tended to be richer and more powerful, however when the NICRA group ended up launching a peaceful civil rights campaign in the year 1967, they were "seeking a redress of Catholic and Nationalist grievances within Northern Ireland. Specifically, they wanted an end to the gerrymandering of electoral constituencies that produced unrepresentative local councils (particularly in Derry City) by putting all Catholics in a limited number of electoral wards; the abolition of the rate-payer franchise in local government elections, which gave Protestants (who tended to be richer) disproportionate voting power; an end to perceived unfair allocation of jobs and housing; and an end to the Special Powers Act (which allowed for internment and other repressive measures) that was seen as being aimed at the nationalist community".3 The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland at that time, Terence O'Neill, was favorable towards this idea, however after he began promising reforms of Northern Ireland, he began to get bombed by verbal negativity, and was even accused of being a "sell-out" by certain Unionists. This is when the violence and turmoil really began to take place, as Unionists began to immediately mistrust the NICRA, and this is when the violence began to occur at the Civil Rights and peace marches, when "loyalists attacked civil rights demonstrators with clubs and the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which was widely accused of supporting the loyalists, was accused of allowing the violence to occur".4 From this, Northern Ireland resulting in being divided by its population by with the Provisional IRA, as well as with that of other terrorist organizations; the plan here was to unite Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic, all the while supported by that of a large majority of the Catholic population, who, it should be known, were known to generally oppose such terrorist tactics. When the Protestants attacked the Catholics throughout the province after this July 1969 Civil Rights demonstration, rather than stepping in and helping out, the local police and militia actually instead stood by or helped the Protestants. Although the British government did in fact step in at this point, they did nothing at all to help mend the relations between the Unionists and the Nationalists, however even their slightest intervention was more than welcomed by the Catholics, who clearly more than welcomed the protection from the violence of the Protestants. It was in the year 1970 that there was some sort of a turning point that was considered as having occurred, and this was in regards to the fact that although the Catholics had welcomed the help of the British Army and government, that trust that they had at first quickly had changed into confusion and even more mistrust, as the British Army began doing mass searches of Catholics' homes and this caused a lot of suspicion and anger among the Nationalists because they had thought that they would be the ones being helped but rather, they were being considered and treated as the enemies. It is in fact the 1970s in particular that are considered as being the darkest days of all in regards to Northern Ireland's Troubles, and "The papers and television screens were full of riots, bombs and murders and the mayhem extended beyond Northern Ireland itself into England with attacks on politicians and cabinet ministers".5 Even at this point the British government was incredibly ineffective in regards to the action that it put forth towards the competing forces of the Unionists and Nationalists, and one of the most major reasons for this is the fact that there was a serious power struggle that was present during this time, and the government was tending to side with the Protestants rather than being fair and just and cooperating with both the Unionists and the Nationalists. After all, it was the Protestants who tended to be richer and more powerful, and the government was working rather adamantly with the Protestants in order to make sure that they had everything they wanted and needed, and this included initiating laws and orders that were unfairly positive towards the Protestants in particular. There was really no effective arbiter between the competing forces whose interests collided in Northern Ireland between the years of 1963 and 1972 - Unionists and Nationalists - however then and to this day as well the question of why the British government was not more effective is both intriguing and questionable. The main reason, as previously mentioned was due to the fact that the British government was more elective towards the Protestants and to their wishes and demands, and thus, although they at first had gained the trust of the Catholics, they very soon after lost that trust because of how they were acting favorably towards the Protestants and treating the Catholics as though they were the enemy, which of course was completely dishonest and unfair. It was only in March of 1973 in fact, when there was a new political initiative being tabled by the British government, and "It outlined plans for a new Northern Ireland assembly in which Protestants and Catholics would share power".6 This was incredibly important, because this was in all reality the very first step towards a sort of peace between the Protestants and the Catholics, and so it was welcomed by both groups, obviously much more by the Catholics, as they were the ones that were being treated particularly unfairly and unjust. Furthermore in regards to this political initiative, "It also proposed the creation of a 'council of Ireland' that would give the Republic a role in Northern Ireland's affairs - directly confronting one of the Unionists' greatest fearsandRemarkably, the new assembly elections in June 1973 produced a majority of pro-power sharing representatives, but they were set against a large minority of implacably anti-power sharing Unionists".7 From this point on, the British government did tend to help arbitrate between the two competing forces - of which were certainly not as competing at this point - and new laws and orders quickly began to come into place. After all, over the next decade, a variety of different initiatives were set into motion and put into place, and furthermore, "New security policies were also introduced. These included increasing the size of the RUC and UDR while shrinking the army presence, thereby placing the emphasis on the people of Northern Ireland policing themselves".8 Then as well there were even more steps that were taken, such as in the year 1976, when "the British government also removed the 'special category' status of paramilitary prisoners, who had been treated as 'prisoners of war' since 1972. Now classified as ordinary criminals, they were to be confined in the new Maze Prison in Belfast, in its distinctively-shaped 'H-Blocks'."9 Although separately each of these issues may not seem particularly significant, each was actually a massive step towards creating equal power and proper fairness between the Catholics and the Protestants. Overall from this review we can conclude many different things. Particularly, we can see that the British government was incredibly ineffective for a lot of the time in Northern Ireland, particularly during the years of 1963 to 1972, and the fact that they basically just stood by and did nothing helpful and nothing effective in regards to mending relations during this time between the Unionists and the Nationalists in fact caused there to be even more turmoil and havoc, and the fact that they really did nothing is one of the most major reasons as to why this period of time is considered to have been one of the worst of all in regards to the entire history of Northern Ireland. Although we have seen as well that there are many different reasons as to why the British government was so ineffective during this point in time, none of these reasons are really explanative or sensible enough, and if they had have stepped in and helped to properly and effectively arbitrate between the Catholics and the Protestants, then surely this period of time would not have been nearly as dismal and dismaying as it was. Many people have different views on this however there is one that can basically be taken regardless of your own personal stance, and that is that the British government simply did not step in enough because they were more worried about unimportant issues and were unfairly siding with the Protestants due to their increased power and wealth during that time. References ARK Research. (2005). Northern Ireland LIFE & TIMES Survey. Question: Generally Speaking, do you Think of Yourself as a Unionist, Nationalist, or Neither BBC. (2007). Northern Ireland: The Troubles. Retrieved February 27, 2007, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/troubles/the_troubles_article_06.shtml Bennett, J. A Decade of Troubles. Retrieved February 27, 2007, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/history/taleofthecentury/1970-1979.shtml Wikipedia. (2007). The Troubles. Retrieved February 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles Read More