@Rudy Flameng
It is hard to see what the Irish Republicans received in return for laying down their arms, aside from government posts for a few of their leaders for a time. The British Army is still there, Britain still rules & the Catholics get the dole?
9
Thanks for the reminder of bad things were in a not too distant past in a "civilized" country. Those pictures were sobering. A friend recently returned from a 6 month stay in Belfast and told me that TODAY, the schools in NI are still segregated by religion!!! Busses do not travel from neighborhood to neighborhood at night, but all go to the center city where they then travel directly to Catholic or Protestant neighborhoods. I'd say the troubles are still with them!
11
The counties of Northern Ireland have traditionally been a part of the province of Ulster. Donegal in the Republic of Ireland has also historically been a part of the province of Ulster.
If the UK had considered what the people of the entirety of Ulster wanted, there would have been a majority of them who would have wanted to join the Republic instead of stay a part of the UK. This is back a hundred years ago.
The UK carved up Ulster and decided the majority Protestant/Unionist part of Ulster would stay with the UK. Gerrymandering. And hubris.
12
@jay Those sneaky Brits.
@jay You are right. The English were willing to give Ireland limited Home Rule in 1914 but the British Army officers refused to obey London's orders and take action against the Ulster Volunteers, the Protestant military organization. The Curragh Mutiny, as it was called, was the origin of partition & all its evils.
12
Complicated, as the Times article portrays the situation, it only touches the surface. Divisions within both the loyalist and independence movements can be just as deadly. During the civil war of 1922-23, the Irish Free State executed more IRA members than did the British during over the entire independence campaign -- including the Easter revolt.
10
By often using "Protestant" as shorthand for British Unionists, and "Catholic" as shorthand for Irish Republicans, you make it sound as if it is primarily about religion, which of course it is not. These are mostly overlapping identities, but the root of the problem is not really about religion. It is about ethnicity and politics, even though religion happens to largely follow ethnicity.
22
This article is a complete description of the consequences of hatred dividing brothers and sisters. And it is also a hard lesson to learn by people involved in other Peace Processes. Hatred cannot be deleted by the click of a computer mouse on a link. We always, always remember the Marshall Plan's achievements after WWII. -"All you need is love"-.
Many thanks for showing us, again, that war is destruction and guns, cemeteries and guns, destruction and guns, pain and guns, sticks with no carrots and more guns.
3
Hmmm, no mention of the IRA bombings of the Horseguards (killed 11 military personnel and 7 horses) and Omaugh (29 civilians killed, 220 wounded - the single largest fatality in the Troubles)
8
"For many in Britain, who became stoically inured to the threat of I.R.A. bombings,"
I was one of them. Heard bombings, had life disrupted by them - many times, got caught up in one, very close - Victoria rail station Sep 1973. You just got used to it and, contrary to what many believe, Brits (or at least Londoners) didn't feel any particular animosity to the Irish. Most people simply didn't understand 'the Troubles'. With time, I've come to see the legitimacy of the positions of ALL the belligerents, although not their methods.
Jeopardizing the Good Friday Agreement - with the attendant risks - makes my blood run cold. All that effort that's gone into healing a very bitter past.
The lunatic pro-Brexit faction either deny that there's a problem with Northern Ireland or believe that a return to the Troubles is acceptable collateral damage and 'a price worth paying', There is, and it is NOT.
25
Thanks for this. The last picture of the "Peach Wall" tells a tale of its own just by the shape at the top. Which group was being protected?
1
@Badger It's not as clear as you think. The point of the peace walls was mostly to stop things being thrown. It is why they were so high.
It's difficult to work out which direction would stop projectiles better.
1
The 1st time I visited Ireland was 1998.My sister and I landed in London,for a transfer flight to Dublin.The British guy that was clearing my passport,asked why I was visiting.Well we were meeting our second cousins,in Northern Ireland.Yes they were Catholic.They lived on the same 500 acres,raising cattle, that my great grand parents,and those before them did.He sneered, and said "Nothing but a bunch of drunks".Stunning.
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@Nora
Your response ought've been "pot meet kettle".
12
Sad,this may be a tough comment, however take the d that history of the British Empire is so bloodied. From South Africa, India and so many place. Few have escaper this dark side of colonization and bondage. Our own history shows the high handed approach of a far away king and his government. It took a war to break those bonds. At the United Nations, NYC, is a room dedicated to the issue of colonies which has a unfinished ceiling. This symbolizes the ongoing struggle with the effects of this problem. Ireland should be united and end this horrible problem.
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@Stepen P.
Arguably, the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch, with Italy were the primary colonial offenders. Also the primary slave traders.
4
@jack dancer
No, actually White Europeans were the primary slave traders. They may have enlisted some locals to assist, but it was a European trade, with European ships, prisons, and infrastructures...and European money to establish it all.
5
It is surprising to read that the Troubles' start is put in 1968. Looked at narrowly that is perhaps correct, but its seeds were planted centuries ago.
One of the most obvious symbols of Ulster Protestantism, the use of the color orange, and the marches around 12 July, make a link to 1690 and William of Orange's victory at the Boyne.
What we're facing still today is a struggle between Reformation and Contra-Reformation. It could and should serve as a reminder that the sort of religion inspired fanaticism that we so presumptuously associate with Islam at its most intolerant, is irrespective of any particular belief system.
It is also important to remember that the Good Friday agreement was, not to put too fine a point to it, imposed on the warring factions by the British and Irish Governments. They exploited a lull in the conflict, caused by weariness and exhaustion. The transition was eased with copious amounts of cash, also from the EU.
Since Theresa May's disastrous election, her Government depends for its survival on the unabashedly Protestant DUP, a hard-line, take-no-prisoners bunch... This creates an insoluble problem. The border across the island must be a national border and this implies controls and the necessary infrastructure. However, the re-introduction of such symbols is almost guaranteed to fan the embers.
Alas, I fear that many in the DUP and some Tories would rather have a return of the Troubles than a compromise that suited all Ireland.
26
>75% of Derry’s population are Catholic, and prefer the name Derry. So much so the city council changed its name to the Derry City Council back in 1984. The Republic of Ireland and most of the local population calls the city and county Derry, the original name. “Londonderry” is a name imposed by a colonial power as part of the systematic colonization of the north, during the Plantation of Ulster under James I, a brutal episode a land seizure and genocide. Now, some progress has been made towards improving relations but using that name helps no one. No one calls Derry “Londonderry” except for some members of the small Protestant minority, and apparently the New York Times. It is somewhat ironic that a story intending to call attention to the ongoing struggles in this region would fail to even acknowledge the difficulties that are built into the very names of the communities that the newspaper seeks to discuss.
80
The article and its photos captures the Troubles - of the time -extremely well. But it does the present-day city of Belfast and its citizens a great disservice not to show the on-going improvements in its economy and, more importantly, the evolution of a younger, more diverse population. The Troubles was a fight for civil rights. For the most part, the fight has been won. The young are better off. The elders want no part of what resides in their memories. As long as politics keeps its bloody hands to itself then the new generation will have a chance to continue its steady progress towards peace and prosperity.
18
@Esposito
The fight for most of the civil rights demanded was won pretty early on, although the police force remains a problem to this day.
The civil rights cause was overtaken by the IRA fight for a united Ireland.
The point of the article is to highlight the new threat to Northern Ireland peace emanating from Britain's exit from the European Union (against the will of the Northern Ireland people), which will reinforce the border between the two parts of Ireland.
As for present-day Belfast. It is still a backwater and Northern Ireland is heavily dependant on public-sector jobs. The leading Protestant party, the DUP, also seems intent on reinforcing sectarianism.
So I'm afraid to report that, with a government that has not sat for 18 months, all is far from well in Northern Ireland.
14
Another of the unintended consequences of the inane British decision to leave the EU. This like so much else that has been revealed since the referendum in June 2016, NI wasn't even on the radar.
22
All one has to do, today, to understand the nature of English / Protestant subjugation of the Catholic population in Northern Ireland, is look at the temperament, the hardcore dislike, and the not so hidden anymore support of colonialism, which Arlene Foster, the leader of the Protestant
Democratic Unionist Party, symbolizes.
The brutality of the English government and its Protestant lackeys in Northern Ireland since the partitioning of the sovereign nation of Ireland, in 1921, is well documented and clearly indicated that England would engage in any atrocity necessary to hold onto one of its last few colonies.
Contrary to what some would like to believe, Catholics in Northern Ireland, their own country, are still considered second-class citizens, and treated as such by the ruling Protestant Party, the DUP.
33
While the official North Irish name for the city is Londonderry, I've seen many publications will use Londonderry/Derry to maintain political neutrality.
12
Very interesting,and perhaps a cautionary example of where our own country is heading?
19
@Vincent Maloney
Except the most corrosive, violent, and vitriolic elements now and since 1980 is the Catholic/Protestant GOP coalition against all things female, gay and minority civil rights - in a democratic nation designed by Jefferson and Madison to be SECULAR.
The good news is that more Americans are eschewing those ancient degenerate old patriarchal religious cults. The bad news is that more than half of the nation still genuflects to all the Abrahamic cults, breeds in high numbers, votes...and still cranks out traumatized, silenced daughters every generation to keep the sky magician males ruling over all societal and government powers.
4
excellent reporting and amazing photographs- the 'peace-wall' -frightening.
Echoes of present day Palestine, the subject the world downplays or ignores.
echoes of Auschwitz, of internment camps worldwide.
The ghettoization of mankind at the hands of mankind.
15
@Mary Keating - The parallels to Palestine are both definite as well as different.
The mindless bombing of civilians. Rock throwing. Kidnapping and killing people.
But there are also differences. Everyone has the right to vote. Anyone can drive on any street. There are no barriers to coming or going.
All, in all, much better than Palestine.
7
@Jim
Yes, much is better, but believe me, the DUP, with Arlene Foster at the helm of that nasty crew would delight in further marginalizing the Catholic population of Northern Ireland.
I will never forget, many years ago, being denied employment in Enniskillen just north of the border, because of being Catholic, and while much of that particular practice has disappeared, in lower pay work, Protestant employers reluctantly hire Catholics, and few Catholics gain access to upper management jobs.
This will continue to be the norm, until the Catholic population becomes powerful enough to finally sideline the DUP.
5
I'm surprised the article didn't mention Britain's mass release of prisoners, including those held in the infamous Maze, as part of the Good Friday peace agreement. The release of murderers, bombers, etc. shocked many and left another open wound that has not healed. It's hard to even begin to imagine the anger and distress the prisoners' victims' loved ones feel, knowing that these men walk free now. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mass-release-of-nirish-guerrillas/
4
@JenD When brutal power holds people hostage in their own land and deprives them of their civil rights, yes, those turned into monsters, for the sake of peace, must be set free. It was the right thing to do.
25
Excellent article about the horrific consequences of civil strife. As a Canadian who has spent his life watching American politics, I sometimes wonder if you’re headed in the same direction. Trump rallies resemble nothing so much as the anachronistic Orange parades. The Southern supporters of Trump seem like the Protestant rump in Northern Ireland in the 1970’s, clinging to their Orange heritage, unable to change with the times. Let’s hope Americans can learn from all the suffering of the Northern Irish during the Troubles and look for ways to come together before the radicals really become empowered.
35
@Dan I’m afraid the radicals are already empowered: the religious right, the undereducated, the wilfully ignorant, the 1% who want to control everything with their uberwealth, the Republican politicians who have dishonored their sworn oaths of office, the blatant racists, the Russian apologists, and the neoNazis have formed a dangerous cabal sworn to the destruction of our founding tenets of personal freedom, civil rights, and a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
17
I spent a couple of weeks in Northern Ireland in June. Nice place. Nice people. Belfast and Derry were terrific. I walked everywhere. The thing about the Peace Wall is that it's there, but all the main gates are open, and at the ends of the wall? It just stops. Everyone seems to be getting along, everyone wants to get along. I'm from Detroit. The last time I was there it’s a far more unsettled issue than Northern Ireland. In Chicago more young people are dying now than during the Troubles. The politicians? Catholics, I met, mentioned Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams in the same sentence as clever old pols, smart enough to work together for the common good. The pols in the US are more divisive. The border? I happened to camp near it, saw it on the map. I asked. "Oh yeah, border's just there in the shuck (ditch 40 feet away)." Driving back into the North from the Republic, I crossed and recrossed the border on the same road 3-4 times. Traffic signs were only on the Republic sections, the UK side had none. Eliminated confusion. What’s the difference between 80kmh and 50 mph? Brexit compromise right there. Read about the history but definitely visit Ireland, all of it. It's safe, it will give you hope.
41
Thank you NYT for a well-researched and balanced piece on a deeply complex, polarizing issue. My grandmother grew up in Derry and fled the place as soon as she could for the South—these images bring a new dimension to her storytelling, they bring the horror to life.
11
The only time I experienced anti-British sentiment in the States was talking to an Irish-American in a bar in Boston. His view of Irish history seemed extreme and inaccurate. Irish-Americans have a lot to answer for and should stay out of it. Northern Ireland isn't a Broadway musical.
24
@Vivien The millions of Irish in Ulster who suffered insult and deprivation know only too well that living for centuries under the iron fist of the fallen and pathetic british empire was never anything like a musical.
The ancestors of those Irish-Americans emigrated to escape the brutality and starvation of the Famine in occupied Eire, not to go on holiday.
Do the Irish have to answer for being invaded and then occupied by a foreign power? For being crowded into ghettos and treated as indentured servants?
Isn't is odd that the British have left a trail of racial and religious hatred behind in the former colonies? Hindus vs Muslims, French vs Canadian Catholics, Whites vs Natives in every former colony. Tribe vs tribe throughout Africa.
Great Britain was always only really great in the minds of its wee island dwellers.
39
@Vivien Yes, the BBC back in the day was a mighty skewer of information. To speak of Irish history means to speak of British history. You would do well to acquaint yourself with the latter.
15
Well, it’s complicated. As one of those Irish Americans advised to “stay out of it,” Vivien, I find your response both understandable and a little maddening. As a “fallen away Catholic,” who grasped the essential narrow-mindedness of the Irish-American version of Catholicism early on, I can imagine what your conversation with your anti-British Irish-American antagonist might have been like. Among my early experiences was standing around the piano with my family’s friends, all Irish, including the impressive Monsignor Gallagher, singing “Oh, they’re hanging lads and lassies now for the wearin’ of the green.” Another was the regular reception of IRA propaganda screeds from my second cousin, a priest, which, along with appeals for IRA donations, included heavy doses of racism and denunciations of fiat currency. So: historically speaking, the Irish-American Catholic view of the Troubles and of Brits generally hasn’t been closely reasoned or particularly admirable. Granted.
On the other hand, can you hear what your “advice” for persons like me to “keep out of it” sounds like? There’s an assumed attitude of cultural and even racial superiority there that has also typified and driven British policy toward Ireland for hundreds of years. We’re not Paddies and Micks.
In other words, Vivien, there’s blame enough for everyone. You may be assuming an understanding of this long-standing tragic conflict that’s just as partial and biased as my regrettable cousin’s.
30
Incredibly dramatic photos & a fine balanced report.
Terrorist attacks against civilians are wrong and so are murderous military occupations of weaker, colonized lands.
25
Doesn't Northern Ireland exist as an entity only because of gerrymandering? Isn't that the original flaw in the design from the last 100 years or so?
27
More population engineering I think, though certainly plenty of gerrymandering here and there within the entity of Northern Ireland. Under the Tudors (Henry VIII I think started it) thousands of Scot Presbyterians and English Protestants were settled there, with the intention of creating a majority Protestant population. Land was seized and given to Protestants, the Catholics evicted - and of course what authorities there were were all Protestant. This continued and expanded outwards under Elizabeth I and James I (Stuart) and led directly to the War of the Three Kingdoms and Cromwell’s brutal foray into Ireland etc.
It’s worth remembering the backdrop - Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic church, and the effects rippled out for a long time. Catholicism was the new bad guy. The Pope excommunicated Henry. Our main enemies, the France & Spain, were Catholic. Plenty of Scots were Catholic (Mary Queen of Scots was accused and executed for formenting Catholic plots against the throne), and violence against GB had the nod from the Pope. So Catholic’s were viewed as both heretics and threats. The break with Rome continued to cause trouble for hundreds of years. The gunpowder plot, James II and the Monmouth Rebellion, the Golden Revolution etc etc. There’s the occasional reference to “Popery” in later sources.
43
@Mat 'just back from Ireland....the population of the country is said to be 5 million - which today would have been about 26 million had the British helped with the 1840's famine....the British have done nothing but batter down the Irish since Henry VIII's reign; Catholic churches were forbidden to be built, trees were cut down, the Catholic Irish were given the worst land to grow crops on....don't you think it's about time for Great Britain to make amends? It's genocide - it's that simple.
14
@Mat How do you explain that the province of Ulster has been split - Donegal with the Republic and the rest with the UK? I consider that gerrymandering.
3