Multimedia: The Troubles

Il Conflitto nordirlandese, conosciuto in inglese come The Troubles (termine eufemisticamente traducibile come “I disordini”), è il nome con cui si indica la cosiddetta “guerra a bassa intensità” che si è svolta tra la fine degli anni ’60 e la fine degli anni ’90 in Irlanda del Nord e i cui effetti si sono allargati anche all’ Inghilterra e alla Repubblica d’ Irlanda e che ha causato oltre 3000 morti.

In Irlanda del Nord, sin dalla partition seguita alla guerra anglo-irlandese che aveva lasciato le sei contee nordorientali dell’ Irlanda sotto il dominio britannico, i cittadini cattolici venivano discriminati dalla maggioranza protestante al governo della provincia ininterrottamente dal 1922 con l’ Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), partito di maggioranza del parlamento autonomo nordirlandese. Per i cattolici era più difficile trovare lavoro ed erano discriminati nell’ assegnazione delle case popolari. Oltre a ciò, anche dove erano maggioranza (per esempio a Derry) le circoscrizioni elettorali erano disegnate in modo da non permettere ai cattolici di vincere le elezioni (questo espediente era noto come gerrymandering). In questa situazione, nel 1966 venne fondata, a casa di un avvocato cattolico e repubblicano del South Derry, Kevin Agnew, la Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), organizzazione che si proponeva di chiedere riforme e che fece il suo debutto ufficiale il 24 agosto 1968 con una marcia da Coalisland a Dungannon, nella contea di Tyrone. La NICRA non era vista di buon occhio dai protestanti, tra cui Ian Paisley, un pastore presbiteriano estremista, che considerava l’ associazione un nome di facciata dell’ IRA (Irish Republican Army). Le marce di protesta, organizzate dalla NICRA e da People’s Democracy, un’ organizzazione studentesca di sinistra, spesso venivano attaccate da estremisti protestanti e in un caso, il 5 ottobre 1968, anche dai B-Specials, un corpo paramilitare ausiliario della polizia composto esclusivamente da protestanti. L’ epicentro delle proteste era la città di Derry dove, dopo una notte di scontri particolarmente violenti, sul muro di una casa di St.Columb’s Well, all’ entrata del Bogside (il principale quartiere cattolico della città), comparve una scritta destinata a entrare nella storia del conflitto e che si può vedere ancora oggi, nonostante rimanga in piedi solo il muro: You are now entering Free Derry e cioè State entrando nella Derry libera.

Nei mesi seguenti le manifestazioni si susseguirono sotto l’ egida del CAC (Citizens Action Committee) alla guida del quale c’ erano personaggi poi diventati famosi come Ivan Cooper, John Hume, Bernadette Devlin e Eamonn McCann. Il 12 agosto 1969, in occasione della marcia annuale degli Apprentice Boys di Derry, che celebra la resistenza protestante all’ assedio della città da parte delle truppe di Giacomo II nel 1689, ci furono scontri molto violenti e la Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), la polizia della provincia, tentò di entrare nel Bogside, dove erano state erette delle barricate. Cominciarono così 48 ore di battaglia, con i residenti del Bogside che tiravano pietre e bottiglie molotov alla RUC che rispose usando, per la prima volta nel Regno Unito, il gas CS (il gas lacrimogeno).

Nella notte del 14 agosto gli scontri si estesero a Belfast dove alcuni gruppi di estremisti protestanti, in alcuni casi con l’ aiuto (o quantomeno il tacito assenso) della RUC, misero a ferro e fuoco le vie abitate dai cattolici che conducevano alla Shankill Road, l’ arteria che attraversa i quartieri della working class lealista, roccaforte degli estremisti protestanti. I cittadini cattolici furono costretti a fuggire dalle proprie case per rifugiarsi in altri quartieri cattolici di West Belfast come Andersonstown e Ballymurphy. Il giorno dopo il governo britannico decise di inviare un folto contingente di truppe per ristabilire l’ ordine, inizialmente per proteggere i suoi sudditi cattolici.

Multimedia: The Ulster Troubles

“The Troubles” refers to approximately three decades of violence between elements of Northern Ireland’s nationalist community (principally Roman Catholic) and unionist community (principally Protestant). Use of the term “The Troubles” has been raised at NI Assembly level, as some people considered this period of conflict as a war. The conflict was the result of discrimination against the catholic/nationalist minority by the protestant/unionist majority and the question of Northern Ireland’s status within the United Kingdom. The violence was characterised by the armed campaigns of paramilitary groups, including those of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) campaign of 1969–1997, intended to end British rule in Northern Ireland and to reunite Ireland politically and thus creating a new “all-Ireland” Irish Republic; and of the Ulster Volunteer Force, formed in 1966 in response to the perceived erosion of both the British character and unionist domination of Northern Ireland. The state security forces —the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)— were also involved in the violence.

The British Government’s view was that its forces were neutral in the conflict, trying to uphold law and order in Northern Ireland and the right of the people of Northern Ireland to democratic self-determination. Irish republicans, however, regarded the state forces as forces of occupation and “combatants” in the conflict, noting collusion between the state forces and the loyalist paramilitaries. The “Ballast” investigation by the Police Ombudsman has confirmed that British forces, and in particular the RUC, did, on several occasions, collude with loyalist paramilitaries, were involved in murder, and did obstruct the course of justice when such claims had previously been investigated. The extent of collusion is still hotly disputed. Unionists claim that reports of collusion were either false or highly exaggerated and that there were also instances of collusion between the authorities of the Irish Government and Republican paramilitaries. See also the section below on Collusion by Security Forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Alongside the violence, there was a political deadlock between the major political parties in Northern Ireland, including those who condemned violence, over the future status of Northern Ireland and the form of government there should be within Northern Ireland.

The Troubles were brought to an uneasy end by a peace process. It included the declaration of ceasefires by most paramilitary organisations, the complete decommissioning of the IRA’s weapons, the reform of the police, and the corresponding withdrawal of army troops from the streets and sensitive border areas such as South Armagh and Fermanagh, as agreed by the signatories to the Belfast Agreement (commonly known as the “Good Friday Agreement”). The agreement reiterated the long-held British position, which successive Irish governments had not fully acknowledged, that Northern Ireland would remain within the United Kingdom until a majority votes otherwise.

On the other hand, the British Government recognised for the first time the principle that the people of the island of Ireland as a whole have the right, without any outside interference, to solve the issues between North and South by mutual consent. The latter statement was key to winning support for the agreement from nationalists and republicans. It also established a devolved power-sharing government within Northern Ireland (which had been suspended from 14 October 2002 until 8 May 2007), where the government must consist of both unionist and nationalist parties.

Though the number of active participants in the Troubles was relatively small, and the paramilitary organisations that claimed to represent the communities were unrepresentative of the general population, the Troubles touched the lives of many people in Northern Ireland on a daily basis, while occasionally spreading to the rest of Ireland and England. At several times between 1969 and 1998, it seemed possible that the Troubles would escalate into a full-scale civil war. Critical times were in 1972 after Bloody Sunday, or during the Hunger Strikes of 1980–1981, when there was mass, hostile mobilisation of the two communities. Many people today have had their political, social, and communal attitudes and perspectives shaped by the Troubles.