#4. The Violence that Brings Silence: Separatism!

The Irish and the Basques fight for self-independence. Their actions intensified in 1970s and 1980s, the notion that triggered the outburst of violence was one – nationalism. Their desire was not to create an utopia like states, quite contrary, they took up arms with a thought of creating separated states, where, they could establish the institutions – that would express their unique ethnic and religious personalities.

The Irish Roman Catholics inhabited the six counties that make up Northern Ireland or Ulster felt great injustice being trapped within Great Britain. The Basque on the other hand lived in the area that falls on either side of the border dividing France and Spain. The Irish and the Basque each wanted their fully independent nation.

The story of the Irish struggle for independence goes far back in time when the Roman Catholics formed a significant minority in the six northern counties. They were against the partition of the island into the southern and northern halves. They were afraid that it brings a great discrimination; rightly, their concerns were justified.

In 1960s inspired by the civil rights movement they began the campaign for better employment opportunities and better housing. The IRA which continued its existence as an underground organization split in 1969 and formed the Provisional IRA (Provos). The cause lied in a dispute whether or not to support the Northern Catholics in their struggle for equal opportunity.

The violence erupted in 1972, January 30^th when the Northern Catholics staged a peaceful Sunday protest march in the city of Londonderry. Their parade was lined with the hostile Protestants, insults were exchanged. The British soldiers fires to the crowd, killing 13 Catholic marchers. The incident was known as Bloody Sunday.

Catholics fought back. Their targets became public places such as pubs, bars, shopping districts patronized by Protestants. The protestant community didn’t feel the British government does enough to stop terror and horror. They knew that the Irish Republican Army was supplied by the Former Soviet Union, everybody knew, they knew the cause and effect.

The Provos took the act of terrorism to England, they were bombing pubs, Harrods –  famous department store. They attempted to kill the PM Margaret Thatcher by placing a bomb under her chair at the political rally in Birmingham in 1984.

One of the member of the Provisional IRA said: ‘(…) Today we were unlucky, but remember we have to be unlucky only once, you will have to be lucky always (…)’.

There have been a repetitive attempts to bring peace in Northern Ireland, but, finding the way to satisfy both sides has so far proved to be impossible. Every time progress is made dissidents from one camp or the other prepare an act of violence to derail the peace process.

Bibliography:

1. Wisnewski, J. Jeremy, ed. (18 December 2008). Torture, Terrorism, and the Use of Violence (also available as Review Journal of Political Philosophy Volume 6, Issue Number 1). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-4438-0291-8.
2. Stevenson, ed. by Angus (2010). Oxford dictionary of English (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-957112-3.
3. White, Jonathan R. (1 January 2016). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Cengage Learning. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-305-63377-3.
4.  "The Illusion of War: Is Terrorism a Criminal Act or an Act of War? – Mackenzie Institute". Mackenzie Institute. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
5.  Ronald Reagan, speech to National Conservative Political Action Conference Archived 20 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine. 8 March 1985.
6.  Chaliand, Gerard. The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to al Qaeda. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
7.  Irish Freedom, by Richard English Publisher: Pan Books 
8. Mousseau, Michael (2002). "Market Civilization and its Clash with Terror". International Security
9. Mark Aarons (2007). "Justice Betrayed: Post-1945 Responses to Genocide." In David A. Blumenthal and Timothy L. H. McCormack (eds). The Legacy of Nuremberg: Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance? (International Humanitarian Law). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 9004156917
10. Cronin, Audrey Kurth (2009). How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns. Princeton U. Pr. ISBN 978-0-691-13948-7.