After
reading this article I was almost in hysterics as
once again unionist commentators attempt to employ
revisionism into history - Unionist anger at been
labeled bigots demonstrated only that unionists
still have the head buried in the sand mentality.
However a brief insight into how the state was governed
paints a totally different picture.
Since the formation of this statet of Norn Iron,
unionist politicians have encouraged the protestant
business class to discriminate against Catholics
in both the private and state sector, with Catholics
considered only good for menial tasks. Indeed Lord
Brookborough (1942-1963) stated the case plainly
when he said, “I recommend those people who
are loyalist not to employ Catholics”. To complete
the equation the protestant working class was encouraged
to become sectarian by placing the blame for local
problems on Catholics which initiated the catholic
pogroms of 1921 which left 250 Catholics dead and
11,000 driven from their homes.
Perhaps
Unionist P.M Lord Craigavon (1920-1940) said it
all when he said, “we are a protestant parliament
for a protestant state”. Unionists held complete
military and political control of the North, only
exacerbating the disaffection of the Nationalist/Catholic
community toward the state. In effect the unionist
government encouraged apartheid leading one Irish
civil rights activist to declare, “Catholics
are the white Negroes of Ireland”. Even the
so called enlightened Unionist P.M Terrence O’Neill
(1963-69), gave only patronizing consideration to
the nationalist community, when he said. “If
you treat Roman Catholics with due consideration
and kindness, they will act like Protestants.
Unionists
were able to hold on to their protestant utopia
through a policy of gerrymandering. Indeed the creation
of the state was a gerrymander when the six counties
were excised from the rest of Ireland. In this set
up unionist had a majority of 60%-40%. Through this
policy Catholics were concentrated in fewer larger
electoral wards where they were numerically insignificant
and therefore had no clout while protestants were
dispersed over a number of smaller electoral wards
to ensure they had a constant majority and so ensure
political control. Further only people, with taxable
property could vote and later in 1923 voting was
restricted to those owning land worth at lest five
pounds or more. In 1945 the British government exempted
the unionist government from universal suffrage
and the abolition of business votes.
The
civil rights movement of the late1960s modeled on
the work of Dr Martin Luther king, was a non-sectarian
non-violent movement that protested these sectarian
polices off unionists. The main theme was “One
man one vote” because voting rights were based
on property ownership, which shut the economically
disadvantaged nationalist community. Of course these
demands for greater equality went against everything
the Northern state was founded on, that of inequality,
privilege and sectarianism. Most Protestants probably
due to unionist propaganda through the unionist
press felt the demands for reforms were unacceptable
while some Catholics felt they didn’t go far
enough. The British government did nothing to try
and control unionist excesses of power and this
in turn led to catholic distrust and unionist sectarian
provocation.
The
reaction of the protestant elite was to entice and
enflame their constituents into a brutal backlash
often characterized by shootings, beatings and killings.
A civil rights march from Derry to Belfast was attacked
by unionist at Burntollet Bridge in January 1969
as RUC men look on, some even joined in the attack.
Nationalist districts were attacked and houses burnt
to the ground by loyalist mobs often supported by
the RUC or their auxiliaries the B-specials. Many
catholics were left homeless and fled to safety
south of the border.
The
Civil rights movement demands were largely ignored
by the British, white washed or referred to one
tribunal or another. As a gesture the B-Specials
were disbanded only to be reorganized as the UDR
under the control of the British Army instead of
the RUC. Some gerrymandering and property qualifications
for voting were changed. Lip service was paid to
fair employment and housing, but local loyalist
remained in political control, also military control
became paramount in the planning of housing structures
and housing location. Job discrimination against
Catholics has basically not altered.
Unionist
power and its failure to acknowledge a large section
of the population as equals was due to their bigoted
beliefs. They saw their beloved nor iron as a protestant
utopia, all ills were blamed on the catholic as
both communities were deliberately segregated in
order to accommodate the gerrymandering of electoral
wards, in a policy reminiscent of apartheid. This
helped keep the protestant working class in line
socially and economically while the protestant business
class were urged not to employ Catholics. Because
of unionist intransigence and failure to carry out
even the minuscule of reforms following the demands
of equality by the civil rights movement, and as
more and more nationalists refused to treated like
second class citizens, the situation in the north
developed wherby violent confrontation was inevitable.
It can be seen that the basic ingredients of confrontation
were slowly been mixed until it became a powder
keg ready to explode.
The
violent destruction of the civil rights movement
in the backlash of unionist bigotry and the British
governments complicity renewed demands for a nationalist
defence force. Defence committees were formed through
out the North to protect the Nationalist community.
Indeed Paisley Senior and other leading unionists
in the late sixties also taunted the civil rights
activists with IRA taunts, where IRA = I Ran Away.
It was only after the pogroms that left thousands
fleeing over the border for safety, did the IRA
rose out of the ashes to defend the nationalist
community to prevent against further pogroms.
