Blog Assignment:
The article that I am going to be focusing on is about the most recent conflict in North Ireland that happened about two months ago. The conflict in Northern Ireland is one that can be traced back to the Tudor Conquests of Ireland in the 16th century, British rule in Ireland saw a large number of English Protestants being permanently settled in Northern Ireland by the English authorities. These settlers clashed with the Irish Catholics already living in the region and the conflict continues to this very day. Protestant majority Northern Ireland still remains a part of the UK, despite the primarily Catholic Republic of Ireland gaining independence in 1937. From the late 1960s to the late 1990s, a period of Northern Irish history known as The Troubles saw Catholic Nationalists (who want to be a part of the Republic of Ireland) pitted against Protestant Unionist Loyalists. This conflict resulted in the deaths of over 3,600 people, bombings, sectarian murders, and army crackdowns. In 1998, both sides signed the Good Friday Agreement which has led to a general peace in Northern Ireland for the last 23 years (Symington).
Despite over 20 years of relative peace, things are starting to get bad again due to Brexit. The new Brexit deal has stated that Northern Ireland will continue to have to follow the rules of the EU when it comes to trade and customs. This controversial decision is known as the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Protestant Loyalists are infuriated by this decision, these people see themselves as citizens of the UK who have been abandoned by their government. They were also angered by the perceived lax response by the Belfast police, when thousands of people broke coronavirus regulations to attend the funeral of a former IRA member named Bobby Storey (Symington). Anger by the Loyalists led to riots across Northern Ireland, notably in Belfast and Londonderry as well as much smaller towns. Most of the rioters were younger men who were actively encouraged by older men to partake in the violence and destruction.
The purpose of this blog is to show how the opinions shown in this story differ across different scales. On the local scale, Protestant Loyalists feel as though they are not being treated fairly as citizens of the UK and that their rights as British citizens are being ignored. This is an example of how the larger regional conflict between the British and the EU affects the local level as the Protestants feel abandoned by their government. The Loyalists feel as though the police/local authorities are giving unfair treatment and favoring Catholics. For the Catholics on the local level, they see the cry of the Protestants not being treated fairly as ridiculous after years of religious oppression by the English/Protestant authorities. Obviously more violence has had an incredibly negative effect on the population in Northern Ireland on both sides, especially in places that were ravaged by violence so recently in history.
The regional scale focuses on the policies of the UK government in the Brexit deal and the presence of the European Union at the negotiating table. The decision to have Northern Ireland still have to follow EU rules about trade and customs was negotiated by the British and the EU. The Republic of Ireland is part of the European Union and had a significant impact on these negotiations. Ireland does not want to have a hard border with Northern Ireland, arguing that it would lead to more violence, this is why the EU negotiations led to Northern Ireland still having to follow EU regulations. The fact that Ireland is a part of the European Union gives it power that it would not have otherwise in these negotiations. Also, The whole point of Brexit is pitting the British versus everybody else, and this rash decision of the UK government to leave the EU is being shown to have disastrous consequences. Overall, both the regional and local scales are versions of the same conflict, the Nationalist vs. Unionist fight in Belfast and Londonderry is really just a localized version of the regional conflicts between the British and the Irish. Now the Irish Republic has the EU on their side, which gives them an overwhelming leg up in negotiations.
On a global scale, this decision has disastrous impacts mostly on the UK. The United States will either not get involved or side with the European Union. The presence of large numbers of Irish Catholics in America, including the President of the United States Joe Biden, will likely sway public opinion in favor of the Nationalists and the Republic of Ireland. Therefore, the feelings of a lot of Nationalists and the Republic of Ireland on a local and regional level have a deep effect on how many Irish Americans feel in the United States. The UK is also being negatively affected by their wider decision to leave the European Union, the cracks are beginning to show and it is undoubtedly clear it will have negative economic results for the UK.
Work Cited:
Symington, Matthew. “Violence in Northern Ireland Sparks Fears of a Return to The Troubles.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 21 Apr. 2021, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/violence-northern-ireland-sparks-fears-return-troubles-n126476“EU Map after Brexit.” Maproom, 13 Apr. 2021, maproom.net/shop/eu-map/.
Nidex. Map of Northern Ireland, www.nidex.com/map.htm.
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