So today for an hour, at school in a mash-up for the Psychology and World History classes, we had a very detailed lesson, or rather lecture as it was a hundred of us students in an assembly hall taking notes as videos and pictures showed on a large screen and the teachers made their own comments. Anyway it was on the Trouble's in Northern Ireland, Bloody Sunday in specific. That was what gave me this idea, since we were not only learning about the events of the era but also a take on human nature and who was at fault.
Now for those of you who don't know; The Troubles were a series of ethno-nationalist conflicts in Northern Ireland, which also spilled over to Great Britain and Mainland Europe, from, when historians generally agree on, 1968 till the Belfast Good Friday agreement in 1998. It basically turned Northern Ireland into a place of brother vs. brother, with Catholic Irish Republicans (Backed by the Irish Free State) and Protestant Irish Unionists (Backed by the then still existing British Empire) going at it like hounds. The British government all but openly supported Unionists paramilitary groups and did its best to make life hell for Irish Republican groups that wanted a united Ireland, which included deploying military forces in Northern Ireland to harass Catholic's and Republicans. This in turn caused groups such as the IRA (Irish Republican Army) to turn from what could have been considered warfare or liberation warfare, into what can only be described as terrorism.
Bloody Sunday, was an incident on January 30th, 1972, in Derry, Northern Ireland. British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march against internment. Fourteen people died: thirteen were killed outright, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to his injuries. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers and some were shot while trying to help the wounded. Two protesters were also injured when they were run down by army vehicles. The march had been organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and the Northern Resistance Movement. The soldiers involved were members of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, also known as "1 Para". It has been confirmed that during the events, British officers ordered troops to cease fire but instead they began to pursue the fleeing protesters and continued to fire on them, despite there being no armed protesters confirmed, no return shots, not even rocks thrown. The shooting was indiscriminate. Many call this a crime against humanity, and the British government only apologized for this is 2010, approximately 32 years after the fact.
Now my question is what is the general take on the Northern Ireland situation in regards to Anglo/Irish relations and events through history. Particularly, does anyone think that one side shares more of the blame or responsibility for the violence in Northern Ireland escalating? What is your take on it.
Personally, in the Bloody Sunday situation, I look at a modern day example; American soldiers in Baghdad. In Baghdad, American soldiers are basically like a monkey in the middle between the few natives that want them there and the rest who hate their guts, not to bring up the conflict between the Sunni's and Shia. Now these soldiers are a long way from home, and even if they won't admit it, their afraid, everything is strange, a possible threat lurking around every corner. Now Baghdad is still more stable than Northern Ireland was during the Troubles. With Bloody Sunday, British troops prior to this knew that they were widely hated and what with the amped up IRA attacks on British military forces in Northern Ireland, it gives a sense of paranoia. Even if these soldiers are hearing a cease fire order, if they saw someone and thought they were holding a gun, fear and a soldier's instinct will take over and they are going to pull the trigger. This does not excuse their actions but I am trying to make the argument that these soldiers are not exactly satanic unfeeling beasts, more like they were conditioned into reacting in this fashion.
