“Slowly, Through a Vector”: the Battle of the Bogside, 1969 Ian Laplante

“Slowly, Through a Vector”: The Battle of the Bogside, 1969 Ian Laplante Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History Nipissing University School of Graduate Studies North Bay, Ontario © Ian Laplante August 2011 ! Laplante iii! Abstract In the case of Northern Ireland, and the Bogside in particular, the state understanding of the borderland often ran in opposition to the understanding of those residing in the space; nonetheless, the ways in which those definitions were countered and defended were often quite similar: through violence and storytelling— that is, action and interpretation. The actors in this narrative perceived themselves to be passing slowly through a vector—forceful and deadly, rooted in over a thousand years of history, culminating in the street violence of August 1969. As such, in focusing on public representations and interpretations of the violence, this paper will explore the ways in which the Battle of the Bogside was understood by participants, observers and historians. I thus hope to speak not so much to the violent event itself but to the act of storytelling as a means of crystallizing and protecting group identity in a contested landscape. ! Laplante iv! Acknowledgements This MRP was, in many ways, a collaborative project. As such, I’m deeply indebted to all those who helped shape it into its current form, especially: Dr. Dean Bavington and Dr. Steve Connor of Nipissing University’s History Department and Dr. Gyllian Phillips of Nipissing’s English Department; My colleagues in the MA History program; And Nipissing University staff. ! Laplante v! for N.S. and Z.A. ! Laplante vi! Table of Contents MRP Signature . i . Author’s Declaration . ii . Abstract . iii . Acknowledgements . iv .. Introduction . 1 . “Out Across the City:” Historiography . 6 .. “That Blink Within this Canyon:” Four Perspectives . 15 . “Damp with Fog, the Bog:” Four Borderlands . 33 . Conclusion . 45 . Bibliography . 47 . ! Laplante 1! INTRODUCTION The Twelfth. The name rang like an omen. Once a whisper, like a ringing in the ears, then clear and distinct. That summer in Londonderry, 1969, word of the coming Twelfth of August was quick to spread.1 It passed between couples, looking with horror and wonderment upon the country’s excavated bog bodies—lips thin and dark as vanilla beans, rough-hewn rope tied into nooses around their necks, a near- perfect evocation of the powerful connection between people, violence and the land. It passed between families, working class and Catholic, crucifixes mounted above the doorframes, settling down to dinner in the Rossville High Flats. It passed between Apprentice Boys, at once proud and apprehensive, polishing their shoes with the same black grease they had applied to the greying hair at their temples. It passed between the RUC officers, straightening their ties in the mirror one more time, somehow imagining that this extra effort would spare them what they heard would come. And it passed between Bernadette Devlin, Paddy Doherty, Eamonn McCann and the other community organizers, staring out their windows into the streets of the Bogside, wondering if this name, this omen, would ring true. When the twelfth of August finally arrived, the blue-grey sky and an air of trepidation casting pallor over the city, the Derry Citizens Defence Association (DCDA) barricades were already in place.2 It was the day of the Apprentice Boys Parade, an annual Protestant celebration of the 1689 Relief of Derry. For the mostly Catholic residents of the Bogside, this annual display “left behind a legacy of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 The name “Londonderry” is a matter of great dispute. This dispute will be addressed in Chapter 1 of this MRP. 2 Eamonn McCann, War and an Irish Town, New Updated Edition (London: Pluto Press, 1993): 115. ! Laplante 2! bitterness” and in the tense political climate of the summer of 1969, the parade would prove to be the spark that lit the fuse.3 It was not long before the parade arrived at Waterloo Place and it was there that the first stones and bottles were cast. As the parade turned onto William Street, edging closer and closer to the Bogside area, the violence escalated. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) force countered the attack by throwing stones back.4 An hour passed before the police forced the rioters up William Street and finally entered the Bogside. Hundreds of Bogsiders met the RUC on Rossville Street. What followed, and what would continue to unfold over the next two days, became known as the Battle of the Bogside. The Battle of the Bogside occurred during a period of escalating tensions in Northern Ireland. Ten months earlier, on October 5th, 1968, Londonderry Catholics engaged with the growing civil rights movement clashed with police at a banned public protest. The following month, to address the rising concerns and to curb the violence, Unionist Prime Minister Terence O’Neill unveiled a reforms package. It was met with mixed reviews and by January 1969 the civil rights movement was back in full force.5 The Peoples Democracy led a march from Belfast to Londonderry—one that ultimately led to riots in the latter. During this period police were kept out of the Bogside neighbourhood in an attempt to curb additional local violence. In February O’Neill called a Stormont general election. His Unionist party was successful, but by a narrower margin than previously. By April, violent riots sprung !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 Joseph MacAnthony, “Derry’s Explosion of Violence,” Irish Independent, August 13, 1969, Page 5. 4 The Battle of the Bogside, Dir. Vinny Cunningham, by John Peto (BBC, 2004). 5 “Government of Northern Ireland: Violence and Civil Disturbances in Northern Ireland in 1969, Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry.” CAIN. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/scarman.htm (accessed September 30, 2011). ! Laplante 3! up again in Londonderry, resulting in the April 28th resignation of O’Neill and the May 1st succession of James Chichester-Clark. One of the new prime minister’s first acts was to grant amnesty for all offences connected to the October 5th demonstrations and on May 8th the Civil Rights Association announced the suspension of its civil disobedience campaign as a result.6 On July 12th, however, Protestant marches in Londonderry led to Catholic revolts. As a result, the Derry Citizens’ Action Committee, associated with NICRA (the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, campaigning for civil rights for the Catholic minority in the city), was superseded by the more aggressive Derry Citizens’ Defence Association.7 It is this group that organized the actions of the Bogsiders one month later in the August 15th Battle of the Bogside. In the case of Northern Ireland, and the Bogside in particular, the state understanding of the borderland often ran in opposition to the understanding of those residing in the place; nonetheless, the ways in which those definitions were countered and defended were often quite similar: through violence and storytelling— that is, action and interpretation. The actors in this narrative perceived themselves to be passing slowly through a vector—forceful and deadly, rooted in over a thousand years of history, culminating in the street violence of August 1969. But what, exactly, is a vector? There are two principle definitions that are applicable in this case. First, “a quantity having direction as well as magnitude;” and second, “a person, animal, or plant which carries a pathogenic agent and acts as a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6 “Government of Northern Ireland: Violence and Civil Disturbances in Northern Ireland in 1969, Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry,” op. cit. 7 Ibid. ! Laplante 4! potential source of infection for members of another species.”8 These two definitions combined—vector as a force and vector as a disease—speak to the complexity of the Troubles. Written representations of the Battle of the Bogside classified the violence in one of these two ways, either as a natural action on the path towards civil rights or as proof of the malignancy of the protestors’ actions, and for historians sifting through the narratives, the true nature of this vector is thusly obscured. In focusing on public representations and interpretations of the violence, this paper will explore the ways in which the Battle of the Bogside was understood by participants, observers and historians. I thus hope to speak not so much to the violent event itself but to the act of storytelling as a means of crystallizing and defending group identity in a contested landscape. Chapter One, “Out Across the City,” is historiographical in nature, exploring current scholarship on modern Irish history, delving into the Derry/Londonderry name debate, determining where my study fits within the existing work on the Bogside neighbourhood and deciding whether to term the conflict a battle or a riot. Chapter Two, “That Blink Within this Canyon,” is a discursive analysis of four perspectives on the Battle of the Bogside. The first two perspectives come from opposing newspaper accounts, those of the Times and the Irish Independent. The third perspective comes from War and an Irish Town, a book-length account written by one of the battle’s participants, Eamonn McCann. And the fourth perspective, more about the Troubles in general than the battle in particular, comes from three bog poems compiled in Seamus Heaney’s North collection. Chapter Three, “Damp !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8 “Vector, n.” Def. 2a. OED Online. August 2011. Oxford University Press. And “Vector, n.” Def. 3a. OED Online. August 2011. Oxford University Press. ! Laplante 5! with Fog, the Bog,” looks at the Bogside during the battle as a borderland refracted through four identities based on religion, class, politics and geography. Based on primary research obtained in the national newspapers, a contemporary political memoir and a thematic poetry collection, this MRP seeks to accomplish three main goals.

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