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Humanities and Social Sciences Humanities and Social Sciences Wee Warriors: Youth Involvement in the Northern Irish Troubles Sam Neill, College of Arts and Science, Vanderbilt University The Northern Irish “Troubles” refers to the bloody 30-year conflict, from 1968 to 1998, largely cen- tered in Belfast between the Loyalist who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of Great Britain and the Republicans who wanted independence. The extremely violent conflict took more than 3,600 lives, resulted in more than 40,000 serious injuries, and deeply affected almost every person in Northern Ireland. The violence occurred almost daily, right in the city streets. Of particular note is the extent to which Northern Irish youth were involved in the struggle and the degree of the sacrifice many made for the respective causes. This study seeks to gain insight into the reasons for this element of this unique conflict. “Young people are asked to ‘voice’ their excess of 34,000 shooting incidents occurred, more views not only because it is seen as than 14,000 bombs were planted, 100 tons of explo- beneficial to them personally, but because sives were seized and likely more than that actu- people believe they can learn from what ally exploded, and 15,615 people were charged with they are saying.” (Kilpatrick and Leach, terrorist crimes during this period of unrest (Dunn: 563) 27). These numbers clearly demonstrate the exten- sive and powerful influence of the Troubles on the Introduction Northern Irish. The youth of this nation have been involved Milltown Cemetery, a famous landmark of in the conflict both as innocent victims as well as Northern Ireland, lies in West Belfast at the end active participants. McKittrick (1999: 14) recounts of The Falls Road. A central path in this ceme- an explosion in a restaurant in which two sisters tery marks the final resting place of many of the lost both of their legs, while the “Bogside Artists” protesting Irish hunger strikers of 1981 as well as a depict in a famous wall mural a young boy heaving a number of other Irish Republican Army members. petrol bomb at British security officers (Kelly, Kelly, The dates that mark some of these tombstones & Hanson, 2001). The involvement of Northern indicate lifetimes as short as 16 and 17 years of Irish children in the conflict is undeniable. While age, a truly shocking realization. These graves- much research has focused on the effects of the ites, adorned and glorified with flowers, cards, Troubles on youths, less has directly examined the and photos, provide one example of the dire conse- causes of their participation in the conflict. This study seeks to demonstrate that the internaliza- quences of the “Troubles,” a bloody, 30-year conflict, tion of violence as well as the association with the from 1968 to 1998, between the Catholic Republi- increasingly polarized ethnic identities, Ulster and cans and Protestant Loyalists of Northern Ireland. Irish, of Northern Irish youth during the Troubles While civil violence and conflict character- facilitated their involvement and active engage- izes many locations around the world, the conflict ment in the struggle. that transpired in Northern Ireland is unique. The Troubles remains the longest period of civil turmoil in the modern western world (Cairns, 1987: Background 11). Throughout the course of the three decades, more than 3,600 people perished and over 40,000 Northern Ireland has long been deeply divided. suffered serious injuries as a result of the Troubles, The first major contributing event to this storied not to mention the unimaginable psychological relationship dates back to the plantation of Ulster and emotional pain endured by tens of thousands in 1609, in which Britain took a section of land in more (McKittrick, 1999: 1480, & Cairns, 2000: Northern Ireland known as Ulster from the Irish 438). By one estimate, one in two inhabitants of Ulster clan that previously inhabited it, and gave it Northern Ireland knew at least one of the deceased to a community of Protestant colonists. This reor- victims and one in ten lost a family member. In ganization created ethnic and economic conflict in Spring 2008 | Volume 4 | Number 1 © 2008 • Vanderbilt University Board of Trust 1 Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal the region by situating two very different cultural of this paper include internalization and social communities in one area and with a single advan- identity. Internalization is the process by which taged community possessing the substantially more a person learns to accept a certain idea, behavior, productive and valuable land. The partitioning of or social structure (Connolly & Healy: 513). By Ireland in 1922 also complicated the initial group observing their group or community, people eventu- dynamic. This event divided Ireland into entities ally accept the established norms as their own and with the northern part, Northern Ireland, remaining incorporate these values and beliefs into their iden- under British control and the southern part estab- tity (Trew: 514). The individuals, or “significant lishing the free state of the Republic of Ireland in others,” in one’s immediate and local environment 1922. This partition, however, did not separate play crucial roles in this process as the teachers the two conflicting religious groups and left a large or demonstrators of the groups norms and roles population of Catholics in Northern Ireland subju- (Burgess: 146). The relationship of internaliza- gated to the politically and economically dominant tion and violence with involvement in the Troubles Protestants of the region. This established the becomes critical when one considers the locality groundwork that allowed the civil rights movement and extensiveness of the violence. of the late 1960s to spark initial protests in Belfast Intergroup discrimination is another focal and initiate the Troubles (Muldoon: 457-459). element of the Northern Irish situation. Tajfel and While unrest and violence began in the late Turner developed a theory called social identity 1960s, the years from 1970 to 1972 marked the first theory that helps to understand this group relation- significant escalation of the violence as well as the ship. It dictates that intergroup conflict consists of period of the greatest amount of political turmoil labeling certain groups, associating ourselves with during the conflict. The death toll peaked in 1972 one group, and favorably comparing our group with with 496 fatalities (McKittrick, 1999: 1473). A one or more distinctly separate groups (Cairns, number of key events were the main catalysts of 1987: 96-98). Once a person establishes firm ideas this violence. In 1970 3,000 British troops imposed of group categorization and association, the iden- The Falls Curfew upon the Republican lower Falls tification with his or her own group could become area, which ignited a heated exchange of gun fire so strong that a person takes on great risk, even with the Irish Republican Army and aroused angry life, in order to defend that group. This illustrates cries of injustice and accusations of torture. The the formation of the concept of collective identity. introduction of Internment in 1971 allowed troops to In other cases, the same degrees of risk and action detain civilians with out trial. In 1971, authorities might be taken due to the inability of the individual detained 350 civilians not one of whom was Protes- to break away from the collective and as a result tant. Between 1971 and 1975, of the 1,981 people resolves to defend it instead (Burgess: 147). The detained, only 107 pledged an allegiance to Protes- Northern Irish example demonstrates both cases. tantism or Loyalism. This measure compounded Two dominant groups exist in Northern appeals of injustice and accusations of torture in Ireland that form the regions intergroup conflict, addition to inspiring previously uninvolved citizens the Ulster and the Irish. The existence and perpet- to take up arms. Possibly the most infamous and uation of each group rely heavily on internalization media-covered incident was the Bloody Sunday and social identity formation. Massacre on January 30, 1972, which resulted in 13 deaths, including six minors (Cairns, 1987: 18). An Ethnic Conflict Other notable events of the Troubles include the emergence of the republican political party Sinn While the ideological nature of the Northern Fein (the political front of the Provisional IRA), Irish conflict is heavily debated and includes a the deaths of Bobby Sands, and nine other hunger combination of elements, ethnic division predomi- strikers, in 1981, and the 1994 Loyalist and Provi- nantly characterizes the temperament of the sional IRA ceasefires. The conflict finally ended on-going dispute. Societies form ethnic identi- in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement (Cairns, ties when they distinguish groups as separate for 1987: 20-21). sharing cultural, physical, linguistic, and/or reli- Internalization and Social Identity Theory gious elements (Burgess: 153). Other aspects vital to the understanding of ethnic identities include Two key concepts paramount to the argument ethnogenesis and ethnocentrism. People learn and 2 Volume 4 | Number 1 | Spring 2008 Wee Warriors: Youth Involvement in the Northern Irish Troubles establish their ethnic identities through the process and destructive participation by some, the children of ethnogenesis, which can be passive in the form of were the greatest victims of the troubles both in an group markers or active identification such as phys- ideological as well as empirical sense. They did not ical group separation or culture revival. It is also create the tragic situation but rather were often common for ethnic identities to assume national- born into communities of intense ethnic allegiance istic qualities, usually when the situation involves that allowed many no passage of escape. Although a history of colonization or migration (Burgess: 102, they were not the cause of the Troubles, many 240). These components of ethnic identity help undeservingly carried the burden of the bitter inform and explain the group identities embedded conflict.
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