<p>U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/boris-johnson-calls-for-calm-after-a-fiery-fourth-night-of-violence-in-northern-ireland">calling for calm</a>, said “the way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality." </p><p>But Northern Ireland was born of violence. </p><p>Deep divisions between two identity groups – broadly defined as Protestant and Catholic – have dominated the country since its very founding. Now, <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/04/08/brexit-is-the-catalyst-for-rioting-in-northern-ireland">roiled anew by the impact of Brexit</a>, Northern Ireland is seemingly moving in a darker and more dangerous direction.</p><h2>Colonization of Ireland</h2><p>The island of Ireland, whose northernmost part lies a mere 13 miles from Britain, has been contested territory for at least nine centuries. </p><p>Britain long gazed with colonial ambitions on its smaller Catholic neighbor. The 12th-century <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/marking-the-norman-invasion-of-ireland-850-years-and-counting-1.3877350">Anglo-Norman invasion</a> first brought the neighboring English to Ireland. </p><p><iframe class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" frameborder="0" height="400px" id="f4flZ" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/f4flZ/3/" style="border: none" width="100%"></iframe></p><p>In the late 16th century, frustrated by continuing native Irish resistance, Protestant England implemented an aggressive plan to fully colonize Ireland and stamp out Irish Catholicism. Known as “<a href="https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/Plantations_in_Ulster.PDF">plantations</a>," this social engineering exercise “planted" strategic areas of Ireland with tens of thousands of English and Scottish Protestants. </p><p>Plantations offered settlers cheap woodland and bountiful fisheries. In exchange, Britain established a base loyal to the British crown – not to the Pope. </p><p>England's most ambitious plantation strategy was carried out in Ulster, the northernmost of Ireland's provinces. By 1630, <a href="https://www.ancestryireland.com/understanding-plantation/movement-of-british-settlers-into-ulster-during-the-17th-century/">according to the Ulster Historical Foundation</a>, there were about 40,000 English-speaking Protestant settlers in Ulster. </p><p>Though displaced, the native Irish Catholic population of Ulster was not converted to Protestantism. Instead, two divided and antagonistic communities – each with its own culture, language, political allegiances, religious beliefs and economic histories – shared one region. </p><h2>Whose Ireland is it?</h2><p>Over the next two centuries, Ulster's identity divide transformed into a political fight over the future of Ireland. </p><p>“Unionists" – most often Protestant – wanted Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. “Nationalists" – most often Catholic – wanted self-government for Ireland. </p><p>These fights played out in political debates, the media, sports, pubs – and, often, in street violence.</p><p> <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394303/original/file-20210409-23-1fvo9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Drawing of people in suits fleeing soldiers with guns" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394303/original/file-20210409-23-1fvo9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394303/original/file-20210409-23-1fvo9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394303/original/file-20210409-23-1fvo9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394303/original/file-20210409-23-1fvo9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394303/original/file-20210409-23-1fvo9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394303/original/file-20210409-23-1fvo9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394303/original/file-20210409-23-1fvo9yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w"/></a></p><p> British soldiers suppress a riot in Belfast in 1886.</p><p> <a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rioting-on-a-street-corner-in-belfast-norther-ireland-from-news-photo/1053837226?adppopup=true">Hulton Archive/Getty Images</a></p><p>By the early 1900s, a movement of Irish independence was rising in the south of Ireland. The nationwide struggle over Irish identity only intensified the strife in Ulster.</p><p>The British government, hoping to appease nationalists in the south while protecting the interests of Ulster unionists in the north, proposed in 1920 to <a href="https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/british-government-publishes-plan-to-partition-ireland">partition Ireland into two parts</a>: one majority Catholic, the other Protestant-dominated – but both remaining within the United Kingdom.</p><p>Irish nationalists in the south rejected that idea and carried on with their <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/nationalism-war-independence.htm">armed campaign to separate from Britain</a>. Eventually, in 1922, they gained independence and became the Irish Free State, today called the Republic of Ireland.</p><p>In Ulster, unionist power-holders reluctantly accepted partition as the best alternative to remaining part of Britain. In 1920, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1920/67/pdfs/ukpga_19200067_en.pdf">Government of Ireland Act</a> created Northern Ireland, the newest member of the United Kingdom. </p><h2>A troubled history</h2><p>In this new country, native Irish Catholics were now a minority, making up less than a third of Northern Ireland's 1.2 million people. </p><p>Stung by partition, nationalists refused to recognize the British state. Catholic schoolteachers, supported by church leaders, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0046760X.2020.1738563">refused to take state salaries</a>. </p><p>And when Northern Ireland seated its first parliament in May 1921, nationalist politicians did not take their elected seats in the assembly. The Parliament of Northern Ireland became, essentially, Protestant – and its pro-British leaders pursued a wide variety of <a href="https://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/a-history-of-ulster-jonathan-bardon-and-nine-ulster-lives-g-obrien-p-roebuck-eds-11/">anti-Catholic practices</a>, discriminating against Catholics in public housing, voting rights and hiring. </p><p>By the 1960s, Catholic nationalists in Northern Ireland were mobilizing to demand more equitable governance. In 1968, police responded violently to a peaceful march to protest <a href="https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1031-civil-rights-movement-1968-9/1034-derry-5-october-1968/319464-riots-in-derry-after-civil-rights-demonstration/">inequality in the allocation of public housing in Derry</a>, Northern Ireland's second-largest city. In 60 seconds of unforgettable television footage, the world saw water cannons and baton-wielding officers attack defenseless marchers without restraint. </p><p>On Jan. 30, 1972, during another civil rights march in Derry, British soldiers opened fire on unarmed marchers, killing 14. This massacre, known as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-47433319">Bloody Sunday</a>, marked a tipping point. A nonviolent movement for a more inclusive government morphed into a revolutionary campaign to overthrow that government and unify Ireland. </p><p>The <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/armed-struggle-9780195177534?cc=us&lang=en&">Irish Republican Army</a>, a nationalist paramilitary group, used bombs, targeted assassinations and ambushes to pursue independence from Britain and reunification with Ireland.</p><p> <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394298/original/file-20210409-13-zjfs0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black-and-white image of armed police occupying a smoky city street" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394298/original/file-20210409-13-zjfs0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394298/original/file-20210409-13-zjfs0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394298/original/file-20210409-13-zjfs0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394298/original/file-20210409-13-zjfs0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394298/original/file-20210409-13-zjfs0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394298/original/file-20210409-13-zjfs0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394298/original/file-20210409-13-zjfs0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w"/></a></p><p> The city of Derry effectively became a war zone at times in 1969.</p><p> <a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-police-officers-from-the-royal-ulster-constabulary-news-photo/537737902?adppopup=true">Independent News and Media/Getty Images)</a></p><p>Longstanding paramilitary groups that were aligned with pro-U.K. political forces reacted in kind. Known as loyalists, these groups <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/security-forces-colluded-with-loyalists-to-carry-out-killings-1.356051">colluded with state security forces</a> to defend Northern Ireland's union with Britain. </p><p>Euphemistically known as “the troubles," this violence claimed <a href="https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/sutton/">3,532 lives</a> from 1968 to 1998.</p><h2>Brexit hits hard</h2><p>The troubles subsided in April 1998 when the British and Irish governments, along with major political parties in Northern Ireland, signed a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/14118775">landmark U.S.-brokered peace accord</a>. The Good Friday Agreement established a power-sharing arrangement between the two sides and gave the Northern Irish parliament more authority over domestic affairs. </p><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/advice-for-colombia-from-countries-that-have-sought-peace-and-sometimes-found-it-67419">peace agreement made history</a>. But Northern Ireland remained deeply fragmented by identity politics and paralyzed by dysfunctional governance, according to my research on <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-troubled-sleep-9780190095574?cc=us&lang=en&">risk and resilience in the country</a>. </p><p>Violence has periodically flared up since.</p><p> <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394305/original/file-20210409-21-1x9bdgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protester throws a hubcap at police, who stand in a line wearing full riot gear" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394305/original/file-20210409-21-1x9bdgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394305/original/file-20210409-21-1x9bdgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394305/original/file-20210409-21-1x9bdgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394305/original/file-20210409-21-1x9bdgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394305/original/file-20210409-21-1x9bdgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394305/original/file-20210409-21-1x9bdgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394305/original/file-20210409-21-1x9bdgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w"/></a></p><p> Protesters and police face off in Belfast on April 8, 2021.</p><p> <a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nationalists-attack-police-on-springfield-road-just-up-from-news-photo/1232187812?adppopup=true">Charles McQuillan/Getty Images</a></p><p>Then, in 2020, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887">came Brexit</a>. Britain's negotiated withdrawal from the European Union created a new <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/18/irish-sea-border-protest-posters-reflect-loyalist-anxiety-in-northern-ireland">border in the Irish Sea</a> that economically moved Northern Ireland away from Britain and toward Ireland. </p><p>Leveraging the instability caused by Brexit, nationalists have renewed calls for a referendum on formal Irish reunification. </p><p>For unionists loyal to Britain, that represents existential threat. Young loyalists born after the height of the troubles are particularly fearful of losing a British identity that has always been theirs. </p><p>Recent spasms of street disorder suggest they will defend that identity with violence, if necessary. In some neighborhoods, nationalist youths <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/uk/northern-ireland-violence-explainer-gbr-intl/index.html">have countered with violence of their own</a>.</p><p>In its centenary year, Northern Ireland teeters on the edge of a painfully familiar precipice.</p><p>[<em>You're smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation's authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]<img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158122/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1"/></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/james-waller-1220066">James Waller</a>, Cohen Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/keene-state-college-4531">Keene State College</a></em></p><p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/northern-ireland-born-of-strife-100-years-ago-again-erupts-in-political-violence-158122">original article</a>.</p>
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