The Troubles in Northern Ireland
Introduction After the war of Independence, in 1921 Ireland was split up into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is catholic and an independent state Northern Ireland is mostly protestant but also catholic and politically belongs to the United Kingdom In Northern Ireland you can find two controversial groups: -Nationalists (mostly catholic) who want to belong to the Republic of Ireland -Unionists (mostly protestant) who are against it
Troubles • All along history there has been a lot of troubles concerning Norther Ireland.The most relevant ones took place in the 70’s and the most famous riot is known as Bloody Sunday (domingo sangriento), in 1972.
Bloody Sunday •
Bloody Sunday was an incident on 30th January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, in Northern Ireland, in which twenty-six unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army.
• The soldiers involved were the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. 13 males, 7 of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man 4 and a half months later has been attributed to the injuries he received on that day. 2 protesters were injured when they were run down by army vehicles. 5 of those wounded were shot in the back. • Bloody Sunday remains among the most significant events in the Troubles of Northern Ireland, chiefly because it was carried out by the British army and not paramilitaries, in full view of the public and the press.
IRA • Irish Republican Army
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The IRA is the organisation of the Nationalists and want to reunite Ireland
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When Irland became the Irish Republic, the IRA focused their atention towards the elimination of the British dominium in Northern Ireland.
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It is closely connected to the political and peaceful party called “Sinn Fein” which means "we ourselves“
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A group that broke away from IRA is responsible for many murders and bomb attacks which also killed innocent people
“officials” and “provisionals” •
The first time that the IRA was involved in a fight was during the Irish War of Independence , which took place between 1919 and 1921. It is known as one of the stages of the denominated Irish Revolution. After the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed in London in 1921, Ireland was divided between the current Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which was part of the United Kingdom. In the same way, the IRA was divided into two parts, a little part accepted the treaty and formed the Irish Army but the high proportion opposed the treaty and fought in the Irish Civil War from 1922 to 1923.
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In 1969 there was another division. The problem was the differences about the terrorist tactics, and so the IRA was divided into two groups, the radical one, called Provisional IRA (PIRA) which preferred the armed struggle and terrorism and the main one, called Official IRA, which used the political toll to get their aims.
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Nowadays, when we hear about the IRA, they are referring to the provisional part (PIRA).
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER •
“In the Name of the Father” deals with the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven. They were two sets of people whose wrongful convictions in English courts for the Guildford pub bombings in the 1970s were eventually quashed. The Guildford Four were convicted of bombings carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and the Maguire Seven were convicted of handling explosives found during the investigation into the bombings…
• After their arrest, all four defendants confessed to the bombing. These statements were later retracted, but nonetheless formed the basis of the case against them. They would later be explained as the result of coercion by the police, ranging from intimidation to torture— including threats against family members—as well as the effects of drug withdrawal. • Conlon, one of the four of Guilford, argues in his autobiography that a key factor in his coerced confession was the fact that strengthened anti-terrorism laws passed in the early 1970s allowed the police to hold suspects without charges for up to a week, rather than the previous limit of 48 hours, and that he might have been able to withstand the coercion had the original time limit been in effect.
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Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ff5KjZ7vM
The Troubles in Northern Ireland have had echo all over the world and they have inspired patriotic and anti-british feelings in Ireland, as we can see it reflected in this famous song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KA9QKgcNR