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run schools; Catholics attend church
schools. Housing, too, is divided in
large measure along sectarian lines.
There has also been a certain degree
of discrimination against Catholics
in employment, with Catholics hold–
ing, in general, the less attractive
jobs and experiencing higher rates of
unemployment.
The bitterness and resentment
among Catholics over this "second–
class citizenship" stiffened increas–
ingly with each passing year. I n
1968, a Catholic civil rights move–
ment began in earnest, triggering
violence between the two communi–
ties.
The sudden worsening of the fac–
tional violence, first in Londonderry
and then in Belfast, led British Prime
Minister Harold Wilson to send in
the first contingent of 1,000 troops to
Northern I reland in August 1969 to
restare arder until a political solution
could be effected. At the time, the
British troops were generally wel–
comed by the Catholics, who saw
them as protection from marauding
Protestant gangs.
But the euphoria didn't last. In–
creasingly, many Catholics began to
look upon the troops as an army of
occupation, to be dealt with violently.
Today, over 13,000 troops are sta–
tioned in Ulster, down from a maxi–
mum of 21,000 in 1972. Over 300 of
these British soldiers have been killed
in Northern Ireland over the past de–
cade-victims of the militant Irish
Republican Army.
" Brits Out!"
The JRA, formed in 1919, had waged
guerrilla warfare against the British
earlier this century to win freedom
for Ireland. Though it had been offi–
cially disbanded by its leader, Eamon
de Valera, it had reemerged in Ulster
following the formation of the Trish
Republic.
The IRA has never accepted the
separateness of Ulster. The organiza–
tion is dedicated to "liberating" Ul–
ster by ending British control of the
province and uniting the entire island
as a single, democratic, independent
nation.
The IRA is using force to seek the
liberation of "their country." Its
members assert that they simply
10
have limited options on how they can
fight for their objectives. They see
violence as the only solution. Their
strategy is to wear down the British
until they simply wash their hands of
lreland for good. A majority of IRA
guerrillas live south of the border in
the Republic, from which they stage
hit-and-run attacks against the
North.
" Brits out" is the IRA battle cry.
But ironically, the IRA terror cam–
paign is the main factor keeping the
British troops in Ulster. It is general–
ly agreed among observers that the
withdrawal of British troops would
lead to a full-ftedged civil war in Ul–
ster. It would, they feel, be a signa!
for Protestant cxtremists to take the
law into their own hands to deal with
the IRA-a move which could erupt
into a civil bloodbath on a Lebanese
scale.
Even Prime Minister Jack Lynch
of the Irish Republic says he doesn't
want to see British troops suddenly
withdrawn from the north. " lf it
were not for the presence of the Brit–
ish Army," he observes, "the danger
of civil war would be worse." Yet
Mr. Lynch refuses, on the grounds of
preserving the Republic's sovereign–
ty, to permit British troops to chase
IRA gunmen across the border in
"hot pursuit."
The IRA had gained significant
support among Ulster Catholics by
the late 1960s. In 1969 the 1RA
split into two factions: the small
left-wing "Official" group and the
more militant right-wing "Provi–
sional" wing. The "Pravos," with a
hard-core 400 or so fighting men
and an additional 1000 reliables
ready to join ranks, has now become
the dominant force in the secession–
ist movement.
The increasing use of violence by
the Provisionals gradually caused
many Catholics to reassess their
thinking, as they began to realize
that they-the people who the IRA
had been claiming to "protect"–
were suffering the most. Though they
largely supported the IRA's goals,
they began to seriously question its
methods. A majority of Ulster Cath–
olics would prefer to eventually join
the southern Republic, but what they
are primarily seeking is simply to live
at peace in their own country–
whether Ulster or the lrish Repub–
lic-as equals with the rest of the
population.
To the south, the majority of lrish
Catholics in the Republic have ex–
pressed a complete rejection of the
IRA and its tactics. The Dublin gov–
ernment officially condemns the
IRA. Prime Minister Lynch's Fianna
Fail Party supports a united Ireland,
but rejects the use of force as a
means of achieving that aim, realiz–
ing that it can only come about . by
the consent of all the people of
Northern Ireland.
Coming - Civll War?
A relative decline in violence in
1978 had been widely viewed as a
possible indication that the situation
was finally being brought under
control. But not so. A marked in–
crease in the level of violence in
1979-highlighted by the Mount–
batten assassination-showed those
hopes to have been ill-founded.
Humphrey Atkins, Britain's Secre–
tary for Northern Ireland, conceded
recently that during the period of
apparent peace the IRA had been
"regrouping, retraining, re-equip–
ping themsclves and rethinking their
future tactics." The IRA, intelli–
gence reports show, has become a
tough and disciplined guerrilla army
ready for increased action.
This prospect raises the very real
possibility of a Protestant backlash
which could lead to all-out civil war
between the two religious communi–
ties. Massive retaliatory action by
Protestant paramilitary groups such
as the Ulster Defense AssQCiation,
the Ulster Volunteer Force and the
Ulster Freedom Fighters is reported–
ly being planned. Militant Protes–
tants have vowed a fight to the death
against any forced reunion of the two
lrish territories.
Northern lreland is now bracing
for an upsurge in bloody violence
which could thrust the "Irish Prob–
lem" back into front-page headlines
around the world.
Religlous Confllct ?
lt
is occasionally alleged that the
strife in Northern lreland is not pri–
marily religious in nature.
lt
is true
The
PLAIN TRUTH