UNIT 4

CONFLICT IN MULTI-ETHIC SOCIETIES

Background Information

They were in a civil war for over 30 years due to differences in religious beliefs
Civil war : war between groups of people within aa country .
Before the 12th Century , Ireland was conquered by England - English protestants pushed out Irish Catholics .
1654-1801 , the northern part of Ireland was gradually occupied by British Protestants
Protestants implemented penal laws against Catholics
1800-Ireland became part of UK and local Irish Catholics sought limited self government and did not want to be part of UK
1900s -The British government lost control of Southern Ireland
1921- Ireland was divided into 2 , South was an Irish Free state where there were mainly Catholic . Whereby the north of Ireland were largely Protestants which Catholics were still treated unfairly .
1949 - Irish free state became Republic of Ireland .
As of 2001 , 1million protestants and 700,000 Catholics inhabited Northern Ireland.

Divided Loyalities

The protestants see themselves as British and wanted Northern Ireland to remain part as the United Kingdom .They did not want union with the Republic of Ireland as the Catholic government may not be tolerant of their Protestants beliefs
However , the Catholics saw themselves as Irish and wanted to reunite with Republic of Ireland as they resented the history of English conquest where Catholics were treated unfairly .
The deep sense of divided loyalities drove the two groups further apart and resent each other . They never saw themselves as one country with a common goal .

Unequal Allocation for Housing

Protestants were given higher priorities in seeking public housing whereareas some Catholic families which were bigger and had a more urgent need for the house had to wait for a long time before they could get one .
As public housing became more readily available , the Catholics felt discriminated against due to unfair housing policies .
Tension between Catholics and Protestants thus grew , culminating the conflict .

Unequal Employement Opportunities

It was harder for Catholics to find a job even if they were academically qualifies as priority were given to Protestants .
Catholics were usually employed for unskilled and low paying jobs as compared to Protestants as they were employed for higher paying jobs such as civil service .
Protestant controlled government institutions and private companies preferred to employ Protestants , Promotions were also based on religious grounds .
The Catholics were discriminated against the protestants as higher priorities and opportunites were given to the Protestants .
For example , in 1960s , the highest ranking Catholic in the education deparment in Londonderry , area with a Catholic majority , was the offical in charge of school meals .

Lack of voting rights

Only people who owned houses and businesses were allowed to vote in the local government elections
Every household was entitled to more votes and votes given to companies depended on their size
Futhermore ,voting districts were drawn up to include a larger proportion of Protestants rather than the catholics .
As many companies were owned by Protestants , the Protestants therefore had more votes and this was unfair to the Catholics .
Catholics had no voting districts near them and thus they decided to protest against the voting systems

Lack of opportunities for social interaction

The Catholic and Protestants had different education systems
Catholic students were taught Irish history , language and culture and took up Irish sports such as hurling .
Whereareas Protestants students learnt British history , loyalty to the British and took up British sports.
Fully funded public schools for Protestants , partly-funded private schools that cater to Catholics .
Protestants and Catholics also lived in separate residential areas .
The disharmony and the different education system gave little opportunites for social interaction between the different religious groups , leading to tense relations .
British troops built the Belfast 'peace' wall in 1969 , its one of the many walls built to separate Catholics and Protestants.
Generations of children grew up not knowing each other and distructful of each other . This caused further hostility and distrust and contributed to the conflict between the Protestants and Catholics .

Social Segregation

People in Northern Ireland have grown up in an atmosphere of tension and violence .
As the Protestants and Catholics have been socially segregated , they are unable to interact with each other to promote better understanding and resolve their conflict .
The lack of understandin between the two religious groups led to difficulty to solve the hatred and suspicion created by various issues which led to the conflict .
Social segregation prevents the Catholics and Protestants from understanding one another as well as coming together to resolve the conflict which is preventing them from reaching peace and harmony .

Declining Economy

The violence discourages domestic and foreign investment in the coutry as investors are put off by the rising cost of security and the threat of bombings.
The violence and bombings also had destroyed property and infrastructure .
As the economy is in decline , there is little money to be obtained to rebuild the infrastructure .
Development in Northern Ireland would be slowed down , leading to economic hardship and lower standards of living .
A declining economy and lower standards of living leads to deepened hatred for one another as they blame opposite the religious group for the problems .
As the economy is affected , the society is too affected as people lost their jobs and having no stable income can affect the people of Northern Ireland badly .
This can further fuel the feelings of anger and resentment .

Political Changes

The Civil Rights Marches/Movement placed pressure on the Northern Ireland government to pass anti-discrimination measures in Northern Ireland
The unfair voting system was abolished and promises were made to review the schemes for allocating government owned houses .
But , despite these efforts , other discriminatory policies continue to remain and efforts to bring about power sharing have not been successful as the different political parties refused to share power .
Political change has brought about significant consequences of the conflict as the changes are sweeping and it had allowed for more positive attitude to the tense relations between the Catholics and Protestants .