ZEKE Fall 2019

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Youth of Bel Struggling with a Legacy of Conflict and the Looming Brexit Crisis by Alessandra Bergamin Photos by Toby Binder Last April marked more than twenty years since the end of Northern Ireland’s sectarian conflict known as “the Troubles.” The more than 30-year war pitted Irish Catholic nationalists, who favored unification with the Republic of Ireland to the south, against Protestant loyalists who supported continued British rule. While memories of bombings and bloodshed linger and signs of segregation still divide the capital city of Belfast, the country’s youth are torn between a palpable past and an uncertain future. The roots of the Troubles stretch back to the creation of Northern Ireland itself. The Unionist political establishment, which was largely Protestant, maintained power over the Irish Catholic minority through discriminatory policies. In the 1960s, inspired by the American civil rights movement, the country’s Irish Catholic community formed a civil rights association to protest the systemic discrimination. But the organization’s peaceful protests were often met with excessive force, only heightening tensions between the police, politicians, and the movement. As the situation escalated, the British Army was deployed to Northern Ireland, and soon Unionist and Republican paramilitaries — such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Ulster Defense Association — formed. As riots and bombings became commonplace, brick and steel “peace walls” were erected to separate sectarian communities. The Troubles reached a new, violent height in 1972 when British paratroopers opened fire on Catholic demonstrators in Derry, killing 13 people and injuring 14 more. In 2010, an official inquiry determined that the attack, which came to be known as ‘Bloody Sunday,’ was unjustified. An actual possibility for peace wouldn’t arrive until the late 1990s when the British and Irish governments and paramilitary groups met to discuss a peace treaty. The talks led to the landmark Good Friday Agreement in December 12 / ZEKE APRIL FALL 2019 2015
1999 and the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly—a power-sharing legislative body that has the ability to make laws in areas including housing, employment, education, and health. By the time the bloodshed and bombings ceased, more than 3,600 people had died and thousands more were injured. In the decades since the treaty was fast As the country’s hardwon power sharing agreement flounders, Brexit looms with uncertainty, and the country’s youth face issues of continued segregation and suicide, a united Northern Ireland is more important than ever. signed peace has been successful, albeit tenuous. Now, as the country’s hard-won political assembly flounders, Brexit looms with uncertainty, and the country’s youth face issues of continued segregation and suicide, a united Northern Ireland is more important than ever. A Legacy of Violence While Northern Ireland’s youth have experienced the fruits of peace rather than the tribulations of war, research has found that intergenerational trauma continues to affect the country’s population. A 2010 study by researchers at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland found that 30 years after Bloody Sunday, the victims’ children and immediate family members reported significant psychological distress. In some cases, especially among those closest to the victims, their distress was comparable to those who had lived through war itself. Stephen Mullan, the executive director of Dreamscheme—an organization that works with at-risk youth in Belfast—has observed this intergenerational trauma. “When there’s pain in your family history, that’s harder to get over,” Mullan said. “There’s a lot of emotion that’s passed through those stories.” More broadly, Northern Ireland’s youth are struggling with mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. The legacy of conflict, continued discrimination, poverty, and high unemployment are all contributing factors. As a result, Northern Ireland’s suicide rate is one of the highest in the United Kingdom. Between 1999 and 2014, more than 3,700 people lost their lives to suicide and nearly a fifth of those people were under 25 years old. Studies have linked the high youth suicide rate to the conflict in a number of ways. In particular, poverty combined with continued segregation is thought to increase risk factors that may result in suicide. “Kids now are not so much hurting each other,” Mullan said. “But hurting themselves.” Sectarianism & Segregation While the country’s ‘peace walls’ are slowly being torn down, sectarianism and segregation still linger. In housing estates such as Creggan, where poverty and unemployment are high, sectarian sentiments are strong and appear to be increasing as paramilitaries regroup. Earlier this year, on the night before Good Friday, journalist Lyra McKee was shot dead during a riot in Creggan. The New IRA, a radical splinter group of the original IRA, later claimed responsibility but no one has been charged with her murder. Segregated schools add to the problem. Only seven percent of school-aged children in Northern Ireland attend an officially integrated school. This low percentage has created a barrier to friendships that stretch across ideological lines. These divisions, however, are disliked by young people, many of whom prefer integrated education. Dirk Schubotz, a senior lecturer at Queen’s University in Belfast, directs an annual survey of 16-year-olds across Northern Ireland and says this growing preference for integrated schools reflects young people’s desire to separate themselves from the past. “Young people go out of their way to say that ‘this is not our conflict, it’s our parent’s or our grandparent’s,’” Schubotz said. “We also live at a time where religion has become less important— that’s not unique to Northern Ireland, but there’s a different element because of the conflict.” Looking Toward the Future Even in its uncertainty, the prospect of Brexit has posed a new concern for segments of Northern Ireland’s youth. A recent report found that 61 percent of middle-income teenagers are highly concerned about withdrawing from the European Union. Brexit, if enacted, would have wide-reaching implications for trade, immigration and Northern Ireland’s shared border with the Republic of Ireland. More locally, Northern Ireland’s political system has essentially unraveled. The country’s power-sharing Assembly has not been in session for more than two years due to a falling out between Republican and Unionist parties. For many young people, optimistic that the future of Northern Ireland is one of unity, the Assembly’s failing is a reminder that the shadow of conflict will be present as long as divisions persist. “Most young people would like Northern Ireland to progress to the point where you wouldn’t have to ask if someone is British or Irish,” says twenty-one-year old Tara Grace Connolly who grew up in Belfast. “We would like a future of prosperity and progress, not fear.” ZEKE APRIL FALL 2019/ 2015/ 13
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