Material Conflicts by Neil Jarman

Author:Neil Jarman [Jarman, Neil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9781000184419
Google: mkX1DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-08-04T05:03:00+00:00

Widespread protests followed, and on 30 January an estimated 10,000 people joined an anti-Intemment demonstration organised by the Civil Rights Association in Derry. Their route into the city centre was barricaded by the British army. Some of the demonstrators sought to break down the barriers, and a flurry of stones and bottles was met with rubber bullets. Then, without warning, members of the Parachute Regiment opened fire with live rounds, and within a few minutes 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead. Another man died later from wounds received (McCann 1992). Internment and Bloody Sunday confirmed to the nationalist population that the British government was no longer a neutral player. It was clearly seen as on the side of the unionists. These actions were perceived as random attacks on the Catholic community as a whole, rather than aimed specifically at republicans or those politically involved. Innocent men were arrested and held without charge, and, it was later accepted, many were tortured (McGuffin 1973, 1974). Those who protested against this injustice were summarily shot dead. To add insult to injury, the British Government have continued to offer justifications for their actions rather than apologies. These two events were central to the widespread alienation of the mass of the Catholic population from the British army and the Government, and as a result of Internment and Bloody Sunday membership of the IRA and support for the republican movement grew rapidly.

The first anniversary of Internment established what was to become the customary pattern for the day - a march along the Falls Road, followed by a political rally, while the evening degenerated into rioting or stone-throwing. By 1975 Sinn Fein had taken over the organisation of the Belfast rally, a parallel process to the republican take-over of the Easter commemorations and, for many years, St Patrick’s day. As the scale of the violence increased the republican movement became the principal focus for all nationalist protest. Internment parades were moved to the Sunday nearest the anniversary, and the event was used to publicise the wider political demands of the republican movement. Calls were made for the withdrawal of British troops and support for the Republican prisoners in their campaign for political status was repeated annually; members of NORAID from the USA regularly attended; GLC councillors came from London; and armed members of the IRA made regular appearances.

But from the mid-1980s the style of commemoration was changed: the West Belfast Community Festival was organised in the week before the rally with the intention of generating positive emotions rather than the customary violent reaction to soldiers and police. The festival has since developed as a wide mixture of political debates and meetings and concerts of music, drama and dance. The commemoration of Internment has became part of a broader celebration of the ‘culture of resistance’ and an exhibition of the strength and vitality of the nationalist community (Sluka 1995).

As part of this wider transformation, the Internment anniversary was used to challenge some of the constraints placed on the location of republican events.

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