Northern Ireland - Ireland 2014 - page 508

moment both had once sworn would never happen) as London returned control of
the government to Belfast.
Flag: The official flag of Northern Ireland is the Union flag of the UK. But you'll
also see the green, white, and orange Irish tricolor (waved by Nationalists) and the
Northern Irish flag (white with a red cross and a red hand at its center), which is
used by Unionists (see “The Red Hand of Ulster” sidebar on here ).
Partly inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement in America
in the 1960s—beamed into Irish living rooms by the new magic of television news—the
Catholic minority in Northern Ireland began a nonviolent struggle to end discrimination,
advocating for better jobs and housing. Extremists polarized issues, and demonstra-
tions—also broadcast on TV news—became violent. Unionists were afraid that if the is-
land became one nation, the relatively poor Republic of Ireland would drag down the com-
paratively affluent North, and that the high percentage of Catholics would spell repression
for the Protestants. As Unionist Protestants and Nationalist Catholics clashed in 1969, the
British Army entered the fray. Their role, initially a peacekeeping one, gradually evolved
into acting as muscle for the Unionist government. In 1972, a watershed year, more than
500 people died as combatants moved from petrol bombs to guns, and a new, more violent
IRA emerged. In that 30-year (1968-1998) chapter of the struggle for an independent and
united Ireland, more than 3,000 people were killed.
A 1985 agreement granted Dublin a consulting role in the Northern Ireland govern-
ment. Unionists buckedthisidea, andviolence escalated. That same year,Belfast City Hall
draped a huge, defiant banner under its dome, proclaiming, Belfast Says No .
In 1994, the banner came down. In the 1990s—with Ireland's membership in the EU,
the growth of its economy, and the weakening of the Catholic Church's influence—the
consequences of a united Ireland became slightly less threatening to the Unionists. Also
in 1994, the IRA declared a cease-fire, and the Protestant Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
followed suit.
The Nationalists wanted British troops out of Northern Ireland, while the Unionists de-
manded that the IRA turn in its arms. Optimists hailed the signing of a breakthrough peace
planin1998,calledthe“GoodFridayAccord”byNationalists,orthe“BelfastAgreement”
by Unionists. This led to the release of prisoners on both sides in 2000—a highly emotion-
al event.
Recently, additional progress has taken place on both fronts. The IRA finally “verifi-
ably put their arms beyond use” in 2005, and backed the political peace process. In 2009,
most Loyalist paramilitary groups did the same. Meanwhile, British Army surveillance