The WSM took part in the annual Bloody Sunday commemorative march in Derry yesterday. This
was the 42nd commemoration since the massacre in 1972 when British soldiers shot and
killed 14 Civil Rights marchers. The Belfast Telegraph said 4000 people took part, the
number marching each years declined considerably after many of the relatives backed ending
the annual march 3 years ago. ---- A minutes silence was observed at Free Derry corner and
the civil rights anthem 'We shall Overcome' was sung. The main speaker at the rally was
Stafford Scott of the Mark Duggan Campaign in London. The police killing of Mark Duggan in
2011 was the trigger for 3 days of intensive rioting across England. The rally was chaired
by Bernadette McAliskey who said the police investigation into the Bloody Sunday killings
should start by questioning the soldiers responsible.
Thanks to Bas for the photo, you can reach about the history of Bloody Sunday at
http://www.wsm.ie/c/bloody-sunday-derry-causes-consequences-massacre-1972
Bloody Sunday in Derry - Origins & Consequences of a Massacre
Date: Wed, 2012-01-25 11:23
On the 30th January 1972 British soldiers opened fire on protesters in the city of Derry,
north-west Ireland. Twenty six unarmed protesters were shot, 13 died immediately or within
hours, one more died just over four months later. Derry was in the section of Ireland
claimed by the British state and the shootings happened in the context of the suppression
of a growing civil rights movement demanding equality for Catholics in the 6 of Ulster?s
counties claimed by Britain.
The killings in Derry had a transformative impact on the next 30 years of Irish history.
By 1972 the attempt to suppress the Civil Rights movement alongside the anti-catholic
pogroms that had taken place, particularly in Belfast, had already seen the popular and
nonviolent movement divided into communitarian camps, and fostered the rebirth of a more
traditional armed nationalism. The massacre of unarmed protesters that day, and the state
cover up that followed, ensured that the response to the British state would become
increasingly militaristic, growing the influence of the IRA. What else would be expected
in such circumstances? By transforming the conflict from a popular struggle into a
military insurrection, the British State pushed the struggle onto terrain in which it was
more confident of a victory.
Background
The history of the British state?s military involvement in and rule of Ireland is very
old, going back to the 1100?s. However if we start in 1918, the last year of World War
One, we find another round of rebellion igniting that for the first time involved
organised labour and which alongside a military struggle saw many local and five national
general strikes. This at a time of revolution across Europe, when the various ruling
classes desperately tried to impose a new stability. Part of the price for the British
ruling class of that stability was to allow independence for 26 of the 32 counties in Ireland.
Excluded from independence were the 6 counties of Ulster in the North-East of the island,
counties which contained a significant protestant majority. British imperialist policy
almost everywhere made use of religious or ethnic divisions between ?subject peoples? in
order to maintain imperialist rule. That mechanism had been developed and tested in
Ireland from the 1500?s with the displacement of indigenous gaelic catholics from
significant portions of good agricultural land and their replacement with protestant
settlers from Britain and Scotland in particular. This policy was most successful in the
North East which was in any case close to Scotland and thus saw much movement to and from
Scotland. The continued promotion of sectarian divisions meant that by late 1800s the
working class in the city of Belfast was divided deeply along religious lines with
periodic rioting between catholic & protestant workers often triggered over access to
housing & jobs.
The partition of Ireland in 1922 saw the new Northern State being given limited Home Rule.
These local powers were used over the next forty years to try and unify all protestants
regardless of class behind what came to be called the ?Orange State? through
discrimination against the catholic working class in particular. This discrimination was
expressed through restricting access to employment and housing but also through limiting
access to weapons to the state forces and a very large auxillary force of protestant
males, the ?B Specials.?
The Civil Rights Movement
Inspired by the civil rights movement in the USA the late 1960s saw the formation of the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association based on the following demands
one man, one vote in local elections - only rate payers were allowed vote
an end to gerrymandering - election boundaries had been set so that towns with large
catholic majorities elected majority protestant councils
an end to discrimination in housing
an end to discrimination in jobs
the disbandment of the B-Specials, the auxillary force already referrred to
NICRA soon met with state repression and the repression of a demonstration in Derry on 5
October 1968 was followed by two days of nationalist rioting. Footage of the suppression
of the march shocked many in Ireland and elsewhere. Radical students influenced by these
events came together to form People?s Democracy, a grassroots socialist and anti-sectarian
organisation with a libertarian character which was at the forefront of direct action and
practised direct democracy.
Tensions continued to rise in 1969 culminating in three days of rioting in August when
nationalists in the Bogside defend the area against the police and the B Specials. The
Bogside and neighbouring Creggan had in effect become a self governing area known as Free
Derry, protected behind barricades. On the day ?Free Derry? was set up some 1500 locals
armed with steel bars, wooden clubs and hurleys (French parallel?) mobilised to defend the
area.
Free Derry
Free Derry derived its name from a sign painted on the gable wall of a house at the edge
of the area reading ?You are now entering Free Derry?. That street was later demolished
but the gable has been preserved to this day bearing either that legend or variations of
it tying into a variety of political themes.
The police and army were prevented from entering the area until October 1968. Even when
the British Prime Minister Jim Callaghan visited the Bogside at the end of August 1968 he
had to abandon his army escort at the edge of the area and accept instead an escort from
the Derry Citizens Defence Association set up by the residents to defend the area. After
reforms were announced and Callaghan visited again on the 11th October unarmed military
police were allowed to patrol.
Internment
This period saw an increasing militarisation of the conflict including a split in the IRA
centered around the question of the balance to be struck between radical (but stalinist)
politics (the ?Officals?) and more traditional national militarism (the ?Provisionals?).
Then on 9th August 1971 the British state tried to crush opposition through targetting for
internment 450 people from factions of the IRA, left radical organisations like People?s
Democracy and even some of the civil rights leaders! However there wasn?t a single
loyalist among the 450 people initially targeted.
Barricades were once more erected in Derry bringing ?Free Derry? back into existence for a
third time. This time the area was also defended by armed paramilitaries. Sniper attacks
on soldiers became common and an extensive bombing campaign was conducted against
commercial premises in the center of the city.
Events of the day
By early 1972 internment was resulting in an escalating cycle of violence but a mass
unarmed movement continued to exist and mobilise in the streets. NICRA organised a march
to protest internment from the Creggan through the Bogside into Derry city center. The
army erected barricades to stop the march reaching the city center.
Estimates of how many attempted to march that day vary but probably at least 15,000
gathered in the Creggan and marched to the alternative end point at Free Derry corner. As
had become ?traditional? youth threw stones at the British army on the barricades and the
army used water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets. Shortly before dusk the army command
ordered the Parachute Regiment (?Paras?) to enter the Bogside. As in other armies
Parachute troops are trained as brutal shock troops, encouraged to use extreme violence to
achieve their objectives. That Sunday there were ordered to use live ammunition. As the
unarmed crowd fled over 100 rounds were fired, 13 people being killed instantly or dying
soon after, 14 others were wounded including two who were ran down by APC?s. Many were
either shot in the back or shot as they tried to crawl to cover along the ground.
Widgery cover up
In the face of a mounting international outcry, the burning down of the British embassy in
Dublin during a huge demonstration against the massacre and the southern Government
requesting UN intervention the British state was forced to announce an enquiry. This was
held under Lord Chief Justice Lord Widgery and amounted to no more than a massive cover up
that sought to confirm the army lie that many of those shot had been armed.
The City coroner, himself a retired British army Major issued a statement on the day of
the completion of the inquest into those killed reflecting what had really happened
?It strikes me that the Army ran amok that day and shot without thinking what they were
doing. They were shooting innocent people. These people may have been taking part in a
march that was banned but that does not justify the troops coming in and firing live
rounds indiscriminately. I would say without hesitation that it was sheer, unadulterated
murder. It was murder.?
The military road
John Kelly the brother of one of those killed on Bloody Sunday recalled in 2005 that
"There were queues to join the IRA after that day. The paras were responsible for
countless deaths that day, including soldiers, policemen and everyone who died during the
Troubles. Many young people in Derry and across the North lost their lives through ending
up in prison. The paras not only murdered people that day, but they carry the
responsibility of the blood that was spilled since."
Ivan Cooper one of the organisers of the NICRA march on Bloody Sunday also saw the
massacre as undermining the non violent basis of the civil rights movement. He thought
before that day the IRA was tiny and with little support. The idea that Bloody Sunday led
to the gorwth of the IRA is also confirmed by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams who wrote that
?Money, guns and recruits flooded into the IRA?
Almost everyone who witnessed the events agrees with that perspective and indeed how could
any other outcome have been expected. When an occupying army guns down over two dozen
unarmed protesters it would be almost impossible to expect any response other than those
who are still determined to struggle looking to arm themselves in defence and to seek
revenge. In the three years to Bloody Sunday the escalating violence had killed 200
people. In 1972 alone, the year of Bloody Sunday 479 were killed, the vast majority after
the massacre and as part of the reaction to it.
Bloody Sunday limited the British state?s ability to spin the northern Ireland conflict as
one between two warring tribes or criminal gangs. Bloody Sunday exposed the central role
of the British state in escalating the conflict. And successive British governments
couldn?t use that ?that was all in the past? excuse because they were forced to stand over
the ludicrous Widgery finding that the Para?s were acting in self defence.
Alongside that the annual commemoration of the massacre became a significant organising
focus or northern nationalists and the left. Up to 40,000 people took part in the march
that marked the 25th anniversary of the massacre for instance, and every year tens of
thousands would participate. That weekend in Derry also saw a wide range of well attended
events, everything from cultural events to eyewitness accounts of what happened on the day
to current political discussions including the creation of links with struggles elsewhere.
Eventually the British state was forced to address the continued anger over the Bloody
Sunday massacre through a second 12 year enquiry under Lord Saville. After all most 38
years and 3000 deaths the British Prime Minister finally admitted in the House of Commons
what had happened and apologised on behalf of the British government.
This article was written for the French libertarian communist publication Alternative
Libertaire
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