SECTION 7

THE TROUBLES

There is no doubt that the playing down of the importance of the issue of the ending of partition by senior SDLP politicians in the early 1970’s, in favour of more realistic goals in the social democratic agenda left a degree of nervousness in nationalists that the constitutional status quo was forever to be accepted.

This may well have led to the formation of the IRA to deal with the national question in a more poignant and brutal way.

However, the agitation of the civil rights movement to which John Hume and other SDLP leaders were affiliated certainly led to the nervousness of unionists that Catholics were not going to accept their place within Northern Ireland society any longer.

Given that there were two sets of nervousness to be dealt with, each pulling in a completely opposite direction to the other, it would be difficult to conceive of any action that could have been taken by the SDLP in order to prevent the outbreak of serious civil disturbance on our streets.

Nevertheless, the founder members of the SDLP were heavily involved in civil rights issues relating to internal politics within Northern Ireland, and as such helped to create two groups of nervous individuals. Since these two groups then conspired to bring great pain and suffering to Northern Ireland, the SDLP must take its share of the blame for the outbreak of the Troubles.

What could they do? It may be argued that they could have presented a stronger line in relation to the unification of Ireland, since that issue went to the heart of many of the issues they sought to resolve through the civil rights movement. This may have prevented republicans from becoming nervous and passing this nervousness to the extreme elements within unionism.

But was that realistic?

Most of the issues raised by the civil rights movement were based on economics. They sought change on a socio-economic level, and sought and received the support of many Protestants for this change. They would have alienated the Protestants among their number and possibly undermined their entire cause if they raised the matter of partition as a principal demand.

Also, in the 1960’s the Republic of Ireland was a largely impoverished nation with living standards well below those of the citizens of the United Kingdom. There was thus no basis for seeking Irish reunification as a solution to the problems of the North’s nationalists since this would have entailed them asking both a large number of unionists and many nationalists to lower their living standards.

Since the civil rights movement and the fledgling SDLP were committed to the improvement of living standards for all of the people, this was not a course that could have been adopted. Thus I contend that the SDLP’s share of the blame for the outbreak of the Troubles is a small one.

Two distinct groupings emerged in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s that were bent on trouble. They were led by Ian Paisley and by a youthful Gerry Adams.

Both groupings rejected the core teachings of Christ in their political tactics and strategies throughout the course of the Troubles, and indeed lengthened those Troubles through their violence, threats of violence and intransigence.

Today these same two leaders represent the largest unionist and nationalist parties and a majority of the people who voted in the 2003 Assembly election.

I would contend that we should have no loyalty to the political system that gave rise to these political realities.