Peace In Northern Ireland

In the north a new war soon started between Irish Catholics who felt discriminated by the Protestant controlled government in Belfast and wished for Northern Ireland to leave the U.K. and rejoin the rest of Ireland, and Ulster Protestants who feared that if N. Ireland did reunite with Ireland they would be discriminated by the country’s Catholic majority and favoured continuing the union with the U.K. The Catholics in favour of separation from Britain and reunification with Ireland became known as Nationalists (or Republicans) while the Protestants in favour of staying part of the U.K. became known as Unionists (or Loyalists). This is a bloody conflict, which has seen thousands killed, families separated, and atrocities committed by both sides, and neither side has gained anything. In Canada there is an organization of both Catholic and Protestant youth outreach groups that began a project of bringing a dozen Belfast kids (6 Catholic and 6 Protestant) to Canada, teaching them to get along and helping friendships emerge between the two groups. They have been doing this every year since the late 1980s with only very modest results. The idea is to take Northern Ireland youths away from the hate and violence filled atmosphere of their Catholic and Protestant ghettos into a safe environment (Canada), teach them not to view each other as the enemy, create friendships and hopefully that feeling would return with the kids back home. However obviously ending an 80 year old war is never that easy, on the CBC they showed a 2 hour long documentary about the project, and interviewed kids who were once involved. And none of the past participants who they had interviewed said they kept up friendships with the kids they met, and interestingly enough most interviewed said that their views regarding the opposite side had not changed. They interviewed the family of a young Catholic lad taking part whose mother was almost beaten to death by Loyalist hooligans and even sadder a young Protestant lad involved (only 11 or 12) who was already being brought into the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) – the largest of any of the loyalist, Anti-Catholic terrorist groups. The immediate results of this small scale project might not be the most promising, but of course it is a great start and yet another testament to the ongoing, selfless commitments of our great people (Canadians) towards helping make the world a better place. If only we began a project like this for Israeli and Palestinian kids, think of the possibilities. It might not bring peace in the immediate future, but it can aid in creating an environment where peace is possible. Regardless of Northern Ireland’s future, whether as part of a reunited Ireland or as part of the U.K., the Catholic and Protestant communities will have to learn for their own sakes and for that of their children to coexist and live together. Peace is made on compromise and in a compromise neither side gets exactly what they want (a lesson which God willing will be learnt in the Middle East, as well as in Northern Ireland).