Segregation in Northern Ireland: Difference between revisions
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'''Segregation in [[Northern Ireland]]''' is a long-running issue in the political and social history of the province. It often been regarded as both a cause and effect of [[The Troubles]] between the [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Protestant]] populations of Northern Ireland. |
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{{Template:Allegations of apartheid}} |
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Wednesday April 14, 2004. Accessed on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007.</ref> |
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'''Allegations of Northern Irish apartheid''' draw analogies between [[Northern Ireland]] and [[History_of_South_Africa_in_the_apartheid_era|apartheid-era South Africa]]. The term "apartheid" has been used to refer to the partition of Northern Irish society into two communities which tend to reduce interaction with each other. |
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==Education== |
==Education== |
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[[Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking]] stated, |
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{{quote|"In Northern Ireland, apartheid starts in schools; 90 per cent of children in Northern Ireland still go to separate faith schools"<ref>[[Lord Baker of Dorking]], Daily Hansard, 18 July 2006 : Column 1189 [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/60718-1006.htm www.parliament.uk], retrieved 22 July 2007</ref>}} |
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[[Nick Cohen]] writes in "Stop this Drift into Educational Apartheid" in ''[[The Guardian]]'': |
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Education in Northern Ireland is heavily segregated. Most state schools in Northern Ireland are predominantly Protestant, while the majority of Catholic children attend schools maintained by the Catholic Church. In all, 90 per cent of children in Northern Ireland still go to separate faith schools.<ref>[[Lord Baker of Dorking]], Daily Hansard, 18 July 2006 : Column 1189 [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/60718-1006.htm www.parliament.uk], retrieved 22 July 2007</ref> The consequence is, as one commentator has put it, that "the overwhelming majority of Ulster's children can go from four to 18 without having a serious conversation with a member of a rival creed." <ref name="Cohen">"[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/comment/0,,2078654,00.html Stop this Drift into Educational Apartheid]", by [[Nick Cohen]]. Published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' on Sunday May 13, 2007. Accessed on July 22nd, 2007.</ref> However, the [[Integrated Education]] movement has sought to reverse this trend by establishing non-denominational schools such as the [[Portadown Integrated Primary]]. |
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{{quote|"Limiting sectarian education was a noble aspiration of the Good Friday Agreement. Even Sinn Fein politicians said they supported it. Politicians appeared to recognise that the integrated schools movement has provided one of the few solid grounds for optimism. Run by parents who were determined not to start segregating toddlers, it was creating schools that were not merely non-sectarian, but anti-sectarian.}} |
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==Employment== |
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{{quote|For all the praise given to them, just 5 per cent of Northern Ireland's pupils attend integrated schools today. As Philip O'Sullivan of the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education put it, the overwhelming majority of Ulster's children can go from four to 18 without having a serious conversation with a member of a rival creed. They mingle only when they reach the workplace because, oddly, the religious discrimination on which the education system rests is illegal at work.<ref name="Cohen">"[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/comment/0,,2078654,00.html Stop this Drift into Educational Apartheid]", by [[Nick Cohen]]. Published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' on Sunday May 13, 2007. Accessed on July 22nd, 2007.</ref>}} |
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Historically, employment in Northern Ireland was highly segregated, with Protestants holding the majority of higher-status jobs (particularly in government, law enforcement and skilled trades such as engineering), and Catholics being more likely to be unskilled or unemployed. These trends are still apparent, though to a lesser extent than in the past. The British government has introduced numerous laws and regulations since the mid-1990s to prohibit discrimination on religious grounds, with the Fair Employment Commission (originally the Fair Employment Agency) exercising statutory powers to investigate allegations of discriminatory practices in Northern Ireland business and organisations.<ref>"Northern Ireland," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007</ref> (See also [[Religious discrimination in Northern Ireland]].) |
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==Peace lines== |
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In an article titled "Apartheid" published in the ''[[New Statesman]]'' [[John O'Farrell]] refers also to : |
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{{quote|"those [[peace line]]s - usually high walls snaking along the demographic faults, crossing roads and slicing streets in two - are proliferating: there are twice as many today as there were a decade ago."<ref>[[New Statesman]], 28 November 2005, [http://www.newstatesman.com/200511280006 newstatesman.com] retrieved 22 July 2007</ref>}} |
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==Housing== |
==Housing== |
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| ⚫ | In 2002, the Chief Executive the [[Community Relations Council]] referred to the seperated communities of Northern Ireland as "self-imposed apartheid."<ref name="SelfImposed">"[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1191027,00.html Self-imposed Apartheid]", by [[Mary O'Hara]], published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' on |
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Wednesday April 14, 2004. Accessed on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007.</ref> Two years later, [[Mary O'Hara]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'' explored this theme in depth in an article entitled "Self-imposed Apartheid." She wrote: |
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Public housing is overwhelmingly segregated between the two communities, in a trend that has been exacerbated by intercommunal violence. It was estimated in 2004 that 92.5% of public housing in Northern Ireland was divided along religious lines, with the figure rising to 98% in [[Belfast]].<ref name="SelfImposed">"[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1191027,00.html Self-imposed Apartheid]", by [[Mary O'Hara]], published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' on |
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Wednesday April 14, 2004. Accessed on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007.</ref> A number of areas, particularly in Belfast, are separated by high walls called "[[peace lines]]" which were originally built by the [[British Army]] in the 1970s but have since become fixtures in Northern Ireland's urban landscape. |
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{{quote|"The Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the body responsible for public housing, is taking radical steps to tackle the deep-rooted religious segregation of working-class communities. It proposes to build two housing estates that it hopes will be populated by both Catholics and Protestants. It's a laudable attempt to combat what has in the past been seen by the authorities as an insurmountable problem. Sadly, it is almost certainly doomed to fail."<ref name="SelfImposed" />}} |
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Tensions between the two communities have forced substantial numbers of people to move from mixed areas into unidenominational areas, thus increasing the degree of polarisation and segregation. It was estimated in 2005 that despite the ongoing [[Northern Ireland peace process]], more than 1,400 people were still being forced to move each year as a consequence of [[intimidation]].<ref>Neil Jarman, Institute for Conflict Research, March 2005 http://www.serve.com/pfc/misc/violence.pdf</ref> |
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==Violence== |
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Cédric Gouverneur, in his article "Northern Ireland’s apartheid" for ''[[Le Monde Diplomatique]]'', refers to a report commissionned by the [[Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister]], "No longer a problem ? Sectarian violence in NI"<ref>Neil Jarman, Institute for Conflict Research, march 2005 http://www.serve.com/pfc/misc/violence.pdf</ref>, asserts that more than 1400 people have to move every year, as a consequence of [[intimidation]], thus building a sort of apartheid in the sense of "separate development" of communities. <ref>''Chaque année, mille quatre cents personnes doivent déménager à la suite d’intimidations pouvant aller jusqu’au meurtre (3). Ce sectarisme façonne une forme d’apartheid, au sens de « développement séparé » des communautés.'' [http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2006/07/GOUVERNEUR/13650#nh3 www.monde-diplomatique.fr] retrieved 22 July 2007, article translated as : [http://mondediplo.com/2006/07/09ulster "Northern Ireland’s apartheid"]</ref> |
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In contrast with both the Republic of Ireland and most parts of the UK mainland, where intermarriage between Protestants and Catholics is common, intermarriage in Northern Ireland is rare. Only 5% of marriages cross community divides.<ref>Edward Moxon-Browne, 1991, "[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/research/nisas/rep1c2.htm#chap2 National Identity in Northern Ireland]", in Peter Stringer and Gillian Robinson (eds.), 1991, Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The First Report, Blackstaff Press: Belfast</ref> |
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==See also== |
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*[[Peace lines]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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[[Category:Northern Ireland stubs]] |
[[Category:Northern Ireland stubs]] |
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Revision as of 19:54, 22 July 2007
Template:Allegations of apartheid
Allegations of Northern Irish apartheid draw analogies between Northern Ireland and apartheid-era South Africa. The term "apartheid" has been used to refer to the partition of Northern Irish society into two communities which tend to reduce interaction with each other.
Education
Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking stated,
"In Northern Ireland, apartheid starts in schools; 90 per cent of children in Northern Ireland still go to separate faith schools"[1]
Nick Cohen writes in "Stop this Drift into Educational Apartheid" in The Guardian:
"Limiting sectarian education was a noble aspiration of the Good Friday Agreement. Even Sinn Fein politicians said they supported it. Politicians appeared to recognise that the integrated schools movement has provided one of the few solid grounds for optimism. Run by parents who were determined not to start segregating toddlers, it was creating schools that were not merely non-sectarian, but anti-sectarian.
For all the praise given to them, just 5 per cent of Northern Ireland's pupils attend integrated schools today. As Philip O'Sullivan of the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education put it, the overwhelming majority of Ulster's children can go from four to 18 without having a serious conversation with a member of a rival creed. They mingle only when they reach the workplace because, oddly, the religious discrimination on which the education system rests is illegal at work.[2]
Peace lines
In an article titled "Apartheid" published in the New Statesman John O'Farrell refers also to :
"those peace lines - usually high walls snaking along the demographic faults, crossing roads and slicing streets in two - are proliferating: there are twice as many today as there were a decade ago."[3]
Housing
In 2002, the Chief Executive the Community Relations Council referred to the seperated communities of Northern Ireland as "self-imposed apartheid."[4] Two years later, Mary O'Hara of The Guardian explored this theme in depth in an article entitled "Self-imposed Apartheid." She wrote:
"The Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the body responsible for public housing, is taking radical steps to tackle the deep-rooted religious segregation of working-class communities. It proposes to build two housing estates that it hopes will be populated by both Catholics and Protestants. It's a laudable attempt to combat what has in the past been seen by the authorities as an insurmountable problem. Sadly, it is almost certainly doomed to fail."[4]
Violence
Cédric Gouverneur, in his article "Northern Ireland’s apartheid" for Le Monde Diplomatique, refers to a report commissionned by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, "No longer a problem ? Sectarian violence in NI"[5], asserts that more than 1400 people have to move every year, as a consequence of intimidation, thus building a sort of apartheid in the sense of "separate development" of communities. [6]
See also
References
- ^ Lord Baker of Dorking, Daily Hansard, 18 July 2006 : Column 1189 www.parliament.uk, retrieved 22 July 2007
- ^ "Stop this Drift into Educational Apartheid", by Nick Cohen. Published in The Guardian on Sunday May 13, 2007. Accessed on July 22nd, 2007.
- ^ New Statesman, 28 November 2005, newstatesman.com retrieved 22 July 2007
- ^ a b "Self-imposed Apartheid", by Mary O'Hara, published in The Guardian on Wednesday April 14, 2004. Accessed on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007.
- ^ Neil Jarman, Institute for Conflict Research, march 2005 http://www.serve.com/pfc/misc/violence.pdf
- ^ Chaque année, mille quatre cents personnes doivent déménager à la suite d’intimidations pouvant aller jusqu’au meurtre (3). Ce sectarisme façonne une forme d’apartheid, au sens de « développement séparé » des communautés. www.monde-diplomatique.fr retrieved 22 July 2007, article translated as : "Northern Ireland’s apartheid"