Stirring up the ashes

For the last 30 years of the past century, Northern Ireland burned with conflict between a secret organization, the IRA (Irish Revolutionary Army), and the security forces of the United Kingdom.

Under English rule, Irish Catholics were discriminated against in favor of Anglicans and other Protestant reformist sects.
They never accepted it.

After several revolts, in 1923, the southern part of the country finally gained independence under the name Republic of Ireland.
The north remained under London's rule.

But society became clearly divided.

The Protestant majority, the so-called unionists, wanted to remain part of England. They were on the side of the establishment; they were the beneficiaries of power.

Catholics (1/3 of the population), for the most part, lived in miserable ghettos, were overlooked for the best jobs and social programs, and had little participation in the administration.

It's only natural that they wanted Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland.

This cause was championed legally by the Sinn Fein party and clandestinely by the IRA.

The IRA's actions consisted of attacks against the British army and bombings, especially on British territory.

The government's repression was extremely violent.

Their security forces did not hesitate to shoot to kill, even hitting innocent people, and to torture suspects.

Alongside them, unionist paramilitary organizations spread terror in Catholic neighborhoods.

Finally, in 1998, Prime Minister Tony Blair achieved peace—probably the most important achievement of his government (perhaps the only one).

An agreement was reached, considered satisfactory by Catholics, including IRA leaders.

Two virtually simultaneous events are now rekindling public interest in a painful historical episode that seemed to have been forgotten.

The publication of a book proving the participation of the army and police in death squads in Northern Ireland in the 70s, and the denunciation of a group of soldiers for the murder of innocent people in 1972, in the so-called "Bloody Sunday".

Written by Anne Cadwallader, the book "Deadly Allies: English Collusion in Ireland" demonstrates with irrefutable evidence the association between security forces and unionist paramilitaries.

Cadwallader based his work on documents obtained from the Historical Research Team, created by the Northern Ireland Police to investigate murders committed during the conflicts.

The book reveals how members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (political police) and Ulster Defence Regiment (army) operated within a unionist gang that killed 120 people in the counties of Armagh and Tyronne in the 70s.

It is extremely serious that 120 murder cases were ignored for 40 years, without the police authorities bothering to find and punish the perpetrators.

A similar incident was reported last week by the Sunday Times newspaper.

This time, the English justice system took its time, but it is taking action.

In January 1972, a troop of British paratroopers fired on a peaceful demonstration of Irish Catholics in the city of Derry, killing 14 people.

This criminal act had repercussions everywhere, not limited to the borders of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It was even dramatically portrayed in a feature film that went global.

Despite the scandal, the British Conservative government took no action.

It was only in 1998, during Tony Blair's Labour government, that a commission was created to investigate the matter, led by Lord Saville.

Due to a lack of cooperation from military and police authorities, the commission took 12 years to complete its work.

Three years ago, the so-called "Saville report" was published, revealing the details of "Bloody Sunday." The deadly action of the paratrooper troop is characterized as "unjustified and unjustifiable."

The government decided to take the case forward.

The soldiers involved, now retired, are expected to be questioned on charges of murder during the march in Derry.

The current Prime Minister, David Cameron (Conservative), after the publication of the Saville report, sent a formal apology to the families of the victims on behalf of the nation.

Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland sought to alleviate the blame on the military, accusing Irish revolutionaries of having provoked the attack.

It didn't work.

Lord Saville's unimpeachable report exonerates the IRA of any responsibility.