Document <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml-model href="http://www.tei-c.org/release/xml/tei/custom/schema/relaxng/tei_all.rng" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0"?> <?xml-model href="http://www.tei-c.org/release/xml/tei/custom/schema/relaxng/tei_all.rng" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://purl.oclc.org/dsdl/schematron"?> <?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LEAF-VRE/code_snippets/refs/heads/main/CSS/leaf.css" title="LEAF" ?> <TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"> <teiHeader> <fileDesc> <titleStmt> <title>Contributors</title> <author>Collective</author> <respStmt> <persName>Eowyn Andres</persName> <resp>Editor (2024-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Haley Beardsley</persName> <resp>Editor (2021-2024)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Lyndon Beier</persName> <resp>Editor (2023-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Erica Delsandro</persName> <resp>Investigator, editor</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Mia DeRoco</persName> <resp>Editor (2023-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Margaret Hunter</persName> <resp>Editor (2021-2024)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Diane Jakacki</persName> <resp>Invesigator, encoder</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Sophie McQuaide</persName> <resp>Editor (2021-2023)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Olivia Martin</persName> <resp>Editor, encoder (2021)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Zoha Nadeer</persName> <resp>Editor (2022-2023)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Bri Perea</persName> <resp>Editor (2022-2023)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Carrie Pirmann</persName> <resp>Editor, encoder (2023-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Valeria Riley</persName> <resp>Editor (2024-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Ricky Rodriguez</persName> <resp>Editor (2022-2023)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Roger Rothman</persName> <resp>Investigator, editor</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Valeria Riley</persName> <resp>Editor (2024-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Kaitlyn Segreti</persName> <resp>Editor (2021-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Maggie Smith</persName> <resp>Editor (2021-2024)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Maya Wadhwa</persName> <resp>Editor (2021-2023)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Kelly Troop</persName> <resp>Editor (2023-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Lucy Wadswoth</persName> <resp>Editor (2022-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Anna Marie Wingard</persName> <resp>Editor (2023-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <respStmt> <persName>Olivia Wychock</persName> <resp>Graduate Editor (2024-Present)</resp> </respStmt> <funder>Bucknell University Humanities Center</funder> <funder>Bucknell University Office of Undergraduate Research</funder> <funder>The Mellon Foundation</funder> <funder>National Endowment for the Humanities</funder> </titleStmt> <publicationStmt> <distributor> <name>Bucknell University</name> <address> <street>One Dent Drive</street> <settlement>Lewisburg</settlement> <region>Pennsylvania</region> <postCode>17837</postCode> </address> </distributor> <availability> <licence>Bucknell Heresies Project: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)</licence> <licence>Heresies journal: © Heresies Collective</licence> </availability> </publicationStmt> <sourceDesc> <biblStruct> <analytic> <title>Patterns of Communicating and Space Among Women</title> </analytic> <monogr> <imprint> <publisher>HERESIES: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics</publisher> <pubPlace> <address> <name>Heresies</name> <postBox>P.O. Boxx 766, Canal Street Station</postBox> <settlement>New York</settlement> <region>New York</region> <postCode>10013</postCode> </address> </pubPlace> </imprint> </monogr> </biblStruct> </sourceDesc> </fileDesc> </teiHeader> <text> <body> <pb/> <div> <pb n='80'/> <p> <lb facs='#facs_80_r_1_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>WAYS OF CHANGE RECONSIDERED: <lb facs='#facs_80_r_1_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>AN OUTLINE AND COMMENTARY <lb facs='#facs_80_r_1_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>ON WOMEN AND PEACE IN NORTHERN IRELAND <lb facs='#facs_80_r_1_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>SARAH CHARLESWORTH </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>Compared to the devoted and laborious build-up that <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>took place before all the other peace rallies that I have at <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>tended in Belfast — the advertising, the canvassing, the care <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>fully balanced composition of the platform party —here <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>there was apparently no planning at all. No platform, no <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>loudspeakers, no stewards, no prepared order of service. Just <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>a vast throng of women, gathered at the spot where shortly <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>before, the war between the terrorists and the army had cost <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>the lives of three children.... One had a gnawing uneasiness <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>that nothing more was going to happen <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>What did happen was a sudden burst of derisive yells <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>and taunts from a band of youths defiantly brandishing the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>tricolour flag from a vantage point on the roof of a nearby <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>garage. At that moment perhaps nothing could more effec <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>tively have rallied the rally." Suddenly it seemed we knew <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>what we were there to do. From one to another the word <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>threaded like quicksilver through the crowds: “We’re goin <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>to walk down to the Falls." And walk we did—pushchairs <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>and all —along the road that has become so notorious for <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>violence and anger. Here and there spectators jeered ana <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>flaunted the slogans of hatred, but calmly and steadily the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>column of women — in the most casual fashion — walked on. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>As we walked, we talked. “They say," said the woman <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>beside me, "that there's Protestants walking with us."“That's <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>right," said I... "Tm one of them." The response was im <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>mediate: hands shot out to grasp mine, heart-warming <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>ejaculations of welcome fell on my ears. I felt simultaneously <lb facs='#facs_80_r_2_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>the reality of the division and the unity. </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>In August 1976, there emerged in Belfast, Northern Ireland <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>apparently quite "spontaneously,” a movement, which althougl <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>it was later to be dubbed “The People for Peace” movement, was <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>quite without a doubt a women’s movement, initiated, supported <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>and sustained primarily by women. From the perspective of cla <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>sic political forms, it was and is both extremely traditional and <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>profoundly radical, and it is particularly within the context o <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>Irish politics that it becomes so. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>My initial interest in the peace movement grew out of a feel <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>ing of solidarity and empathy with both the frustration and the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>positive vision these women revealed. As I followed its progress <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>my interest began to turn increasingly to its larger political and <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>social implications, not simply in relation to the situation of <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>Northern Ireland, but also in regard to basic issues posed by femi <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>nism in relation to traditional patriarchal political analysis an <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>practice. What became increasingly apparent as I continued my <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>research was the fact that the peace movement could not be <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>understood and evaluated either on the basis of the primar, <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>social-political traditions of Northern Ireland or from the per <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>spective of an abstract marxist or feminist analysis. These model <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>must themselves be continually measured against the social reali <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>ties which they presume to appraise. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>The peace movement, to the extent to which it can be called <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>a "women’s movement,” is interesting precisely because it is not <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>in any sense "sophisticated.” Its values and the forms of its <lb facs='#facs_80_r_3_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>organization are a direct manifestation of the attitudes of womer </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_80_r_4_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>Peace women hit Ulster streets despite threats </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>BELFAST, Northern Ireland <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>(AP)- The Peace Women of this <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>turbulent British province take <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>to the streets of violence-scarred <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>Belfast Saturday, defying <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>terrorist death threats in their <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>campaign to end seven years of <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>sectarian bloodshed <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>“There’s no way we’re going <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>to give up now,” declared Mrs. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>Betty Williams, the Roman <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>Catholic housewife <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>launched the burgeoning <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>movement 10 days ago after <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>three children were killed by <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>Irish Republican Army gunmen <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>fleeing British troops. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>Thousands of Catholic and <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>Protestant women, setting aside <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>the centuries-old hatreds that <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>have separated Northern <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>freland’s feuding communities, <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>were expected to gather for a <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>rally in Ormeau park in <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>Protestant East Belfast <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>The attendance at the rally <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>will be a crucial test of the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>strength of the campaign, the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>latest in a long string of peace <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>movements in Ulster. All the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>earlier campaigns fizzled out <lb facs='#facs_80_r_5_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>Last Saturday, more than </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>10,000 women and a handful of <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>men attended a peace rally <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>organized by Mrs. Williams in <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>Belfast’s staunchly Catholic <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>Andersonstown suburb at the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>spot where the three children <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>were slain. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>Mrs. Williams, 32, and many <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>other Catholic women at that <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>rally were branded “touts <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>terrorist parlance for informers <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>and pro-British collaborators - <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>by the IRA’s “Provisional <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>wing <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>Young IRA supporters last <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>week tried to burn Mrs. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>Williams’ house down. She and <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>other women received death <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>threats from the mainly <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>Catholic “provos” who are <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>fighting to end British rule and <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>Protestant domination in Ulster <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>Despite the threats, the peace <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>movement has spread. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>Williams said groups in other <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>parts of the province have <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>voiced support and local peace <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>committees have sprung up in <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>both Catholic and Protestant <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>quarters <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>But the violence has continued <lb facs='#facs_80_r_6_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>unabated. At least six persons </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>have been killed since the peace <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>campaign began and dozens <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>have been wounded by gunfire <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>and bombings <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>Government <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>officials <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>community <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>leaders <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>experienced observers who have <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>seen earlier movements fail are <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>still sceptical that Mrs. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>Williams campaign will change <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>anything. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>The sad truth is <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>said <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>Catholic community leader Tom <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>Conaty, a onetime adviser to the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>British administration in the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>province, “that the IRA and the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>Protestant paramilitary groups <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>do not depend on popular <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>support for their survival <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>“They have shown this in the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>past and, despite <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>courageous display by <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>women, I believe they will be <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>around for a long time. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>However, IRA sources said <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>the guerrillas' leaders are <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>taking the emotion-charged <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>campaign “seriously. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>provisionals have cracked up <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>their well-oiled propaganda <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>machine in a bid to counter the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_7_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>movement’s growing support. </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>The Republican news, the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>provisionals' mouthpiece in <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>Ulster, Friday vowed: “the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>struggle goes on.” The headline <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>was printed over a big photo of a <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>hooded <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>gunman <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>brandishing a U.S. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>made <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>armalite automatic rifle <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>The Andersonstown news, a <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>flourishing newssheet that has <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>supported the provisionals in the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>past, stridently attacked the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>peace-at-any-price brigade. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>Both papers published articles <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>and letters denouncing the <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>peace campaign as pro-British. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>However <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>Mrs. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>Williams <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>stressed that her movement is <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>not just opposed to the IRA, but <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>Protestant <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>terrorist <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>organizations as well as Ulstei <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>police officers and British troops <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>who “commit cowardly acts. <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>sympathizers <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>Provisional <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>have <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>organized <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>counter-demonstration in south <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>Armagh, an IRA stronghold, at <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>the spot where a 12-year-old <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_36' n='N036'/>Catholic girl was killed, <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_37' n='N037'/>apparently by army fire, last <lb facs='#facs_80_r_8_1_tl_38' n='N038'/>Saturday. </p> <pb n='81'/> <p> <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>bistorically isolated from one another within a social structure <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>over which they exercise minimal control. Within the context of <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>American feminism, the questions posed by the peace movement <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>are relevant to the extent to which they underline and elaborate <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>some of the more complex issues pertaining to the gender bias <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>inherent in the very “logic" of commonly accepted politica <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>norms. As Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo points out: <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>Since women must work within a social system that ob- <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>scures their goals and interests, they are apt to develop <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>ways of seeing, feeling, and acting that seem to be "in <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>tuitive” and "unsystematic"—with a sensitivity to other <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>people that permits them to survive. They may, then, be <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>"expressive." But it is important to realize that cultural <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>stereotypes order the observer’s own perceptions. It is <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>because men enter the world of articulated social rela <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>tions that they appear to us as intellectual, rational, or <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>instrumental; and the fact that women are excluded <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>from that world makes them seem to think and behave <lb facs='#facs_81_r_1_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>in another mode. </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>The Province of Ulster was born in conflict. The partition of <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>lreland was a highly artificial solution to an age-old problem. The <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>question of whether the current crisis is a religious war, a class <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>war, or a war of national liberation is in many ways a false one. It <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>is all of these at once. The peculiar complexity of the situation <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>stems from the fact that the political and religious identity of each <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>community is coincident in broad terms, and it is with these poli <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>tical and religious groups that individuals have from birth learned <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>to define themselves. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>The sources of bigotry in Ireland as well as the mechanisms <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>of its maintenance are ancient. In the Protestant community, <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>patriotic songs and yearly festivals celebrate the siege of London <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>derry and the assent of Protestant rule. These are matched in <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>Catholic culture by a heritage which stresses the heroism and <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>glory of national revolt as well as an almost mystical alliance <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>with the church. According to the Irish Republican tradition to <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>which the modern Provisionals are heir, “Ireland unfree shall <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>never be at peace. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>The Catholic population in general has tended traditionally <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>to identify with a united and independent Ireland and was in fact <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>instrumental in winning support for the Home Rule Bill by which <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>the Republic of Ireland was established in 1922. The Protestants, <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>who form a minority within Ireland as a whole, had been success <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>ful in their violent opposition to what they termed "the papist <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>state, which led to Britain’s partition of Ireland in an attempt to <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>pacify loyalist Protestants in the North. The long-term and <lb facs='#facs_81_r_3_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>blatant suprematism of the Protestants concentrated in Northern </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>Ireland, their overt domination of political and civil institutions, <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>is countered by a Republican commitment to “victory through <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>physical force” — a form of patriotism which finds its most ex <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>treme manifestation in the IRA tradition of blood sacrifice, in <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>which each death only serves further to legitimize the unques <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>tioned heroism and “justice” of the nationalist cause. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>With the outbreak of widespread and violent sectarian riot <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>ing in 1969, the collapse of the repressive Protestant-controlled <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>Stormont Government was achieved only through the further <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>intervention of the British, “justified" at the time by continuing <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>paramilitary violence and the threat of civil war. This was to <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>mark the beginning of a period of intense segregation and eco <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>nomic disintegration in Northern Ireland, during which a climate <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>of hostility, combined with a complete lack of dialogue and a <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>military standoff, has made the possibility of further political and <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>social development virtually impossible. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>When the IRA split in 1969, the Official IRA (increasingly <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>concerned with developing economic and class consciousness) <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>apparently dwindled in effectiveness. The "Provisionals, on the <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>other hand, with their more traditional focus on militarism and <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>nationalism, were able to take advantage of the already tense <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>political climate, playing into and further aggravating sectarian <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>hostilities. They became self-appointed "people’s protectors,” like <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>the Protestant paramilitaries in their own districts. The British <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>policy of internment and torture of IRA militants only served to <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>further escalate guerrilla activities. The vicious circle was com <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>plete. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>During the last seven years, continued paramilitary and mili <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>tary violence have all but wrecked large sections of both the resi <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>dential and commercial areas of Belfast, Derry and Armagh. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>Industry has declined and unemployment is soaring. Meanwhile, <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>among the general population, apathy, fear, frustration and <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>poverty have begun to flourish. Amid invariably righteous claims <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>to the representation of “justice, hatred and despair have in <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>creasingly come to dominate “political" life in the Northern State. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_36' n='N036'/>While numerous "brave and valiant" soldiers have lost their lives, <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_37' n='N037'/>countless ordinary citizens, often women and children, have also <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_38' n='N038'/>been the victims of this ancient and unending cycle of fear, <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_39' n='N039'/>recrimination and violence. The deaths of the three McGuire chil <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_40' n='N040'/>dren, killed on August 10 by an IRA getaway car in Belfast's <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_41' n='N041'/>Andersontown district, were just another "accident." It was, how- <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_42' n='N042'/>ever, to have a resounding effect. Betty Williams, an Anderson <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_43' n='N043'/>town resident who had witnessed the incident, and Mairead <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_44' n='N044'/>Corrigan, the children’s aunt, “had had enough." Within hours <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_45' n='N045'/>they began organizing their neighbors to protest the senseless <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_46' n='N046'/>violence of a war which had long since become a way of life. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_47' n='N047'/>The peace movement was from the start fueled by an emo <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_48' n='N048'/>tional commitment which was not without its own particular <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_49' n='N049'/>rationality. To the skeptics who denied the possibility of a peace- <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_50' n='N050'/>ful resolution to a feud stemming from deeply ingrained attitudes <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_51' n='N051'/>and opposing loyalties, the women replied that three hundred <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_52' n='N052'/>years of warfare had likewise accomplished nothing, that the <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_53' n='N053'/>Northern Irish people had been for too long divided against them- <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_54' n='N054'/>selves. <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_55' n='N055'/>Thank God l’m still angry enough to do this, because <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_56' n='N056'/>l’d march anywhere in Northern Ireland. I don’t give <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_57' n='N057'/>a darn what the fellow’s beliefs are. Everybody has <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_58' n='N058'/>got a right to believe in exactly what they want to be- <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_59' n='N059'/>lieve in, but there is no one in this whole wide world has <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_60' n='N060'/>any right to kill for it. So, when l’d seen the children die <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_61' n='N061'/>or the awful accident—my daughter also witnessed this <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_62' n='N062'/>—she has screamed about it since, my five-year-old <lb facs='#facs_81_r_4_1_tl_63' n='N063'/>daughter who was unfortunately in the car with me at </p> <pb n='82'/> <p> <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>the time—I went home and sat down. Did you ever get <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>sick inside, so sick that you didn’t even know what was <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>wrong with you? I couldn’t cook a dinner. I couldn’t <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>think straight. I couldn’t even cry, and as the night went <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>on I got angrier and angrier. And my sister came up <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>She lives quite close to where I live, and I had a cousin <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>in the house at the time. And I just said—and I don't <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>mean to swear, l’m very sorry—I said, "Damn it, we <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>have got to do something. And my husband was at sea, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>and I an air-mail writing pad, and I went right <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>up into the heart of provisional IRA territory in Ander <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>sontown and I didn’t knock at that door very nicely, by <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>the way, I didn’t say, "Excuse me. Would you like to <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>sign this? We all want peace." I was spitting angry, and I <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>banged the woman’s door and she came. I frightened the <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>life out of her. I really did. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>When she came out, I said, “Do you want peace?" She <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>said "Yes! <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>"Yes, then sign that." It sort of started off like that, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>and it went on...further down the street, every door <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>you knocked. All the women felt that way. I just lifted <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>the lid. They all poured out. I mean, I ended up rather <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>like the Pied Piper of Hamlin because I had a hundred <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>women in provie territory collecting signatures for <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>peace. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>We had 3,000 or 6,000 signatures in three hours. We <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>went back to my home. They were in the lounge. They <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>were in the living room. They were in the kitchen. They <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>were in the hall. They were lined up the stairs. They <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>were in the bathroom, the two bedrooms. There just <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>wasn’t enough room to hold them all, and they were all <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>just as angry as I was...that we had let this go on for so <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>long. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_1_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>(Betty Williams4 </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>You see, unfortunately, in a long time in Northern <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>Irish society and, indeed, in the world we have glorified <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>the man with the guns. Do you know we sit in our clubs <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>and we sing about the brave man who took life? Now, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>we’re going to say in Northern Ireland, we want a com <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>plete new change of society. The hero in Northern Ire <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>land is going to be the guy who stands up against the <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>man with a gun in his hand and said, "You’re not speak <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>ing for me. I haven’t got a gun. l’m not prepared to take <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>your life, but you’re most certainly not speaking for me. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>The guy who gets involved with the man next door, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>with the old-age pensioner; the guy who recognizes the <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>Protestant and the Shankhill to be his brother or the <lb facs='#facs_82_r_2_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>black man across the road to be his brother. The man, </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>who, in society, acknowledges his brother. ..the man <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>next door to be his brother. This is the kind of whole <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>new society that we want to create in Northern Ireland, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>Indeed, we want to say that we have led the world in <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>guerrilla warfare for years; we are going to lead the war <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>in peace and we say to the people of the world, “Watch <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>us." Because we are going to do it, and not only watch <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>us but imitate us because the whole world is led by vio <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>lence and it doesn’t pay. One thousand six hundred <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>people dead in Northern Ireland. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>My sister was lying in a hospital after losing three <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>babies, and do you know her major concern? There was <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>a bomb the previous week in a bar where a guy had <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>gone out to have a drink—and he was lying across the <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>ward from her—one of those open plan wards, and he <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>had no legs, seventeen years of age—he had no legs and <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>he kept squealing all day, "Please take my hands off. My <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>hands hurt so much." That is only one awful incident of <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>what’s going on in Northern Ireland with guns coming <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>into Northern Ireland. That’s got to stop. That’s no an <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>swer, but to the gunman we say, "We acknowledge that <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>the gunman in Northern Ireland has taken guns perhaps <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>because of their political ideals, perhaps because they <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>were never offered a way, but there’s a new way. There’s <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>another way, and we say to them, "Put up your guns, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>and if you really care for the people, come into society. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>Let’s talk about it." We’re not telling them to "get lost <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>or go under the carpet because it’Il fester in thirty years, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>but let’s talk about it. Let’s hear what you are saying, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>but not by the gun. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_6_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>Mairead Corrigan 5) </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>During the weeks that followed the initial demonstration at <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>the site of the McGuire children’s death, Betty Williams and Mai <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>read Corrigan continued to publicize the incident and organize <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>for an all-out assault on violence. This took the form of massive <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>demonstrations for peace. The first demonstration (August 14) <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>drew 10,000 women, both Protestant and Catholic, to the Catho <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>lic Andersontown district. Provo supporters jeered the rally and <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>denounced Williams as a traitor, but she was not dissuaded and <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>the following week brought 20,000 people together in one of Bel <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>fast’s few remaining “mixed" neighborhoods. The third weekend <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>the peace movement returned to the hard-core Protestant Shan- <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>kill Road area where close to 30,000 demonstrators showed up. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>The fourth rally was held in Derry, Ulster’s second largest city, <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>on Craigavon Bridge, which connects the Protestant and Catho- <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>lic sections of town. Again approximately 30,000 people turned <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>out. By this time the Provos were saying that they did not oppose <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>the peace movement, but supported “Peace with justice." Mean- <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>while, in Dublin, the capital of the Irish Republic, a march by <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>20,000 was organized in support and smaller marches were held <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>in Corm, Galway, Carlon and Castlebar. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>The unexpected popularity and energetic style of these initial <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>marches contributed to their dramatic impact. Both support and <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>criticism abounded. Within weeks of the first rally, smaller com <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>munity "peace” groups began to spring up throughout the pro <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>vince, with no apparent orientation other than a commitment to <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>peace, to furthering dialogue within the community and to con <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>structive non-sectarian local action. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>Provisional "support," however, was to prove short-lived. <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>The weekly marches were disrupted on October 2 by small IRA <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>counter-marches in which several of the peace marchers were <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>assaulted. Death threats against Betty and Mairead were occa <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>sionally found scrawled on Belfast walls. The Provos, claiming <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>that there had been an increase in British army raids, arrests and <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>harassment, issued a statement warning that if any women from <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>the peace movement cooperated with security forces, they would <lb facs='#facs_82_r_7_1_tl_36' n='N036'/>be treated as informers and shot. </p> <pb n='83'/> <p> <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>From the onset there has been confusion in the press about <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>the attitude of the peace marchers toward the British and the RUC <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>(Royal Ulster Constabulary — the “legitimate” police who have <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>been theoretically neutral but effectively on the side of the Pro <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>testants). While the peace leaders have been extremely outspoken <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>in their criticism of the Provisionals and of the UDA and the UVF <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>(Ulster Defense Association and Ulster Volunteer Force, the Pro <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>testant paramilitary equivalents of the Provisional IRA), they <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>have been less direct in their denunciation of the British and of the <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>legitimate" Ulster security forces. Though they have consistently <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>condemned all “men of violence, their position on “legal” mili <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>tary forces is more ambiguous. While this is a crucial issue and <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>one on which the peace leaders are perhaps most vulnerable to <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>criticism, IRA supporters have consistently twisted its signifi <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>cance to imply that they are pro-British — unlikely, as the move <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>ment is both Catholic-led and strongly backed by non-violent <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>Catholic Nationalists. There is in fact a simple and rational ex <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>planation for their hedging on the question of British interven <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>tion. Since one of the main thrusts of the movement is its anti <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>sectarian character, and since it is the first major popular grass <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>roots movement uniting both Catholics and Protestants, its very <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>existence is dependent on widespread support from both camps. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>The vast majority of Protestants (two-thirds of the population in <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>Northern Ireland) for the most part do not favor British with <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>drawal, and many Catholics, including the Official IRA Sinn <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>Fein° do not advocate an immediate withdrawal, so that any <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>public position in regard to either imperialism or British "secur <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>ity" forces is indeed difficult and problematic. Due to this fact, as <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>well as to the general diversity of political sentiment within the <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>movement, the leaders have confined themselves to taking gen <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>eral positions against violence, encouraging local initiative <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>toward peace and speaking in very broad terms about the need <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>for the "Northern Irish" people to resolve their own differences <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>"from the bottom up. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>Although heavy criticism from both the Provisionals and <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_36' n='N036'/>extremist Protestant groups may have slightly affected the move <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_37' n='N037'/>ment’s popularity, demonstrations, rallies and meetings through- <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_38' n='N038'/>out the fall of 1976 continued to draw wide support. Several sup <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_39' n='N039'/>portive demonstrations were organized by feminist groups in <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_40' n='N040'/>Germany and the Netherlands; a rally in London on November <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_41' n='N041'/>28 drew a crowd of approximately 15,000. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_42' n='N042'/>The movement now has a magazine (Peace by Peace), a <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_43' n='N043'/>small office in Belfast, and over 125 local groups “organizing for <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_44' n='N044'/>peace” in Northern Ireland. "Support,” however, is not what the <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_45' n='N045'/>movement is all about. In terms of opening up effective channels <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_46' n='N046'/>of discourse and creating a climate in which constructive non <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_47' n='N047'/>sectarian political development can occur, there is no way at <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_48' n='N048'/>present to estimate its success. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_49' n='N049'/>The current peace movement is not the first of its kind in Ire <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_50' n='N050'/>land. Two others in the recent past have attempted to dispel sec <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_51' n='N051'/>tarian violence by non-violent and non-sectarian means. Both <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_52' n='N052'/>times they were eclipsed by British military escalations which ral <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_53' n='N053'/>lied Catholics to the IRA. In 1971, an organization called "Wom <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_54' n='N054'/>en Together” gained considerable support, but lost ground when <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_55' n='N055'/>the British introduced internment. Another movement sprang up <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_56' n='N056'/>in Derry in 1972. After a British soldier had killed a Catholic <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_57' n='N057'/>youth, the IRA "executed" a young man from Derry who had <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_58' n='N058'/>joined the British army. That was the last straw for Margaret <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_59' n='N059'/>Doherty, who organized her neighbors to demonstrate their <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_60' n='N060'/>anger. This was effective to the extent that the Official IRA de <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_61' n='N061'/>clared a cease-fire which they maintain to this day. The 1972 <lb facs='#facs_83_r_1_1_tl_62' n='N062'/>movement collapsed however, when the British invaded the </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>Catholic no-go areas in what was known as “Operation Motor <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>man. Once again the Provisionals were vindicated by British <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>actions. With the rebirth of the peace forces this year, Margaret <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>Doherty, who had been viciously harassed for her peace activities <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>in 1972, again came forward and has participated in the organiza <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>tion of the present campaign. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>Even these recent interventions on the part of women are not <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>unique in Irish history. In 1921, during the struggle for Home <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>Rule, the British section of the Women’s International League for <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>Peace and Freedom, headed by Jane Addams, sent their own <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>commission to study Irish self-rule, clearly opposing the interests <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>of their own government. The Irish section of the WILPF, led by <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>Louie Bennett, was active in organizing women to employ <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>passive-resistance techniques in a struggle against the British. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>Their view as women was that human life was precious and that <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>war was an outmoded way of dealing with imperialist rivalries. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>While the women supporters of the 1921 struggle were largely <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>middle-class suffragettes organized internationally behind a paci- <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>fist ideology, the current peace campaign is indigenous, widely <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>supported by both middle- and working-class people, and rela <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>tively "unorganized." <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>The peace movement, as Bernadette Devlin has pointed out, <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>is not a feminist movement. There is in fact virtually no feminism <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>in Ireland in the sense in which we as Americans understand it. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>While there have been several notable female political activists in <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>the Republican movement (Bernadette Devlin, now associated <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>with the Irish Republican Socialist Party, Marin de Burca, joint <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>general secretary of Sinn Fein, and Maire Drumm, the recently <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>assassinated Provisional IRA spokeswoman), the vast majority of <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>Irish women, oppressed as they are by poverty, war, extremely <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>discriminatory employment and pay practices, and perhaps most <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>importantly, by a strong religious and patriarchal family struc <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>ture, have, by and large, remained unorganized as women. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>For Catholic women, a very intense religious indoctrination <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>which places a strict taboo on birth control, abortion and divorce <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_36' n='N036'/>is still a major obstacle. While as citizens of a Commonwealth <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_37' n='N037'/>nation, Northern Irish women are technically entitled to equal <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_38' n='N038'/>pay, and according to an anti-discrimination law passed at West <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_39' n='N039'/>minster in December 1976, they are protected against job dis <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_40' n='N040'/>crimination, the fact is that women’s employment opportunities <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_41' n='N041'/>lag far behind not only those of men, but behind those of most <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_42' n='N042'/>European women as well. While the legal status of Ulster women <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_43' n='N043'/>is superior to that of women in the Catholic Republic of Ireland <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_44' n='N044'/>where women still have almost no independent legal rights, a <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_45' n='N045'/>very strong patriarchal ideology still prevails throughout Ireland, <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_46' n='N046'/>and Northern Irish women are for the most part still politically <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_47' n='N047'/>subservient to their husbands as well as being educationally and <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_48' n='N048'/>economically disadvantaged. While these conditions can ulti <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_49' n='N049'/>mately be traced to the relatively low level of industrial and eco <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_50' n='N050'/>nomic development of Ireland as a whole, and to the powerful <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_51' n='N051'/>religious infrastructure, they do underline some of the reasons <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_52' n='N052'/>why feminism has failed to develop, as well as the crucial impor <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_53' n='N053'/>tance of independent women’s organizations. <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_54' n='N054'/>How then can we evaluate the effectiveness of the peace <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_55' n='N055'/>movement from a feminist perspective? While its prevailing atti <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_56' n='N056'/>tudes are traditional, in that they are not activist from a feminist <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_57' n='N057'/>or socialist perspective, the movement does potentially represent <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_58' n='N058'/>an important step forward in both of these directions. The self <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_59' n='N059'/>initiated emergence into the political sphere of a large sector of <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_60' n='N060'/>the female population which has heretofore remained inactive, or <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_61' n='N061'/>at best has existed in an exclusively supportive role in relation to <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_62' n='N062'/>those very male modes of political activity which they are now so <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_63' n='N063'/>explicitly criticizing, is not without significance to the develop <lb facs='#facs_83_r_2_1_tl_64' n='N064'/>ment of either. </p> <pb n='84'/> <p> <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>The rallies do help to get rid of a certain amount of <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>fear. You are going to such-and-such a place and at one <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>time you would have been frightened to go there. But at <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>the rally you’re a bit frightened but you just go on. Each <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>time you come back from a rally, you have more cour <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>age to keep going. It’s because you’re meeting with <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>people <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>Let’s face it, for seven years we went about the city <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>and sat in our homes, all the time wrapped up in our <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>own family and our own home and our own constant <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>worry that something would happen to them. You felt it <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>was just yourself had all this worry. Going out to the <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>rallies is making people realize that other people have <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>the same fears and the same worries. We are able to talk <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>to each other about it. It’s bringing a new closeness. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>JJune Campion, member of a local peace group in Knok <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>nagoney' <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>It is also important to remember that the current peace <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>movement is at present not a political organization; it is perhaps <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>misleading to consider it as such. While plans for the future in <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>clude meetings designed to develop a more explicit form of <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>organization, the movement as yet has no formal structure and <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>no official platform. It is a phenomenon that can accurately be <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>termed "spontaneous” in that it has not been planned and the <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>form it has taken to date can be regarded primarily as a demon <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>stration of solidarity around a commitment to peace. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>The three most visible leaders at present are Betty Williams, <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>Mairead Corrigan and Ciaran McKeown, a journalist who has <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>given up his newspaper position to support the women in their <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>struggle. The organizational network as a whole, however, is <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>neither centralized nor highly controlled by those who are <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>apparently most prominent. Indeed, there has been a consistent <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>effort by all concerned to systematically locate the basis for par <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>ticipation and direction within the numerous communities where <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>peace groups have been emerging. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_36' n='N036'/>While direct support for the movement is clearly widespread <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_37' n='N037'/>(estimates range from 170,000 to 250,000 people in Northern Ire <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_38' n='N038'/>land alone), it is extremely hard to gauge its size or class composi <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_39' n='N039'/>tion on the basis of mass rallies and demonstrations. When I criti <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_40' n='N040'/>cized the somewhat naive character of some of the statements by <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_41' n='N041'/>movement leaders, an American woman who had gone to North- <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_42' n='N042'/>ern Ireland to participate in one of their rallies told me that it was <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_43' n='N043'/>precisely this tone that contributed to the movement’s popularity <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_44' n='N044'/>among working-class women. It is certainly true that there has <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_45' n='N045'/>been a very deliberate attempt by the peace people to avoid direct <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_46' n='N046'/>affiliation with any specific political groups, and certain of the <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_47' n='N047'/>more politically “sophisticated" women supporters have delib <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_48' n='N048'/>erately remained in the background, not wishing to “take over’ <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_49' n='N049'/>or divert the movement from its primary focus, that is, bringing <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_50' n='N050'/>an end to violence and encouraging local initiative toward non <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_51' n='N051'/>sectarian community development. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_52' n='N052'/>Marin de Burca, a socialist and leader of Sinn Fein (Official <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_53' n='N053'/>IRA) spoke of the peace movement in an interview during a re <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_54' n='N054'/>cent tour of the U.S.: “We go to the marches as individuals. It <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_55' n='N055'/>would be the kiss of death if we openly supported them. We have <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_56' n='N056'/>issued statements supporting them, but I don’t agree with trying <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_57' n='N057'/>to move in and take them over." <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_58' n='N058'/>De Burca believes that if the British withdrew the Provos <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_59' n='N059'/>would be politically undermined. She argues that unification of <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_60' n='N060'/>the country is still the solution but that it can be achieved only <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_61' n='N061'/>through unification of the various factions around initially mod <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_62' n='N062'/>est reforms. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_63' n='N063'/>The demand for peace is not Marxist, but in the context <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_64' n='N064'/>of Northern Ireland it is very revolutionary at the mo <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_65' n='N065'/>ment... The reason we’re looking for peace is to allow <lb facs='#facs_84_r_1_1_tl_66' n='N066'/>us to operate openly and intensively in a political way </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>to unite Protestants and Catholics. If we have to look <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>for something that sounds as reactionary as peace, then <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>we look for it. If people can’t see behind the facade to <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>the reality then it’s their problem. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>When Marin de Burca speaks of working in a political way <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>to unite Catholics and Protestants, she is speaking as a marxist <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>attempting to organize working people to assume greater econo <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>mic control. While, as a member of the Official IRA, de Burca <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>definitely supports an anti-imperialist struggle, she feels that in <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>the long run the sectarian disputes dividing the Catholic and Prot- <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>estant working populations are perhaps an even greater obstacle <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>to the struggle for self-determination. As the situation exists now, <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>separate Catholic and Protestant labor unions render the labor <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>movement as a whole relatively ineffectual, and continued eco <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>nomic disintegration due to sectarian violence has left large sec <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>tions of the Catholic and Protestant population unemployed. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>It is interesting to note the difference between de Burca's <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>marxist analysis, which views the entire Irish working class as the <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>oppressed class and the type of marxist analysis supported by <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>other Republicans, which views the Catholic minority in the <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>North as the oppressed class. The Provisionals, who are not nec <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>essarily socialists but prefer to think of themselves as consistently <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>on the left, persist in opposing both the British and the Protestan <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>paramilitary and are engaged in a constant struggle for unifica <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>tion with the Catholic South. Bernadette Devlin, a socialist and <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>an aggressive Republican, generally supports this form of analysis <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>where class—purely in economic terms—is secondary to anti <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>imperialism and a class analysis stressing the political and eco <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>nomic discrimination that the Catholic population as a whole has <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>suffered at the hands of a Protestant-controlled government and <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>industry. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>The complexity of the situation and the relative inadequacy <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>of this approach is apparent when one considers, even in crude <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>terms, the economic composition of the Catholic and Protestant <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>population. While it is definitely true that the Protestant majori- <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_36' n='N036'/>ty, as a group, has greater economic control, and that the high <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_37' n='N037'/>est levels of unemployment in the North are in Catholic districts, <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_38' n='N038'/>the large majority of the Protestant population is also working <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_39' n='N039'/>class. It is, in fact, the youths of these two communities who are <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_40' n='N040'/>fighting one another, while the small minority of Protestants who <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_41' n='N041'/>are wealthy maintain an economic advantage and have an inter <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_42' n='N042'/>est in continuing sectarian hostilities for precisely this reason. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_43' n='N043'/>It would be a mistake, however, to attempt to evaluate the <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_44' n='N044'/>significance of the peace movement on the basis of its potential <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_45' n='N045'/>effectiveness in furthering the cause of other political movements. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_46' n='N046'/>It is perhaps more useful to consider the way in which the peace <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_47' n='N047'/>movement is indicative of an entirely different struggle for self <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_48' n='N048'/>determination, as well as a profoundly different approach to these <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_49' n='N049'/>issues. It is significant that what is being questioned by the peace <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_50' n='N050'/>people is not the ends of political struggle so much as the means <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_51' n='N051'/>by which ideas, opinions and interests are both culturally rein <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_52' n='N052'/>forced and socially imposed. <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_53' n='N053'/>The critical issue which is the historical source of internal <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_54' n='N054'/>Irish conflict is that of the relationship between Ireland and the <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_55' n='N055'/>British Empire. This has not only kept Catholics and Protestants <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_56' n='N056'/>feuding for generations, but has also led to innumerable splits <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_57' n='N057'/>within both camps. It is paradoxical that within this contex <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_58' n='N058'/>British imperialism is the one issue on which the peace campaign <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_59' n='N059'/>has most consistently refused to take a stand. This is not because <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_60' n='N060'/>individual participants have no opinions on this question, but <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_61' n='N061'/>rather because the movement locates the "solution” in people, in <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_62' n='N062'/>a process of interaction and definition rather than in abstrac <lb facs='#facs_84_r_2_1_tl_63' n='N063'/>"positions. </p> <pb n='85'/> <p> <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>For the peace people, the question of the relative legitimacy <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>of opposing traditions is momentarily suspended. What is reveal <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>ed instead is the logical perfection of institutionalized conflict. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>Military, political and even religious leaders are themselves to <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>blame, claim the peace organizers, not because of this or that <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>’position" in relation to government, but because they have kept <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>the Irish people divided among themselves. “Rationality” is for <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>them not merely a question of “right" and “wrong,” but rather <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>begins with the realization of how two non-dialectical visions of <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>"right" are sustained by a culture which is imperialist and author <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>itarian in its very mode of thought. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>Problems arise, claim the peace workers, because we have <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>lost sight of a basic respect for the individual." "Solutions," they <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>assert, cannot be artificially constructed and then imposed but <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>must arise through a process of creative interaction in which gov <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>ernment does not exist to control people, to violently suppress <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>dissent, but rather as an extension of the more or less clearly arti <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>culated needs and desires of all the people. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>These concepts, while they may reveal an element of political <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>naiveté which translates as liberalism, are not rhetorical. The <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>practical orientation of the movement to date, with its emphasis <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>on open and careful discussion and a decentralized approach to <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>developing democratic forms, is indicative of this fact. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>From this perspective we might examine Bernadette Devlin's <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>claim that the peace movement is “dangerous" because it “dulls <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>consciousness. “We were stupid,” she claims, “never to have or <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>ganized the women."10 Both the truth and the potential fallacy of <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>this statement are apparent. From the standpoint of almost any <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>traditional political perspective, assertions of the sanctity of life, <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>of respect for the individual and of a genuine “creative form of <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>democracy" must appear naive without a "program” or a defini <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>tion of the specific conditions under which such values can be <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>realized. The peace people, however, do not qualify these condi- <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>tions; the values themselves must define the very process of po <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_35' n='N035'/>litical interaction. If this is the case, how then can we interpret <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_36' n='N036'/>Bernadette’s regret at not having "organized" the women? Is it <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_37' n='N037'/>conceivable that the women supporting the peace movement are <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_38' n='N038'/>not in fact organizing themselves, organizing in such a way as to <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_39' n='N039'/>deny the legitimacy of those very political forms into which <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_40' n='N040'/>others seek to recruit them? <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_41' n='N041'/>A supportive statement by the Provisionals, in which the <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_42' n='N042'/>peace movement is described as a "spontaneous overreaction led <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_43' n='N043'/>by the photogenic Mrs. Betty Williams" reveals both the con <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_44' n='N044'/>descension and lack of reflexivity which typify those attitudes the <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_45' n='N045'/>women are most directly challenging. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_46' n='N046'/>We are not necessarily in opposition to the peace people. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_47' n='N047'/>But we want to explain to the people that there cannot <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_48' n='N048'/>be peace without justice. We just want to explain to the <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_49' n='N049'/>people turning out to these marches what the true posi <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_50' n='N050'/>tion is and show them the road to real peace.1 <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_51' n='N051'/>This raises the most subtle and yet critical issue of the peace <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_52' n='N052'/>movement’s significance. The whole notion of a “true position” is <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_53' n='N053'/>what the peace movement calls into question—it is not the politi <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_54' n='N054'/>cal views of the opposing factions that are being attacked; even <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_55' n='N055'/>the "violence” the movement condemns is but a manifestation of <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_56' n='N056'/>something far more profoundly significant. The peace people are, <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_57' n='N057'/>in my opinion, not reacting simply to a specific incident of vio <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_58' n='N058'/>lence, nor even to violence in the abstract. They are (perhaps <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_59' n='N059'/>naively but nevertheless insightfully) challenging a whole tradi <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_60' n='N060'/>tion. What is fundamentally being questioned is the legitimacy of <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_61' n='N061'/>the imposition of the will of one group upon another. “Justice” is <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_62' n='N062'/>not being challenged so much as how justice is socially defined. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_63' n='N063'/>imperialism, in this context, is not simply a question of national <lb facs='#facs_85_r_1_1_tl_64' n='N064'/>or international conquest. Imperialism is the imposition of a so </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>cial order, whether through military force or political manipula <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>tion, by those with power on those without. The very question of <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>how Northern Ireland can be governed, says Ciaran McKeown, <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>"is an imperialist question” because it implies the imposition of <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>political forms by politicians on people who are for the most part <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>excluded from the process of a creative democracy. Thus all ex <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>tant political solutions are inevitably violent, whether the vio <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>lence is “legal"1 or "illegal," because they require military force <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>to secure them. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>From this perspective, British colonialism, Protestant politi <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>cal suprematism and IRA military violence can be seen as identi <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>cal in their implicit attitudes toward the imposition of social or <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>der. In every case, whether justified or not, “justice” is an exten <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>sion of self-interest and democracy is a rhetorical, not a methodo <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>logical phenomenon. While it would be absurd to consider the <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>peace movement as a feminist or a socialist movement, it express <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>es values that are fundamentally in accordance with both socialist <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>and feminist thought, in that it addresses the whole issue of power <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>and questions the way the right of self-determination has been <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>eclipsed, not only by those in power, but by those who conceive <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>of power alone—economic, military or political—as the just de <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>terminant of social order. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>Perhaps it’s been our fault, you see, because we have sat <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>back—as ordinary people—which is the fault every- <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>where—where the ordinary people sat back and let a <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>few extremists say, "We are speaking and we are work- <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>ing for the people." We should have long ago stood up <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>and said, “They’re not speaking for us." I mean, people <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>have been coming out from Ireland representing the <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>people—the ordinary people, perhaps people like our <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>selves, who never had the nerve. I mean, just to be here <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>takes all the courage one has got, you know. [Mairead <lb facs='#facs_85_r_2_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>Corrigan 13 </p> <p> <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_1' n='N001'/>1. Margaret McNeil, “They Say That There’s Protestants Walking With <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_2' n='N002'/>Us, The Friend (London, Sept. 1976) <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_3' n='N003'/>2. Daily American (Rome, Aug. 22, 1976). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_4' n='N004'/>3. Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo, Woman, Culture, and Society, ed. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_5' n='N005'/>Michelle Z. Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_6' n='N006'/>University Press, 1974). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_7' n='N007'/>4. Betty Williams on Woman program, moderator Sandra Elkin (Buffalo: <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_8' n='N008'/>WNEDTV, Oct. 1976). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_9' n='N009'/>5. Mairead Corrigan on Woman program (Buffalo: WNED TV, Oct. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_10' n='N010'/>1976). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_11' n='N011'/>6. Sinn Fein (means “we ourselves”), founded in 1916, has functioned <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_12' n='N012'/>since the 1930s mainly as the political wing of the IRA. In the 1960s it <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_13' n='N013'/>swung to the left as did the IRA and became involved in social and eco <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_14' n='N014'/>nomic agitation and in 1970 split along the same lines as the IRA into <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_15' n='N015'/>Sinn Fein, Kevin Street (Provisional) and Sinn Fein, Gardiner Street <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_16' n='N016'/>(Official). The names come from the streets in Dublin where they have <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_17' n='N017'/>their headquarters. Both groups use the name Sinn Fein, however, in <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_18' n='N018'/>spite of the fact that their views are widely divergent. The Provisionals <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_19' n='N019'/>are more militant and nationalist while the Officials are marxist and <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_20' n='N020'/>not militant. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_21' n='N021'/>7. June Campion, quoted in Peace by Peace (Belfast, Oct. 16, 1976). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_22' n='N022'/>8. Marin de Burca, quoted by David Moberg, In These Times (Jan. 1977). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_23' n='N023'/>9. Ibid. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_24' n='N024'/>10. Bernadette Devlin, quoted by Lucinda Franks, “We Want Peace, Just <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_25' n='N025'/>Peace,” New York Times Magazine (Dec. 19, 1975). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_26' n='N026'/>11. Irish Republican Information Service (Dublin, Oct. 14, 1976). Italics <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_27' n='N027'/>the author’s. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_28' n='N028'/>12. Ciaran McKeown, “The Price of Peace” (Belfast, 1976). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_29' n='N029'/>13. Mairead Corrigan on Woman program (Buffalo: WNED TV, Oct. <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_30' n='N030'/>1976). <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_31' n='N031'/>Sarah Charlesworth is an artist and photographer who lives and works in <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_32' n='N032'/>New York. Her previously published writings have dealt with art and social <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_33' n='N033'/>theory. She was a founding editor of The Fox and is a member of the anti <lb facs='#facs_85_r_3_1_tl_34' n='N034'/>catalog collective. </p> </div> </body> </text> </TEI> Document Download Object Type XML document Related Item No
