Tag Archives: Good Friday Agreement

George Mitchell on Good Friday’s 15th anniversary

Numerous political figures played critical roles in securing the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. I’ve always most appreciated the work of former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the negotiations.

Here’s his 15th anniversary reflection, from the Belfast Telegraph:

It was a difficult experience but one that ultimately produced what I think is a good result.

When the agreement was reached I said publicly on that day and in the days that followed that in itself it did not guarantee peace or political stability or reconciliation but rather it made them possible.

Whether they would occur would depend upon the courage and commitment of the political leaders and people of Northern Ireland.

As we all know of course there were many problems, setbacks, issues over the past 15 years but they have worked hard to resolve them and I certainly believe, and I hope most people do, that Northern Ireland is a better place as a result of the agreement.

It’s undeniable not every issue has been resolved or problem solved. I also think it’s important not to hold Northern Ireland to an unrealistic standard that no other society meets. Every society has its problems.

We’ve got plenty of problems here in the United States, there are problems in other parts of the United Kingdom, there are plenty of problems in Ireland and the European Union and you could go all around the world and say the same thing.

On balance, I think Northern Ireland has made progress and I feel very honoured to have been part of it. I still come back to Northern Ireland often. I’m an American and proud of it but a large part of my heart and my emotions will always be in Northern Ireland and with the people there.

Readers interested in learning more about Mitchell’s role in Northern Ireland should pick up a copy of his 1999 book, Making Peace.

image

 George Mitchell

Good Friday’s 15th, Easter’s 97th

The actually anniversary dates don’t come until later in April, but the movable Holy Week calendar reminds us of two important anniversaries: the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and the Easter Rising of 1916.

“Fifteen years on, despite periodic setbacks, [the GFA] has delivered on its promise by bringing a deadly conflict with centuries-old political and religious roots almost to end,” World News Forecast says in a preview piece. Of course Union Jack demonstrations and the reemergence of dissident republican groups remind us that not all “the troubles” are in the past.

As for the 1916 Easter proclamation, it famously begins, “Irishmen and Irishwomen…” Here’s a piece from Dublin People headlined “The women of 1916.”

image

Flag protests continue in Belfast, threaten Dublin

Loyalists demonstrators continue to protest restrictions on flying the British Union Jack flag over Belfast City Hall. Police claimed Saturday they were fired upon by someone in an unruly mob of about 1,000 people.

The protests have reached the one-month mark. Here’s a BBC Q & A explaining the issue, which so far is drawing only lite media attention in the U.S.

But the story could heat up more in the coming week if bus loads of protesters make good on their vow to bring the demonstrations across the boarder to the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Examiner reports the demonstrators want to demand removal of the Irish Tricolour from Leinster House, the seat of government. Said one protest leader:

“Under the Good Friday Agreement we were promised that this would remain part of the United Kingdom. Now we are continually told to move on, and that this is an island of equals. If that’s the case, how do the people in Dublin feel when we come down and ask them to take the flag off the capital in their country? Very annoyed, I would say.”

For me, the issue resonates from my newspaper coverage more than a decade ago about changing representations of the Confederate period in the City of Mobile, Ala., city seal. Confederate partisans wanted to keep the controversial Battle flag image in place, while many African-Americans and tourism/economic development-focused whites wanted it replaced by a less offensive (and less familiar) flag of the Confederate government. Similar controversies have flared across the American South for years.

In Mobile, protests and debate lasted for 18 months before the city government and “Southern Heritage” supporters finally reached a “Dixie détente.” Here’s hoping the flag issue on the island of Ireland doesn’t take as long to resolve, or get any nastier than it’s already been.