Just a song? Enduring legacies in post-conflict societies
The 10th of April, 2023 marked 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the historic peace accord that has been lauded for bringing an end to the 30 years of violence known as the Troubles, a period which engendered devastation to Northern Ireland, leaving 3,200 people dead and 42,000 injured. Rooted in Britain’s colonial history and systems of discrimination and injustice, the Troubles began in response to continuous systematic violence inflicted upon the Catholic population of Northern Ireland by the Protestant-dominated government. In the late 1960s, they quickly deteriorated, eventually involving paramilitary violence and the arrival of the British Army in 1969. Characterized by mainly Protestant loyalists, who wished for Northern Ireland to remain as a part of the United Kingdom, and mostly Catholic republicans, who sought a unified Republic of Ireland, the period spanned three-decades and has had a profound and lasting impact that continues to shape modern day politics and relations within and between Northern Ireland, the Republic, and the United Kingdom.
In April of 1998, The Good Friday Agreement facilitated a political settlement between the parties, marking the end of the Troubles. Core constituents of the peace accord include the establishment of a democratic power-sharing institution, meant to ensure representation with the inclusion of both nationalists and unionists, cross-border cooperation, principles of equality and human rights, reforms of policing and criminal justice, paramilitary decommissioning, prisoner releases, referendums for approval and provisions for review and amendment.
Met with widespread international support, the deal is commonly viewed as a historic achievement towards lasting peace in both the Republic and Northern Ireland, fostering mainly peaceful relations between the two. It has seen broad cessation of physical violence in comparison to pre-agreement levels, and has thus commonly been labeled a useful framework for conflict management. However, enduring examples of sectarian divides have the potential to challenge the agreement’s prominence and perceived success, raising questions of whether it truly brought transformative and lasting peace to the region. With legacies of divisions taking on new and sometimes unassuming forms, most recently in Paris at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, discussions of the conflict’s lasting effects remain widespread.
Over the last decade, Ireland’s Rugby Team has undergone a sort of renaissance, currently ranked as number one worldwide. Seen as a unifying force for the island of Ireland, the Irish Rugby Football Union promotes integration through the inclusion of players both from the Republic and Northern Ireland. In the past, the traditionally militaristic Republican anthem has been replaced with “Ireland’s Call” in attempts to maintain an ‘apolitical identity’. However, following Ireland’s triumph over Scotland during the World Cup in Paris this past week, the more than 30,000 Irish fans present broke out into a harmonious rendition of “Zombie” by the Cranberries, eventually joined by the players themselves. Written by lead singer Dolores O’Riordan, the song is in protest to a 1993 bombing in Warrington, England, committed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that saw the deaths of two-young boys, aged three and 12. Garnering national attention, O’Riordan maintained its pacifist tones stating in an interview to Vox that it was not intended to express support for either side whilst adamantly rejecting the IRA and its association with Ireland.
Despite the song's supposed neutrality, its presence at the Stade de France has sparked controversy, igniting divisive sentiments once again. Its adoption on a global stage has intensified debates surrounding the island’s divisions and the enduring legacies of the Troubles. Renewed disputes in the aftermath of Brexit have seen growing support for a united Ireland and Sinn Féin, leaving the region in a somewhat fragile state. Thus, the adoption of the song as a ‘national anthem’ is viewed by some as an inappropriate choice in a high-profile context.
The events of the past week contradict rugby’s unassuming character in global politics, raising broader questions about Ireland’s supposed peace, and the nature of conflict management strategies more broadly. While often presented as a successful example of the power of diplomacy and dialogue in conflict resolution, critics of the Good Friday Agreement maintain that while it brought an end to physical violence, it failed to sufficiently dismantle structures of systemic violence and divisions, therefore lacking genuine reconciliation. Other examples of persistent sectarian divides are evident today, such as political and institutional stalemate, the presence of dissident groups, unresolved victim legacies, disputes over symbols and commemoration, and most prominently renewed fears of the implications of Brexit and its potential to reignite tensions.
Discussions about conflict management within recent years have seen growing calls for solutions targeted to address root causes of conflict and structural violence, arguing for approaches that seek conflict transformation rather than conflict management. Many suggest that an inability to provide transformative peace and justice could encourage a recurrence of violence, making them unsuitable frameworks for conflict resolution. While the use of “Zombie” during the World Cup may be seen by many as an insignificant practice that carries no material weight, people’s reactions raise broader questions about the continued legacies of violence and conflict management in post-conflict societies. Continuous examples of sectarian divides further this point, opening dialogue of transformative peace and raising questions whether the Troubles are truly ‘over’.
Image courtesy of Celine Jacinto via Wikimedia, ©2012. Some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
