Northern Ireland Social media and conflict dynamics on the peace lines
Brendan McCourt
Over three thousand people died and hundreds of thousands more were injured in violence during Northern Ireland’s “Troubles” (1969-1999). At interfaces between the Republican and Nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods and predominantly Loyalist and Unionist Protestant neighbourhoods, the violence was particularly raw and volatile, especially when political and community tensions were high. As the peace process took hold, enormous effort by community leaders, paramilitaries and other agencies has helped to gradually reduce street conflict to low levels.
Northern Ireland is a post-conflict society still coming to terms with 30 plus years of vicious community and State violence in which over 3500 died and hundreds of thousands were injured. It is now being openly referred to as a “war”. The Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, paving the way for democratically elected government and “relative” peace.1 Paramilitary groups are still active on both sides. Belfast still has 97 peace lines/walls, separation barriers between predominantly Republican, Nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods and predominantly Loyalist and Unionist Protestant neighbourhoods. The biggest wall is higher than the Berlin Wall and has stood for over 50 years. “Interfaces” in Northern Ireland refer to a street, crossroad, wall, security barrier or gate where physical conflict occurs between the two communities (the real, or imaginary boundary between the two communities).
Post-conflict Northern Ireland remains a divided society', which is reflected in voting and social patterns. By 2009, Northern Ireland’s government was relatively stable, and the outlook was generally optimistic. This continued until 2017, when the government collapsed over disagreements between Sinn Fein (CNR) and the Democratic Unionist Party' (PUL). In January 2020, bowing to public pressure, both parties agreed to restore power sharing. Brexit, and the deep political uncertainty accompanying it, has added a new and unsettling dimension which is dealt with later in this chapter. The Protestant Unionist Loyalist (PUL) community is mainly in favour of retaining the union with the rest of the UK, while the Catholic Nationalist Republicans (CNR) are more ambivalent.
A February 2020 public interest poll looked at how Brexit has impacted people’s views on the constitutional future of N1. It revealed that if there were a border poll, 46.8% in N1 would vote to remain part of the UK and 45.4% would vote for a united Ireland. A poll in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). In ROI, revealed that 73.1% of respondents would vote for N1 to be part of a united Ireland, 10.2% to remain in the UK and 16.7% don’t know. In both the N1 and ROI polls, a majority of participants said they supported a referendum on Irish unity taking place within the next ten years (LucidTalk 2020).
Social media has had positive and negative impacts on Northern Ireland’s (N1) ongoing peace process. Previously, cross community engagement at grassroots level would have been on radio talk shows (BBC Talkback), news and current affairs radio and TV (UTV Live, Counterpoint, BBC Newsline, BBC Spotlight), letters pages of newspapers and in later stages, facilitated lace to lace talks, at all levels including politicians, community leaders and paramilitaries.
Many serious incidents of intercommunity violence at interface flashpoints were sometimes sparked by a tiny incident, such as a stone thrown by a child. They could quickly escalate, as rumours and fear spread like wildfire, often ending in riots and gunfire, involving hundreds of people, young and old. Many deaths occurred at these flashpoints.
As the peace process took hold, technology was critical. In the 1990s, a network of community workers/paramilitaries developed a “firefighting” system by using mobile phones to warn their counterparts on the other side of trouble, anxiety or concerns. Rapid coordinated action was very effective in stamping out violence and reducing tension at the Peace Walls.
Since 2012, and the growth in popularity of smartphones, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, What’s App, Instagram and Snapchat have now become the dominant communication medium. A hot topic can go viral within minutes.
Unlike mainstream media, these platforms are unregulated. On one level they have been a force for good. As community barriers have been broken down, especially among very young people, through superb, ground-breaking work by youth leaders, genuine friendships and relationships have developed and deepened on social media across the divide. The next generation are socialising, meeting in each other’s areas, having children and even moving “across the line” to live in what was once classed “enemy territory”. Ten years ago, this would have been unthinkable.
