"Circumstances That Led to the Emergence of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association"

 
Irish History: Circumstances that led to the Emergence of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in the 1960s In the Irish history, one of themost significant events of national and international reputation has been the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in the 1960s which was instrumental in the campaign for the Civil Rights of the Roman Catholic minority. There had been marked discrimination of the of the Catholics in the nation at the hands of the Protestant Unionist government and the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) came up with strong campaign against this situation. Most remarkably, the association was modeled on the American Civil Rights Movement. Though there were other such movements for the civil rights, NICRA is considered “the most important group within the civil rights movement and it initiated the events that led to the creation of a mass movement. For a time it provided an umbrella beneath which the other organizations came together. It began life as a counterpart to the NCCL… NICRA…originated at a conference of the Wolfe Tone Societies held in Maghera, County Derry, on the weekend of 13-14 August 1966… The Wolfe Tone Societies, as the section of the republican movement most directly involved in creating NICRA, had the most thoroughly worked-out civil rights strategy… The initiative of setting up NICRA was very much that of Johnston, Coughlan and the Dublin Wolfe Tone Society.” (Purdie, 2008). Thus, it is very evident that the emergence of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in the 1960s has been essential in the campaign for Civil Rights in Ireland. It is also important to note that the materialization of NICRA will be best enlightened by several events that happened within as well as outside Northern Ireland and this paper deals with some of the most important such circumstances. Among the various circumstances leading up to the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association of the 1960s, one most conspicuous event has been the Education Act of 1947. The implication of this Act has been that it was instrumental in generating a superior qualified and sophisticated Catholic division in the nation. This newly evolved class of people was more convinced and persuaded in insisting for the civil rights to all the sections of the society. Thus, the Education Act of 1947 has been influential in providing an appropriate circumstance for the emergence of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association by the 1960s. In another notable favorable circumstance for the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, there began, in Northern Ireland, the Campaign for Social Justice which culminated by the year 1964. The role of the Campaign for Social Justice was significant as a pioneer for the materialization of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1967. Therefore, the Campaign for Social Justice has provided the right circumstances for the emergence of NICRA, and this also points to the role of other events too in the development of the association. The role of the national parties as well as that of the movements such as the labor and republican groups can be considered most essential in the development of NICRA. Thus, the political party members and labor as well as republican groups in the Northern Ireland, by mid 1960s, took great efforts in the institution of an effective civil rights movement.