The opening shot of the TV show Derry Girls is a military truck driving through a sign that says, “Welcome to Londonderry,” while some teenagers are spray painting over the “London” part. As I was rewatching Derry Girls for the third time, why did Lisa Mcgee, the writer of the beloved show and who lived in Derry herself, choose this shot?
Well, Londonderry is how the Irish Unionists would call it. The Irish Nationalists would call it Derry. While being the fourth largest city in Ireland, it compares with the 341st largest city in the United States, Tuscaloosa in Alabama. Now, if an Irish person said they watched a show about teenagers living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama three times, I would think they lived a rather boring life.
Derry Girls, a 2 season series that once was the most-watched show on Channel 4 by Northern Irelanders, flawlessly weaves the dark realities of religious conflict and pride with trifle melodramatic teenage problems during ‘The Troubles’ in Ireland. Derry Girls takes place in the 1990s, the final years of ‘The Troubles’, where Clare, Michelle, Orla, Erin, and wee English fella James learn to navigate through their teen years while living in a distressed and guerrilla enforced Derry community. It’s within these scary unsettling times that the charisma of the show shines through.
The first sign of unease in the Derry community is when the family hears that a nearby bridge is being blocked because of the suspicion of a bomb. The show completely dismisses the grave danger of the bomb -what watchers expect will be addressed- and indirect characterization is seen through the family’s reaction to the bomb; the family is more concerned about the traffic build-up when they drive to work and some are worried about their “appointment in Tropicana at 12.” The trifle inconveniences of the bomb are exaggerated to lighten up the situation and how unaffected the people in Derry are about living through ‘The Troubles.’
When there is a bomb search that interrupts the girls’ bus ride to school, the conversation doesn’t turn solemn from the fear of a bomb, but the scene plays a comedic tone when Michelle finds one of the soldiers “a ride.” We don’t feel sorry for the characters in their situation because they don’t feel sorry for themselves. This bus search is just apart of their bus ride to school, and James -a transfer from England- is the only one that finds the situation odd. How had the scenes of soldiers marching down the streets of Derry and regular bomb threats become a routine to the people in Derry? What were “The Troubles”?
Ireland was always a stubborn country. In 1801, Ireland joined Great Britain that consisted of other countries such as Scotland and Wales. From a larger perspective, the British isles consisted of Great Britain, Ireland, and other small territories within it. In 1922, Ireland seceded from Great Britain to become a sovereign republic, and Great Britain + Ireland became the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is a political term that acknowledges the succession between Ireland and Great Britain while Great Britain is a
geographical term used to refer solely to Britain after it’s succession with Ireland.
The geography of these European countries plays into understanding the conflict between Britain and Northern Ireland. Now, how did the people of Northern Ireland react to this succession?
In Northern Ireland, the Protestant Unionists still wanted to be ruled by the British Parliament. This angered the Catholic Nationalists because they had their own agenda of having Home Rule and establishing their own Irish Parliament after the Potato Famine. The Potato Famine devastated Ireland, and the nationalists blamed the British Parliament for their negligence of handling the issue that left many Irish starved to death.
To gain political independence from Britain, Sinn Fein (1905) was created to advocate for the Irish Parliament. Ulster Volunteers (1912), the unionist’s reaction to Sinn Fein, was created as a militia that kept peace within the nation; Ulster Volunteers are named after Ulster-Scots which is a Northern Ireland province that worked with the British army. The Ulsters started to unjustly arrest members of the Sinn Fein and eventually grew violent towards its members and anyone that supported the Sinn Fein. There were strong feelings of betrayal between the Northern Irelanders that resulted in the Irish Republican Party (IRA) (1919). Their mission was to end British rule while using guerilla warfare tactics turning this political conflict into one of Ireland’s bloodiest years in history. While this wasn’t a religious conflict, the majority of Protestants living in Northern Ireland overpowered the Catholic population. The largest church in the Republic of Ireland is the Catholic Church which made the Catholics in Northern Ireland even more determined to unite the two Irelands together.
Gerrymandering was a result of the high tensions in North Ireland and a form of discrimination against the Catholics. It was introduced in Derry in 1895 that continued into 1974. The Catholic majority population wasn’t given the right to vote and this restricted Catholic representation in local government and councils in Northern Ireland. The Protestants of Northern Ireland would fill the roles of important government officials and rule Northern Ireland over unhappy citizens. The United States’ Civil Rights movement influenced the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association that was set up in Derry (1967-1972). It was a peaceful protest group calling for equal rights for Irish Catholics that lead with its slogan, ‘one man, one vote.”
Not all the Protestants agreed with the Gerrymandering, but the government drilled this superiority complex into the Protestants that made the conflict rise. “The bystander becoming the oppressor” is present when we address the roles society chooses when participating in the BLM movement. The traces of this superiority complex can still be seen in Northern Ireland today between the Protestants and Catholics.
The Good Friday agreement ended “The Troubles” as Northern Ireland resolved their issues on the power struggle between the Unionists and Nationalists. Unless Northern Ireland wishes to be part of the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland was to be partitioned from the Republic of Ireland. Powersharing was implemented between the British government and the Irish government to dispute any policy matter. Similar to the checks and balances in the US government, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) -the police force in Northern Ireland- would be watched by an independent commission and put in strict regulations.
The 1998 Omagh Bombing is one of the deadliest acts of terrorism following ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland -directly in response to the Good Friday agreement- that Lisa Mcgee exclusively remembers living through as a child. The group of people that conducted the Omagh bombing claims they were part of the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), a group derived from the IRA after the IRA went into a ceasefire in 1997. The IRA was seen as a terrorist organization in the UK and illegal in the Republic of Ireland.
The ceasefire prompted members of the IRA to continue advocating for the group’s original message but with more violent means and acts of terrorism. The group stole and loaded a car with 500 pounds of fertilizer based bombs that killed 18 Catholics and 11 Protestants which left Derry devastated by both religious sides. Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness and Northern Ireland’s first prime minister said, “This appalling act was carried out by those opposed to the peace process.” The Real IRA is still active -not violently- around Northern Ireland and still holds the same belief that Ireland should not be affiliated with the British hence the social divide between the Protestants and Catholics today in Ireland.
This Northern Ireland group is similar to America’s terrorist group: The KKK in America was formerly created to violently threaten black Americans with terrorist raids and destruction of property into groups that now are only allowed to protest and assemble their racist beliefs. The show ties in the Irish’s reluctance to accepting the British when James is introduced, a wee English fella that flew in to stay with his cousin Michelle and attend her all-girls school, in the first episode. He is usually seen as the butt of the joke in the series which highlights his outcast aspect around the Derry community.
The bombing of Omagh 1998 is similar to the Oklahoma City bombing 1995 in the sense that a stolen car and fertilizer based bombs were involved to fill their political agenda. The Oklahoma City bombing was stationed near a federal building and was in response to a government-enforced standoff that killed 75 members of a cult. Oklahoma City bombing was the deadliest domestic terrorism act before 9/11 and Omagh bombing 1998 is still the deadliest in Northern Ireland.
The past Irish conflicts of the Protestants vs. Catholics transpire into a much more global issue today. ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland between the Christians and the Protestants is fueled with the same hate that is going on with our police and protestors. The distant attitudes between the people in Derry reflect how we now are strangers to those around us in this cautious state of COVID-19. Our world now was present in the past. Revisiting one of Ireland’s bloodiest and most violent years can scare us into making a change in our society. There may not be debate over succession or ruling parliaments today that can enact a 30-year struggle to divide our nation, but the resistance to listening to other beliefs is still present today. There are still prejudices towards others with different backgrounds than us which can and has divided our nation. Until lessons from history can be acknowledged, establishing peace between bitter neighbors will never be reached.