[Marxism] addition to Paul LeBlancs tribute

[David Walsh <davidrail68@xxxxxxxxx>]

Paul forgot to mention one other key struggle that helped to radicalize so many 
youth in his excellent tribute to Steffie Brooks. The Irish Civil Rights 
movement. It helped Irish-American kids, like me, at that time to make some 
important connections to Black Liberation and then even broader 
issues.                                                      Northern Ireland 
is a European country which has witnessed violence over many decades mainly 
because of sectarian tensions between the Catholic and Protestant community.

 

Bloody Sunday (1972) memorial mural
The Civil Rights struggle in Northern Ireland can be traced to women in 
Dungannon who those are some to fight for better housing for the members of the 
Catholic community. This domestic issue would not have led to a fight for Civil 
Rights if the policies of Northern Ireland did not make being a registered 
householder the qualification for the local government franchise. Thus these 
women were not only challenging what they saw as unfair housing policies, they 
were also taking the first steps toward fighting for Civil Rights for their 
community. Using various means to defend and improve the conditions for their 
communities, these women were in fact preparing a large part of the Catholic 
population to move beyond local and domestic issue and to embrace the larger 
purpose of the Civil Rights battle. This substantial contribution made by women 
is often erased from the general history of Northern Ireland primarily because 
this country still has a Protestant
 majority and a conservative culture who often overlook the role of women in 
the political sphere. [1].
On a more broad based and organized front, in January 1964, the Campaign for 
Social Justice (CSJ) was launched officially in Belfast. This organization took 
over the woman's struggle over better housing and committed itself to end the 
discrimination in employment. The CSJ promised the Catholic community that 
their cries would be heard. They challenged the government, promising that they 
would take their case to the Commission for Human Rights in Strasbourg and to 
the United Nations[2].
Having started with basic domestic issues, the Civil Rights struggle in 
Northern Ireland escalated to a full scale movement who found its embodiment in 
the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. NICRA campaigned in the late 
sixties and early seventies, consciously modeled itself on the 


      
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