1968 was a momentous year in many parts of the world, writes Eugene McEldowney
In Czechoslovakia, the "Prague Spring" ended with the arrival of Soviet tanks to crush the burgeoning democratic movement. In Vietnam, the Viet Cong launched the Tet offensive that would eventually see them arrive triumphant in Saigon. In the United States, the civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated.
In Paris, students at the Sorbonne took to the streets in a series of demonstrations that rocked the French establishment. And in the village of Caledon in Co Tyrone, a small group of people, including the young politician Austin Currie, seized a council house and barricaded themselves inside.
The people who took part in the occupation could not have foreseen the long-term results of their action: they had set in motion a chain of events that would have profound implications, not just for Caledon,but for the whole of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was about to emerge on the international stage.
The aim of those who seized the house in Caledon was to focus attention on the discriminatory housing policies practised by the Unionist authorities in the North. The house had been allocated to a 19-year-old unmarried Protestant woman, Emily Beattie, who worked as a secretary for the local Unionist parliamentary candidate.
She had been assigned the house in preference to a number of Catholic families with children. One of these families had squatted in the house and was evicted to make way for Ms Beattie. That family was called Gildernew and, ironically, they were later to have a daughter, Michelle, who many years later would become the Sinn Féin Westminster MP for the constituency and Minister for Agriculture in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Housing policy had wider implications than simply denying accommodation to needy families. It was also a means of maintaining political control, particularly in areas where the population was evenly balanced. Groups such as the Dungannon-based Campaign for Social Justice set up by Dr Conn McCluskey and his wife, Patricia, had already been documenting these abuses and campaigning to have them overturned.
Soon after the Caledon occupation, a group of local activists proposed that a public march take place from Coalisland to Dungannon to draw attention to the absence of basic human rights in Northern Ireland. These included restrictions on free speech and assembly, the gerrymandering of wards and constituencies, abuses in the electoral process and discrimination in housing and employment.
The NICRA, which had earlier come into existence, agreed to sponsor the march and it was scheduled for Saturday, August 24th. About 2,000 took took part, but when the marchers arrived in Dungannon, the RUC denied them entry to the town centre because of a counter-demonstration staged by Rev Ian Paisley and supporters. This was a tactic that would be employed successfully by the Paisleyites at most subsequent NICRA demonstrations.
Another march was then called for Derry on October 5th, organised by a local housing action committee which had been campaigning against biased housing allocations by Derry City Council. As a result of the events at Dungannon, this march attracted widespread attention and publicity. Several prominent politicians turned up to give their support, including Gerry Fitt, the MP for West Belfast and a number of British parliamentarians.
Amazingly, given the presence of many reporters and television crews, the RUC attacked the marchers using batons and water-cannon and several people were injured. The result was an explosion of interest in the civil rights movement and a rapid expansion in its membership, including the founding of People's Democracy by students at Queens University, Belfast. The PD was later to organise a march from Belfast to Derry which was attacked by loyalists at Burntollet Bridge outside the village of Claudy amid charges of RUC collusion with the attackers.
The government of Terence O'Neill had promised to introduce some limited reforms in an attempt to appease the growing civil rights agitation but these were seen by many as too little too late. They were also opposed by reactionary elements in his own party. The political situation in Northern Ireland continued to deteriorate with serious rioting in Derry and Belfast in August 1969 and later the shooting dead of 13 unarmed civilians by the British Parachute Regiment at a NICRA-sponsored anti-internment march in Derry in January 30th, 1972.
To mark the fortieth anniversary of the first civil rights marches in 1968 (and to remember the Dublin Housing Action Committee protests of the same year), a series of events have been organised, including a concert of protest songs in Liberty Hall, Dublin on Thursday, September 18th at 7.30pm and a public meeting in mid-October.
Performers who have agreed to take part in the "Civil Rights '68" concert include Andy Irvine, the Sands Family, Karan Casey and Niall Vallely, Niamh Parsons and Graham Dunne, Len Graham, Fintan Vallely and the Liffeysiders Folk Band. The organisers also promise several surprise guests.Tickets cost €15 and can be bought via www.centralticketbureau.com, or at Liberty Hall, Eden Quay, Dublin 1.