Individual Presentation or Panel Title
Behind the Hype: Investigating Media Claims about the 2012 Belfast Riots
Abstract
Over the past summer and continuing sporadically into September, riots broke out in Belfast over partisan conflict during the parades season; the media proclaimed the unrest a return to the sectarian violence of the Troubles era. To determine the accuracy of these claims, the background, duration, scope and political response to the Troubles and the 2012 riots were compared. Though the 2012 riots prove that tensions between Protestant and Catholic residents of Northern Ireland remain, the media’s equation of the 2012 riots to the Troubles era was unfounded and did not hold up when the two events were examined closely. Responses from both sides to the 2012 riots actually serve to illustrate the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland since the Troubles ended. The key difference between the Troubles and the 2012 riots appears to be a question of identity: while those on both sides of the issue during the Troubles genuinely felt the outcome would affect the survival of their respective nations, the 2012 riots appear to be the result of frustration over parade regulations.
Location
Goodwin Private Dining Room
Start Date
20-4-2013 3:30 PM
End Date
20-4-2013 4:20 PM
Behind the Hype: Investigating Media Claims about the 2012 Belfast Riots
Goodwin Private Dining Room
Over the past summer and continuing sporadically into September, riots broke out in Belfast over partisan conflict during the parades season; the media proclaimed the unrest a return to the sectarian violence of the Troubles era. To determine the accuracy of these claims, the background, duration, scope and political response to the Troubles and the 2012 riots were compared. Though the 2012 riots prove that tensions between Protestant and Catholic residents of Northern Ireland remain, the media’s equation of the 2012 riots to the Troubles era was unfounded and did not hold up when the two events were examined closely. Responses from both sides to the 2012 riots actually serve to illustrate the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland since the Troubles ended. The key difference between the Troubles and the 2012 riots appears to be a question of identity: while those on both sides of the issue during the Troubles genuinely felt the outcome would affect the survival of their respective nations, the 2012 riots appear to be the result of frustration over parade regulations.