Word: stormont
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...from its creation with an iron hand until the troubles began demonstrates a very self-benefiting partiality in terms of retaining the province. No honest observer of the situation in Ulster during those years could have overlooked the undemocratic and oppressive nature of the Protestant-dominated provincial government at Stormont, but it is possible--and there are innumerable political precedents for this--that the British government was ignorant of it. Only when the Catholics rose up in protest in 1968 and the present troubles were ignited (and Ulster became a burden, and not an asset) did the British government reassess...
...violence first surged, then abated, the British government was increasingly compelled to advocate an equitable political program. At first, its efforts in this direction were feeble, and did not seriously threaten Protestant ascendance at Stormont. But, after the fall of Stormont in 1972, the British government supported a new Ulster government which gave power to both Protestants and Catholics. Under the pressure of a general strike organized by Protestant extremists, however, it abandoned the experiment. Since then, the British government has ruled the province directly from Westminister and has become highly impatient with the Unionists' refusal to compromise on power...
Gloomy Castle. Warning of "bloodshed" in the streets and of "dreadful repercussions" if he was arrested, Paisley-dressed in black clerical garb -led pickets outside the gates of Stormont, the seat of government in the province. Nearby, at the gloomy, old Stormont Castle, Britain's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Roy Mason, a tough ex-miner, calmly directed security operations. The 14,500 British troops in Northern Ireland were placed on alert, and 2,000 more were flown in, but order was maintained by the Ulster police force. The Secretary kept a low profile, although he did send...
During the summer of 1969, Hume stood for and won the seat in the Northern Ireland Parliament at Stormont representing his native Bogside. In their recent book, Ireland: A Terrible Beauty, Leon and Jill Uris describe John Hume as "the best political brain on the island...a dedicated, unshakeable man," an evaluation at which Hume modestly says he has no idea how they arrived. While in the Stormont parliament, however, Hume demonstrated brilliance as both constitutionalist and politician. In early 1970, Hume was instrumental in forcing the Unionists to disband the B-Specials, a unit of the government's Royal...
Hume has consistently carried his quest for a non-violent solution to the Ulster conflict from the negotiating table to the city streets of Derry and Belfast. While a Stormont parliament member, Hume often risked his own life quieting Catholic protestors, keeping exchanges of insults from escalating into violence. Today, of course, all Protestant and Catholic marches are open invitations to violence and have been banned by the London government...