PRC-UTE
10th October 2008, 07:17
Forty years on, housing remains a running sore
http://splinteredsunrise.wordpress.com/
The fortieth anniversary of the October 1968 civil rights march in Derry
is something that, while it’s obviously hugely significant, I must admit I
haven’t been going out of my way to look at. This year there’s been a
rather wearying parade of has-beens backslapping themselves about what
they did forty years ago, not to mention lots of people claiming credit
for the civil rights movement. This has usually taken the form of “Yo! We
won! And I and my close collaborators were the guys wot won it.”In the
media, this has boiled down to a protracted bunfight between the SDLP and
the Provos about who played the most significant role. Actually, the
Sticks and the Communist Party probably have more convincing claims,
although they don’t get the airtime. (One might also mention Socialist
Democracy, the lineal residue of the old PD, except they don’t seem
terribly keen on making anything of their illustrious history.) So, though
I’m always happy to see the inimitable Fionnbarra Ó Dochartaigh on the
telly, the anniversary hasn’t been preoccupying me inordinately.But here’s
something curious. Last Sunday there was a civil rights demo in Belfast
city centre, in the form of the North Belfast Housing Action Committee,
with a very creditable turnout of around 400. Even more creditable given
that the driving force seemed to be the IRSP – at least they were the only
organised force there apart from some anarchists. (I was even a little
surprised the anarchists were there, as this is the sort of thing the left
usually run a mile from. A little too nationalist, you see.)And this
actually flags up that in certain areas, and around certain issues –
housing in North Belfast is a key example – the dilemmas of forty years
ago are still incendiary. The background is this. In North Belfast, there
is a huge housing list, and areas like Ardoyne are bursting at the seams.
What’s more, 87% of those on the housing list are Catholic. And yet, there
is lots of empty housing stock in North Belfast, but the trouble is it’s
all in designated Protestant areas.And what makes the problem even more
apparent is the long-term demographic decline of Protestant North Belfast.
Many of these areas are not far off being derelict. Anyone who has the
opportunity to move out does so, and you’re basically left with those too
old to move, those too poor to move and the paramilitaries. But Catholics
can’t move into these areas, because that’s called encroachment, and it
drives North Belfast Prods buck mad.So here’s a problem that’s been
simmering away for many years and has only got worse. What do you do?
Well, you can avoid actively sectarianising the issue, and seeing if you
can find a few progressive Prods who are willing to pitch in. But again,
any solution to the housing issue will be a solution that unionism – and
not only the extreme sectarian fringes - seriously won’t like. But there’s
also a problem with the normal leftist nostrum of class unity – if your
strategy is to wait for the Prods, North Belfast nationalists are likely
to give you a dusty response. And there’s no getting past that 87%
figure.Quite a conundrum, isn’t it? And a conundrum that was all too
familiar in 1968…Rud eile: I am pleased to note that regular commenter
Garibaldy is now in the blogging game, and has some pertinent thoughts.
http://splinteredsunrise.wordpress.com/
The fortieth anniversary of the October 1968 civil rights march in Derry
is something that, while it’s obviously hugely significant, I must admit I
haven’t been going out of my way to look at. This year there’s been a
rather wearying parade of has-beens backslapping themselves about what
they did forty years ago, not to mention lots of people claiming credit
for the civil rights movement. This has usually taken the form of “Yo! We
won! And I and my close collaborators were the guys wot won it.”In the
media, this has boiled down to a protracted bunfight between the SDLP and
the Provos about who played the most significant role. Actually, the
Sticks and the Communist Party probably have more convincing claims,
although they don’t get the airtime. (One might also mention Socialist
Democracy, the lineal residue of the old PD, except they don’t seem
terribly keen on making anything of their illustrious history.) So, though
I’m always happy to see the inimitable Fionnbarra Ó Dochartaigh on the
telly, the anniversary hasn’t been preoccupying me inordinately.But here’s
something curious. Last Sunday there was a civil rights demo in Belfast
city centre, in the form of the North Belfast Housing Action Committee,
with a very creditable turnout of around 400. Even more creditable given
that the driving force seemed to be the IRSP – at least they were the only
organised force there apart from some anarchists. (I was even a little
surprised the anarchists were there, as this is the sort of thing the left
usually run a mile from. A little too nationalist, you see.)And this
actually flags up that in certain areas, and around certain issues –
housing in North Belfast is a key example – the dilemmas of forty years
ago are still incendiary. The background is this. In North Belfast, there
is a huge housing list, and areas like Ardoyne are bursting at the seams.
What’s more, 87% of those on the housing list are Catholic. And yet, there
is lots of empty housing stock in North Belfast, but the trouble is it’s
all in designated Protestant areas.And what makes the problem even more
apparent is the long-term demographic decline of Protestant North Belfast.
Many of these areas are not far off being derelict. Anyone who has the
opportunity to move out does so, and you’re basically left with those too
old to move, those too poor to move and the paramilitaries. But Catholics
can’t move into these areas, because that’s called encroachment, and it
drives North Belfast Prods buck mad.So here’s a problem that’s been
simmering away for many years and has only got worse. What do you do?
Well, you can avoid actively sectarianising the issue, and seeing if you
can find a few progressive Prods who are willing to pitch in. But again,
any solution to the housing issue will be a solution that unionism – and
not only the extreme sectarian fringes - seriously won’t like. But there’s
also a problem with the normal leftist nostrum of class unity – if your
strategy is to wait for the Prods, North Belfast nationalists are likely
to give you a dusty response. And there’s no getting past that 87%
figure.Quite a conundrum, isn’t it? And a conundrum that was all too
familiar in 1968…Rud eile: I am pleased to note that regular commenter
Garibaldy is now in the blogging game, and has some pertinent thoughts.