贝尔法斯特市政厅，上图，威廉·墨菲通过维基共享资源. Lee Pellegrini的肖像.
当电子游戏软件在5月18日举行毕业典礼时, 1998, 这不仅仅是一个毕业典礼, 而是一种正在形成的历史观点.
这是对1998届毕业生和校友体育场观众的讲话, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern made a public appeal for the recently signed Good Friday Agreement, which within days faced a referendum in both the Irish Republic and Northern 爱尔兰. 正如埃亨解释的那样, the GFA had halted the three decades of conflict and tragedy in Northern 爱尔兰 known as “the Troubles,为这个动乱地区带来了希望.
“就在你们毕业生开始新的人生旅程之际,他说, “我们爱尔兰人期待着我们自己的新开始. 这是1918年以来的第一次, the people of the whole of 爱尔兰 will have the opportunity to vote for a common, 共同展望未来.”
在那个周末之前, GFA获得了压倒性的批准, and a new era in Northern 爱尔兰 began with the prospect of restoration of self-government with power sharing, 关注公民权利和政治权利, 警察改革, 和非军事化.
25年后, the GFA and its legacy is the subject of much reflection throughout Northern 爱尔兰 and beyond, 包括电子游戏软件的爱尔兰学者. 爱尔兰电子游戏正规平台项目本月将举办为期两天的会议。”Writing the Troubles: A Perspective on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.失望和挫折, some due to unforeseen circumstances and events—notably Brexit—have diluted the hoped-for impact of the agreement, 教职员工说. 社会, 在政治上, 和经济上, 北爱尔兰要摆脱“北爱尔兰问题”的影响还有很长的路要走.
但这是否意味着GFA失败了? 一点也不, 根据学者们的说法:高于一切, it stopped a bloody civil war that seemed almost impossible to resolve and provided at least a pathway to prosperity and equality.
罗伯特·萨维奇
该协议结束了许多人认为无法解决的冲突,罗伯特·萨维奇说, 历史系的实践教授. “The Troubles witnessed 30 years of bloody mayhem that destroyed the lives of many people. What is most remarkable and should not be overlooked is that the violence has ended.”
“尽管有时会中断, the GFA has restored devolved government to the country in a dynamic and creative way, 这样人们之间就有了真正的权力分享, 1998年以前, 彼此几乎不说话,历史教授奥利弗·拉弗蒂说, S.J. 要想说“是”，就得让宿敌们抛开长期存在的问题, fervently-held视图, 他补充说: Republicans/nationalists who opposed the very existence of Northern 爱尔兰 accepted the reality of the state, as well as the police service—a particular source of controversy—and that Northern 爱尔兰’s status “could not be changed without the consent of the unionist majority”; unionists/loyalists “realized that government would have to be shared to a meaningful degree with the Catholic nationalist minority.”
退休历史副教授凯文·奥尼尔, 不列颠哥伦比亚省爱尔兰电子游戏正规平台项目的联合创始人, cites the courage of John 休谟 (a regular visitor and occasional visiting faculty member at BC) as crucial to the GFA. As Northern 爱尔兰’s leading Catholic politician and head of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, 休谟 was aware “that by creating the new political institutions of the agreement, 他很可能会让自己的政党被边缘化. 但他认为结束破坏性暴力值得冒险.”
电子游戏软件 proved to be a locus of relevant activity during this transition period in Northern 爱尔兰. 1998年秋天, the University’s Irish Institute—which for years had offered “cross-border” programs for both Northern Irish and Irish professionals—launched a series of seminars and discussions to help members of the newly created Northern 爱尔兰 Assembly prepare for their responsibilities as leaders in government; BC Political Science faculty members Marc Landy, 丹尼斯·黑尔, 和约翰·蒂尔尼都参与了这个项目.
该校园还接待了GFA谈判中的许多关键人物, including 休谟 and his co-Nobel Peace Prize recipient David Trimble (both were awarded honorary degrees from BC), 马丁·麦吉尼斯, 大卫欧文, 古斯蒂·斯宾塞和莫·莫兰. 休谟还帮助萨维奇和其他不列颠哥伦比亚省的教师教授一门课程.
尽管它带来了乐观情绪, 学院专家说, GFA也有其弱点, 尤其是在制定北爱尔兰议会方面, which has endured numerous interruptions and suspensions mainly because of conflicts between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin, which represents the Irish nationalist community and is now the assembly’s largest party. 联合国大会已经将近一年没有开会了, in part because the DUP refused to assent to the election of a Sinn Féin first minister.
Frustrating as it may be that the assembly can be so readily disrupted by one party—and by extension the particular community it represents—O’Neill said that this flaw was actually necessary in achieving the GFA: “Without the ability to boycott or veto,他解释道, “the very real insecurities of the major parties would have prevented the agreement.”
不容忽视, 教职员工说, 北爱尔兰的创伤是北爱尔兰动乱留下的吗, 还有其他几代人的伤疤. 社会仍然分裂, 野蛮人指出, with Catholic children attending Catholic schools and Protestant children going to state schools generally viewed as “Protestant”; many young people, 尤其是来自工薪阶层的家庭, 努力寻找体面的工作.
O’Neill pointed to the failure to establish a “truth and reconciliation process” that, 除此之外, 能帮助解决暴力的遗留问题吗.
奥利弗·拉弗蒂，S.J.
同时，根据Fr. 拉弗蒂, Protestant unionists think Catholic nationalists were given an advantageous position from the GFA—a psychological response in part, 他补充说, because the Protestant unionist community for so long assumed it was the dominant one in Northern Irish society.
然后是英国脱欧, note the faculty members: It’s caused difficulties in the relationship between Northern 爱尔兰, 爱尔兰, 和英国, 尤其加剧了大会上的僵局, as the DUP and other unionists criticized efforts by the Irish and British governments, 以及欧盟, to resolve the complex Brexit-related customs and immigration issues known as the Northern 爱尔兰 Protocol. 在北爱尔兰内部, the majority of voters—including most Catholics and nationalists—opposed Brexit, while unionists felt their connection to the United Kingdom threatened by the EU.
然而，尽管人们对后gfa时期的北爱尔兰充满悲观情绪, 找到希望是可能的, 据萨维奇说. 当他多年前开始在那里工作和电子游戏正规平台时, “到处都是士兵, 警察乘坐装甲车行进, 贝尔法斯特等地弥漫着一种恐惧感. 现在情况已经不同了.“贝尔法斯特和德里仍然有失业问题, 贫困, 种族隔离的社区, “the cities have come back to life—the Lagan River that runs through Belfast has seen the type of development that brings people, 包括游客, 回到城市.“酒吧和餐馆里挤满了人和音乐, 他补充说, 这与上世纪90年代的情况形成了鲜明对比.”
休谟, 谁在2020年去世, gave what might be the definitive summary of the GFA’s raison d’être when he spoke at BC in 1999: “In many ways, 我们都是这场冲突的受害者. The best we can do for the dead is to make a new Northern 爱尔兰 as a monument for them and to leave the past behind us.”
肖恩·史密斯|大学传播| 2023年4月