At the beginning of the semester, I knew absolutely nothing about Irish history, the Troubles, or even the state of Ireland today. After reading so many Irish texts about the Troubles and reflecting on American texts about things that were much more familiar to me, I think there is something to be said about the universality of the human experience all around the world. It seems that people in such different circumstances, with varying motives and experiences all went through similar emotions and came to similar realizations.
All of the movements described in the texts we have read, despite making enormous progress in some cases, failed to reach their idealistic and lofty goals. There comes a sense of frustration in all of the texts– frustration when things have not been progressing quickly enough, frustration with a system designed for some to fail, and frustration with being ignored and silenced. However, this anger is also met with hope for a government and a society that is fair and equal for all, which drives them to continue the fight. Without hope for a better future driving these movements, they would fall into indifference and helplessness, accepting the fact that things will never change. The fact that anger and frustration partners so clearly with hope in almost all of the texts we have read demonstrates a desire for a better society, a better life, and a better future that is present in all of us.
If I have learned one thing from reading about these movements from very different parts of the world, it is that change is extremely difficult to bring about, but it is possible with hope, persistence, and passion. These people like Martin Luther King Jr., Huey P. Newton, Eamonn McCann, Bernadette Devlin, and many more made our world what it is today not only by their actions, but by sharing their ideals and their stories in writing. They demonstrated persistence and passion for their cause, and they managed to make a change in a system so resistant to it.
I think you make an interesting point here. So often we think about hope OR anger, as if they are mutually exclusive. The texts we’ve read seem to suggest that they are actually two sides of the same coin, in a sense. Even when people felt driven to violence by anger, there was purpose in their actions. You can be angry and hopeful, otherwise the violence committed would be senseless and the movement wouldn’t stand a chance.
This post was interesting because it brings about the ideas of anger and frustration as technically a “cause” of change. Although, in your post, you note that keeping up hope and a sense of resilience is the reason for true change, I would love to explore the idea that anger and frustration are actually the most catalyzing emotions one can feel in societal terms. Without a burning heat within, a genuine feeling that you have hit your boiling point and need the truth to be shown, change cannot get done; complacency wins out. Without anger and frustration day in and day out for weeks on end, you have inconsistent movements; small spurts of action from courageous individuals with barely any ripples of attention in the public eye. When people, however, are filled with righteous anger, they are deeply motivated to try and change something or convince someone (whether violently or nonviolently, a topic for a different post).
I agree that anger and frustration go hand in hand with hope, and I also think there is a great balancing act that goes with these emotions as well. There was obvious hope seen in many of the texts we have read throughout the course, as you said, and there was frustration that brought about that hope, but what if there was just frustration and anger? This is what I fear may happen rather than the indifference and helplessness. I feel that even if hope is no longer driving a movement, there are those that will still keep the movement going, not for hope of change and making their situation better, but rather because they want to wreak havoc and cause chaos and anarchy. Unfortunately there are people and groups in the world that do this; they get people all riled up for a cause that has no end. They just want to cause problems, and I fear that without hope guiding movements, this will become more and more commonplace. I think there are many movements today that do have hope as their driving force, and they use their anger and frustration to gain followers and make change happen, but there are also those in the world like I have described that just want to see the world in chaos.
I agree with your point on the universality of human experience. Though the specific contexts varied in Northern Ireland and the U.S., people in both places grew frustrated by the oppression they continually faced and by the lack of progress toward equal rights. Both places devolved into violence as people gave up hope that the institutions central to their nations would recognize their demands. Those who were able to remain hopeful, however, often fought for change in nonviolent ways, and while they may not have seen the fruits of their labor, I don’t think that their actions were for naught. Their stories of persistence and hope for the future continue to inspire people, regardless of location or background, to fight for change even today. Just like Irish civil rights leaders drew inspiration from the US civil rights movement, we can also continue learning lessons from each other, despite our varying contexts. The connections we’ve been able to draw between Northern Ireland and the U.S. show us that we aren’t as different from each other as we may seem.