Muistin politiikka: Londonderryn verisunnuntai

Författare

• Susanna Sulkunen

Abstract

On 30 January 1972, British paratroopers opened fire on protestors on the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Londonderry. Consequently, thirteen people died and fifteen were injured. All the victims were Catholics. The focus of the article is on the annual commemorations of Bloody Sunday and the politics surrounding them. There has been a continual struggle within the Catholic community over how to best commemorate the incident and, more importantly, who is entitled to speak for the departed in the present. The analysis charts the construction process of shared memory and identity in a regularly repeated public remembrance. It takes a critical stand­point on presentist theories which regard our connection with the past as excessively instrumental and one-sided, when, rather, it should be seen as a two-way process.