Northern Ireland is Better Than This: Violence Must Not Define Us…

Hannah McVeigh from Tyrone and is studying International Relations and Global Development

Once again Northern Ireland has made international news headlines for all the wrong reasons. I am ashamed and disgusted that people from my home have decided that they are entitled to spread hatred and fear through violence. It is no wonder we often feel stuck, trapped in cycles that hold us back from progress. Too often, we fall back on the very violence that traps us, instead of deciding that we need to push for something better. We need to move forward as a society. Violence cannot be who we are.

As we all know, a peaceful protest was scheduled to take place in Ballymena on Monday 9^th of June. However, the original plan of the march, solidarity, was hijacked by those seeking division.

These are not isolated attacks. This is a pattern. A pattern that continues to haunt Northern Ireland.

To the rest of the world, this week’s violence has painted a grim and familiar picture – that Northern Ireland is still a sanctuary for hatred and violence. I need people to believe this isn’t true.

Too often, people from outside Northern Ireland assume the worst. I am sure we all have stories about outsiders making casual remarks about the violence that takes place, as if it is a natural part of who we are. Just recently I was told that I should ‘just be glad we aren’t fighting each other anymore. At least we can agree on something’. This is exactly the language people use when describing Northern Ireland. A place forever stuck in conflict. Because sadly, that’s what the headlines continue to show.

But we are not our past. And we should not be defined by it. Northern Ireland is not a divided nation. Northern Ireland is my home.

Yet the only news that makes any significant headway are stories of hatred, violence and petrol bombs. These are the stories that dominate the headlines, and so much of who we really are gets lost. When people elsewhere read of Northern Ireland they do not see the stories about progress and pride. Or the long-overdue funding for Casement Park. Or stories about the Belfast natives who had a role in the filming of the new live-action How to Train Your Dragon. Or about the BBC Radio Ulster star Hugo Duncan’s new MBE for services to entertainment and charity. These kinds of stories reflect the potential our small nation has.

I’m aware I may be discussing a broader issue with media reporting and how it often works. I am aware that bigger, and often more depressing, news stories take precedence. However, in Northern Ireland I do believe we are trapped in something deeper than just bad headlines.

So I ask;

Why can’t we move past the patterns of violence and fear?

Why can’t we ‘live and let live’?

Why can’t we be the welcoming society that we so often say that we are?

These aren’t rhetorical questions. They’re challenges. Because we can be better.

Education, while not a miracle fix, can do so much for our youth. For me, learning the highs and lows of Irish and Northern Irish history was eye-opening. It made GCSE and A-Level an easy choice, because I genuinely loved every second of it.

Learning about our shared history from a neutral, factual perspective helped shape my deep appreciation for my home. It gave me a way to understand Northern Ireland not just as a divided past, but as a potential-filled future. And I truly believe that education is key to breaking the cycle of violence, and building something stronger in its place.

In order to break free from these patterns of violence we need to build something better – together. Change can’t come from our politicians alone. It has to come from communities, classrooms, conversations and everyday actions. We need to challenge hatred wherever we see it. Because if we don’t act, we risk letting the worst among us define who we are. And Northern Ireland is better than that.