Justice vs. Strengthen: “Ulster at the crossroads”‘ speech – December 9, 1968

Prime Minister O’Neill made his “Ulster at the crossroads”‘ speech on television on 9 December 1968, appealing for calm in Northern Ireland.

As a result of the announced reforms, the more moderate civil rights associations declared halt to marches until 11 January 1969. The People’s Democracy ignored the government’s statement.

Events escalated until August 1969, when an Apprentice Boys of Derry march was attacked after trying to march through the nationalist Bogside area of Derry.

Following O’Neill’s Crossroads speech, there was general support for a moratorium on protest. However, elements of the PD decided to press ahead with the contentious idea of “long march” from Belfast to Derry/Londonderry. Having set off on 1 January, the march met increasing resistance along the way, finally culminating in a brutal attack on Burntollet bridge on 4 January. 

The PD march and the shocking attach on it by Unionist counter-protestors at Burntollet bridge exposed the simmering sectarian tensions that lay just beneath the surface and marked a significant turning point in Northern Ireland’s 1986. On both sides, the was a step too far. 

O’Neill attempted to sell his plans for reform while trying to restore order. On December 9th he appeared on television and declared that “Ulster stands at the crossroads… What kind of Ulster do you want? A happy and respected province in good standing with the rest of the United Kingdom? Or a place continually torn apart by riots and demonstrations and regarded by the rest of Britain as a political outcast?” O’Neill’s impassioned speech was well received and contributed to a month-long reduction in protests and rioting. Violence ignited again in January, however, following a series of marches and protests. On New Year’s Day 1969 around 40 members of People’s Democracy began a four-day civil rights march from Belfast to Derry. The number of marchers increased to several hundred as the procession moved west. On January 4th the marchers were attacked in Burntollet by around 200 Loyalists armed with sticks, clubs and stones, an ambush described by Bernadette Devlin. Numerous marchers were injured and 13 required hospitalisation. It soon emerged that a company of RUC officers assigned to accompany the marchers had done little to protect them. The march continued but there was more rioting and violence when the procession entered Protestant areas of Derry.

O’Neill now found himself trapped between the civil rights movement’s non-violent campaign for justice and equality and the unionist community’s fervent opposition to any change. After the reform package was announced, members of O’Neill’s cabinet abandoned him. Craig was sacked after publicly condemning O’Neill for “acting under pressure” from the Prime Minister. Craig also expressed the unionist view that the civil rights movement was “a creature of the IRA.”

In early December, after a close encounter between civil rights marchers and Paisleyites in Dungannon, O’Neill attempted to calm the tense situation and win support for reform. On December 9, 1968, he delivered his “Ulster at the Crossroads” speech. He said: “For more than five years now I have tried to heal some of the deep divisions in our community.  I did so because I could not see how an Ulster divided against itself could hope to stand . . . Unionism armed with justice will be a stronger cause than Unionism armed merely with strength.”   Unfortunately, strength prevailed over justice.   

SOURCE0: Belfast Telegraph : Ulster Museum; Iruah Central