Sunday Bloody Sunday

The «Troubles» during the Seventies in Northern Ireland

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Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers and some were shot while trying to help the wounded. Other protesters were injured by rubber bullets or batons, and two were run down by army vehicles.

All of those shot were Catholics. The march had been organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). The soldiers were from the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment ("1 Para").  

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Bloody Sunday, or the Bogside Massacre, was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, when British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians during a protest march against internment*. Fourteen people died: thirteen were killed outright, while the death of another man four months later was attributed to his injuries.

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Bloody Sunday

Father Edward Daly waving a blood-stained white handkerchief while trying to escort the mortally wounded John Jackie Duddy to safety.

• Two investigations were held by the British government. The Widgery Tribunal, held in the immediate aftermath, largely cleared the soldiers and British authorities of blame, but accepted the soldiers’ claims that they shot at gunmen and bomb-throwers. 

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• The Saville Inquiry, was established in 1998 to reinvestigate the incident. Following a 12-year inquiry, Saville's report was made public in 2010 and concluded that the killings were both "unjustified" and "unjustifiable". It found that all of those shot were unarmed, that none were posing a serious threat, that no bombs were thrown, and that soldiers "knowingly put forward false accounts" to justify their firing.

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Mural depicting all who were killed by the British Army on the day.

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• U2, Sunday Bloody Sunday

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQZLPV6xcHI

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And now, let’s sing …

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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO-l06vGPFk

… and translate!

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I can't believe the news today�Oh, I can't close my eyes�And make it go away�How long?�How long must we sing this song?�How long, how long?�'Cause tonight, we can be as one�Tonight

Broken bottles under children's feet (foot) �Bodies strewn (1) across the dead end street�But I won't heed (2) the battle call�It puts my back up�Puts my back up against the wall

Sunday, Bloody Sunday (…)

And the battle's just begun (begin/began/begun)�There's many lost, but tell me who has won�The trench is dug (3) within our hearts�And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart (4)

Sunday, Bloody Sunday (…)

How long?�How long must we sing this song?�How long, how long?�'Cause tonight, we can be as one�Tonight, tonight

Sunday, Bloody…

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Bloody Sunday was one of the most significant events of the Troubles because many civilians were killed by forces of the state, in full view of the public and the press. It was the highest number of people killed in a single shooting incident during the conflict. ^Er/est

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Bloody Sunday fueled Catholic and Irish nationalist hostility towards the British Army and worsened the conflict. Support for the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) rose and there was a surge of recruitment into the organization, especially locally.

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Glossary

• Outright: sul colpo;
• Handkerchief: fazzoletto;
• Aftermath: periodo successivo;
• Blame: colpa
• Threat: minaccia
• Surge: ondata

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Activities

I. Comprehension and language:

• In the following sentence: “The Saville Inquiry (…) found that all of those shot were unarmed, that none were posing a serious threat”, the verb’s form were posing is a: A. past simple. B. present continuous. C. past continuous.
• In the song’s text dug is an irregular form of the verb ‘to dig’ (scavare). Write other five irregular verbs:
• Rose, is an irregular form of past simple (from To rise/rose/risen: alzarsi, aumentare). Write the past simple of a regular verb, such ‘to smile’:
• The most significant and the highest are both: A. Comparatives. B. Superlatives.

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II. Speaking

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• Sing an entire strophe of the U2’s song to the classroom and tell to them what have you learned about that Bloody Sunday …

III. Writing

• Answer to the following questions:
• What happened on Bloody Sunday?
• Who died on Bloody Sunday 1972?
• Which is the meaning of IRA, and are they Catholic or Protestants?

Valutazione e feedback

• Le diverse attività – comprensione/quesiti grammaticali, speaking & writing – comprendono in tutto 10 diverse risposte, in base alla correttezza delle quali si potrà stabilire una valutazione dal sufficiente (5-6 risposte valide) all’ottimo (10 risposte complete, in tutte le attività).