Identity Claims and Political Autonomy

A claim is when a group pushes for something it considers itself to be entitled to.

A French speaker lives in an English-speaking province of Canada. This province decides to impose a law that all children must be taught in English. French speakers may strongly disagree with this and demand the right for their children to be taught in their first language. In the long term, sending French-speaking children to an English-language school may threaten the survival of the French-speaking minority living in this province.

An ethnic group is a community of people who share a common history, language, culture and/or way of life.

Over the course of the 20th century, several events contributed to the phenomenon of different ethnic groups cohabitating in the same state. Decolonization is one such event because territories that were colonies became independent states. Decolonization sometimes led to conflicts between the colonized countries and the mother countries, conflicts between the newly independent countries and internal conflict within the new countries. But why? Below are some of the main reasons why conflicts occurred.

When Africa was colonized, it already had defined territories where different groups of people lived. However the mother countries did not take this into account when they drew their own borders around their colonies. This meant members of the same groups of people were separated between different countries and rival groups were put together in a single country. These boundaries stayed the same after the colonies became independent. As a result, several African countries were left with a very tense climate that easily led to armed conflicts. Some people took advantage of this tension and rivalry to start conflicts so they could gain power. This shows how complex identity claims can cause conflicts. Ethnic tension is often accompanied by economic or political tension.

On June 12, 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered an important decision for French-speaking Canadians living outside Quebec. Since 2010, a group of parents, supported by the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, has been suing the government of British Columbia for underfunding French-language schools, creating inequalities between English-language and French-language schools. French-language students had to ride the bus twice as far to schools without libraries or gyms that offered fewer educational programs. This violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Parents demanded that their children receive the same level of education as English-speaking children so that all children would have the same opportunities.

The Supreme Court eventually ruled that French-speaking minority children have the right to the same quality of education as the English-speaking majority of the province where they live. This decision applies to all Canadian provinces and territories.

It has been mentioned above that identity claims are made by identity groups that are a minority within a state. But sometimes the opposite happens. This was the case when Hérouxville, a town located in Mauricie, Quebec, passed a new code of conduct. 

In 2007, Quebec was debating how to reasonably accommodate religious minorities as well as other minorities. In an effort to reaffirm and protect its Québécois identity, Hérouxville wrote and adopted a code of conduct that outlined acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for immigrants. This code of conduct was a reaction to recently adopted accommodation measures in the province and caused controversy.

Nationalism is an ideology that emphasizes a sense of belonging and pride that people feel for a nation. This ideology often leads to a group of people demanding more power and independence within a state. It is a political ideology that ultimately aims to create a sovereign nation.

Sovereignty is the absolute power of a country to govern itself by making its own laws and enforcing them within its territory. A sovereign nation is independent, meaning that it cannot be controlled by any other nation or institution.

There are an estimated 30 to 40 million Kurdish people around the world. They are a stateless people. They currently live in several different countries, including: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Kurds have lived in this region of the world since ancient times. In the 16th century, the concept of Kurdistan appeared. This was the name given to the region inhabited mainly by the Kurds, which spans four countries today. Since the 20th century, the Kurds have demanded the right to be recognized as a people and want Kurdistan to attain full statehood. But for this to happen, the other states have to recognize it, which they refuse to do. The Kurdistan territory is rich in water and oil, which is why the 4 countries are not eager to give it up.

Currently, only Iraq recognizes the existence of an Iraqi Kurdistan on its territory. The Iraqi Kurds have their own government and army, but are still part of Iraq and relations between the Kurds and Iraq are strained.

Kurds face persecution in the countries where they live and their language, customs and political parties are banned. Sometimes Kurds are even deported, tortured or killed. During the Iran-Iraq war (1980 to 1988), the Kurds supported Iran. Iraq retaliated by murdering 5000 civilians in an Iraqi Kurdish village. Nationalist sentiment was growing and militant groups were forming all across the Kurdish territory with the aim of having their independence recognized. One of these groups is called the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). This group is primarily based in Turkey and is trying to obtain recognition and independence for Kurdistan by taking up arms, but has been unsuccessful so far.

In October 2019, the Trump administration withdrew US troops from Syria. Turkey, which borders Syria to the north, took advantage of this and started bombing Syria. Turkish President Erdoğan claimed he wanted to secure his borders, but his true intention was to get rid of the Kurds living there. He wanted them to stop demanding independence so he could take control of the territory and move the growing number of Syrian refugees in Turkey there.

After losing their American allies, the Kurdish forces had to fight Turkey alone on Kurdish territory in Syria (Syrian troops have been out of the territory since 2012). Their weapons could not compete with Turkish weapons

A stateless person is a person who does not have the nationality of any country. As these people are deprived of their nationality, they are also deprived of many of their fundamental rights.

The Kurds in northern Syria were valuable allies in the war against the Islamic State in Syria. They fought alongside Western forces (United States, France, etc.) to push back the invaders. France viewed Turkey’s attack as especially immoral, since the Turkish army used militias, armed groups that are not part of the official Turkish army, made up of former and current members of the Islamic State. Many feel that the Kurds are being left to the mercy of the militias after they helped fight alongside Western countries.

In mid-August 1969, Catholics in Northern Ireland protested against the inequalities they were facing by staging a peaceful protest. The police and Protestant religious groups responded with violence. This was the beginning of violent conflicts between the Irish Catholics, the Irish Protestants (mostly from the English colonial period and with strong ties to the British) and the British. This was followed by a period of conflict that became known as “The Troubles” and lasted for nearly 30 years. The British army had to intervene to stop the fighting, which involved throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at police cars, factories and houses to set them on fire. Paramilitary groups formed, including the Catholic-affiliated IRA (Irish Republican Army), which wanted to get rid of the British presence in Northern Ireland and reunify Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. On January 30, 1972, 14 people (including 7 teenagers) died during the Bloody Sunday massacre when British soldiers shot at peaceful Catholic protesters. This made Catholics even angrier at the British government and the Protestants.

Thousands of Catholic activists were arrested and imprisoned without trial. From the late 1970s onwards, these activists protested by refusing to wear clothes, bathe or eat or by covering their cells with excrement. Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister at the time, did not give in and prisoners starved to death in 1981. The IRA launched attacks in London between 1984 and 1994.

While religion played a big role in this conflict, it was also fuelled by a lack of resources and historical poverty. The rich and powerful were predominantly Protestants who made decisions that created lasting inequalities between Catholics and Protestants. Another key element of this conflict was the Catholics’ desire for Northern Ireland to separate from the United Kingdom by uniting with Southern Ireland, which was no longer part of the UK. A peace agreement was signed between Northern Ireland and the UK government in 1998. Northern Ireland remained part of the UK. However, tensions still exist. Young people from both sides are still fighting, sometimes throwing stones at each other, and there are still walls separating Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods.

Several ethnic conflicts broke out in the Balkan region in Southern Europe between 1991 and 2001 due to the creation of several new countries after the USSR collapsed and Yugoslavia was demantled One of these conflicts was the Bosnian War, which raged from 1992 to 1995 and killed 100 000 people.

The relationship between Serbia and Kosovo has been very tense since 1989, when the Serbian president restricted Kosovo’s political autonomy. In 1996, the creation of the Kosovo Liberation Army triggered a violent armed conflict with Serbia. In 1999, NATO intervened on behalf of Kosovo. In 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, which Serbia rejected. The recognition of Kosovo as a state remains controversial. As of 2018, 79 of the 193 UN member states did not recognize Kosovo as a state.

Several genocides (the extermination of ethnic, religious or social groups) took place during the 20th century, including the Armenian genocide in 1915, the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the Jewish Holocaust during World War II.

Since 2017 (and still in early 2020), in Myanmar (Burma), the Rohingya have faced the threat of genocide. They are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group living as a minority group in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country. This group has been persecuted in Myanmar since at least the 1980s, and have been the victims of crimes against humanity. In 2017, 740 000 Rohingya fled Myanmar as they were facing genocide and “ethnic cleansing.” The 600 000 Rohingya that remain in Myanmar face constant persecution and the threat of genocide. Their living conditions have continued to get worse since 2018.

Indigenous people in Canada became wards of the state (minors with few rights) under the Indian Act of 1876. Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools (the last of which closed in 1996) with the aim of assimilating Indigenous people into Canadian culture. These institutions have been described as agents of cultural genocide. Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, Indigenous people have been mobilizing to make demands. They want more political autonomy (but not their own country), larger territories and measures that preserve their identity and culture. In 2008, the Canadian government issued an official apology for residential schools. The negative effects of these institutions are still felt throughout Indigenous communities even today.

À Terre-Neuve, en 1829, la dernière Béothuk (communauté autochtone), Shanawdithit, décède. Aucun génocide n’est reconnu officiellement par le Canada (à l’époque, Terre-Neuve n’en faisait pas encore partie). Toutefois, cette communauté autochtone a été obligée de vivre le long de la rivière des Exploits et ont dû vivre avec peu de ressources. On leur interdisait l’accès aux ressources de la mer. Certains parlent de génocide, entre autres en raison des trappeurs terreneuviens qui étaient alors dangereux pour les Autochtones. En effet, la coutume était, pour les pêcheurs et les trappeurs, de tirer à vue sur les Autochtones qu’ils apercevaient. Ces derniers étaient donc chassés et ont vécu dans des conditions misérables jusqu’à leur extinction complète.

In 2017, a referendum was held on whether the Catalonia region of Spain would become an independent state. The results: 90% of Catalans voted in favour of full independence due to cultural, historical and political differences that have been ignored by Spain. This referendum was banned by Spain. The Catalan pro-independence leaders were arrested and imprisoned following their trial in 2019. A large protest was held in October 2019 and ended in violent clashes with the police. The next day, more fighting broke out, with barricades set on fire and Molotov cocktails thrown at the police. It should be noted that economic reasons are the main motivation behind Catalonia’s desire for independence and Spain’s refusal to grant it.

Nigeria’s two main religions are Christianity and Islam. Some Islamic extremist groups have taken advantage of the tension between the two groups to carry out terrorist acts. In 2011, 44 people were killed on Christmas Day in Nigeria; 35 of them were killed when a Christian church was bombed by the jihadist group Boko Haram, which wanted to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. In 2012, a bomb was set off near a church on Easter Sunday, killing 20 people. These are just a few examples of the existing tension.