Belfast (part 1)

May 19-20

I’m struggling to decide how to structure this post. We were only in Belfast for 48 hours but so many things happened that I’m just not sure how to do this. I’m going to try to break these two days into three parts and see how that goes.

We woke up a bit slow before heading back to the Dublin airport where we were picking up the rental car. Everything took forever that morning. We struggled with the city buses and ended up just walking the mile to where we could pick up the bus to the airport. Once we got to the airport, the line was long exclusively for our car company and then once we were finally being helped, the woman kept being pulled away to help translate for the French customers next to us who were having problems. It wasn’t an issue at all, after all, what rush are we in? Then we had to take a shuttle over to stand in another line to then get our car. It took forever.

But then we had the car and all was right with the world! Except we are once again driving on the wrong side of the road. Michael did reserve an automatic this time, so at least I didn’t have that issue to deal with.

The drive to Belfast was only about two hours. When we got in, we checked into our airbnb and relaxed for a bit before heading out to the city. We walked up to the Botanical Gardens which were just beautiful.

I don’t know a ton about Belfast, but I do know that they have a recent history of violence and war. Walking through these gardens, seeing everyone sitting around and enjoying their Saturday, I just can’t see it.

Afterwards we had a great dinner at a restaurant that, despite the casual dress code mentioned online, was definitely a place I shouldn’t have worn a dress with tennis shoes. That is one thing that I’ve noticed about Ireland: women are wearing heels here again. In Cape Town, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Paris, London… most of the fashionable women are wearing sneakers with their fancy clothes. Apparently Ireland is not about it. I don’t have any heels, so we’re just going to have to grin and bear it while we’re here.

The next morning we went for runs and then were picked up by Peter, our Black Taxi driver. Black Taxi Tours basically just drive you around the city, telling you about its history and showing you the murals, walls and other landmarks in the city. Knowing so little about “the Troubles”, this was a perfect tour to introduce me to Belfast.

Drive by viewings:

At a very basic level, the Troubles is the name for the conflict in Northern Ireland, starting in the late 1960s and ending with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the violence spilled into other parts of Ireland, England and some parts of mainland Europe, most of it happened in Northern Ireland. The main conflict was between the nationalists who were predominantly Catholic and the loyalists who were predominantly Protestant. The nationalists wanted a united Ireland and the loyalists wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the UK. Also much of it was guerrilla warfare: car bombs, Molotov cocktails, random shootings, etc.

On the tour, Peter mostly called the groups either Irish or British, with the Irish representing the Catholic nationalists/republicans and the British representing the Protestant loyalists. As we started the tour, Peter explained that although the Troubles are over, there are some number of peace walls standing in Belfast. Note: Michael and I cannot agree on the number told to us and google won’t confirm. I remember 90. Michael does not remember anything. I did see online that as of February of 2016, there were 109 across Northern Ireland. That article spoke to a wall that had finally been torn down. Another article from 2012 stated that Belfast had 99 walls remaining. So I’m not sure.

The walls are anywhere from a few hundred yards long to three miles and are made of iron, brink and/or steel. Some of them are 25 feet high and some have barbed wire along the top. Some of them have gates that allow passage during the day but are closed at night. Some of the gates are closed on weekends. The entire purpose is to minimize inter-communal violence. These barriers started going up in 1969. There was a lot of violence in the 60’s, but since this is a tour about the walls and murals, our tour guide focused on August 14-15, 1969, which Peter claimed was one of the main catalysts for the walls being built. This was when British troops were deployed to Derry and Belfast to restore order and end the riots. In these few days, eight people were shot dead, 133 suffered gunshot wounds, another 600 or so were injured in other ways and more than 400 homes and businesses were destroyed (83% Catholic owned). The most emphasized point from the tour, however, was that 1505 Catholic and 315 Protestant families were forced to flee their homes. This led to the almost complete segregation of neighborhoods in Belfast.

I knew there was segregation in Belfast and I knew that despite peace for the past 20 or so years that there was still tension in the city. I had no clue that these walls were still used to actually try to keep the peace. And the thought that they close the gates on nights and weekends… I just couldn’t fathom. Now, none of these communities are truly gated off. You could walk/drive to the end of the walls and go around them. But I was still shocked.

Peter’s comments on the idea of closing the gates on nights and weekends: It’s basically to keep kids from doing stupid things. Kids will be kids and you don’t want them causing problems.

Ok, fine… I guess. It sounds terrible to me. It is hard to even look at the walls.

Our first stop was Shankill, the largest Protestant neighborhood. When googling to confirm spelling, I am met by a wash of anxiety inducing sites about the Shankill Butchers and Northern Ireland’s “Most Notorious Street”.

Being on the British side of the wall, we saw murals depicting loyalist heroes and nationalist terrorists.

Peter believes that it is important that the murals stay up, but that the current effort to switch out the more inflammatory murals with murals that have better messages is also important.

Here, for example, is a mural dedicated to the women of the war. It focused on family stories of care, loss, remembrance, and love for their families, friends and wider community.

It had replaced this mural:

Peter thinks it is important to remember the more inflammatory murals, leave reminders, but then replace them. He does not think that the community is ready to forget.

Peter suggested that this mural best explains what happened in 1969 when so many families were displaced. Not only did they lose their homes, but they also had to find ways to explain to their children that they could no longer be friends with some of their former neighbors. He thought this was one of the main ways that the war was perpetuated. It order to keep your kids safe, and keep them away from harm, it was easiest to demonize the other side and create fear where just days before these kids were just normal kids, playing with neighbors of a different religion.

Another mural that we visited was this famous mural of King William III who is a hero to the loyalists.

What are the rules here? Do we smile? We did.

Peter told us we have two required pictures and this was one of them.

Each year on July 12 (HBD Betsy), Protestants in Northern Ireland celebrate the victory of King William of Orange over the Catholic King James II at the battle of Boyne in 1690. Large parades are held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands. Streets are covered with British flags and bonfires are lit (the night before). Sounds like quite the party, right? “Bonfires” may not be the proper word to describe what happens. The locals build bonfires made up of wooden pallets and tires (really there is no hope for the environment) with some reaching 100 feet tall. One hundred feet!!

Here is a picture of Peter holding a picture of basically the city on fire:

Tell me that isn’t insane. We saw one bonfire that is already being constructed nearly two months in advance of the festival.

People sleep at the construction site for the weeks leading up to the event to ensure that rivaling neighborhood kids don’t come in the middle of the night to steal their firewood.

These are all built right in the neighborhoods without much concern for what gets caught up in the blaze. In the below picture you can see green space. This is where a bonfire is typically built. A few years ago, it collapsed on the homes that you see in the background. That is why the roof is multicolored. The center part, with the lighter roof, was destroyed when the bonfire collapsed on it.

Feel free to google image search “11th night bonfire collapse” if you have free time. It’s incredible. This is a taste of what you’d find. It’s grainy, but it’s incredible.

We’ll take this moment for a literary note, in the middle of trying to talk about the Troubles, regarding Jonathan Swift who wrote the book Gulliver’s Travels. In the back of the below picture is Cave Hill, also referred to as Napoleon’s Nose, which is believed to be where Swift got his inspiration for the giants, while the smaller people, the Lilliputians, are believed to be named after Lilliput Street in Belfast.

Back to walls… After spending some time on the British side, we were now off to see some gates.

The first gate was actually two sets of gates with space in between. Both gates are locked at nights. These gates are left open on the weekends, which is why we could go through them. The murals in between the two gates were nondenominational.

But not non-political. I’m not entirely sure what this is communicating, but apparently both groups agree to it.

Just into the Catholic side of this gate was this mural:

I had mixed feelings about seeing this mural. This mural very much reminded me of the problems we have in the United States. I’m sure Ireland has its share of racism, but this mural is much more about our problems.

One thing that Peter pointed out in the above mural was Bob Marley who he called “Black Irish”. This is a term that I was not completely comfortable with. It sounds like a racist name for an alcoholic drink. Or just racist, period. Apparently, in 1655 when England captured Jamaica from Spain, Oliver Cromwell populated the new colony with Irish. Many were indentured servants or very low level criminals. Once in Jamaica, the Irish were split up to ensure that they didn’t form Irish communities. Many died from heat and disease. Cromwell thought that they would have a better chance of survival if they were acclimated at a young age, so he sent 2000 kids between the ages of 10 and 14. Pretty horrific. Per google, 25% of Jamaican citizens claim Irish ancestry. The Irish contributed to Jamaica’s motto, “out of many, one people”. I like that.

After the stop at the gate, we popped back onto the Protestant side to see some murals.

Here is our black taxi:

Two quotes seen here:

“I’ll tell me ma when I get home the boys wont leave the girls alone” which is from an Irish folk song “The Belle of Belfast City”.

“Strength and wisdom are not opposing values” which is a quote from Bill Clinton. Similar to Bosnia, the Northern Irish have an admiration for Clinton who helped with their 1998 peace deal.

Some of the murals were really thought out and meaningful. Some were less so. Peter reinforced that he likes the murals and thinks they are important. He stated that everyone has a choice to either grab a rock or grab a pen in this situation. He offered us pens to add our thoughts to the wall. I hated it but did it. I didn’t have anything clever or meaningful to say and definitely nothing that I would admit to on the blog. But I can understand the symbolism of choosing the pen.

Here is Michael’s addition to the wall:

Then we were off to see some more from the Catholic side. First, here is the opposite side of that same wall. Notice how the houses are right up against it. I asked why anyone would want to live there and Peter just replied that they will refuse to leave because it will feel as if they had lost.

This is the office of Sinn Féin which is the political arm of the nationalist fight.

Sinn Féin is a major party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and has historically been associated with the IRA. It is not clear what association they have currently with the organization, but they claim to have none. Peter’s belief, as stated to us, is that they are completely separate and there is no room for the IRA in the country any more… that people don’t have any more patience for the violence. He emphasized that the reason why the IRA was successful during the Troubles is because they had the support of the people. They no longer have that support as people are sick of the fighting and ready only for peace. Sinn Féin candidates run for government positions although they refuse to sit in the British parliament even when they win seats. They don’t believe it is their place to make decisions about other countries in the UK, just as they don’t believe the UK should be making decisions about Northern Ireland. They currently hold 7 of Northern Ireland’s 18 seats at Westminster.

One very famous republican that was voted into parliament is Bobby Sands. Here is the second “required photo” per Peter.

Sands was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and died on a hunger strike while imprisoned for firearms possession. He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike when their prisoner of war status was rescinded. Ten republican prisoners starved themselves to death during this strike. Sands was nominated to parliament while he was on this hunger strike under the label “Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner”, running in an effort to draw attention to their plight. Sands became the youngest member of parliament at the time, but died in prison less than a month later. The British government changed the rules disallowing prisoners serving jail time of over a year from running in elections to ensure other hunger strikers did not step up following Sands’ death.

Many of the murals are dedicated to the remembrance of the freedom fighters. Note: terrorists on the other side of the wall, freedom fighters here.

The interesting thing about the Catholic side of the wall was that there was a lot of murals dedicated to current events. There was one in defense of the Catalan political prisoners being held right now in their quest for independence from Spain.

We have actually seen graffiti in Galway, where we are currently staying, calling for their release as well. Here is a really artistic mural addressing global climate change.

And, very current, was this mural that was still being completed about the newest Palestine/Israel issues. Anyone who has kept up on that news will recognize the man in the wheel chair.

OK… that was a lot and a lot of it was and still is super depressing. This was the tone we ended the tour on and Peter was outright apologetic that he talked as much about politics as he did. But we loved it. This is exactly the type of stuff that we wanted to hear and learn about on this tour. I cannot recommend this tour enough.

A few other things. We asked Peter if he thought the walls would ever come down. He said that there is a huge difference between people over 25 who remember and people under 25 who don’t. For the most part, people under 25 are more forward looking. All they want is to move on and live their lives. Peter believes that the walls will come down in the next 15 years. He did note, though, that there are plenty of people his age and up who don’t think the walls will ever come down. “Not in my lifetime” kind of talk.

We asked the obvious follow up question: will Northern Ireland stay in the UK? Peter was just as certain on that one. Definitely, probably when the walls come down. His theory on that is that with Brexit, people will vote with their wallets, and he believes that Northern Ireland’s economy is going to take a huge hit with Brexit. He thinks the only reason why it hasn’t happened already stems from the heavy segregation. If you are Catholic and you don’t even meet a Protestant until college, then it is harder to understand the whole story. But he has anecdotes about his daughter who is dating a Protestant guy and they just cannot understand what all the fuss is about.

When I think about the idea of having another 15 years of walls, at first I am saddened by it. But then I think about the issues we have in our cities in the US. Many cities have invisible walls built all over the cities due to racial divides. There are plenty of neighborhoods segregated by race and when you cross certain streets, it is obvious that you don’t belong. Chicago is a great example where certain neighborhoods to the south are very black while certain neighborhoods to the north are super white. The difference here is that when you look at a person, you can’t tell if they are Catholic or Protestant unless you want to find out.

In addition to all of the above information, Peter also gave us a bunch of recommendations for places to eat and drink around the city. We took him up on his lunch suggestion as soon as he dropped us off. St. George’s Market is a weekend only market and it’s great; a mix of crafts, shops and great food. Most important, it was a great pick me up after an interesting but tough tour.