Sorry this is just going out now. I wrote it on Sunday night but neglected to hit ‘Publish’ so it stayed in draft and nobody but me could see it.
Week 6 – Wednesday to Friday
My history class left Wednesday morning on a 90 minute bus ride to Belfast in the north of Ireland. Just in case some people reading this might be unaware, the island of Ireland is made up of two countries. The Republic of Ireland is comprised of all of the counties in the Provinces of Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and 3 counties in Province of Ulster. The other 6 counties of the Province of Ulster are in the Country of Northern Ireland and part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland was created in 1920 and agreed to by treaty in 1922 when the Irish Free State (now the Republic) approved. Today, Northern Ireland has a population of 1.5 million and Belfast has 250 thousand of them
On the way up I was fascinated to listen in on 2 of the girls sitting across from me and the people in front of them having a conversation about tattoos – types, artists, costs, and time to do. One of the girls who studied in Spain in June said guy in her last class got vamos (let’s go) tatted on this ass while they were there. Another’s mother said ‘don’t come back with a shamrock tattoo’ so she is thinking about getting a sprig of heather instead. I’ll never understand tattoos.
When we got to Belfast we went on a guided tour of the ‘Peace Walls’ that divide Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods to this day. Northern Ireland was the center of the ‘Troubles’ between Catholic and Protestant para-military groups that flared into significant violence in the 1960’s and caused the British army occupation from 1969 until 2007, the longest occupation in British army history. Shankill road is where the Protestant murals are. Falls road is the Catholic section. As I said previously, ‘Peace Walls’ divide Catholic and Protestant communities and they are very high to prevent objects from being thrown over to the other side, with razor wire at the top. There are gates on the roads that are closed at night to prevent vehicles and people from traveling from one side to the other. Interestingly, we walked between neighborhoods at about 12 Noon and the gates were open but when we returned about 30 minutes later the road gate was closed and they were closing the sidewalk gates. I am not sure what was going on but I was uncomfortable as were many of the students with me.
Catholics and Protestants are born in different hospitals and go to different schools. The typical Northern Ireland citizen does not form a meaningful relationship with a person from the other side (i.e. Catholic to Protestant) until about age of 18. To this day the buses only run from the center of Belfast to the north, south, east and west of the city. If you want to travel from the west to the south you can’t go directly, you need to come back to the center of Belfast first. We were told it is still believed that is the ‘safe’ way to travel! Someone asked our guide if the “Troubles’ could return some day and she said not many years ago Sinn Fein MP (Member of the Westminster Parliament) Jerry Adams (former IRA leader), was quoted as saying “we haven’t gone away you know”. There was a guarded tension under the surface we all sensed as we walked around.
I had thought the rancor between Protestants and Catholics in the North was a thing of the past, but having seen the violent messages in the murals on Peace Walls and heard about the limited interaction between the youth I am not so sure about that anymore.
We then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Titanic Exposition, a structure that cost 100 million British pounds constructed by the government on the site where the Titanic was built in the Belfast shipyards. I thought building a structure to celebrate a ship that was hit by an iceberg and sunk on its maiden voyage was curious. I was correct in that the tour is not very interesting. We found some good pubs in town that night like The Crown and the Duke of York that made me forget I wasn’t in Dublin. I was impressed with the city of Belfast, it is a good sized lively city that I am glad I visited.
Thursday morning, we left for a 2 hour bus ride to the western border county of Northern Ireland and a city called Derry (also called Londonderry). We met up with our guide for a tour of Derry’s ancient city walls, the Bogside, the Peoples Gallery (Murals) and hear his story of Bloody Sunday. Our guide, Eugene Coyle shared with us that he was once a member of the IRA para military forces and in the 1980’s had spent 7 ½ years in prison for various crimes (attempted assignation, bomb making, etc.). To meet him you would never believe it! He showed us the very spot where he witnessed his 11 year old good friend’s younger brother get shot dead by the British paratroopers. It was chilling. In fairness Eugene gave us a very fact based tour, at least from his perspective. I asked him if he felt things had been better since the cease fire in 1999 and if progress had been made in rectifying problems that had spawned the conflict and I was encouraged that he said many of his old IRA friends were now fighting in the political arena and much progress had been made. That afternoon to balance our view we were given a tour by an officer of the Apprentice Boys, a Protestant social organization that participates in ‘marching season traditions’ with the Orange Order. These marches commemorate the victory of English King William of Orange over Catholic King James II, and in the past have been the source of conflict between Catholics and Protestants. I came away thinking the Apprentice Boys were not trying to ignite any trouble, they were a social organization just trying to have fun. This whole situation is very complex!
Friday morning, we took a short trip to Carrick Fergus Castle, about 30 minutes outside of Belfast on the coast. It has about 900 years of history guarding the entrance to Belfast harbor. It the past it was besieged by the Scots, Irish, English, and the French. The castle is huge and it is in great shape.
Okay enough about history, something interesting happened on Friday afternoon. I was in a Belfast taxi when the driver asked me what I was doing in town. I told him I was studying at a university in Dublin and our class came for a field trip (I did not say anything about the Peace Walls or visiting Derry for fear it could cause problems). Then to make conversation I told him I had never been to the North before and that it was really beautiful to which he responded “it has a chance of staying beautiful if the IRA does not start blowing things up again”. I responded I hoped that would not happen. Then he said ‘it would help if American’s didn’t give the IRA financial support the way they did last time’. So I said I hoped that would not happen also. I thought I had dodged that bullet when he then said “where are you from in America” and I said “North Carolina”. He responded “they shot two cops there this morning you know”. I said “no I did not know that, that’s terrible”. He proceeds to say “they brought it on themselves, you can’t go around shooting little black boys forever without any consequences”. By now I felt he was trying to bait me for some reason and I told him I really did not want to continue this conversation. He would not let it drop and came back saying “do you think it is alright that they shoot little black children?”. I then told him to stop the taxi now and paid him. Before leaving I told him it is not right for anybody to indiscriminately shoot another person. Strange exchange, and I concluded he was looking for an argument and I was the victim.
Irish Humor from Eugene Coyle:
‘The way the Irish know the difference between winter and summer is that the rain is warmer in the summer.
Irish Language:
Crisps = Potato chips
Chips = French fries
Road sign ‘Give Way’ = Yield
Pictures: Belfast City Hall; Bloody Sunday Memorial in Derry; Mural depicting Bloody Sunday in Derry: View looking toward Belfast from Fort Carrik Fergus; Crown Pub; View from the Derry City Wall down on the Bogside (on one roof you will see ‘IRA’ and that stands for the para military group Irish Republican Army crossed by BRY and that was a group of young people that once included Eugene Coyle calling themselves Bogside Republican Youth); Class on the Derry City walls; Trump sign in Derry; Street and sidewalk Peace Wall gates on Shankill Road in Belfast; Falls Road Peace wall and Mural in Belfast; a Long view of the Peace wall in Belfast; Shankill Road Peace Wall and Mural in Belfast; the Duke of York Pub alleyway
