Northern Ireland

Sinn Fein building and mural of Bobby Sands

Peace line in Belfast separating catholics and protestants

Derry (looking up from the bogside)

View of Derry from medieval city wall

me and Osama on Halloween

Giant's Causeway (there's better pictures but it takes to much time to rotate them)

Area around Carrick-a-rede

Carrick-a-rede rope bridge

Considering all of the history and intensity of my trip to northern Ireland...this post has taken me over a week to finally get the motivation to sit down and write.

This was the second and final trip that we went on as a group (our CIEE group). We left Thursday morning and headed up to Belfast. We only spent the afternoon there but honestly I am not sure that I could have lasted any longer. The city has a very violent history (actually very recent--violence still occurs today but the most recent major events took place in 2001) and this caused the whole city to feel dark and depressing. There are political murals all over the city which are absolutely incredible--probably one of the only positive feelings I experienced. I came to Ireland not knowing a lot about the troubles (English-Irish, protestant-catholic) but have spent the last 2 months learning so much about it. I have learned all about important people and struggles and movements that took place. I have learned the words republican and nationalists and loyalists and unionists. I have learned about the hunger strikers and the brutality against the nationalists. All of this hit when I got off the bus and walked around Belfast. It was really a good experience to get to walk around the town where so much has taken place but because it all is so recent, everyone around was almost transparent with exhaustion and pain. There were memorials all over the place for people from various neighborhoods who had been killed. I think what was most striking was that the ages listed on these memorials were much younger than I had expected. Many were around 17 years old and then there were the outliers of children around 4 and elderly people around 60 years old...all murdered.

The peace line that was created is also one that screams pain and is not one that you might imagine a structure containing the word "peace" to look like. The wall separates catholic and protestant areas of Belfast and is a very tall green wall that has a wire fence on top. It is supposed to be tall enough to prevent things from being thrown over top, but houses along the peace wall often had caged off back yards to make sure that this was the case.

We spent the first part of our time in the nationalist/catholic part of Belfast--along Falls road. The murals painted by nationalists are very prideful of Ireland and show things like Irish sports and are written in Irish and things like that. We saw the Sinn Fein office and the mural of Bobby Sands (the first hunger striker to die)--I believe it is the most photographed mural in the world actually. When we crossed over to the loyalist/protestant side--Shankhill road--there was a much different feel. The murals are more typically brutal and have a message of anger and dominance and for that reason many of them were taken down (because they offended tourists). Probably (actually I'm sure of it) because Don (our director) is a catholic from Dublin we felt much more uneasy along shankhill road than in the nationalist part of town.

While the peace agreement was signed quite a few years ago the troubles are still very much part of everyday life and violence still occurs due to the separation. >>side note: Bill Clinton was a key figure in getting a peace agreement signed and so if you want to make friends with an Irishmen strike up conversation about the man and most likely they will go nuts (the guy is like a saint over here).>> In 2001 primary school aged catholic kids had to walk through a protestant area on their way to and from school and because their parents were associated with being former members of the IRA or other catholic movements, rocks and other things were thrown at them. The guards were forced to come in and barricade the road so the children and their parents could walk safely to and from school for something like 4 months. It was actually very much like the events that happened during the civil rights down in Arkansas...only this was in 2001. It was just a really weird experience and feeling in general and while I was glad that I got to see it all, I was happy I didn't have to stay.

Derry is where we went next and spent all three nights. The city was absolutely adorable and had a very homey feeling to it. While there was great violence that took place there as well (Bloody Sunday for instance) we felt much more comfortable there than in Belfast! On Friday was Halloween and we went to the Ulster American Folk Park which was like a little recreated village of 'olden day' Ireland. A lot of it was closed off though to prepare for Halloween festivities that would go on in the evening. Almost every house in Derry was decorated for Halloween and we were told that it was necessary for us to dress up because the streets would be closed off and around 30 thousand people were expected to be out and if you weren't in costume you would not only stand out but could even be harassed. Of course I already had my mask and decided I would be one of those harassing the people who didn't dress up.

After dinner there was a huge firework show and then we went out to the streets of Derry to see if it all was as big as everyone had been preparing us for. Let me tell you...the Irish know how to do Halloween. Every single person was in full costume attire. I don't mean everyone had on a pair of animal ears of devil horns, I mean dressed to the nine! Walking around one could be fooled quite easily into believing the town had actually morphed into 100 jokers (probably the most popular outfit of the night), scooby do, cowboys, soldiers etc. Shoot at one point I thought I had found Osama Bin Ladin and that Saddam Husein had come back to life. Who would have thought they would both be hanging out in northern Ireland right? By the end of the night you can only imagine what the streets looked like. There was more broken glass than I had ever seen and trash was spilled everywhere. People stumbled around with smeared make-up and costumes barely intact...it is true, the Irish really know how to do Halloween.

The next day was spent on a much more somber note as we did a walking tour of Derry and saw more murals from the troubles. As I mentioned earlier, Derry is the site of Bloody Sunday. <i'll give you a couple seconds here to sing the U2 song.> Many of the murals were dedicated to people who were killed in that event. For those of you who don't know more about the event than the fact that U2 sang a song about it (as I was this person up until going to Derry) I'll give you a brief overview:

So on January 30, 1972 there was a peaceful civil rights march (greatly influenced by the civil rights movement in the states) that took place in the streets of Derry through the bogside (a catholic area--that our hotel actually looked down on). During this march there were some small riots that started (keep in mind--unarmed) and the British Parachute Regiment took it upon themselves (under whose order is still to be determined) to take fire on the marchers. This regiment was known for being basically psychopathic and was to be used only in emergencies but somehow they ended up 'patrolling' a peace march. 13 protesters were shot and killed. After the event the British let out a statement claiming all who were killed were bombers and snipers and members of the IRA (although in reality the IRA had been told not to attend the march in order to keep it peaceful). Not long after, it was discovered that all 13 had been unarmed and most had been shot while crawling to safety. Seven of the 13 were still teenagers. There has been an investigation in progress for the past 30 years now and the release of this investigation is supposed to be out sometime next year (although it was to have been already released).

We visited a museum called "The Museum of Free Derry." The museum was started by the brother of one of the 17 year old boys shot and killed that day. He too (the man who created the museum) was there on the day in 1972. The place was incredible and throughout you could hear a video recording of the events that took place. We read all about the history and there were clothes worn by people shot that day displayed and newspapers articles etc. Near the end of the museum there was a letter written by a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (the protestant loyalist paramilitary) to the parents of one of the men killed in Bloody Sunday. The letter was the worst thing I have ever read and included the most horrific name calling and damning of ones life than I could ever imagine. It left me physically ill and near to tears. The entire museum was extremely moving. After, we were able to speak to a woman who's brother (who was also 17 at the time) was killed in bloody Sunday and it was really great to get her perspective.

All the time I have been here I have felt the sense of disconnect (to put it lightly) between the British and Irish and this museum left me with an understanding as to why those feelings still exist. There is no question that what happened that day was wrongfully done and I will be looking forward to seeing the results of the investigation if they are ever finally released.

So while the museum was truly depressing I fell in love with Derry and would most definitely go back. Maybe because it really felt like fall (which leaves me with a romantic idealism about everything) or maybe because it was actually there, but the town left me feeling like even in a place where such brutality can take place there is hope for a better future. Maybe even for a place like Belfast.

((...then again maybe all this 'hope' and idealism is just coming from me since I'm writing this after seeing a miracle take place on election day.))

all of this 'troubles' talk almost made me post this blog forgetting the beauty we saw! So Saturday we took a drive out to see Giant's Causeway (one of the geological wonders of the world). On our way we stopped by Carrick-a-rede rope bridge which is (surprise surprise) a rope bridge that is really high above the water and is absolutely gorgeous! After doing the walk accross we headed to Giant's Causeway. Here the rocks are formed in pillars and different shapes. It is really really cool and now that i think about it, I don't think I was listening very well cos I can't tell you how they were formed. My guess is lava. Yes, lava sounds good. Anyways, there's an Irish folk story about some giant who lived there or something so maybe instead of lava I will say that a giant formed them. Yep, that's my final answer. Saw cool rock formations that were formed by an Irish giant. Who cares really though, it was beautiful and it was in Ireland.

Sláinte!