Of Irish History

We left Dublin Thursday and headed for Belfast. As an aside, we met two couples at the Enterprise office when we were renting our car. Kathleen recognized them - they were from Victoria. She had sung with one of them in a church choir about 30 years ago. What a small world! The drive to Belfast was easy and short (about 1 1/2 hours). Back in May for Kath's birthday I'd given her a gift certificate for "A Day in Belfast" which included the hotel, a drink at the Crown Bar, dinner and a Black Taxi Tour. So, right after we checked into our hotel, we arranged for the tour. Our driver Brendan picked us up at 1:30 and we were with him for 3 hours.

I never really understood how the struggles in Ireland came about. Brendan gave us a history lesson, albeit from a Catholic Republican perspective, which helped us understand the roots of the conflict. He told us about the Battle of the Boyne; the Protestent William and Mary of Orange (now I know why that colour is in the Irish flag); James II (the Catholic) defeated in the battle, and the plantations in 16th and 17th century when Irish lands were confiscated by the English crown and colonized with settlers from England and the Scottish Lowlands to increase the Protestant population and secure the lands for England; the tragic potato famine in the 1800s and its devastating effect on the Irish population. Then, we learned more about the 20th century and the events that led to the rise of Sinn Fein and military presence of British soldiers and the current police corruption. (Remember, I said this was from Brendan's perspective - although when I questioned him about some of what he told us, he said it was all well documented as truth.) I also asked him if he changed his rhetoric if he had Brits on his tour and he said absolutely not! So, I chose to believe what he told us. I think we were most surprised and shocked by the Belfast peace wall - nothing about it speaks "peace" to me! It more closely resembles the Berlin wall and some of the fences currently being put up between Hungary and Croatia! The wall separates the neighbourhoods of Falls Road (Catholic) and Shankill (Protestant). The homes backing onto the wall on the Catholic side have wire mesh running from their roofs to the wall to protect their windows and yards from rocks being thrown. On the Loyalist side, we saw hundreds and hundreds of Union Jacks strung across the road leaving no doubt as to the politics of the people living there. In both neighbourhoods, there are memorials to their martyrs. It was chilling to see one glorifying a British soldier who had been nicknamed "Top Gun" because of the number of IRA members he had shot. Even more chilling was finding out the gates which separate these two neighbourhoods are still locked each night from dusk until dawn. At least the Belfast city centre is considered an "assured zone", one where these politics are put aside. I don't have any idea how this situation can ever be resolved (thousands of people much brighter and tuned into the situation than me have tried) but it seems to me a good start would be to remove some of the symbols representing hatred. Someone just has to make the first move.

The "peace" fence from the Republican side

Falls Road mural

The "peace" fence from the Shankill side

Mural honouring "Top Gun"

Later in the tour, we went to the shipyard where the Titanic had been built. After that, we walked through the cathedral quarter where there was a huge cultural festival going on - lots of music and dancing. Then, we walked to the famous Crown Bar on Victoria Street for the drink which was part of the birthday certificate. While we were standing at the bar having our drinks (Kathleen is really enjoying the Irish Harp lager with lime), we met a couple from Regina. They managed to find seats in one of the snugs and they invited us to join them. Well, two and a half hours later, we staggered out of there to a nearby Italian restaurant - where I conveniently forgot that I was supposed to pay for dinner! Oops!