September 13, 2013
We drove into Belfast this
morning and the McCloskeys went to the Titanic Museum. I only got about 2 hours of sleep last night
so I elected to catch some sleep in the car while they toured. I also called Verizon to work out an issue I
was having with my cell phone.
We then drove to the city centre
where we signed up for a Black Taxi Tour which was recommended by all our
guidebooks. This proved to be very
interesting since our driver had been involved with the IRA beginning when he
was about 15. The tour takes you to
various sites where large murals depict various people and events that occurred
during “The Troubles”. This period
between the 1960’s and 2000 saw a lot of
fighting in Derry and West Belfast. The
underlying issues were religion and English rule: the Irish Catholics (IRA) wanted out from
under English Rule and the Unionists of
Northern Belfast (Protestants) wanted to keep the status quo with continued
ties to London and the UK. Many civilians
were killed during this time and one definitely has the feeling that, although
the street fighting is over for now, there is still a strong undercurrent of
distrust between the two sides. I had
that feeling not only in Belfast, but in other areas of North Ireland. Today, in Catholic schools, only Catholic
history (and its perspective) is taught; while in Protestant schools only
English history (and its perspective) is taught. This disparity includes the events of The
Troubles. Our guide and his wife were
“on the run” in southern Ireland for 19 years, returning only three years ago
after getting his amnesty papers. He
took us to see murals on both sides of the wall which separates north and west
Belfast and he explained the northern perspective quite well. However, one could readily feel the “fire in
his belly” when he described the events from the IRA’s perspective because he
“lived” them for so many years.
MURALS IN WEST BELFAST (IRA SIDE OF THE WALL)
MURAL IN NORTH BELFAST (LOYALIST SIDE OF THE WALL)
NOTE: OTHER MURALS WERE TOO FAR AWAY TO GET GOOD PHOTOS
The 30
foot high wall runs for 17 miles through the city and has 23 gates for
access. Only one gate is open 24/7and it
can be closed immediately if there is a problem. Homes along the south side of the wall have
wire cages between the homes and the wall to protect people in their back yards
(and their windows) from objects thrown over the wall from the Loyalist
side. The north side of the wall (Loyalist
or Unionist) was very different from the south side in that it was generally
run down--almost to the point of making me feel like I had gone into a slum
area of a city. On the south side of the
wall a considerable amount of urban redevelopment had occurred and it was much
cleaner.
THE WALL
BACK YARD IN WEST BELFAST SHOWING THE CAGE USED FOR PROTECTION FROM FLYING OBJECTS
