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Belfast to DerrySep 6, 2005
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Belfast - Mural in the Protestant part of town, featuring the paramilitary...
This Protestant paramilitary "Hero" - who apart from killing civilians also died...
Flags decorating houses in the Protestant area of Belfast
| "If you are not confused, you don't understand" is an Irish saying about the conflict here, and epitomises how I feel about what I'm learning. The Catholic/Protestant conflict dates back hundreds of years, and while I do feel that I understand a lot more than I did, I am still very, very confused. I always believed the IRA to be terrorists (and therefore baddies) as the media portrays, but had never even heard of many of the Protestant paramilitary organisations that exist here. The UFF and the UVF are just two of eleven of these. One fact that we were given in our tour this morning that has stuck with me is that in a 12 month period ending last year, 11 people had died in the conflict, and only three of those were killed by the IRA or INLA - the two Catholic paramilitary organisations, and the other eight were victims of the other side. Hmmm. Our tour group were taken on a Black Cab tour of Belfast this morning, right through the two sides of the city seperated by the "Peace Wall". This wall seperates the Protestant and Catholic communities, and while gates are open during the day, they are secured at night. Only two nights before our tour there had been more riots, and petrol bombs had been thrown over this wall as well as cars and buses set alight in the streets that we visited. We saw evidence of burned material alongside the wall. Our guide explained that the Protestant community is unhappy about the British withdrawal of their military presence in Northern Ireland as agreed in the Good Friday agreement, and explained that the agreement and work towards peace was still a very tenuous arrangement. Everyone who has spoken to us has expressed the desire to see peace achieved, it was interesting though that most of the Irish Republic people are staunch Unionists and believe that the County's of Northern Ireland should and will become part of the Republic. The Black Cabs are famous not only for their tours of the troubled areas of the city, area but for the role they play in public transport. Bus services have been tenuous if non existant in the city as a result of the conflict - a bus is just too convenient a target for burning in riots, and the cabs took over the role of public transport, stopping at bus stops and as people flag them down to take as many people as they can fit, for a fee, wherever they need to go. It's something I'm used to seeing in Asia, but wouldn't expect in a European country. We subsequently learnt (quite a few days later when we got our tour guide a little tipsy at the pub one night) that the drivers would have had to ask permission from the paramilitary organisations controlling the areas that we entered for us to visit, and that had we entered any areas without permission, our vehicles would have been held up at gunpoint, we would have been ordered out of them, and our taxis or bus would have been burnt then and there. The tour took up our morning, and after lunch we visited a much more peaceful area of Ireland back in the Irish Republic. The Donegalwith Highlands and their enchanting Glenveagh National Park, the largest of Ireland's six national parks with a total of 16,958 hectares of land. We had a guided tour through the Glenveagh Castle, which along with the land in the park was privately owned up until the 1990's when it's owner donated the lot to the country. The land and castle previously served as a holiday/hunting lodge, which was evidenced by all the dead animal parts used as decoration consistently through the interior of the castle... lovely. The building itself was all that I expected of a castle though, complete with towers and intricate passageways. We returned to the same hostel in Derry again for our third night of the tour, back in Northern Ireland. I should mention here that Derry is officially known as Londonderry, but it's not politically correct to call it within Catholic communities in Ireland nor in the South. Even the media get caught needing to acknowledge the two names, and will often refer to it as both - Londonderry/Derry, in an attempt to keep all parties happy. |
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