Deep Fissures in Belfast

Sarah and I took a walk to the Falls Road (Catholic/Republican) and Shankill Road (Protestant/Loyalist) neighbourhoods in Belfast.  They're well known for their political murals.  There are tours through these neighbourhoods that would have provided a lot of useful information, but they were incredibly expensive and included transportation we didn't need, so we decided to piece together what we could ourselves.  No small task!

First up was Falls Road.  Many murals depicting well known Republic/Resistance events, as well as modern resolutions of solidarity with other minority groups (e.g. Palestinians imprisoned by Israel).

One section of a very long mural wall - anti-internment mural on left, and one of many  Marion Price murals on right (1973 London bomber, hunger striker, parole recently revoked, etc.)

If you go down a side street half a block, away from the view of tour buses, you might see heavily defaced and burnt murals above a blanket of smashed glass bottles.  A bit creepy - we didn't linger

Bobby Sands was one of the famous Republican hunger-strikers, and won a seat in Parliament despite being IRA-backed

IRA "War Memorial"

We happened upon a "war memorial" for IRA "soliders" and "POWs", etc, detailing those who had died.  Both Republican and Loyalist sides use military nomenclature for their efforts/organizations, though in different ways and for different reasons.  IRA members characterize themselves as soldiers in an army, and anyone jailed for related crimes is a "Prisoner Of War."

As part of Belfast's year of renewal, and part of the peace effort, they're holding a big peace concert this September.  This mural/poster, from the city, sits at the junction of the Falls Road and Shankill Road neighbourhoods - Falls Road themes on the right, Shankill Road themes on the left.  The city has many informative signs about its attractions, but they say nothing about anything Troubles-related.

And here is the actual line between the two neighbourhoods.  First of all, they're directly adjacent!  I suppose residents used to know which streets were "ours" or "theirs" naturally.  But to avoid trouble between neighbourhoods, "peace walls" have been erected in Belfast.  Before the Good Friday agreement (IRA disarming) in 1998, there were 22 such walls.  There are now almost 100.  And they're serious - spiked or barbed wire tops, big locking gates, the works.  I kept thinking of the Berlin Wall.  Hard to see how reconciliation can happen while these are up (among other issues).

Here's a map of Belfast's major "peace walls" - we passed through #8 

The hands are labelled "proud," "defiant," "welcoming"

And in a few short steps we were in the Loyalist Shankill Road neighbourhood, next to the above welcome mural.

One of the several well known UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) groups

So now we get to see the other side of the equation.  British Loyalists have been in Ireland/Northern Ireland for centuries, in particular since the late 1600s/Battle of the Boyne (Loyalists have continued marches celebrating the Boyne and the victory of England over Ireland up until present day).  They enjoy being part of the UK, and have deep roots here.

In the 1916 Easter Uprising and the surrounding uprisings in Ireland, the Ulster Volunteer Force was formed among the Loyalists to defend their neighbourhoods from attack and ultimately to support the UK - they were a key part of the defense of British Ireland, and probably a key reason the North remained with the UK.  It's the other side of the coin to some IRA members: defence of one's neighbourhood/neighbours.  The UVF, being a loyalist group, was drawn upon to form British Army units in various wars, particularly WWI.  So much of their identity and symbols are military, and legitimately so (as there were army brigades full of UVF members) - though it's a bit confusing because these symbols are used to legitimize their purely domestic & political actions as well (defence of neighbourhoods from IRA attack, etc.).

The Loyalist brigades in the army were hit hard.  At the Battle of the Somme in WWI, the unit from the Shankill neighbourhood went "over the top" and only 76 out of 760 men survived.  Pretty much a whole generation wiped out in one rush - ample reason for some war memorials.  This was around the same time that Republican forces in Ireland, sensing a weakened England (from WWI), began uprisings for independence - to the loyalists, another force attacking the UK to defend against.

Partially-complete Loyalist mural in tribute to UVF army units in WWI

While vigilantism is not something modern nations should endorse, it's not hard to see why some Loyalists felt it necessary.

 Here's a war memorial-style tribute to the victims of one of the several IRA bombings that happened on Shankill Road.  I don't know enough to say why these bombings happened or who was targetted.  But consider the Shankill resident perspective: a violent separatist group, heavily armed, is traipsing about the countryside seemingly at will despite heavy government patrols.  Their stated mission is armed insurrection and the overthrow of the government in your area - you're pretty happy with the government and certainly don't want to be ruled by the thugs that are laying waste to your back yard.  The neighbourhood right next door is heavily sympathetic to this group, and probably provides support to them.  And this group came into your neighbourhood and threw a bomb into a crowded pub, killing your neighbours; and did so again at a fish'n'chips shop; and at a furniture store.  The group might claim they were after "legitimate targets," but it seems a lot more like murder.  Of course you'd be scared, and of course you'd label that behavior terrorism.  (It's the old adage: one's man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.)

There's a very strongly-worded piece of text posted at that memorial.  Part of it reads as follows:

"For although many good friends were lost and injured on that fateful day, the people of West Belfast and, indeed, Ulster, emerged stronger and even more resolute, to defeat the pure evil that is Irish Republicanism, once and for all!
We all know that Republican politicians would have us sit with them in negotiation.
We all know that they would have us now believe that theirs is a message of peace, and those militants with whom they associated in the past were part of an army!
But the Irish Republican Army was not an army, nor were they so-called freedom fighters.
They were a homicidal, guerrilla grouping!  A criminal organization devoid of conscience!  An organisation which fouls the decency of humanity in every sense and on every level!
Yes, we know the IRA for what they were, and what they remain, a sectarian murder gang whose targets were easy, innocent and vulnerable men, women and children."

This, a couple of hundred metres from a "war memorial" dedicated to the IRA.  No wonder there's a wall!

Pretty much sums up the hard core Loyalist position

Being British subjects & having a vote was valued

Hard to spot, but on the far right: "A protestant farmer's wife protects her husband against sectarian attack from across the border"

Another good summary of some sentiment in the area

List of those killed in the four major bombings in the area

Commemorating the Percy Street bombing by Germany

Belfast was an important shipbuilder for the WWII war effort, and it had an airfield.  During the blitz, the Germans decided to bomb it.  However, they missed their target and instead bombed Percy Street in the Shankill Road neighbourhood, destroying thousands of homes and killing many, many civilians.


While that was certainly an enlightening tour, we didn't have any solutions for Northern Ireland's problems, and needed something less draining to do.  So we hit the botanical gardens at the university.

And saw some nice university buildings.

And that evening, went to see Ken Haddock at the Empire near the university.  Great little venue - like a one-quarter scale commodore, but a real pub.  And Ken Haddock has a voice like a titan, and pulls off some wonderful classic rock/blues/R&B every Sunday.

(In fact, if you're ever in Belfast, avoid the plastic and identical global chain stores downtown and take a walk down Botanic Avenue, through great independent shops and cafes.  Stop at Maggie Mays for inexpensive but tasty comfort food, and take in a show at the Empire.  Good times.)

Empire - the pub & stage are downstairs