The Troubles

As I stated in my prior post (click here) no visit to Belfast, Ireland would be complete without learning about the past and present ethnic, religious, and political conflict in this city that has been referred to as "The Troubles."   You can click on this link to read the Wikipedia description of the Troubles and also this interesting Timeline Link to learn more about them right up to the present.  Over three thousand people were killed from 1969 to 1995, the main years of activity for the Troubles.  The CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) site, as part of the University of Ulster,  also contains information and source material on the Troubles and politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present.  (All images will enlarge if double-clicked on)

I was on a "hop on hop off" bus tour of Belfast that drove through the neighborhoods of Belfast where most of the past problems took place. You can see the view I had from the top of the bus of many of the dividing walls called "Peace Lines" or "Peace Walls" that were erected over the years to separate Catholics from Protestants.  The first barriers were built in 1969, following the outbreak of the Northern Ireland riots and the Troubles. They were built as temporary structures because they were meant to last only six months, but due to their effective nature, they have become more permanent, wider, and longer. Originally few in number, they have multiplied over the years, from 18 in the early 1990s to 40 today, and stretch over 13 miles.

This is Bombay Street where you can see a memorial to those killed in a conflict here.

A close-up of the memorial on the wall of Catholics killed in the conflicts and the high separating wall.

Another view of one of the separating walls on the right on this street.  The tour guide on the bus told us that sadly these peace lines are still being erected and the communities do not wish any of them removed.

A memorial to Protestants killed in the conflicts.

The Catholic side Memorial Garden on Falls Road.

The Protestant side Memorial Park on Shankill Road.

A Protestant Loyalist Mural in Sandy Row

The mural on the Sinn Fein Headquarters, Falls Road, Belfast.

 

Murals are spread throughout the outer working-class areas of Belfast, and their composition varies from paramilitary to community-focused.  I am showing a few of the murals I saw on the bus tour in these photo collages, but a website on this link has a more comprehensive record and photos of those that can be found in North, South, East, and West Belfast.

We were told that some of the more radical murals have been painted over with more global issues and causes and with more of a message of peace.

 

 

The past decade of peacemaking has brought political elites of both sides together in a Catholic-Protestant government in hopes that their example would trickle down. Their experiment in cooperation, highlighted by the power-sharing government has encouraged thriving employment and tourism in Belfast.  Most of the people I spoke to in Belfast have great hope that the Troubles will permanently end one day. 

Our own United States has a long history of conflicts over race, politics, and religion, so we can't judge why these prejudices exist as we also have a lot of work to do to make our country a less divided and more accepting place for all. Perhaps it is a task that will never be fully accomplished but it is always something we should strive for with each new generation.

 

A beautiful stained glass window in Belfast City Hall with this hopeful message on it:

"Not as Catholics or Protestants,
Not as Nationalists or Unionists,
But as Belfast Workers Standing Together"

 
 

"It is in the shelter of each other that people live."

 - Irish Proverb

 

 

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