Ireland...it's a beauty

These past four days, I was travelling the south of Ireland with my brother, and enjoyed every moment of it. This whole island is one big beauty, every where you go there is something to see. We first went to the southern city of Cork, a smaller Dublin, and then afterward made our way to Kerry- a county in the extreme south-west. This is the most amazing part of Ireland, with mountains and green all around you. We travelled down this road near the Atlantic, that was so small our car, a tiny Peugot, could barely go on it! There were sheep and cows roaming everywhere, and people there spoke Irish as their first language. Yes, there is an Irish language, which is very distinct and is all around you in Ireland. The country makes an effort to promote it, eve though almost everyone speaks english. Afterward we went to Dublin, which is just an amazing and vibrant city. We were there for less than a day and saw only a slice of what it has to offer.

One thing my brother and I fell in love with is the Irish food (breakfast is amazing, Irish stew is so tasty) and the famous Guinness beer. The people in Ireland are actually very friendly, and getting around is not hard at all. Ireland itself is booming, and you can definetly feel it in your wallet since things are generally expensive here. So much to say, I cannot fit it all here. However, I must say that Ireland is certainly one of the more important countries to visit in Europe. I sure loved it and will come back.

The good times

Up to now I have given lots of news about the negative aspects of Belfast. Well, to be honest, all those negative things are in reality a blip on the radar screen of Belfast- well thats what the locals who don't care much for the conflict would say. After all, there is much more important things to worry about in Belfast, like taxes, education, socail services, the weather, the latest trends, and good times.

Since the 1998 peace deal, which is not much peace but gets thing going, Northern Ireland has rapidly transformed. No longer are there soldiers walking the streets, or bomb scares everywhere. There is massive regeneration all throughout the city, though I suspect it happens more in the Catholic areas. The city centre is alive and bustling. In fact if you came to Belfast and stayed in the city centre, and didn't think otherwise, you would not even think that there is a conflict and was a thirty year war here. There are no signs of anything like that in the city centre- just pure commerce and culture. The city centre, in sectarian speak, is neutral, an area where everyone can go and not have to think about the conflict, save for the newspapers and their tabloid headlines being on sale.

Nightlife here is great. This city is full of students, and going out on any night can guarantee you a good time. Pubs, clubs, malls, Belfast is changing a lot. The EU alone has given Northern Ireland billions of euros over the past 7 years in an effort to regenerize the region. There theory is that if Northern Ireland prospers economically, the conflict will diminsh. Thus far, it has been very true. Nowadays, most middle class people here are much more concerned about their livelihood than the prospect of Northern Ireland unifying with Ireland.

There is a lot of optimism here- lets hope that gets Northern Ireland somewhere.

Ardoyne - Belfast's Flashpoint

As part of my research, looking into issues of youth identity, I want to get the perspectives from those who are affected by the conflict the most. Ardoyne is a neighbourhood in North Belfast which has seen most probably the worst of the conflict. Dozens of locals have died, and this neighbourhood of 6600 people alone has 6 interfaces with peace lines. There is severe social problems here, high unemployment, and the feeling that this could be like any other 'ghetto' in a North American city. Interestingly, 46% of the residents here are under the age of 25- the perfect age for gangs to target for drugs and what not.

When I arrived, I was surprised to see that the main road leading into Ardoyne from an arterial route was blocked off from a huge metal gate. I was later told that gate remains closed all the time, to prevent locals from the Protestant neighbourhood from getting in and causing trouble. I went to the Youth Club, a very important place here to give activities to the nearly 3000 under-25s. I can tell you that despite the feeling that this is a poor area and really deprived, the people were in fact happy and friendly. I was given a tour of the area by a local community worker, who showed me the real bad streets- where 1/3 of the social-houses are boarded up to be destroyed- and flashpoints. I even saw a peace line that was 15m high extending for hundreds of meters behind homes. What's crazy is that on one street, there can be homes selling for 80,000 pounds, and one street over in Ardoyne, homes that look the exact same, sell for 40,000. pounds.

Ardoyne was also the area where in 2000, there was a stand-off between its Catholic residents and the Protestant residents north of them about the issue of, get this, Catholic school children walking to their school through the Protestant neighbourhood. There were scenes the first few days of grown adults throwing rocks and objects at the school girls and their mothers. This was a few years ago, and tensions remain in Ardoyne.

I am going to go back to Ardoyne very soon, hopefully to do some work with the youth there.

Interfaces

Today I went to visit a communtiy relations centre in a neighborhood called Cliftonville. This is one of the many interfaces in Belfast- where two neighborhoods from both Protestant and Catholic background meet in some shape or form, often in the context of communal conflict. The interfaces are the border communities. Often, the interfaces are seperated by the peace lines, which I took pictures of in Short Strand, an interface close to me that is a Catholic enclave surrounded on all sides by Protestants. In Cliftonville, the interface there is simply one sided, and divided by a huge and aesthetically ugly yellow metal wall. On one side are the Protestants residents, and Catholics on the other side.

Speaking with a Catholic community worker, he explained to me the details of this interface. He focuses much on community relations work, and during the riots of two weeks ago, he was called several times a day to try and contain the youth rioters and pull them back from the interface. He asked me if, when I came up the main street to visit him, I felt any danger to myself, and I said no, other than simply seeing the interface and the huge army barraks on the other side of the street, which gave me the sense that this is no ordinary neighborhood. However, he said, for Catholic residents living on the interface to go to, say, the city centre, they would have to go in compltely the other direction instead of the shorter route through the Protestant neighborhood. The reason is simple: they are afraid of going through the 'other side', even in broad day light. He also explained to me the dire housing conditions. I told him I noticed many derilict houses on the way up here through the Protestant area, and he said that those homes, which are social housing administered by the government, remain empty while he personally knows of dozens of Catholic residents in his community in need of homes. So why would they simply not move into them? The Housing Executive here would never allow that, because simply these are Catholics in search of homes in a Protestant neighborhood, which would mean a threat to their lives if they choose to live there.

This is a stark reality in Belfast, especially in the North where most of the interfaces are. Once the peace lines have gone up, they almost always remain a permament fixture on the landscape and on the demographics of Belfast. Sectarian territory is clearly marked in this city, and regardless of housing needs of population shifts, there still remains clearly marked Protestant and Catholic areas. Some neighborhoods can even be nearly empty of its residents, such as the Protestant area next to Cliftonville, yet it will remain Protestant so long as the peace line is erected and the Housing Executive does not change its policy.

Across the Divide- into Catholic West Belfast

Who would have thought I would be living in Northern Ireland without an umbrella!? It has rained the last 5 days here, and halfway into my walk-about of West Belfast it started raining a lot, so I cut it short. Not before I got some in though, and can tell you West Belfast, the predominantly Catholic sector of the city, is much different from the East, where I am residing. Just for the fact, about 48% of Belfast is Protestant, and 47% Catholic- a near even split. But as Northern Ireland goes, segregation is rampant, and in almost any area of the city, you are either on 'side' or the 'other'. West Belfast has seen the most of the violence in Belfast, and its main road- the Falls Rd.- is symbolic of all the conflict. On one street leading to an interface neighbourhood, below the street sign there is a sign saying 'RPG Ave', apparently putting into writting what was happening much on that street. The IRA had a good line of sight for RPG attacks on British forces. And the IRA is much glamorized in West Belfast. Consider this picture...

On the Falls Rd., there is this very nice layed out memorial to the 'volunteers' of the IRA. It is complete with two waterfalls, a large granite memorial, and Irish flags all over the place. This particular memorial is a plaque to all the members of the IRA killed who hailed from this particular part of Belfast. I also went to the main cemetary in Belfast, where all the IRA dead are buried, complete with memorial. There I saw a message writting on a piece of paper dated just two days ago, thanking all the volunteers for their lives in the 'struggle for Irish freedom'. Must have been in response to their disarmament a few days ago.








This picture was taken from the Divis Tower, the largest apartment building in Belfast. It was a landmark of the British security presense in Northern Ireland. In the early 1970s, the British army took over the top two floors and the roof of the Divis tower and made it their watchtower over Belfast, where they surveyed and listened in on all of West Belfast. It was only dismantled just a few weeks ago in response to the IRA leaving the scene. This wall has the word RIRA on it, which stands for the 'Real IRA'- a dissent group who have pledged to continue the fight against the British. They were responsible for the single worst atrocity of the conflict in 1998, when a bomb killed 29 people in central Northern Ireland.


One last picture here is of one of the biggest peace lines in Belfast, on the ShankillRoad. It seperates Catholic Falls Rd. from the Protestant Shankill Rd. As I was walking up the Falls Rd. and taking the bus down, I can see the gates of the barrier open, and some were closed. It is still in use, and from what I have heard all gates are closed from dusk until dawn.

The murals on the Falls Rd. are different from those in East Belfast. They are much more livelier and much less militant. They celebrate cultural aspects of the Irish culture, and are memorials to certain IRA members killed. The Falls Rd. also looks like it has been developed in the last few years much more than any other part of Belfast, least of all the North, now the most problematic spot. There is much investment in West Belfast, which has seen Catholics getting more richer. It is certainly a contrast to the whole city- very segregated on religious, ethnic and class lines.

IRA ends it...?

As it appears, yesterday the commission tasked with monitoring and overseeing the decommissioning of paramiltary weapons announced that the IRA has fully put its army beyond use- they no longer have weapons to wage war. This is huge news for Northern Ireland, and most would say a move that is long overdue. After all, the IRA was supposed to disarm by the year 2000. But like all things in Northern Ireland, the announcement of the news comes with much speculation from many, mostly the Unionists (Protestants). And rightly so, I may add, they should have mixed feelings. After all, who is to trust a group that has killed over 1700 people with the aim of establishing Irish rule in Northern Ireland, something abhorent to many Protestants...? But, as rules go in Northern Ireland (and most other conflict zones in the world), trust is a key measure to use. People of Northern Ireland will have to trust that the IRA has given up all its weapons, that the commission overseeing it is right in their estimates of destroyed weapons, and trust that the movement to reunite Northern Ireland with Ireland (which is still alive and well mind you) be a political, non-violent movement.

But don't be fooled, that the destruction of weapons of war- rifles, explosives, grenades, rockets- will mean the end of terrorism, least from the IRA. They will still exist as an organization, still have the know-how of terrorism and weapons, and there is even speculation that they have retained some 'light' arms. What is important, is that there no longer exists the will to wage terrorism. And for this, the people of Northern Ireland can speak loud and clear: no more! Let's hope more of this comes from the other terror groups in Northern Ireland, where Northern Ireland politics can be free from the gun, finally.

IRA ends it...

Ok, I wrote this whole post about the IRA, and the internet broke down yada yada. So I will post tomorrow on my analysis of the whole thing, with what the newspapers are saying here. But, it is big news.