Belfast, Part One: The Troubles

"People from Belfast are evenly balanced," the cab driver told me as he took me to the bus station in Dublin.  "They have chips on both shoulders."

My decision to go to Belfast was a last-minute one and I had been weighing my options about whether I wanted to visit there or somewhere in Scotland.  I have no idea why I picked it, but am definitely glad I did.  Despite its recent history of violence, the city has slowly started to reinvent itself.

Even though people in Belfast like to point out how their city has reemerged as a vibrant European city, they still recognize The Troubles, which is the term they use to reference the period from roughly 1966 to 1998, when Northern Ireland's status was contested.  This period saw loyalists/unionists--mostly Protestants who called for Ireland to align itself with Great Britain--pitted against republicans/nationalists--mostly Catholics who called for a united Ireland.   

During the 1960s, Belfast had a 5 to 1 ratio of Protestants to Catholics and certain policies mimicked this disproportionate relationship:  gerrymandering that limited the power of nationalist politicians as well as civil rights abuses against the same community led to marches in Belfast and other cities.  Protesters were subject to abuse by loyalists and received little assistance from police, including British peacekeeping forces.

The fact that loyalists and nationalists each had their own paramilitary organzations only made matters worse and violence between these different groups, which had been going on since the 1960s, escalated during the 1970s.  In 1972 alone, there were nearly 500 deaths, nearly half of which were civilians.  Bombings, shootings, and kidnappings became a normal part of life in Belfast and transformed the city.  In order to enter the city center, a person was subjected to a full body search and had all of his or her bags searched; in order to enter a store within the city center, he or she was subjected to another search.  Along with the barricade around the city center, there was a wall, ironically named "The Peace Wall," that separated Belfast's Protestant and Catholic communities.

Despite numerous attempts at reconciling the two groups, no agreement could be reached, which only contributed to more violence.  When convicted of crimes, nationalist paramilitary members would be sent to prison as normal criminals and not given the "political" label that they wanted and had been previously afforded.  In protest of their treatment as normal criminals, they staged hunger strikes and the "Blanket -" and "Dirty Protests."  The "Blanket Protest" saw nationalist criminals refusing to wear the standard prison uniforms and instead dressing in only blankets; the "Dirty Protest" was centered on their refusal to bathe, shave, or use the prison toilets (they used their cells).  The demands for political status as well as proper treatment of inmates were, to a degree, met, but in the end, ten hunger strikers died.  The longest individual hunger strike lasted 73 days. 

One man that experienced The Troubles was Patrick.  He was my tour guide on the Black Taxi Tour, which visited different areas of Belfast with significant ties to the conflict.  First, we visited the city's predominantly Catholic area.

These taxis were used overturned and used as barricades by paramilitary forces.

Nationalists were sympathetic to other international groups,
such as the Basques, who strove for civil rights.

The Falls Curfew of 1970 was imposed by British forces to curtail nationalist activities.  British soldiers killed four civilians  during the 36 hours that the curfew was in effect.  When a group of women left their homes and marched down the street in protest--holding only loaves of bread--the British ended the curfew.

Hunger strike mural

Like that of the Basques/France & Spain,
the Israel/Palestine conflict also parallels Northern Ireland's recent history.

Kieran Nugent was the first participant in the Blanket Protest.



Mural dedicated to the ten hunger strikers who died.





Bobby Sands (66 days) was the first hunger striker to die. 
About a month before his death, he was elected to the UK Parliament.

 

The Peace Wall

After driving through a gate--there are still gates in Belfast that close at certain hours to separate the two communities--we walked through the predominantly Protestant area of Belfast.  One thing that I noticed, and this could be just a function of the tour route, was that the murals on the nationalist side had a much more peaceful tone, while the ones on the loyalist side had a more violent feel to them.  It's important to remember, though, that both sides were responsible for killing people, the majority of whom were innocent civilians.

A loyalist mural I found while walking around Belfast one night.

Even though the conflict allegedly ended in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement, Patrick said that there is still some animosity between nationalists and loyalists.  The gates are an indication of this, but even more telling is that houses next to the Peace Wall have had shields built onto their backs to protect those living inside from bottles, rocks, or worse.

The slanting roof that looks like a greenhouse is the protective cover for the house.

The Black Taxi Tour was a great way to learn about The Troubles and what moved people in Belfast.  Next time, I'll post some photos of the not-so-dangerous Belfast that many people fail to recognize even exists.