I am just back from a week in Northern Ireland, and of course my body thinks it is noon while it’s still the wee dawn hours here in Minnesota, so I’m doing my best to be productive, though perhaps not profound, as I start to process this whole experience.
On the last day of the trip, I took a walking tour with Arthur Magee of Experience Belfast and we visited the Peace Walls, barriers built in the late 1960s to separate Protestant and Catholic communities and reduce the sectarian violence of the Troubles.
There are more than 21 miles of peace walls cutting through the city, some almost 40 feet high, so that petrol bombs couldn’t be lobbed over them.
As we walked and talked, Arthur shared his flavors and insights to bring the history alive and it became clear that while the Troubles officially ended with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the troubles aren’t over. Much the way that slavery officially ended here with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, but our issues of race and economic inequity remain.
The Peace Walls have become a part of the fabric of Belfast life, with murals and messages of all sorts. I’ll need some more time to let it all soak in (plus a good night’s sleep or two) but for now, I’d like to share a few photos from the walk, plus a few quotes from Arthur that helped put things in context for me. Squint a little as you read the passages, and see if anything sounds familiar.
-Everybody wants peace and everybody wants it on their own terms.
-Good people here did horrific things to one another.
-It’s very simple. It’s us vs. them. The trouble is, we all look the same.
-The tip of the iceberg is when someone gets killed, but there’s a lot more that happens under the surface that is difficult.
-People are very easy to control when they feel like they are under attack.
-As soon as a flag comes out, people start to die.
-Both sides said, “We did nothing wrong. It’s all their fault.”
-We are moving forward, but not everybody is moving at the same pace.
-We experienced a decency drain. Good people moved away. But if that happens too much, what have you got left? If decent people don’t stay, things will never change.
-Life is really simple when it’s always someone else’s fault.
-The reason why we’ll come together isn’t because we’re all kumbaya, it’s because we’ve no choice; because guess what? We’re not at the centre of the universe.
Thanks – just to be clear there were not 21 miles of peace walls since the 1960s. At the time of the ceasefires (1994) there were only 18 permanent ‘peace walls’ – 20 years later (2014) there were 100 permanent peace lines (including walls gates and fences) – a further 10 years on (2024) we are one year past the 2023 deadline agreed in 2013 to remove them all and only a handful have been removed.
Ah, thanks for this added clarity, Sean. It is both helpful and worrisome…as it is in the States…where some things appear to be moving forward and others seem to slide back toward a place we don’t want to go. I am beginning the slow process of understanding the complexities and nuance in your country, even as I continue to learn about mine. Grateful for your insight.
Your trip sounds amazing, John. It’s important to see the parallels between our own country and others. It’s easier to see the folly of our own disagreements when you look at someone else’s. It aids in perspective.
Thanks Kristie….agreed….
Those statements are quite thought worthy. I would love to do a world cafe community conversation and discuss these.
sounds like a great idea!