We were going to the Northern Ireland parliament called Stormont. We got a tour of the building and then we met with some representatives of a few different parties. It was really interesting because we got to ask them controversial questions and see how their answers differed. For example their opinions on the Peace Walls that separate the Catholic/Protestant communities in Belfast and also if they thought Ireland would ever be united again.
After the tour/information session we went back to the hostel to drop our stuff off and eat lunch. After lunch we had a bus tour of the political murals throughout Belfast. Originally they functioned as protest pieces, warnings to the community, or just ways to express what was happening. They are maintained now out of respect to those who painted them
Our tour guide was really knowledgeable of the area and history. We thought he was just a history buff but as the tour progressed he told us that he is EX-IRA. He was imprisoned for many years for arms charges but was released with the peace talks. Our professor explained it this way, after getting out of prison many ex-IRA members couldn't get jobs so they started driving taxis and then that progressed into being tour guides.
Political murals..
The Peace Walls are over 40 feet tall and are electronically opened and closed at the same times every day. The removal of the walls is an extremely contentious issue. It would be very easy for a politician to say they should come down etc. etc. but for those that live on either sides of the wall, they rely on them for safety and security.
After we visited the wall we made our way into a very Protestant area of Belfast to look at more murals there. The ones we visited first were in a more Catholic area and depicted Catholic struggles and also general murals of present day issues.
This one shows a shrine to Cromwell, the Englishman who tried to drive the Catholics out of Ireland.
King Billy, the man who brought and ensured that Protestantism would stay in Ireland.
The area these murals were in was kind of sketchy so I was pleased when we got back on the bus.
To me it seems like Belfast is still stuck in a quasi-civil war era. Maybe it has to do with the fact the city was nearly destroyed for 30 years and that the buildings show it or that pockets of rebellion still exist. There is still a very clear bias in certain areas of the city. For example West Belfast is Catholic/nationalist, and was the headquarters of the IRA and so Catholics are very welcome. In other areas there is a strong preference for Protestants.
As a matter of fact one of my classmates, Rupert, brought a friend with us on the trip. This student Eoin (pronounced Owen) is from Dublin and has a "southern Ireland" accent. When the bouncers at the bar/restaurant we were going to, heard his voice they wouldn't let him in because they knew since he was from The Republic (what Irish people call Ireland) he was nationalist and most likely catholic, they were right on both counts too.
Another interesting thing is the relationship between whiskey and different parts of Ireland. Jameson is distilled in the South and John Jameson was Catholic. Bushmills is distilled in the North and he was a Protestant. Because of this most people drink Jameson in the South and won't touch Bushmills. The North is a little more flexible and Jameson still exists but it is also considered a Catholic whiskey. Rupert's friend, Eoin, said that you would never see him or his family drinking Bushmills, but he was more than happy to have some Jameson with us later that night!
Other people had experiences where taxi drivers wanted to know your religion before they'd drive you anywhere. BUT since we are Americans we had no problems at all. All the people are very aware of the fact that we are bringing a lot of money into their areas so we were welcomed almost everywhere.
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