{"id":690,"date":"2013-10-04T06:57:31","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T13:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/?p=690"},"modified":"2013-10-18T18:27:57","modified_gmt":"2013-10-19T01:27:57","slug":"belfast-a-divided-city-shankill-road-and-the-falls-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/?p=690","title":{"rendered":"Belfast: A Divided City – Shankill Road and The Falls Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

We began our short tour of the divided city of Belfast with a visit to a housing development in the\u00c2\u00a0Protestant Shankill Road area. \u00c2\u00a0The murals on the walls of the buildings are among the most photographed in Ireland. \u00c2\u00a0They point to the fact, as one writer said, that the Irish are much like elephants, they never forget. \u00c2\u00a0The murals range in tone from pacific to heavily militaristic, from recent heroes and events to ancient history and mythology. \u00c2\u00a0The mural below memorialized a modern hero, Stevie Topgun McKeag.<\/p>\n

\"Stevie<\/p>\n

A hero to the Ulster Protestants, but apparently a stone cold \u00c2\u00a0murderer and drug addict. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2000\/oct\/01\/northernireland.henrymcdonald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The friendly looking \u00c2\u00a0fellow below is extracted from one of the murals and is one of the most recognized figures. \u00c2\u00a0His eyes supposedly follow you much like those of Mona Lisa are alleged to do.<\/p>\n

\"UFF<\/p>\n

Cuchulainn, a nythological Ulster hero is commemorated in the mural below. \u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.bartleby.com\/182\/302.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the inscription, enlarged for your benefit.<\/p>\n

\"Cuchulain\"\u00c2\u00a0\"Cuchulain<\/p>\n

Doesn’t show a lot of sentiment for compromise. \u00c2\u00a0The Ulster people here referenced are Protestant and British. \u00c2\u00a0Their enemies are the Catholic Irish who have been fighting for self rule and their rights for centuries. \u00c2\u00a0With the partition of Ireland, the Catholic majority gained ascendancy in the Republic of Ireland, but, as a large minority, remained disenfranchised until very recently in Ulster, or the six counties that were pared off to create Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

The mural below celebrates the victory of King William III over the Catholic King James. James was trying to regain the throne of England but lost to William in the Battle of the Boyne. \u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/2000\/jul\/12\/northernireland.comment<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0 Another link:\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/history\/events\/battle_of_the_boyne<\/a><\/p>\n

\"King<\/p>\n

An enduring legend is that of the Red Hand of Ulster, which became the emblem of Ulster’s identity. \u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.uktravelbureau.com\/regions\/uk-travel-search-engine-ireland\/redhand.cfm<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The housing development where these murals are located is a very pleasant place with children’s toys strewn around, belying the militaristic, hateful nature of many of the murals. \u00c2\u00a0As Catholics would not likely enter this area even now, the murals primarily serve as an education and reminder for the Protestant residents. \u00c2\u00a0Keeping the fire stoked one might say.<\/p>\n

\"Shankill<\/p>\n

\"Shankill<\/p>\n

It is hard to imagine \u00c2\u00a0the hatred that has filled these people for so many years. \u00c2\u00a0Joel, our Protestant driver and Damon, our Catholic driver, went to great lengths to tell us that the situation had greatly improved since the peace accord of 1998 brokered by Bill Clinton and George Mitchell and that real strides were being made in bringing the two communities together. \u00c2\u00a0They claimed that most of the problems now are caused by roughnecks with too little to do and too much time on their hands. \u00c2\u00a0One has to hope that they are right. \u00c2\u00a0Yet, the communities remain divided by “Peace Walls,” not only in Belfast but in other areas of Northern Ireland. \u00c2\u00a0A section of the wall in Belfast below:<\/p>\n

\"Peace<\/p>\n

A gate in the peace wall:<\/p>\n

\"Gate<\/p>\n

I believe I am correct that there are 7 gates in the Belfast Peace Wall(s) and they were all closed at night. \u00c2\u00a0According to the driver, one or more are now left open at night and on weekends. \u00c2\u00a0A sign of the lessening of tensions perhaps. \u00c2\u00a0We visited a Catholic residential street, and a shrine to the those who died from that area during the Troubles.<\/p>\n

\"Clonard<\/p>\n

We noticed the Irish language beginning to appear in the Catholic areas, a language they are trying to revive in both the Republican (Catholic) areas of Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland, a language which is despised by the Unionists (Protestants.) \u00c2\u00a0The Irish language is a form of Gaelic, related to the native languages of both Wales and Scotland.<\/p>\n

Gina listening to our drivers, Joel on left and Damon on right:<\/p>\n

\"Gina<\/p>\n

Yours truly leaning on black taxi:<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/p>\n

We then drove to the Solidarity Wall on The Falls Road, where the Catholics show their solidarity with other freedom struggles through out the world. \u00c2\u00a0A few of the murals below:<\/p>\n

\"Free<\/p>\n

\"Oppression<\/p>\n

\"Free<\/p>\n

\"War<\/p>\n

And finally an ad for the Black Cab tours:<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

We leave Belfast late afternoon for the Antrim coast. \u00c2\u00a0Below are more interesting links.<\/p>\n

First from the Obama administration’s favorite news outlet:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/2013\/06\/15\/for-belfast-keeping-peace-means-towering-walls-to-block-catholic-protestant\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Very good Smithsonian article:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/people-places\/Getting-Past-the-Troubles.html?c=y&story=fullstory<\/a><\/p>\n

Bloody Sunday:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.bloodysundaytrust.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

This is an excellent blog entry. \u00c2\u00a0I just wish I could write this well:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/bulahoop.com\/2012\/06\/27\/belfast-murals-remembering-the-troubles\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Rick Steves on Northern Ireland:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ricksteves.com\/tvr\/northirerse304_scr.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

The 1916 Easter Uprising that led to home rule:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.historylearningsite.co.uk\/easter_uprising.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Formation of the Northern Ireland state:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.gale.cengage.com\/pdf\/whitepapers\/gdc\/FormationOfNorthernIreland.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

If you are not asleep now, I can’t do anymore. \u00c2\u00a0Next post coming. \u00c2\u00a0Be patient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We began our short tour of the divided city of Belfast with a visit to a housing development in the\u00c2\u00a0Protestant Shankill Road area. \u00c2\u00a0The murals on the walls of the buildings are among the most photographed in Ireland. \u00c2\u00a0They point … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10,12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-history","category-photography","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=690"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":721,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions\/721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}