Derry and Belfast, Northern Ireland – 05/01 – 05/02

(Michelle) (PS, this entry is REALLY long)
As we rode the bus from Donegal to Derry, we were happy to see the Foy family name on a chain of furniture stores in eastern Donegal County. Upon arriving, It was another solid 1k walk with our packs to our next hostel in Derry, Northern Ireland. We went dorm style for the first time, as we had been spending quite a bit of money on accommodation getting private rooms and we weren’t really meeting anyone. Upon entering the 10 bed dorm, we met our first travel buddy, Steve. Nice Australian fellow who was starting a European tour now after finishing six months of working in Miami. He mentioned a museum and tour that we decided to check out. It was a museum dedicated to Bloody Sunday (the fellow who works in the museum had a brother killed on Bloody Sunday) and the tour guide was a 40 year old man who was raised in the Bogside (Catholic side of the troubles in Derry). This tour was extremely interesting. He walked us around the Bogside of Derry explaining some of the murals, the conflict as he saw it growing up and the fence which currently separates the Protestant side. He has never crossed that fence. The town of Derry itself also has an interesting layout with the walled city and the outside sections. That night, Steve, TJ and I checked out the main drag of bars in Derry. There was a local band at one that was quite good (a wide mix of covers)… Nicole Helland, if I’d have had a cell phone, you would have gotten a call… they perfectly covered the Ben Harper version of “Sexual Healing”. The next morning, TJ did a solo run to Derry history museum and then Steve, TJ and I headed off on the bus to Belfast. In Belfast, the main activity for us was a walk around town checking out their Catholic and Protestant murals. The tour guide in Derry had explained that the start of the wall murals was really the way they spread news about what was going on during the troubles, but as they currently stand, they each give their own version of various snapshots of the troubles.

(TJ) I’d highly recommend Derry for anyone going to N. Ireland, it’s a beautiful city and totally safe. The city walls are 400 years old and until recently were manned by the British army, apparently it was the longest operational military wall in the world. The Bloody Sunday museum does an excellent job of showing the civil rights movement in the North, how Bloody Sunday happened, its aftermath and its subsequent cover up by the British. I also visited the city museum which gives a good overview of the city and N. Ireland history. The walking tour we had was very good since our tour guide could show us the site of the shootings and illustrated what led up to Bloody Sunday and what happened afterwards. At the time of the massacre Catholics were crowded into a slum called the Bogside. It was illegal for Catholics to live outside this area so you would have 6-8 people living in an apartment meant for two people. When it got too crowded the government built large “planet of the apes” apartment towers that Catholics could only rent, which have since been demolished. Compounding this frustration was that in order to vote you had to own a house or run a business, owning a house was almost impossible and owning a legal business was illegal for Catholics. Even if they could vote all of the votes only would have been for one district “Bogside” since it was illegal to live outside of this area. Protestants felt that this was their right since the N. Ireland was founded as a “Protestant land for a Protestant people” after Ireland got self rule and if Catholics didn’t like it they can go to the republic of Ireland. These complaints formed the basis of the civil rights movement. Apparently the civil rights movement scared the protestant government which started interning people with out trial and beating marchers on various occasions. After this had went on the Catholics blockaded their neighborhood to keep the police out which they succeeded in doing. After this success the Protestant government asked for the British military to be called in. Initially this was welcomed by the Catholics seeing them as a fair broker unlike the protestant police. However the situation changed quickly when the British troops started interning people without trial and started firing rubber and plastic bullets on protesters of which a few died. The march on Bloody Sunday was for the vote and against the forced internment. The original march route was to go to the center of town; however this route was blocked by military barricades. The main march avoided the barricade and went the other direct. Youths however started throwing stones at military which was responded to with rubber bullet and tear gas. A short time later away from this small riot, Paratroopers opened fire on the main marchers. The gunfire killed 13 people and wounded 15 whom were running from the gunfire or who were crawling to get to wounded or killed people. There were numerous accounts of those who died and evidence of how they died by survivors in the museum of how people were killed waving white handkerchiefs or were shot in the back by the looks of their jackets. In the aftermath of this the British Military claimed that marchers had fired upon them first. Guns were later planted on the dead to suit this story despite multiple sworn statements to the contrary by marchers and clergy. The British Military produced a whitewash report exonerating the Paratroopers of any wrong doing. After this incident many young people abandoned nonviolence/civil rights movement in the North and joined the IRA or at least supported the IRA, leading to the next two decades of attacks and reprisals on both sides. It has only been since 1995 there has been any lasting peace. I believe that one of the stipulations of the peace process was to have a new commission look at the bloody Sunday incident; the commission has been going since 1997 with no report sent. From what we heard the report has not been published because one of the main British officers on the scene that day (Michael Jackson) is now the British commander in the Mideast. Apparently he is supposed to retire next year. This will probably mean that there will be a report published soon afterwards. Since the peace Catholics have gotten their vote and rights as ordinary citizens. However the North is still divided in every aspect along secratarian lines, schools, work and areas and has a poor economy with 45% unemployment in Derry. It has only been in the last couple of days that the Unionist Party (Protestant) and Sinn Fein (Catholic) have formed a coalition government to rule the North under strong pressure from Britain and Ireland. Sorry that was longwinded but it was really interesting to see and speak with people that had been involved in the conflict.