The Troubles: Two Sides of the Same Belfast

Broken bottles under children's feet

Bodies strewn across the dead end street

                                                                    -U2

The Troubles officially began on January 30^th, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland, when 14 unarmed civilians were shot dead by the British Paratroopers during a protest against the British rule in Northern Ireland.  Half of the victims were still teenagers at the time of their death. The event led to an outcry of Irish Nationalism in both the British controlled Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The British Embassy in Dublin was burned in the subsequent days, and Northern Ireland had seen decades of civil unrest which constantly reached to the world’s headlines. 

"The Goddess of Justice" - people in Belfast thought the government did no justice during the troubles, so they stole the scale off the Goddess's hand and sold it on eBay

I had the opportunity to visit Derry in 2011. It was rather a peaceful town sitting near the UK/Irish border. The town was divided by the river into two distinct parts: The Catholic, Republican neighborhoods where people strongly associate themselves with the idea of a unified Ireland; and the Protestant, Unionist neighborhoods, where people openly, aggressively support the Northern Ireland being a part of the United Kingdom. I was informed by the locals to avoid talking about religion or politics while in Derry, as if you talk about the wrong topics in the wrong neighborhood, you might end up in trouble. Both sides stand strong behind their principles, and nobody is willing to make any compromises. 

Belfast's tallest residential building, which the top floor was used by the British military as an observation deck to monitor the city

Derry might be the place where The Troubles started, but it was Belfast, Northern Ireland’s largest city where the crisis was escalated.  When the Republic of Ireland declared its independence from the United Kingdom, the British took away the six counties in the Ulster province that were considered the best and most developed part in Ireland to form what we know as Northern Ireland today. Belfast was once nicknamed the “Old Smoke” due to the fact that it was the most industrialized city on the island of Ireland. The famous ship RMS Titanic was built there, and the cranes which helped to construct the ship now stand as monuments, commemorating the glory of the old days and the victims of the tragedy.

The cranes that built the Titanic

In modern times, Belfast might be the only other sectarian city that’s been divided by a wall except Jerusalem. Just like Derry, the wall in Belfast divides the city into two halves: The pro-British Unionist sector, and the pro-Irish Republican sector. The wall is covered with murals painted by the locals, expressing their generally anti-war and some pro-independence moods. One would find murals depicting figures like Nelson Mandala or the 14^th Dalai Lama, who are often associated with advocating non-violent way of achieving political goals; as well as murals picturing places like the Basque Nation and Catalonia, where its people share the similar fate as the Northern Irish and many are fighting their way for their nations’ independence.  

The Wall

Murals on the wall

The Bombing of Guernica depicted as a mural

Inside the Republican sector, it is the green, white, and orange banners that dominates the view, from residential buildings to public plazas, and even to the street lights. There are monuments openly dedicated to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a militant and political group whose goal was to fight for the unification of two Irelands and was recognized by many countries as a terrorist group.  One of the murals located within the Republican sector is dedicated to Bobby Sands, a prisoner and IRA member who died of hunger strike in the 1981 Irish hunger strike movement. Shortly before Sands’ death he was even elected as a Member of Parliament in Westminster, becoming the only political prisoner in the history of the United Kingdom to ever do so.  After Sands’ death, the British Parliament quickly passed a piece of legislation which banned prisoners from seeking political office. This prevents any other hunger strikers from succeeding Sands in the riding where he was elected or getting elected in a different riding. 

The mural of Bobby Sands

A scene at a Republican neighborhood

The Unionist sector consists of neighborhoods flying the Union Jack everywhere the way the Republican sector flies the Irish flag. On a mural in the loyalist neighborhood of Sandy Row, a man wearing a black balaclava with a rife on his hands was depicted. Besides the man these words were manifested to those who pass by the area: You Are Now Entering Sandy Row, Heartland of South Belfast Ulster - Freedom Fighters  

The Sandy Row mural

A scene at a Unionist neighborhood

Both the Unionists and the Republicans claim that they are the freedom fighters. Yet across the city of Belfast one can easily hear about the horrible things happened during The Troubles: bombings, kidnapping, and mass shootings. The Troubles were associated more with terror than freedom fighting. The Europa Hotel in downtown Belfast, where people like the Clintons used to stay, was bombed 28 times, which makes the place “the most bombed hotel in the world”. Bullet holes can still be found on my buildings around the city. The Unionists, together with the British government and the British media blamed everything on the Republicans and the IRA. On the flip side, the Republicans pointed their fingers at the British government and the Unionists, claiming that it was them who had been persecuting Irish nationalists and slaughtering innocent people. So who is playing the role of terrorists terrorizing the society during the Troubles? 

Europa Hotel, the most bombed hotel in the world

"Neither the Republicans or the Unionists were the terrorists, it was the radicals who were the terrorists". This is the answer many Belfastians gave to me, both people who considered themselves Unionists and those who considered themselves Republicans. 

A memorial in the Unionist sector commemorating slained civilians

A memorial in the Republican sector commemorating people died during the Troubles

Irish band U2 wrote a song called “The Troubles”, I think it somewhat reflects the mentality of those who have experienced the brutality of the horror “The Troubles” had caused:

I have a will for survival

So you can hurt me and hurt me some more

I can live with denial

But you’re not my troubles anymore

The difference between the Republicans and the Unionists might always be there, but mutual understanding can definitely make the gaps closer, and bring people together. I believe people in Northern Ireland will eventually find a way to resolve the decades long conflict and tension peacefully, without looking back into “The Troubles” for futile yet harmful solutions.