It’s a bit weird always having to think about what you’re saying and who you’re saying it to. Politically I would consider Northern Ireland to be part of Ireland as a whole but technically at the moment it’s part of the United Kingdom. (That suits me very well actually because my Republic of Ireland work visa expired and since Belfast is in the UK I can work up here).
It’s remarkable the number of people up here that don’t click to the fact that the Republic is a “different country” — out of ignorance rather than emphatic republicanism. Also, people often say England when they mean United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and beyond the republican Irish, this annoys the Scots most of all.
Some basic geo-political facts: Ireland is made up of 4 provinces (Ulster, Connaught, Leinster, Munster) which comprise 32 counties. Ulster has 9 counties, 6 of which are in what is termed Northern Ireland (UK) (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry), plus 3 counties in the Republic of Ireland (Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan).
Derry is also called Londonderry by unionists. It was originally called Derry but the queen ‘gave’ it away and it was renamed. It is a sensitive point and is a simple test to determine which ‘side’ someone is on. People will often use both interchangeably in an effort not to offend. Sometimes it’s written Derry/Londonderry, hence the name Stroke City.
Politics is serious stuff here. Really serious. Lots of people have died and the wounds run very deep. The discrimination against Catholics was severe and the bigotry amongst some is still insanely over the top. Picketing Catholic churches to stop people going to mass and so on.
Or you may have heard about the picketing of Holy Cross school in Ardoyne, where the Loyalists tried to stop young Catholic girls (some as young as four) from walking down a Protestant street to get to their school. If you don’t know about this look it up. It will give you some insight into how bitter the whole situation is.
It’s sweetly ironic that with all my anti-religiousness I identify squarely with the Catholics.
These words fall into the same two groups:
Catholic, Republican, Falls Road, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein, IRA, Provisional IRA, Real IRA, Fenians
Protestant, Loyalist, Unionist, Shankill Road, UDA, UVF, UUP, DUP, Johnny Adair, Ian Paisley, David Trimble, Orange Men, Orange Order
We’re just coming out of the worst of “Marching Season”. On the night of July 11 enormous bonfires are lit, to start the July 12 celebrations. This is the date that the Battle of the Boyne was won in 1690. William of Orange (a Dutch protestant) came to fight the Catholic James for the English crown. The battle took place around the River Boyne, which is an hour north of Dublin. William won, became King, and Protestantism was reinstated as the national religion of England.
Paula took me to see the bonfire near her house. It was massive — at least two storeys high and at least 25 metres in diameter — probably more. The crowd are viciously anti-Irish and there was a huge cheer when the Irish flag on top of the fire burst into flames. Most disturbing were the guns shot into the air by the loyalist paramilitaries in black balaclavas. This is a “show of strength” against the Catholics/Republicans/Irish.
The next day, we went to see the Orange Men marching through the city. Lots and lots of men and a few women wearing orange sashes, many wearing bowler hats, marching to drums and pipes, and waving their Union Jacks. Much of the crowd was drunk and there was an air of triumphant aggressiveness that was quite creepy.
Paula hasn’t been to see a parade since she was a child. She was scared of them then and was scared when I walked away from her to take some photos (we were only there because I had asked her to take me to experience Belfast culture). She felt that people could tell she was a fenian and that they’d therefore want to beat her up. That may seem irrational and silly to you, and maybe it was a bit paranoid on that actual day, but her fear is based on her experiences and those of people she knows.
There wasn’t any particular trouble this year as there has been in the past. The trouble arises because the Orange Men (a semi-secret society of men, not dissimilar to the Masons) want to march through Catholic areas on their ‘traditional’ routes. In the previous years, the police have ‘locked in’ the people that live in the Catholic streets by erecting wire barricades that are patrolled. This is to prevent the Catholics from disrupting the marches. Nobody was allowed out — not to go to the shop for milk or to the doctor for medicine. You can imagine how that might piss people off.
No comments yet.