Belfast—Monday

April 29th

We met Steve Malone at the entrance gates of Belfast City Hall for A History of Terror tour. We stood out of the rain under the portico at City Hall while Steve provided the historical background to the development of Irish identity since Henry VIII. Of course, Irish history long-precedes the 16th century, but the troubles between the Irish and The English begins when Henry VIII separated from the Catholic Church because Pope Clement VII wouldn't dissolve his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. We all know the story.

Anyway, we had an unbelievably informative walk around Belfast City Centre, stopping at corners and store fronts where assassinations, IRA bombings, and the cycle of violent action, reaction, vengeance, and revenge took place where many of the victims were innocent citizens. Steve provided detailed historical context peppered with first hand knowledge about what we all call "The Troubles." 

It's too complicated to explain here, and even though we were riveted by the information, what Steve really did was highlight what it felt like to live in a police state and with random violence. He spoke passionately but calmly about the intergenerational trauma engendered by violence and propaganda that fueled fear, geographic separation, anchoring yet more prejudice. This cycle was made worse by economic laws that targeted Catholic men where seventy percent of them in the 60's & 70's were unemployed. So, between the historical English majority rule established by the 17th century, and legalized Catholic oppression and discrimination for fear that the outnumbered English protestants might lose their political power in the 20th century, and all of the other factors described earlier, the Northern Ireland was ripe for distrust, prejudice, anger, violence, and retribution.

This was one of those experiences that was just too difficult to encapsulate; you had to be there. So the pictures I've included here are meaningful to us, because we were there, but I couldn't possibly provide captions describing their significance.

Belfast City Hall

Steve Malone, our guide.

"Spirit of Belfast" unveiled in 2009 to celebrate
the city's steel and ship manufacturing, but most
citizens refer to it as "The Pretzel."

The whiskey store to the left claims to have
the largest collection in the world.

This street and the corner to the left
were scenes where Catholics were
routinely kidnapped, tortured, and 
murdered. Today, these are some of
the safest and most inclusive streets.

Just loved this sign advertising the Yardbird's food.

Just some cool architecture and artsy stuff in this 
once violent neighborhood.

Albert Memorial Clock

The Forgotten Troubles Memorial (a must read)

This police station was built 25 years 
after violence against the police ended...

...but notice the thick blast walls and steel
gates. Old thinking is difficult to change.

Beacon of Hope

Steve appropriately ended the
tour in front of the Beacon of
Hope sculpture on Thanksgiving
Square where he talked about how
progressive Belfast is now and 
has continued to grow even more
inclusive over the past 50 years.