Separate Streets – Divided Stories

By Bria Johnson, DIS Cross Cultural Communication student

It felt like going back in the past, walking the streets of both Shankill Road and Falls Road in Northern Ireland. The divide between the communities in Belfast was painfully clear: Separate community spaces, separate schools – there are only 33 integrated schools in all of Northern Ireland – ‘peace walls’ serving as a physical divide, and separate roads:

Shankill and Falls Road are synonymous with the continuing conflict in Northern Ireland. Shankill Road and the surrounding areas are known to house mostly Protestants, who in the conflict are considered loyalists who want the  territory to stay apart of the UK. On the other side, we have Falls Road, which establishes the community for Catholics who traditionally seek Irish independence.

Here is where the reason for the divide becomes clear: There are those who want Northern Ireland’s independence and those who wish to remain under the British flag. These differences, as you can imagine, have led to bloody moments of violence from both sides, but like in any conflict, the stories from both sides will differ.

Though much of the violence is in the past, it would be hard for anyone to forget living in such troubling times, especially when everywhere you look on roads as Shankill Road and Falls Road you are bombarded with reminders: Plaques, memorials, murals, and signs fill the streets, displaying the faces and names of the dead, those who were lost in the conflicts between the loyalist and nationalist groups in Northern Ireland.

Not living in the community myself, it’s hard to think about how much of an impact that these ‘reminders’ serve to either bring together or divide the communities. – What do you think?

Loyalist reminders

An Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) mural. Despite, their name, the UVF was a loyalist armed paramilitary group that campaigned during The Troubles. The emblem is the middle is a representation of the UVF with the Red Hand of Ulster and the words “For God and Ulster”. This mural is dedicated to C Company 1st Battalion. This picture is an older one and the mural has been replaced partially with the 3rd image

Loyalist mural in east Belfast. This mural displays the words “The civil human and democratic rights taken away from these people by violent republicans IRA, INLA, RIRA. Let us not forget.” It lists names of places (towns and buildings) that were attacked and prominent events, like Bloody Friday that added fire to flame during The Troubles. The mural displays a cross for all of the cited sources of turmoil.

It say, “Here dead we lie, Because we did not choose, To Live and shame the land, from which we sprung. Life, to be sure, Is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, And we were young.” This is a relatively new mural. The red poppies that are prominent in the photo are called remembrance poppies and are used to commemorate soldiers that have lost their lives in war.

Nationalist reminders

Garden of Remembrance, Falls Road. This area includes a collection of plaques and memorials dedicated to the nationalist lives that were lost. The plaques list names of individuals and ranges of years that the deaths of the remembered individuals took place. Several Irish flags fly at the back of the photo. Photo Credit: geograph.org.uk

This is a Bobby Sands mural located on Falls Road. The mural says, “Everyone Republican or otherwise has their own particular role to play…our revenge will be the laughter of our children. Bobby Sands MP, Poet, Gaeilgeoir, Revolutionary, IRA Volunteer.” Bobby Sands was a member of the IRA who died during a hunger strike along with nine other members of the IRA and INLA (Irish National Liberation Army) while jailed in HM Prison Maze. These deaths led to a resurance of activity during The Troubles.

It says, “10 people from Ardoyne were murdered by weapon imported by the British Government from South Africa by their agent Brian Nelson in January 1988 until 1994. The consignment of weapons smuggled in by Nelson…. 200 AK47 rifles, 90 Browning 9mm pistols, 500 Grenades, 30,000 Rounds of ammunition, 1 Dozen RPG7 rocket launchers and warheads. Collusion is Not an Illusion, It is State Murder.”

The Physical Divide

This a piece of the peace wall in Belfast. It is the physical manifestation of the divide between the loyalist and nationalist groups in Belfast. It’s hard to forget the past, when reminders of it surround you, inciting a multitude of emotions into many of the people that view them.