The Peace Process

The nice thing about our tours in the north were the varying perspectives we heard from both republican and loyalist sides and then an entirely neutral perspective from an outside observer.

The murals were particularly powerful and were an ever present force. They were everywhere, on businesses and houses. It is both frightening and interesting that the people of the north have held so tightly to their recent, violent past.

There was one mural of a little girl  killed in the Troubles. Brian told us that the girl's mother still lived up the street, passing the mural everyday. This shows just how close the Troubles still are to the people of the north. In fact, many of the faces of people in the murals are the faces of people who once lived or still live in those areas.

The large walls of Derry stand between the two sides even though they are separated by a river. Just how large they are shows how large the sectarian division was.

The most frightening thing about Belfast was the fact that the peace wall gates still close at times, particularly during marching season. The most frightening thing is that the north, though moving toward full reconciliation, still shows signs that they are balancing right on the edge of violence.

A thing to understand in regard to Northern Ireland, the south, and the peace walls in Belfast, is that there are divisions in America as well. An example of this is the border between the U.S. and Mexico. There are also sections of the cities in the U.S. where clear divisions exist.

Here are some pictures of a murals and the walls so that you can visually understand the division. The IRA letters painted on the sign are particularly interesting.