The Troubles
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2008
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6
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Trip End
Dec 21, 2008
Derry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Monday, September 15, 2008
Anyway, moving on from ways in which I help to ease my homesickness, and on to what I experienced today. I'll be honest, what they call "the troubles" here in Ireland I never really realized how real it was until today (maybe a bit in Belfast, but not like I did today)
Peace Mural
. I never really understood exactly what the fighting was about, who was involved and I never even came close to understanding what it must've been like to live through it. So today we go to this museum called "Free Derry" which is all about the history of Derry in the troubles. Derry is seperated by a river with mostly Catholics on one side and Protestants on the other. We did a tour starting at the Free Derry museum and our guide was a man who had lived through the troubles, been present at Bloody Sunday and who had been to jail 4 times for a total of 8 years, at least 2 of those years were for internment where they never even told him why they were holding him. He explained very clearly at the beginning thathe wasn't trying to tell "the truth" but rather he was telling his version of events as he's experienced them with his own bias. I thought first of all that that was great! I was really glad tobe hearing someone's eyewitness account of it rather than some tour guide who learned his knowledge from some book. So he explained how the secretarianism was never really about religion but had far more to do with 'loyalism' vs 'nationalism'. Those who wanted Ireland to be its own nation and those who wanted to stay united with Britain. Catholics in general wanted Ireland to be its' own nation while the Protestants wanted Ireland to stay United. Our guide was Catholic, and was explained the meaning behind many of the murals in the Catholic section of town. It was absolutely jaw dropping hearing all of his stories, and realizing that this isn't ancient past, this is recent past.This is past that this man lived through. It was a little mind boggling for me to have itso blatantly smacked up side my head just how lucky I've had it in Canada growing up insuch relative safety. Can you imagine living in a time where riots were almost daily? Living in a time where you could be thrown into jail justbecause it was suspected you might be making a petrol bomb? Wow.
Hunger Strike
I also learned about Bloody Sunday for the first time. We all know the words "Bloody Sunday" and we all know the U2song...and we all know there were people killed and it was tragic. But I never knew the details. It's heartbreaking when you realize the brutal and senseless way people were killed. I just dont' know what else to say about it, but it was a very enlightening experience today to actually realize the history behind "the troubles" andto really realize just how ignorant I am about these issues.
Of course aftersuch seriousness and sadness Charlene and I neededto do something to lighten the mood so we went to a Comedy Festival here in Derry, with Colin Murphy and Andrew Maxwell. It was awesome! There were a number of jokes that went over my head because they were dealing with specifically Irish issues, and the secretarianism but forthe most part, after my education that afternoon I understood. This is the other thing I'm realizing.I fully expected the cultures to be quitesimiliar, and in a lot of ways they are...but in a lot of ways they are quite different. There is more slang than I realized and different terms. Also the humour was different. So much of the humour here was taking the piss out of Catholics or Protestants. Which thrown into a Canadian setting probably wouldn't make much sense at all. It was funny though. It was also kind of scary when Andrew Maxwell was talking about going to Shankill rd and falls rd in Belfast (Protestant and Catholic areas respectively) to realize just how prevalent and still influencing religious division is. Where as in Canada you may have to state your ethnicity or your sexuality so your employer can try to maintain equality, here in Ireland you sign a form when your hired stating which religion you are.
It has been, as I said, an educational day
Internment Protest
.Tomorrow I am going to wander Derry abit more and then I grab abus to Galway.One of the first things I want to do when I get to Galway is go to the grocery store and buy some groceries, because I actually don't want to eat in a restaurant again! lol It's tasty and all, but really I just want something with some vegetables!
I'm not sure if my next hostel has free internet so it may be a few days before another post.....or it may just be another one tomorrow night! Who knows!
Love you all
Morgan
