Life in Belfast; A short story The aftermath of the Troubles Kasha van der Poel Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden
Master project Yvonne ter Brugge April 19, 2013
Table of content
INTRODUCTION 3
BACKGROUND INFORMATION 4
A little bit of history; the troubles and before that 4 What is the history of Northern Ireland concerning the division of Catholics and Protestants and violence? 4 Conclusion 6
Violence in Belfast today 7 How do the citizens of Belfast regard the violence in their city? 7 How do the citizens of Belfast cope with the violence in their city? 7 Conclusion 9
Segregation and division in Belfast 9 What really divides the two groups; Catholics and Protestants? 9 How do both sides (Catholic and Protestant) view themselves and the other? 9 Conclusion 10
The Northern Irish people’s opinions 11 How do both sides (Catholic and Protestant) view themselves and the other? 11 How do the citizens of Belfast regard living segregated? 11 Conclusion 13
Current events in Belfast 13 Which political issues are currently dealt with in Northern Ireland? 13 How do the people react to these political issues? 13 Conclusion 16
My own experience 16 Conclusion 18
Final conclusion 18
References 19
SHORT STORY 21
The story 21
References 34
EPILOGUE 35
Introduction
For my master project I wanted to research what life in today’s Belfast is like, regarding the division of Catholics and Protestants and the violence.
That there is a lot of violence in Belfast is not news to anyone. I saw it myself when I lived there and it is all over the news. The focus of my master project lies on how the people in Belfast cope with it and how it affects their lives. In this project, I will depict life Belfast as it is today.
To research what the life in Belfast is like, I will find the answers to the following questions:
History 1. What is the history of Northern Ireland concerning the division of Catholics and Protestants and violence?
Violence and segregation 2. What really divides the two groups; Catholics and Protestants? 3. How do both sides (Catholic and Protestant) view themselves and the other? 4. How do the citizens of Belfast regard living segregated? 5. How do the citizens of Belfast regard the violence in their city? 6. How do the citizens of Belfast cope with the violence in their city?
Current affairs 7. Which political issues are currently dealt with in Northern Ireland? 8. How do the people react to these political issues?
To find the answers to these questions I read books, articles, papers and researches. My findings can be found under the sub-heading ‘background information’. With these findings I have written my short story in which I depict life in Belfast today.
Background information
Before writing my short story on life in Belfast in the 21st century, I researched the situation there in the 21st century, and the situation before that to see what gave rise to the situation nowadays. With this research I will try to find the answers to the questions listed in the introduction. I will give a short summary of my findings and will draw conclusion from that in order to answer the research questions.
A little bit of history; the troubles and before that What is the history of Northern Ireland concerning the division of Catholics and Protestants and violence?
The conflict over Ireland has seethes for about eight hundred years. It started in the 12th century when King Henry II concurred Ireland with the consent of Rome. They were to bring the Irish church under papal control. In 16th century King Henry VIII and his government stationed troops in Ireland. In that time England was Protestant whereas Ireland remained Catholic. In order to acquire support for the forces of occupation, the English Crown settled Protestants from Scotland and England in Ireland’s most fertile regions. All resistance to the occupation troops was put down by brute force. The Irish nobility were either murdered or forced into exile. The Protestant victors made up the new upper class. In 1690 the rule of Ireland was definitely decided when King William of Orange (William III) defeated the troops of James II (who was friendly to Rome) at the battle of Boyne. From this time on Ireland was colonized by England. Most of the Scottish Protestants who helped England with the occupation settled in the north of Ireland.
From then the terms ‘Catholic’ and ‘Protestant’ acquired a new meaning. Catholic became a synonym for Irish nationalism and Protestant a synonym for the new rulers and later for British unionism. (Stuckrad, Auffarth, Bernard & Mohr, 2006)
In 1920 the British government changed its policy in relation to Ireland. In 1921 The Home Rule Act divided Ireland into two areas; Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. This gave both areas a home rule administration, though they were to continue as a part of the United Kingdom. The border between north and south was very well thought through; Northern Ireland was the heartland of Protestant unionist opposition to Irish nationalism and therefore the likelihood of disapproval or rejection was nearly non-existent. However, it also contained a substantial number of Catholics – in 1926 33.41% of the population were Catholic. Yet, they were not represented in the (local) government. This was mostly due to the face that most Catholics didn’t have the right to vote; the right to vote depended on home-ownership, but home-ownership was enjoyed almost exclusively by the Protestant population.
The Irish War of Independence (a war mounted the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against the British government) led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 in which both sides agreed to ceasefire. This treaty ended the British rule in Southern Ireland and established the Irish Free State in 1922.
However, the Nationalists in Northern Ireland, believing in a transience of partition, generally boycotted the new state. This and the unfriendly attitudes of the unionist elite meant that the Northern minority (the Catholics) were effectively denied a say at a crucial stage in the evolution of the North and Northern nationalists had to accept that partition would survive and that they would have to coexist with the unionist regime.
Not only were nationalists never in government, they were also underrepresented in most areas of the workplace, including the police force, and were dramatically underrepresented in the elite cadres of the public sector.
Because of their underrepresentation in the police force, the relationship between the nationalists and the police force was often antagonistic.
In 1949, the Ireland Act gave the Northern Irish government a measure that affirmed that Northern Ireland would cease to be a part of the United Kingdom only if the Stormont parliament so decided. However, as long as the government is ruled by Protestants, this would not happen.
In 1968 the Catholic Civil Rights Movement emerged and demanded a vote for each citizen. But structural discrimination, and the British government’s contempt for peaceful protest and resistance, won the militant IRA (Irish Republican Army) more and more sympathy on the part of the Catholic minority of the population and August 1969 marked the start of violent confrontation and instantaneously the beginning of The Troubles. The violence used but the IRA (bombings and assassinations) only provoked counter-terror and in 1971 the Ulster Defensive Association (UDA; later Ulster Freedom Fighters, UFF) was founded. For it, de facto, all Catholics are potential targets of assault.
With the introduction of British troops in 1972 (Bloody Sunday; British paratroopers shot and killed thirteen participants of a peaceful civil-rights demonstration), the situation escalated further. Subsequently Prime Minister Edward Heath dissolved the Northern Irish government and administrated the Province of Northern Ireland directly which resulted in an even more murderous spiral of force and counterforce.
The Troubles continued in the absence of a political settlement.
On April the 10th 1998 a peace plan for Northern Ireland was drawn up in Belfast. This was called the Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement. In a referendum held on May 22nd, 1998, 71% of the voters in Northern Ireland approved of the peace agreement.
Northern regained its government which now is represented by both Catholics and Protestants. The Democratic Unionist Party as extreme Protestant and its counterpart Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin first regarded as the political arm of the IRA, but was later prepared for dialogue and compromise in the eye of the peace negotiations. (Donnelly, 2004)
Conclusion The division of the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland is very old. It started in the 16th century when Henry VIII brought the Scottish Protestant (Northern) Ireland. Ever since then there have been two parties; the Irish Catholics and the British Protestants. There had been violence between the two groups on and off, but it really started in 1969 when the Catholics demanded the right to vote, but where denied it and ignored by the Protestant government. They started using violence which provoked the other group to use violence as well. Since then, the violence never really stopped even though there is officially peace between the two since 1998.
Violence in Belfast today How do the citizens of Belfast regard the violence in their city? How do the citizens of Belfast cope with the violence in their city?
In 2012 in the space of twelve weeks Belfast witnessed a series of violent confrontations involving Republicans and Loyalists communities and the police. Each of these events was triggered by decisions take in relation to celebration, commemoration and expression of identity. These riots resulted in widespread destruction, fear and threat to human life. It shows that in Northern Ireland memories, histories and identities are fundamentally important and because these things are different for the different societies within Northern Ireland, the country remains a deeply divided society.
Belfast is a two-faced city. With on the one hand the buoyant tourism attraction of the Titanic in 2012 and on the other hand bitter violence, which bore a deep financial, security and societal cost. According to the PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland) the cost of violent disputes surrounding the celebration and commemoration of specific historical events from security perspective was 7.4 million in 2012 and many police officers were injured of even killed in the process. The wider macroeconomic costs have never been precisely calculated but we know that some shops had to close down completely to prevent themselves from going bankrupt.
The social unrest in Northern Ireland continues to be localised, wedded in particular spaces, and often framed within a ‘tribal’ or ‘sectarian’ context.
Historically, Republican and Loyalist communities have celebrated ‘against’ each other, creating a cultural gap between the two. There are almost 4000 annual parades held in Northern Ireland of which none is collectively shared between the two communities. However under a dozen have potential for violence. The violence stays because the people keep remembering. Due to all the annual parades the public of Northern Ireland will barely be able to escape their memories which host the violence. (Braniff, McDowell & Byrne, 2012; McAdam, 2013)
The city of Belfast is mostly segregated with the peace line dividing the Protestant from the Catholic areas. People are uncomfortable to go to the other side because they will be recognised to be from the other side and will be verbally attacked.
Parents often impose their own mental maps of ‘no go’ areas. They fear for their children and therefore tell them to stay deep inside their own area. However, sometimes they have to cross the border to go to the doctor’s office, library, etc. In these cases, they try to impose restraints on their children’s choice of dress or language use. People use coping strategies when going into the other area. Children pick up the sign of what not to do and say where automatically. They would cover up their school uniform, not mention their name (when it’s typical Irish or English). They do this to avoid provoking negative reaction of the other community. Sometimes they even avoid going to the other side altogether. E.g. they would phone the doctor’s office instead of going there and ask the doctor to send their proscription to their local chemist.
In mixed areas or border areas, there are unwritten rules on which side to walk, which road to take, etc. People also avoid those places when it’s dark. There are also unwritten rules on who can or cannot walk where. E.g. men and younger people are mostly the target of (verbal) violence because they are more seen as a threat; therefore they have to be more conscious as to where to walk than women. However, car-owners can ignore and overcome spatial division. Therefore, this problem is mostly present in the working-class.
People are mostly afraid of violence during the marching period and therefore stay inside their own area even more during this period.
All in all, fear of sectarian violence remains a highly significant feature of everyday life for many residents in working-class areas. This is mediated by the knowledge that acts of violence continue to be carried out on an almost daily basis, as well as by residential segregation enforced by territorialism and there is an unwritten rulebook on behaviour.
The face that individuals are forced to undertake these complex daily negotiations of their spatial movements ultimately represents a further manifestation of the violence in the Northern Ireland conflict. (Lysaght & Basten, n.d.)
Conclusion The people of Belfast are constantly afraid of (verbal) violence and getting somehow involved in it. Over the years they have adapted coping strategies to avoid situations in which they could become a victim of (verbal) attacks. These coping strategies are sometimes used very consciously, but much more often automatically; thus unconsciously. When being asked, they know life shouldn’t be this way, but in their everyday life they don’t see it as abnormal. Significantly, the people of Belfast regard the violence as just part of life.
Segregation and division in Belfast What really divides the two groups; Catholics and Protestants? How do both sides (Catholic and Protestant) view themselves and the other?
Belfast is segregated into two areas; Protestant and Catholic. The two are divided by a very long and tall wall which is called the peace line. People on either side of the wall don’t go over to the other side. They both consider that too dangerous. They feel save with the peace line there, and don’t want it to come down.
However most people don’t fear most people on the other side. The problem is the extremists on both sides, which are minorities. The problem is that the peaceful majority doesn’t know how to stop the extremist minority. On the Catholic side of the wall they don’t trust the police. This is due to the fact that it was once a Protestant overwhelming police force. Of course this distrust doesn’t help in the crime fighting of the extremists.
Some people work with people from the other side of the line and are even friends with them, but they would never go to a pub on the other side because they’re afraid people there might recognize they’re from the other side, which can result in verbal attacks or worse.
Children on both sides of the peace line have negative opinions of the other, even though they might not even know one person from the other side. These opinions are caused by the opinions of their parents or by the parents of their friends. The children grow up learning not to trust people on the other side. (Pogatchnik, 2008)
After the Belfast Agreement (peace agreement, 1998), Northern Ireland was officially in a state of peace. However if there really is peace is debatable. A cultural war has (largely) replaced the shooting war, although the latter never really disappeared, according to Orange Order members. (Tonge & McAuley, 2011)
The division in Northern Ireland as very little to do with religion. The polarity ‘Protestant versus Catholic’ is convenient but it is not appropriate for an adequate description of foundational causes. In Northern Ireland, too secularisation has prevailed. The Troubles is a social conflict, not a religious war of conflict. It is a matter of jobs, housing, and legal or social equality (unemployment among the Catholic population in 1994 was double that among the Protestants). Many persons live in confessionally ‘pure’ neighbourhoods: they feel themselves to be not inhabitants of Northern Ireland, but ‘British’ or ‘Irish.’ (Stuckrad et al.)
Conclusion That the two groups are both from a different religion is convenient, but not the reason of the tension between the two. The main problem is that they live in the same country, but don’t see each other as equals. The biggest difference is that they identify themselves differently. The Protestants view themselves as British, whereas the Catholics view themselves as Irish. This causes their large political dispute; should Northern Ireland remain British, or should it be united with the rest of Ireland? Due to the fact that the government has always been overwhelmingly Protestant, Catholics have been the victim of discrimination, poverty and unemployment. However, this is gradually changing, as Catholics are now also represented in parliament. Still, the issue of identity can’t be overcome so easily.
Even though there is a lot of tension between the two groups, they don’t necessarily see the other as the cause of the problems. In both groups there are extreme minorities who use aggression and violence against the other group. Both Protestants and Catholics see that these minorities in the other’s community as well as in their own community are the problem for the violence and tension.
Yet, I think it is more than just those minorities. The idea of the others being different, and different often meaning bad, if deeply rooted in the people of Belfast. They might not be violent, but they don’t want to mix with the other either. Of course, this preserves the division and as long as people feel this way, the situation in Belfast and Northern Ireland won’t change.
The Northern Irish people’s opinions How do both sides (Catholic and Protestant) view themselves and the other? How do the citizens of Belfast regard living segregated?
Here is a summary of the ESRC Northern Ireland 2010 Westminster Election Survey. It is a very long survey mainly focussing on political and economic issues. However some questions concerning identity, violence and the troubles were in there as well. Here is a list of the numbers from the survey which are relevant to my research which is the situation in Northern Ireland regarding the division between the Protestants and Catholics, and the conclusion I draw from those numbers.
Numbers Only 18.5% of the 1000 surveyed people believe there is lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
Opinions on important political matters such as Northern Ireland either remaining part of the UK or joining the Irish Republic, 50% Catholic recruitment by the PSNI, political parties, are much divided.
The survey also shows that the way the Northern Irish view themselves is very different. This can be seen in the fact that 37.1% feels himself British, 30.1% feels himself Irish. When it comes to being Unionist of Nationalist, 34% thinks himself to be Unionist, 24% Nationalist.
The majority (46.9%) thinks the relations between Protestants and Catholics is the same as 5 years ago, and 51.4% thinks it will still be the same in another 5 years’ time.
Opinions on the Orange Marches (which cause the most riots) are also much divided. 48.4% believe they should be allowed to march, whereas 32.5% believes they shouldn’t be allowed to march through mainly nationalist areas, or at all.
30.3% would mind if their close relatives were to marry someone of a different religion.
Only 11.1% would send their children to a religious segregated school.
Only 6.2% of the surveyed people are very religious. 35.4% are somewhat religious, 32.4% not very and 22.4% not at all.
Conclusion From these numbers I can conclude that the biggest matter that divides the two communities is their identity. Then there is also the difference in political views and religious views. However, the fact that only 6.2% is very religious shows that the difference in religion is not the prominent issue.
I can also conclude that the majority is not keen on mixing with the other community. This is seen in the face that 30.3% would mind their close relatives marrying someone from a different religion and 50.6% would not send their child to a mixed school. (The ESRC Northern Ireland, 2010)
Conclusion The people of Belfast feel save living segregated and. They view themselves as either British or Irish and they are not keen on mixing with the other. Most people believe the situation between the Catholics and Protestant is the same as 5 years ago and even more think it will still be the same in another 5 years’ time. Accordingly, Belfast will still be a hugely segregated city in 2018.
Current events in Belfast Which political issues are currently dealt with in Northern Ireland? How do the people react to these political issues?
Policy on the Flying of the Union Flag There is currently turmoil over the flying of the Union flag over council properties in Northern Ireland. Before, it flew the whole year round, but recent changes in the policy on the flying of the flag changed it to only flying on designated flag days.
This all started in 2002 when the Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) was carried out on the policy on the flying of the Union flag on Council properties. However, in 2004, after a final report was drawn up, the Council agreed not to make any changed in its current policy. In 2011 in response to a letter from the Sinn Féin part group the EQIA was updated to facilitate a further review of the current policy. This time the EQIA concluded that the policy on the flying of the Union flag should be looked at. The EQIA gave 5 alternatives. On December 3rd 2012 Belfast councillors voted to limit the days when the union flag flies over Belfast City Hall. The new policy stated that the flag was only to fly over Belfast City Hall on designated flag days.
The consultation on the EQIA attracted a wide range of responses from the public in different formats. Here is a list of the responses:
Written responses . approximately 350 people either expressed a preference or made comments which suggested they supported no change to the current policy; . approximately 350 people expressed a preference for flying the Irish Tricolour alongside the Union flag whenever it is flown; . approximately 150 people expressed a preference for either no flag or a neutral flag; . there was very little support for the option of designated flag days with or without additional days (less than 10 responses);
Other written responses contained very similar comments to the effect that removing the Union flag would not promote good community relations but would create deeper divisions and that Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland is part of the UK, so it is completely normal that the national flag is flown.
Petition The Council received a petition with 14,740 signatures stating their support for the existing policy and rejected the 4 alternative policies.
Public meetings Even though only 3 members of the public showed up on the 2 public meetings, their comments were taken into account.
The main points made by the three members of the public were: . working buildings should be free of any flag; . Northern Ireland is part of the UK and the City Hall is the focal centre of Belfast, so the Council should continue to fly the flag at all times; . changes to flying the Union Flag are part of a bigger picture and the EQIA is being conducted for political reasons; . if no objections were made to flying the Union flag then people who did want the flag to remain would not feel so strongly; . there should be either 2 flags or a reduction in the time that the Union Flag flies, especially not at Easter or 12th July.
Staff survey There was a survey held under the staff of the concerning Council buildings. About 36% of the total staff responded. Here are some important results:
Under half of the respondents said they feel pleased and proud to see the Union flag flying on Council buildings, which were almost only Protestants or neither Catholic nor Protestant. About a third said to feel uncomfortable or offended seeing the Union flag flying on Council buildings, where mostly Catholics.
About a third said they would feel offended and unwelcome if the policy were changed so that the Union flag no longer flew on Council buildings with a further 22.6% would feel displeased (again almost all Protestants). Another third would feel pleased or even highly satisfied (mostly Catholics).
This shows that the opinions are very much divided and polarised by the different backgrounds. (Policy on the Flying, 2012; Belfast City Council, 2011)
As a result of the new policy, loyalists started protesting against it. These protests led to riots, when the police routed loyalist demonstrators past nationalist ears in east Belfast. Illegal parades seriously damaged homes and caused tension among residents and a number of bomb alerts have taken place since the change of the policy. (McDonald, 2013)
Because of the tension and fear of violence with regard to the protests, people avoid certain places. This has already led to bankruptcy. An east Belfast business had to close down because of the riots and shots fired on both ends of the street. Costumers weren’t prepared to take the risk, and so the shop had been empty for a while before it had to face the fact and close down. (McAdam, 2013) St. George’s Market, normally a very lively and busy market with live music and children playing, has become a very quiet affair. Some stalls hadn’t made money for weeks and were forced to close their stall and find business elsewhere. (Mededith, 2013)
Conclusion The Northern Irish government is working really hard to change the situation. They are closely looking at the equality of the citizens and trying to equalise the Protestants and Catholics. E.g. there is now a 50-50 rule of Catholics and Protestants in the PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland). However, this equalisation isn’t always welcomed by the people, especially the extreme sectarian minorities. Currently there is the issue of the flying of the Union flag over Council buildings. They changed the policy from it flying 365 days a year to it only flying on designated flag days. This, because the Union flag only represents the Protestant citizens and therefore discriminated the Catholics. Unfortunately the change of the policy elicited a lot of anger in the Protestant community which led to protests, which, in turn, resulted into sectarian violence. Knowingly, the political situation in Belfast is gradually changing, but these changes are fraught with sectarian violence and therefore the situation of the everyday life in Belfast hasn’t changed.
My own experience I am also going to use my own experience from when I lived in Belfast in my short story. Some of which was also in the newspaper. Here I will list my experiences which I will use in my short story, and if in the news, will refer to the article about it.
Stabbings On Tuesday evening the 15th of March 2011, I was in a pub on Falls Road with some friends. Falls Road is the main road in nationalist west Belfast. After the bartender received a call telling him that there had been stabbings at a bar down the road, he closed down the pub and told us to leave. He told us this was policy; whenever there is serious violence somewhere on Falls Road, they close down the pub in order to avoid any trouble with the troublemakers and the police. (Reilly, 2011)
Taxi companies One of my Catholic Irish friends told me he could only travel by Catholic taxi companies, because he was afraid that if he ordered a Protestant taxi, they would drive him to a Protestant area and beat him up because he was Catholic.
I don’t know if these things really happen, but I know that my Catholic friend believes it to be true, and that is enough. It shows how they think of the other group and the fear of violence they live in.
Car on fire I once saw a burning car in the middle of the bystreet, when driving in a taxi to the city centre in the evening. My Irish friend told me these things happen. I looked it up on the internet and there were multiple burning cars documented in Northern Ireland. Most of which were first hijacked and then set on fire. (Car found, 2012)
Use of the Irish language One night, after going out we went for a bite in KFC. I was with two Catholic friends; Emmet who grew up in Newry near the Irish border and Paul, a native to Belfast. Emmet was telling me about Irish names and that his name also had an Irish equivalent. He told me the Irish equivalent when Paul came back from the counter with some chips and his facial expression was fright when he heard Emmet say his name in Irish. He said to him: “What are you doing? Do you know where we are?” Emmet replied with a sole: “Shit!” to which Paul replied: “We have to leave, now!” Emmet took my hand and we ran outside, crossed the street and jumped into a taxi which was standing there. I had no idea had just happened so they explained to me that we were in a Protestant KFC and that talking Irish could have provoked the Protestant into attacking them. I found similar situations in the paper ‘Violence, fear and ‘the everyday’: negotiating spatial practice in the city of Belfast’.
Conclusion From my own experience I can conclude that there is (sectarian) violence and fear of sectarian violence in Belfast. I also experienced the previous mentioned rulebook (p.8); we couldn’t speak Irish in a Protestant KFC.
Final conclusion From this gained information I can conclude that life in today’s Belfast is one of fear of (verbal) violence and fear and prejudice of the other (Catholic – Protestant). Yet, people cope with the situation and don’t want the division to dissolve. They feel save in their own community, and avoid the other. The two communities live parallel and whenever they mix, they make sure to avoid attracting attention in fear of (verbal) attacks. Therefore, even when they mix (e.g. in the city centre or border lines), they live parallel. As long as you keep to the unwritten rulebook, you’re fine.
References
Belfast City Council, Section 75 and Schedule 9, Northern Ireland Act 1998, Policy on the
Flying of the Union Flag, Equality Impact Assessment, Draft Report for Consultation.
(2012, June 11). Retrieved February 15, 2013, from http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk
Braniff, Maire, McDowell, Sara & Byrne, Jonny. (2012, December 14). Violence, space and
memory in the new Northern Ireland. Retrieved February 19, 2013, from Ulster
Institutional Repository: http://eprints.ulster.ac.uk/
Car found on fire after hijacking in west Belfast. (2012, February 19). Sheffield Wired.
Retrieved February 4, 2013 from http://www.sheffieldwired.co.uk
Donnelly, Jr., James S. (2004) Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture Vol. 1. On James S.
Donnelly, Jr. (Ed.), Northern Ireland: History since 1920. (pp. 482-488). Retrieved from
http://www.galegroup.com
Lysaght, Karen & Basten, Anne. (n.d.). Violence, fear and ‘the everyday’: negotiating spatial
practice in the city of Belfast. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2013 from
http://www.qub.ac.uk/c-star/
McAdam, Noel. (2013, February 1). Belfast store forced out of business by loyalist protests.
Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved from: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
McDonald, Henry. (2013, January 12). Belfast riots lead to questioning of police tactics over
flag dispute. The Guardian. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://www.guardian.co.uk
Meredith, Fionola. (2013, January 29). Loyalist protests crippling Belfast’s St. George’s market.
Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Pogatchnik, Shawn, (2008, May 3). Despite peace, Belfast walls are growing in size and
number. USA Today. Retrieved February 19, 2013, from http://www.usatoday.com/
Policy on the Flying of the Union Flag, Equality Impact Assessment – Final Decision Report.
2012, November 13). Retrieved February 15, 2013, from http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk
Reilly, Gavan. (2011, March 16). Man arrested after four stabbings in west Belfast. The
Journal. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://www.thejournal.ie
Stuckrad, Kocku von, Auffarth, Christoph, Bernard, Jutta & Mohr, Hubert. (2006). The Brill
Dictionary of Religion Vol. 3. In Kocku von Stuckrad (Ed.). Northern Ireland. (pp. 1356-
1359). Retrieved from http://www.galegroup.com
The ESRC Northern Ireland 2010 Westminster Election Survey. (2010). Summary results.
Retrieved February 19, 2013, from http://www.liv.ac.uk
Tonge, Jonathan & McAuley, James. (2011, August 4). Although political progress has been
made in Northern Ireland, the polarisation in the communities still firmly exists. The
London school of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved February 19, 2013, from
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk
Short Story
The story In the next part of this paper you will find my short story. I used footnotes to refer to certain articles I used information from. I also used footnotes to explain certain expressions and terms which are typically (Northern) Irish. The footnotes refer to the reference list at the end of the story.
Life in Belfast; A short story
Kasha van der Poel
I worry. I worry about Kelan. I worry about Brady. I worry about Aine. I worry about all of them. I know that nothing really serious has happened to them, but it just might. And therefore I worry.
PART ONE The 12th of January. I remember that day very clearly. I had only lived in Belfast for two weeks. Those two weeks were all filled with introductory lessons and activities at the university, so I hadn’t had the change to discover Belfast on my own yet. That Saturday, I decided to start exploring the town and go to St. George’s market. I had heard that it was a charming little market often with live music and a comfortable buzzing of people and children. I took a black taxi from Falls Road, the main road in West Belfast, where I lived, to town and with my town’s map in my hands, I set of to St. George’s Market.
When I entered the market, I first thought I wasn’t at the right place. It was a large hall with stalls with food, clothing and more food. Only there were almost no people and it was awkwardly quiet. I started ambling around. The food smelled outstanding and I decided the try a vegetarian curry. I asked the lady if it was normally this empty. “No, not at all” she told me. “Normally the place is jammed with people. But now people won't come in because they know there's going to be a protest.” “Yes it’s soul-destroying.” Her colleague jump into the conversations. “That's the only word for it.” “You know, we can't afford to carry on like this. If this continues, We’re going to have to find another source of income. We’re 700 pound down this week. And it's not just us: some stall-holders didn't make any money at all last week. They had to go home with nothing.” 1 “I heard that a shop down in East Belfast has closed down because no one would go there anymore. They had riots on both ends of the street and costumers just didn’t dare to come in.”2 “That’s terrible, so it is.” I really didn’t know how to reply. I had heard about the protests that were going on. But I had no idea it was affecting these people so much.
After I bought a few apples and a nice loaf of bread, I went outside. What happened then was overwhelming. There was a large procession of people dressed in Union flags. I should have gone back inside, but I didn’t. I thought I could just walk to the end of the street and go the other way there, so I started walking along with the parade, but when I got to the
1 Quotes from Belfast Telegraph (Meredith, 2013) 2 Quote from Belfast Telegraph (McAdam, 2013) crossing, I saw all the roads were blocked. By that time I was caught between a loud blatant group of protesters. They seemed friendly enough, so I wasn’t really worried. I just hoped I could find a way out, so I could go my own way again. When we arrived at the City Hall suddenly the atmosphere turned sour. I couldn’t really see what was going on, because I was surrounded by people with large protest signs. I tried to find my way to the side of the parade. After some pushing, I got to the edge, but there again, the road was blocked by the riot control and police cars. They looked like war tanks to me, because the cars were completely armoured. I must have come too close to the police because one of them started yelling at me that I had to back off. I didn’t want to get into trouble with the police so I went back into the crowd. Then they all started moving and I had to walk along, because I was jammed between two tall men holding a sign saying: ‘Hands off our flag’.3 By now I didn’t know where I was, but I decided that I just had to walk along the parade and that there must be a way out somewhere. The police pushed us up the road, so the crowd started moving up the road. We passed a shop which seemed familiar so I thought I was going into the right direction to get home anyway. But then we turned left and we were on a broad street and again, I didn’t know where I was. After a few minutes, we crossed a large bridge and after that it got ugly. I am not sure how it started, but all of a sudden there were brown beer bottles flying over my head. There was a boy in a grey and blue jacket yelling at us: “Fucking scum!”. He ran up to the crowd and threw another beer bottle.4 I had to duck, to avoid it hitting my head. The men besides me started yelling back and picked up the bottle to throw it back. At that point I started to feel truly anxious. I was in the middle of a riot, and I didn’t know how to get out. There was enough space in the street to walk away, but then I would become an easy target for the boy in grey and blue and his friends. The police was still there, but didn’t do anything to stop the boys from throwing those bottles. I heard sirens, another armoured police car pulled up really close to me. At that moment a door opened form the house behind the boy with the beer bottles. I recognised the face of the ginger-haired boy coming out of the house. He looked at me and started running up to me. People around me starting yelling at him: “What the fuck you think you’re doing, you taig!”5 The boy didn’t reply but grabbed my hand and gasped: “You have to get out of here!”
3 Based on a picture found online (Barnes, 2013) 4 Based on a video from YouTube (Young Unionist, 2013) 5 Taig = a swear word for a Catholic At that moment, one of the men wearing a Union flag hit the boy right in his face. “Bite my balls, you fucking eejit” the red-haired boy hollered out, and before the man could hit him again, he pulled my arm and we ran to the house he just came from. “She’s with me!” he yelled at the people throwing the bottles. They looked at me suspiciously, but let us pass. Once inside the house, the boy let go of my hand. I looked at his face and there was blood above his left eye. “Why did you do that?” I uttered. “Well I couldn’t just leave you there now, could I?” He replied matter of factly. “You were all fazed and all and right in the middle of it all.” “But you could have seriously gotten hurt!” I stated. “Dead on.”6 He replied. “But I didn’t, did I now?” “No” I muttered. “I’m Kelan, by the way” he said. “I’m Ella” I replied. ---
That was how I met Kelan. I had recognised his face from my first week at St. Mary’s university and he had recognised mine. From then on we become inseparable. He showed me all the little perks of Belfast and Northern Ireland. He took me to the best pubs and took me on trips to the countryside. We went hiking in the Mourne Mountains, he showed me the best shops in town and we took a trip to Bushmills distillery, where I tried my first sip of whiskey. My favourite pub was Fibber Magees which had live music almost every day of the week. We went there nearly every weekend. Kelan also took me to ceilies, which are get- togethers where people make Irish music and do Irish dancing. It is very informal and people bring their own drinks. One of his friends, Aine, taught me some Irish reels7. I felt really at home.
PART TWO On the 14th of March, it was my birthday. Kelan and his best friend Brady wanted to take me out and spend the night doing a pub crawl. Over the past months I had gotten to know Brady as well and we had become good friends. I was really looking forward to a night of
6 Dead on = Okay 7 A type of Irish dance laughter, Magners8, live music and dancing. I had no idea where they planned to take me, but it didn’t matter. I had never had a bad night out in Belfast, so I was confident this night would be great too. And of course I trusted Kelan and Brady to know which places to go to. We started off in our local pub on Falls Road. It was karaoke night, and it was quite crowded. Kelan went to the bar to get me a pint of Magners and himself and Brady a Guinness. While Kelan was at the bar, Brady and I watched two middle aged woman making a fool of themselves, singing a song from Rihanna. It was horrendous, but they seemed to be having fun. When they finished, Brady stood up. “I need the loo” he said and walked off, leaving me alone.
---
I had been sitting on my own for a while, waiting for Kelan to come with the drinks and Brady to return from the toilet, when a familiar voice sounded through the speakers. “This song is for our favourite Dutch girl, who has her birthday today” I looked up and saw Kelan and Brady on the stage with both a microphone in their hands. Kelan winked at me. They had chosen my favourite Irish folk song.
“She’s handsome She’s pretty She’s the belle of Belfast city She’s courting One, two, three Please would you tell me Who is she?”
When they finished the song, they walked back to me with the drinks. “Thank you!!!” I exclaimed. “That was brilliant”. They just grinned at me and sat down next to me. “So, where do you want to go next?” Brady asked. “It’s your birthday, so it is”
8 An Irish cider, which is drunk a lot by Irish women “You can decide wherever you want to go” Kelan continued. Suddenly the music stopped, and the bar men spoke through the microphone. “Excuse me everyone” he said. “I’m sorry to say we’re closing early today. There have been some stabbings up the road and I don’t want any trouble with those guys here, so I’m closing in 5 minutes. You can finish your drink, and then you have to leave. Make sure you don’t go up the road and if you have to, get a taxi.” “Fuckers!” Kelan murmured. “I guess you have to decide quickly” Brady said to me.
---
We took a taxi to the city centre where we would go to the Duke of York to see a local band playing. We drove through Broadway, in the direction of Europa hotel. I looked out the window and spotted a big fire. “What’s that?” I asked. But at the same time I realised it was a car on fire. “What happened there?” I continued. “Don’t know” Kelan replied. “Sometimes some ejit bastards hijack cars from South Belfast and then set it on fire in West Belfast.” “Why on earth?” I asked. “I don’t know, so I don’t. They’re just idiots now, aren’t they?”
---
We spent the rest of the night in several pubs, dancing and singing along with the live Irish bands. I had a little too much to drink so I occasionally bumped into someone on the dance floor. There was one girl dancing frantically. When I bumped into her for the second time, she grabbed my hands and started dancing with me. “I love this song!!!” She yelled at me.
“Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk Of a day -I-ay-I-ay I met a little girl and we stopped to talk Of a fine soft day -I-ay And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do 'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl 'Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl”
“Me too!” I yelled back. “I’m from Galway” she said. “Cool” I replied.
---
Again, a couple of drinks later, Kelan pulled me off the dance floor. “Take it easy” he said. “You want some water?” “Yeah, sure.” I said while taking a seat next to Brady. “You know what...” I continued. “I would like to grab a bite.” “Right, let’s go then.”
---
I was waiting outside in the cold. Kelan was getting our coats, which we had hung somewhere at the rear of the pub. Brady was talking to a taxi driver. “Got them!” Kelan shouted while walking through the door. We got into the taxi, which drove us to the nearest KFC. “You OK with this?” Brady asked. “Yeah, sure” I replied. “I’m fine with chips.” We got out of the taxi and Kelan paid the driver. There was a long queue so we decided that Kelan and I would wait at the only empty table left, and Brady would wait in the queue and order our food. Kelan took out his wallet and gave Brady some money. I took his wallet from his hand and started looking through his cards. I love looking through someone else’s wallet. It tells you a lot about that person. Most people keep receipts and other little souvenirs in their wallet. Kelan’s wallet however, was not that full. Mostly there were membership cards; his ID, his student card, his sports club membership card and all that. I stared at his ID card. His picture was really cute. It must have been taken at least five years ago because he looked a little over sixteen to me. Red curly hair and a lot of freckles. He also wore braces. He still had red hair, but the curls weren’t easy to see because he cut it really short. The braces we gone as well. It said ‘Kelan MacCarthy’ on all the cards. “Kelan MacCarthy” I said softly. “Kelan MacCarthy. Kelan MacCarthy. Kelan MacCarthy…” “I like your name, you know” I said to Kelan. He smiled. “It’s Irish.” He said. “In Irish it is actually Caolán Mac Ćarthaigh.” “Cao… what?” I said confused. “Caolán Mac Ćarthaigh” “How do you spell that?” “C – A – O – L – A – grave – N – SPACE – M – A – C…” “What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing?” Brady hissed angrily. I jumped. I hadn’t seen him coming. He looked really angry, and I had no idea what just happened. “Look at where we are!” He continued hissing in Kelan’s ear. Kelan looked around and suddenly his face turned white from anxiety. “SHIT!” he bellowed. “ We have to get out of here” Brady said anxiously. And they each grabbed one of my hands. I still didn’t know what was going on and why we had to leave in such a hurry, but I could clearly see that it had to be something dangerous because both Kelan and Brady had a fearful expression on their faces. A taxi passed and Brady held up his hand. The taxi pulled over. “Thank Goodness” he sighed. “Jump in, quickly” Brady said to me. “Falls Road, please” he said to the taxi driver. I got in the taxi, which drove off immediately. “For feck’s sake, man!” Brady said to Kelan when we drove around the corner. “Sorry” Kelan said flustered. “I didn’t realise we were in a freaking loyalist area.” 9
9 Based on own experience PART THREE The 30th of April my flight was going to leave at 10:00 in the morning, so the 29th of April was my last day in Belfast. In was also Queensday in the Netherlands, and I wanted to celebrate that. I thought it would be nice to share some of my culture with Kelan just before my leave. I had brought an orange dress with me from home, especially for this day. Kelan and I arranged to go out for a bite as a goodbye dinner. He would pick me up around 5 and we would get a taxi into town. Afterwards, we would go pubbing with Brady and Aine.
Around 4 o’clock I started getting ready. I had spent the day doing my last shopping in Primark and Top Shop and bought some souvenirs for my family. I had already packed my bag, so I could spent the whole night out if I wanted to. Kelan promised me to take me to the airport the next day, so I didn’t have to worry about transport. So a worry-free evening it would be. At 5 o’clock exactly I finished putting my make-up on. I was wearing my orange dress and my new blue high heels I got this afternoon at Top Shop. When the doorbell rang, I put on my coat, grabbed my bag and went to the door. Kelan was there holding the taxi’s car door open for me. “You look gorgeous!” he said with a grin on his face. “Thanks” I replied.
The restaurant was a fancy pizzeria in the middle of the city centre. Kelan booked us a table near the window so we could watch people walking up and down the street. When we got to the table the waiter waited for me to take off my coat. As soon as I did just that, I saw both Kelan and the waiter’s face turn into a grimace. The waiter took my coat from me politely and walked away. “What’s wrong” I asked worriedly. “Have I said something?” “It’s nothing you said” Kelan said. “You see this is a Catholic restaurant.” “I don’t understand” I replied. “Well your dress kind of upsets most Catholics.” I was confused. “Why?” I asked. “Orange is a Protestant colour” Kelan said. He seemed very uneasy.10 “I didn’t know” I said.
10 Based on advice given to me by a Catholic Kelan was cautiously looking at some people at another table. I turned to look at that same table and saw three guys looking irritably at me. I turned back quickly and tried to pretend I hadn’t turned around in the first place. “Are we in trouble?” I asked concerned. Kelan shook his head and smiled at me. “No, we’re fine” he said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
During the rest of our dinner Kelan was distracted. He was constantly keeping an eye on the three guys sitting behind me. When we finished our pizzas I suggested to leave and have a drink somewhere else. “That might be a good idea” Kelan said. “We’ll probably be all right in Fibber Magees. They all know you there, so.” “I’m sorry” I said again. “No worries” Kelan replied and smiled.
---
He was right. As soon as we walked into Magees, the bartender greeted my warmly. “ Ella!” He yelled. “Sorry for the dress!” I replied. “Had no idea!” “Of course you didn’t” he laughed loudly and opened a bottle of Magners for me. The band that was playing was called The Real Shindig11. They played a mixture of indie pop, folk and tradition Irish music. They were good and there was a small crowd of girls dancing. Kelan and I sat ourselves down at a table near the band. “You okay?” he asked. “Yeah, fine.” I replied. I had worried that my dress would become a problem in Fibber Magees as well, but as soon as the bartender had greeted me, I had seen that everyone had heard and nobody paid any attention to it anymore. After a few drinks Kelan wanted to go out for a fag. He didn’t smoke normally, but occasionally, especially when going out, he liked to smoke a few. He went outside, and left
11 I saw them in Fibber Magees myself me at our table. I watched Kelan going through the door and saw Aine coming in at that same time. They greeted each other and I saw Kelan pointing out where I sat. Aine waved as soon as she spotted me and walked in my direction. As soon as she got to me she grabbed my hand. “Come on love, let’s dance!” she voiced loudly, with a big smile upon her face. I immediately gave in and we started dancing to the Irish folk music the band was playing. After a few songs I started to wonder where Kelan was. At the same time as that thought entered my mind, the bartender, who had been outside, came running in, straight towards me with a bewildered look on his face. “You have to come outside. It’s Kelan!” He yelled. “What’s going on?” I asked. A sudden feeling of fear washed over me. I didn’t wait for an answer but bolted toward to door. Outside was Kelan, on the ground. His face was covered in blood and he didn’t move. I heard sirens in the distance. “We already called an ambulance” the bartender said, who had probably run after me because he was standing next to me. I was astonished. I didn’t know what to say or do. My head was spinning.
---
That was the last night I saw Kelan. I drove with him to the hospital in the ambulance. He woke up on the drive there and tried to tell me what happened. I understood that there were a couple of loyalists walking past. Kelan was talking on the phone to a friend in Irish and that scum just started knocking him around. They broke his phone and bashed his skull. Nobody else was around and those lads were with the three of them. Kelan had stood no chance.
---
My flight still left that next morning so I went home very late that night, leaving Kelan in a hospital bed. The doctor had told me he had a mild concussion, but he was going to be fine. But that didn’t calm me down. I am still not calm. I am home now and I worry. I know Kelan’s going to be okay, but will he be the next time?
References
Barnes, Stephan. (2013, January 5). Union Flag protests continue in Belfast [Photo file]. The Network
for Freelance Photojournalists. Retrieved from http://www.demotix.com/
McAdam. Noel. (2013, February 1). Belfast store forced out of business by loyalist protests. Belfast
Telegraph. Retrieved from: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Meredith. Fionola. (2013, January 29). Loyalist protests crippling Belfast’s St. George’s market.
Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Young Unionist. (2013, January 13). Union Flag Protesters attacked from Short Strand – What really
happened! [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxO-
7UL70uI&list=PL2wvPEsKOOqjwmLIB3Gr57Z-FRLDdS7Yz (from 1:40)
Epilogue
With this short story, I wanted to show what life in modern Belfast is like. However, attention must be paid to the fact that I dramatised certain events in order to make the story more interesting for the reader.
Initially I wanted to write this story for the sole purpose of doing my master project. The idea of the story, rather than a traditional paper, came from my love for creative writing. In my opinion it also contributes well to the purpose of my master project; depicting life in Belfast.
During the process of writing my short story, I realised this story, once it was finished, could be used for educational purposes as well. A fellow English teacher, who also works for the publisher Wolters-Noordhoff, stated, after hearing about my short story, that she was interested in my story and she believed that Wolters-Noordhoff might be interested in publishing my short story for educational purposes.
I am now planning to create an accompanying exercise to the story and test it on my own pupils. In my mind it is most suited for fifteen or sixteen year olds and therefore I will write this accompanying exercise on HAVO 3 level. Once I have tested it on my pupils and asked their feedback, I will know if I could go to Wolters-Noordhoff to see if they think it is fit for publishing.