Belfast, Northern Ireland. Most people will pair the city with The Troubles of the late 60s-90s. Images of guns and bomb attacks might irradiate in listeners’ minds when you bring the word ‘Belfast’ up in the conversation. Words like IRA, Loyalist and Republican may spring to mind. From personal experience, Belfast is still seen in the eyes of many as being an unsafe and possibly dangerous area to visit. When I first visited the city in February 2015, my parents weren’t overly enthusiastic. I would be visiting alone for two days. They still saw Belfast through the news reports of The Troubles they had been exposed to growing up in the 1970s, the year of 1972 being the bloodiest throughout the entire 30-year conflict. I wanted to explore how young people living in Northern Ireland felt about the hostility left by The Troubles.
I first spoke to David, a teenager from Belfast, about the present-day attitude amongst the youth in Northern Ireland regarding the on-going tension amongst Loyalists and Republicans. He believes that “when it comes to the divide, it isn’t really based on any specific political views, just where you are born breeds a wariness for the other side”. The outlook that a person’s birth place heavily influences a person’s views is shared by many young people in Northern Ireland. For example, the predominantly Loyalist areas such as Shankill Road in West Belfast and Sandy Row in South Belfast are home to mainly Loyalist Protestant communities. The general stance shared by not all, but many in these areas is that Northern Ireland should remain within the United Kingdom. On the contrary, in areas such as the Falls Road in West Belfast, which is dominated by Republican communities, the majority of residents want a united Ireland. A different youth from Belfast, who would like to remain nameless, spoke to me about growing up as a child of both Protestant and Catholic parents. He spoke about parts of his family feeling tense towards the other side, telling me that people on either flank of his family “wouldn’t want me to get involved with the other religion.”
When I visited Belfast again in August I decided to explore the city more. Upon driving into the residential areas of Belfast, the first thing I noticed was an abundance of flags fluttering in the wind. Flags are flown from lampposts to mark out communities throughout these areas. For example, within Loyalist areas the union flag is flown and within Republican areas the tricolor is displayed. The divided groups likens their conflict to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. I watched as Israeli flags flew in Loyalist areas, being informed afterward by a boy that he had seen Palestinian flags being flown in Republican areas. The prominent murals decorating the streets in Northern Ireland are like tattoos of scars on the body of Northern Ireland. Some express hatred. Some express admiration. Some express grief. Within the Republican communities, I viewed breathtaking murals dedicated to things such as the Ballymurphy Massacre, the Cumann na mBan and hunger strike victims such as Bobby Sands. I also saw tremendous murals in Loyalist communities devoted to things such as the Ulster Volunteers, Oliver Cromwell, and the Queen. Upon traveling further into Belfast, you will witness the Peace Wall. Even today ‘Peace Walls’ stretch to divide Catholic and Protestant communities in Belfast and Londonderry. The original purpose of the walls was to prevent fighting between the communities. Nonetheless, the view now shared by the vast majority of people across all ages from both communities is one of wanting to see the walls come down in the future, but not anytime soon. Many of the young people I have spoken to view the walls, not as conflict preventers, but as a part of history in Northern Ireland. One teenager told me how “they’re pretty much a part of the background now.” But the young generation is still hopeful for their end. Michael, a young adult from Northern Ireland told me that he hopes to see them become “unnecessary”, resulting in their removal.
A Newtownabbey teenager, David, gave me his opinion on why there is still lingering tension. He believes that “the majority of people in this country have no idea of the deep history” and went onto describe how the two groups use similar excuses to rationalize their hatred of the other. “If you go down Shankill Road and ask why they hate Catholics, they’ll make up all these excuses like “they’re always trying to start fights” and all that sort of stuff! Same if you go down Falls Road!” Another boy from Newtownabbey, Ryan, told me he felt “there’s just conflict for the sake of conflict, an innate drive of hatred” and went on further to say “it’s like if Republicans supported chocolate biscuits then Loyalists would support Hobnobs.” David intensely believes in the significance of education. In his opinion, Irish history simply isn’t taught enough in Northern Ireland. He detailed that “we learned about the battle of Hastings and the Spanish Armada, things completely irrelevant to our history or upbringing. We need to teach kids in heavy nationalist and unionist areas that the troubles are over and to peacefully enjoy each other’s celebrations instead of rioting.” Could the solution to the tension be in education? A different teen commented that “a solid 60% of Northern Ireland’s youth don’t care” about the divide. Perhaps the solution to resolving animosity is to incite the younger generation to care enough to actively do something. As Nelson Mandela said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
In spite of the tension amongst residents, Belfast is not the city it was during The Troubles. Belfast is a delightfully enjoyable city. I have been there several times as an unaccompanied female traveler and have never experienced hostility or trouble. I’ve even felt safer walking the streets of Belfast than the streets of my own town. The people are hospitable and grateful for tourism. Whatever problems the people of Northern Ireland have amongst themselves is most definitely not portrayed onto tourists.
