It's about 4:00 p.m. Central Standard Time time which means its about bedtime (10:00 pm) for me here in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The weather is rainy and around 65 degrees. We haven't done much since arriving, mainly moving into our rooms, fighting jet lag, and a short walking tour of the immediate area around Belfast. there are ten other students other than myself on this trip, and Dr. Billy Abraham is here with us as our professor. We're staying in the Methodist chaplaincy; in other words, its kind of like a Methodist fraternity house where the Methodist chaplain (campus minister) for Queen's University also lives. My room is on the fourth floor (60 steps; no elevator) with a beautiful view facing out toward the north of Belfast.
We took a walking tour this afternoon into the Protestant working-class part of town. We saw several memorials commemorating Protestant/Loyalist (pro-England) para-military groups. I've already seen quite a bit of graffiti that reflects the sectarian and racial hatred that still runs in the undercurrent of Northern Ireland. Tensions are expected to rise just a bit as we approach July 2th; the day in which the Ulster Protestant Loyalists defeated the Irish Roman Catholic Republicans. To get an idea of what it the feeling is like, imagine if the colonies did not defeat the British in the Revolutionary War, and then a British holiday was declared where they celebrated the defeat of the rebel American colonists. Or perhaps if there was a holiday where the United States celebrated the defeat of southern rebels, with Union parades marching down the streets of the most prominent Southern cities and towns.
I've taken some pictures and will be posting them at Picasa here. It's 6 minutes past my bedtime, and I am feeling it. I'll have more for you all tomorrow.
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2 comments:
That would be the 12th of July, rather than the 2nd. I think your comparisons are a little off, considering NI is apart of the UK and a majority of it's citizens wish it to remain as such. The parades follow traditional routes that go back centuries, which happen to now include Nationalist areas as well as through mainly Unionist areas. But I suppose your ignorance is common in most Americans who know nothing of the troubles.
Yeah, that was a typo, otherwise I would have written '2nd' rather than '2th'.
I'm aware that NI is part of the UK; nowhere did I state differently. History has shown that a minority--vocal and active enough--can still significantly affect a culture.
The parade routes are centuries old, but so are the events that eventually lead to the troubles.
I'm not sure if you understand the existing tensions that exist in the deep south of the United states to state that my comparisons are off. Perhaps we are both too ignorant on that topic to comment one way or another.
I'm a student studying the sectarian violence and the reconciliation process. To seek enlightenment on that which I am ignorant is why I'm here. Its a shame that your comments are cowardly (see: anonymous) and insulting, instead of ones that invite conversation by which we may both prosper.
I'd like to continue in civil discourse, but any subsequent trolling will be deleted.
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