Give Peace A Chance

What up February? That’s weird…

I hope that everyone back home survived the “Groundhog Dump Day Snowpocalypse Death Storm of 2011” and enjoyed any snow days that resulted from the storm. At least the weather peeps got one thing right this year.

This week we have been up in Northern Ireland studying about the conflict of the past forty years and meeting with people who were involved in some way in the conflict or have studied the conflict.

A brief explanation for those not aware: Ireland was under British Rule until the early 1900s. The Easter Uprising occurred in 1916, and then Ireland opted for “Home Rule” which essentially meant that six Northern Counties in Ireland would remain part of the U.K and the southern part of Ireland would be the Republic of Ireland, an independent country. This, clearly, divided the country. The North was mainly comprised of Protestants, and the South with Catholics. The Catholics were mistreated by the Protestants in the North and severely abused. In the 1960s, the Nationalists who wanted a united Ireland took up arms again, and during the next thirty to forty years, Northern Ireland saw much unnecessary violence as Nationalists tried to unite the country and Unionists resisted their attempts. It was a war and it had a profound effect, especially on Northern Ireland.

We arrived in the North on Monday evening and we made our way to the Inch House on Inch Island in Donegal County, a county still part of the Republic. We had a full meal for once, which was awesome, and big rooms with HEAT and fairly good access to Wi-Fi. From there we got acquainted with the manor that we were staying in and went to bed for the night.

Tuesday was filled with lectures from people who lived during the “Troubles” as people in Ireland call the past forty years. We heard from Nationalists, Catholics, and Protestants, and even a man who fought in the war for the Nationalists. Their stories were incredibly moving and eye opening. There’s a lot of hurt and so many recent wounds in this part of the country. We quickly realized that we weren’t in Tully Cross anymore.

Wednesday, we went into county Derry, a county that is part of the U.K. They even use the pound in Northern Ireland; my wallet wasn’t happy. Derry is divided itself. Part of the county is called “Free Derry” because it is composed of Nationalists who didn’t want to be part of the U.K. but would rather have a united Ireland. Derry underwent a lot of Violence during the 1970s. Car bombings were a daily occurrence. Regular street violence was the norm, whether you were Protestant or Catholic. Free Derry built walls around its area to keep the British army out when they were invading the area. We walked around the walls with Jon, a Nationalist who was involved in the fighting. He took us to the area where the first shots during “Bloody Sunday” were fired. Bloody Sunday was a day in which the Catholics and Nationalists of Derry had organized a Civil Rights March, much like the Civil Rights March in America. Yet the British fired shots on the marchers and the Ireland Republic Army retaliated. Fourteen died. The Battle lasted less than half an hour. That walk and talk with Jon was one of the most moving experiences.

Today, Thursday, was spent in Lectures again. Today we learned again about the past century from a different perspective, one that said that the IRA was hugely out of line in their violent efforts for a United Ireland. We were given statistics that the IRA killed more Protestants and British than the Brits killed Catholics and Nationalists. It was interesting and eye-opening in a different way. We also learned about Irish Politics and how their congress and legislature is set up – I’m not going to try to explain that because I couldn’t understand it myself. We also met the Mayor of Derry who seemed like a very genuine person, although the Mayor in Ireland doesn’t seem to do much at all. He’s more of a figure head than anything else. The rest of the night was spent in our Lit class and simply relaxing.

Tomorrow we are heading to Belfast, another area that saw a lot of violence during the Troubles. I’m not sure of our agenda for that day, but if it’s anything like the past few days, I’m sure that it will be amazing. Saturday we head out to Giant’s Causeway, and then Sunday we return to Tully Cross in time for the Super Bowl.

Haven’t put the pictures from the North on my computer yet, so I’ll have pictures next time!

Peace. Love. Ireland.

-Rob