*Pictures Coming Soon!*
This past week I spent time living in learning at Inch House on Inch Island in County Donnegal. We were truly immersed into learning about what the Irish call “The Troubles”. Our first day was spent listening to a variety of lecturers. To even begin to understand the issues facing Northern Ireland we had to travel back in time to when King Henry VIII broke with the Church and declared himself King of Ireland. I would attempt to summarize all I learned about the history leading up to the present day, but then this blog post would be absurdly long! (If you are truly curious about details though, ask me anytime! ) After many hours of background information we got to hear two different perspectives about the past 30 + years: John Guthrie- a Protestant Community Worker and John McCourt-a former member of the IRA who now works as a Catholic Peace Worker. John Guthrie grew up in a working-class Protestant family in Derry. He explained how the Catholic and Protestant kids are segregated from about the age of 3 until the age of 17-18 when they are through the school system. Protestant kids went to the Protestant School and Catholic kids went to the Catholic School. John told us how they were constantly taught to fear, hate, and harm Catholics. The Protestant children are told that Catholics have tails, that their eyes are too close together, ect. An example of just how extreme the segregation was that if a person killed a Catholic, they were charged with “killing a Catholic”. On the other hand, if a person killed a Protestant killed a Catholic, a Catholic killed a Catholic, or a Catholic killed a Protestant that person was charged with “Murder”. There was extreme dehumanization that just part of communities in the North. Protestant children definitely had the upper-hand when it came to finding jobs after school as well. They were almost garaunteed work because cities like Derry were very much “Class-Based” Societies. However, when the textile-industry died in Northern Ireland everything changed. The community was full of all of these young people who had not put forth any effort in school because they were under the impression that it didn’t matter. So with no other opportunities these kids joined para-military groups. John Guthrie never did join these para-military groups, but because of his religion and the people he associated himself with he put himself in the same amount of danger. In 1993, John was charged with 9 murders that were actually committed by member of the UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters). He was arrested and interrogated for 3 days while being denied basic human rights. He was not allowed to sleep, eat, or use the bathroom. He was almost persecuted into submission, but was released with the help of a Nationalist lawyer. He said, “When those who are supposed to uphold the law break the law, then there is no law”. A lawless society is what Northern Ireland had become. Today, John works in the community trying to rebuild his city from the ground up. His motto is that if you need to take the religion out of politics, the politics out of religion, and take both out of education.
After hearing the perspective of someone who grew up with a Protestant background we were able to hear the story of Catholic who grew up in Derry at this same time. His name was John McCourt. John McCourt is a peaceworker but is in no way a pacifist. He is the definition of a survivor. John was forced to live in a boys’ home until the age of 13 because his family was denied a house because they were Catholics in a Protestant neighborhood. After witnessing a Civil Rights March at the age of 17 where the police beat Catholic leaders in Derry who were protesting peacefully, John McCourt joined the IRA. It is important to note as well that the population in Derry was 70% Catholic, but were never able to be in control because of gerrymandering. John was on the front lines of the fighting during “The Troubles”. He watched as his friends and classmates die on the front lines with him. Now most people think that it was the Catholics fighting the Protestants, but it was actually the Republicans against the Police and the British Army who were brought in to fight along the side the police. (There were also some para-military groups like the UFF) This struggle was about much more than just religion though. It started off as a struggle for Civil Rights by the Catholics, but evolved into a struggle for power. Today John McCourt is a peace worker in Derry. He firmly believes that the city needs to change the condition that makes war the only option. Hearing personal accounts like these made all of the history that was thrust upon us earlier just come alive.
The following day we spent exploring the city of Derry. Derry is actually the only walled city that still exists in Ireland. John McCourt met up with again to give us a tour of the city.
We walked along the walls and he pointed out the different neighborhoods and how they are divided. The most chilling part of the tour was when we went down to the BogSide, which is the poor, Catholic, working-class neighborhood in Derry. It was this neighborhood that saw the most violence during “The Troubles”. John McCourt recreated the path he took during Bloody Sunday. He told us how his friend was shot and died on the same spot where we were standing. After he had already fallen to the ground, the police came up behind him and shot his friend in the back three more times even though he was already dead… Taking that walk through Derry was a very emotional experience. We can read about these events in the classroom for weeks, but being there in Derry with a man who was in the middle of the fighting was unbelievable. John McCourt’s story almost brought me to tears multiple times. Those who were killed were no longer just numbers, but they became people with a real story.
We were also able to meet with 2 member of the Northern Ireland Police Force on Tuesday. Most of us really wanted to hear the perspective of the police because of all we had learned about their involvement in all the conflict. However, the police treated us as if we were a group of 2nd graders who were on a field trip. Whenever we would ask the “tough questions” about their involvement they would almost change the subject! It was very obvious that our being there made them very uncomfortable. They almost said more by not speaking though. It became very clear to us that tensions are still very prevalent and that the hard feelings from “The Troubles” still exist.
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