About other Walls - Belfast

The Falls' International Peace Wall

This month, the whole world celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This event is considered by many as a symbol of the "triumph" of the capitalism over socialism. It was indeed an important step to democracy, families could be finally reunited and after almost a century of wars and dictatorship, Germany could finally say they were in peace.

However, while watching the coverage of the worldwide media one thing that came to mind (at least mine) was why did the media not take advantage of the exposure of this issue - the wall - and discussed about other walls that are still been built - such as the ones in Palestine - and the walls that have no prediction to be torn down - such as the ones in Belfast? So in the next two posts I will focus on both cases as much has already been said about the Berlin wall.

The "Peace lines" of Belfast

Exactly fourty years ago, Belfast saw the construction of several walls that later would be called ironically peace lines. Before discussing about them, I find important to give a brief explanation of the conflict named Troubles, that took place in Northern Ireland for almost 40 years.

The Troubles was a period of urban violence that assolated Northern Ireland for over three decades during the 20th century, leaving more than 3.500 dead, a considerable toll for a population of about 1.5 million inhabitants. The conflict can be seen as a violent expression of existing animosities and unresolved issues of nationality, religion, power and territorial rivalry between Catholics Republicans and Protestants Loyalists. Many scholars and the media consider its beginning the late 1960s with the Civil Rights Movement and its end in 1998, with the Good Friday Agreement.

However, both dates are arguable, since much of the animosities were built centuries ago since the British started the colonisation of the island of Ireland. In addition to that, after 1998 there were bombings and new political arrangements, such as the total disarmament of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 2005, and the election of former enemies Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness to the shared-power government in 2007. In March 2008, Paisley announced he would retire from political and religious life and Peter Robinson was elected the next month as his successor. Up to today, a few single acts of violence still take place in the region although in a smaller scale than during the Troubles.

The Peace lines

Throughout the Troubles, Belfast has seen the construction of walls. They were used along with check points and watch towers to keep the "peace" between both communities. They were first built in September 1969 by the British Army after a period of extreme sectarian rioting. The authorities justified its construction by saying they were built to protect the population, attending therefore their own demand. As Bardon puts it "...citizens found that their city had become a war zone; soldiers first blocked off the streets with knife-rests and concertina wire; later sensitive areas were separated more permanently by walls of corrugated iron bristling with barbed wire (Bardon 1982: 283*)". It is true though that before the walls were built, the very communities had already built some barricades to separate from each other. However, whether been their own demand or not, does the building of walls bring peace indeed? Or Does it bring more difference and hatre as instead of bringing communities together to try to sort their animosities they actually tear them apart and highlight their differences?

The walls of Belfast are quite impressive, I would say more than their Berlin counterparts. Some measure more than 8m high and from a few hundred meters to 5km length. Three layers were built in different periods in order to stop people throwing things over and these layers are highly visible (photo on the left). In one of them, The Falls' International Peace Wall, an open air galery was created similarly to the East Side Gallery of Berlin. In the Belfast one, the several works of art exposed not only re-tell the history of the Troubles, but also display their opinion about other worldwide conflicts, such as Palestine and Iraq. Along with the infamous murals painted on the outside houses and shops, the International Peace Wall is a true guide to understand what happened there and are definetely valuable works of art.

In 1994, with the first cease-fire and when everyone was celebrating the so-dreamt peace, there were 26 walls in Belfast. As shortly after the cease-fire the violence continued to take place, more walls were built totaling 80 and today the city has 40 distributed in 14 neighborhoods. Ironically, if the main reason to build them was to bring peace to the communities, why are they still there when all the politicians have been praising the Northern Ireland's peace process as an example to be followed by other nations in conflict? Maybe these walls are not that "peaceful"...or it's high time to bring them down.

* Bardon J Belfast An illustrated History 1982 Blackstaff Press, Belfast