8/24 -- Derry, Northern Ireland, and the "Troubles"

Derry (called Londonderry only by people who want you to know it is now British, not Irish) is just a bit more than an hour away from Donegal, so we spent the better part of the day there, focusing on various aspects of the situation that lead to the conflict here and some of the results. Derry also  has the most complete city wall in Northern Ireland and we got a chance to walk on a bit of it before the rains intruded. We also noticed on the drive here that the fields were bigger, there were more cattle, and many fewer rock walls. The land is better for farming than on the west coast, following the Wild Atlantic Way where we have been most of the time until today.

These fields look dramatically more productive than the ones
we had seen so far.

A lot of the focus today was on Bloody Sunday, when a peaceful group of 15 to 20 thousand Irish Catholics had planned a civil rights march. Their way to their objective was blocked by the police and British Army, so the marchers turned away. But the armed forces started firing on the crowd, killing 14 people, many of them teenagers. The first review of the disaster concluded that all those shot were criminals and that the people doing the shooting were entirely innocent. Years later, another inquiry was convened that took 12 years to complete and it reversed that judgement, something much  hoped for by the families of the departed.

Our first guide, Peter, had been an 11 year old on Bloody Sunday and his family had been warned that they should stay home. He knew several of the people killed then. We met our second guide, John, at the Free Derry Museum, a totally depressing review of the horrible treatment the British gave the Irish. John had been in the march, and his 17 year old brother was the first person killed that day.

There were a number of problems with the treatment of the Irish Catholics. Despite the fact that they were a clear majority in the city, gerrymandering and unjust voting rules meant that the city was run by the  Protestants.  In addition, hundreds of young men had been arrested on suspicion of being part of the Irish Republican Army, despite the fact that the IRA was quite small before Bloody Sunday. They were never charged, however, and were interned in prison with no way to get out.

The housing that the Catholics were allowed to live in was limited, resulting in two or three families sharing a single home. Bad enough, but voting rules said each house only got one vote, regardless of the number of adults living there. Access to jobs was also bad, and often the women had jobs at the shirt factory,  leaving the men on the dole and helping out with the kids.

After Bloody Sunday, there was an immediate interest in joining the IRA. The civil rights movement had started peacefully in the 60s as other groups across the world started to find their voices and demand inclusion. But Bloody Sunday made the peaceful branch much more difficult.

Even after all these years, no Protestants live in the Catholic areas, although there are integrated parts of the city. We were also told this was not about religion but about the divide between Unionists, who wanted to be part of Britain, and Nationalists, who wanted to be part of the Irish Republic.  It just happened that most Unionists were Protestant and Nationalists were Catholic. In addition, most of the schools are still segregated. Although there is no barrier to Catholic children attending state schools, the Catholic church is also clinging to its power by encouraging parents to provide their children a religious education.

Now, there is much better power sharing. The mayor alternates each year between a Protestant and a Catholic, and both the men we talked to felt there would be substantial improvement in the next couple of generations.

We started off on the wall.  Only Protestants could live inside the wall. The Catholics were relegated to an area outside, near a marsh called Bogside.

Above and below: the city wall. The low side is the inside.

View of Bogside from the wall.

A church along the wall.

Next, we visited an area called Free Derry which has dozens of signs and murals from the conflict times. Peter talked about his personal connection to Bloody Sunday and his life today, living in an integrated Protestant/Catholic area. Finally, we moved on to the Guild Hall, which looks like a church because it was designed by a church designer, but it is actually a city hall.

The back side of the Guild Hall

Inside the Guild Hall. The guy in the center is our guide, Peter.

The hall  has a 120 pipe organ in a room with LOTS of guild
oriented stained glass windows, below.

Then it was lunch time, but since we weren't really hungry, we spent it (except for a quick Magnum Bar break) exploring the area. First of all, we walked across the Peace Bridge, opened in 2011. It is curvy, representing that the process toward peace has not been a straight line. Then we explored the shops and found great prices at a grocery store we went back to later.

The Peace Bridge. It has kind of a Calatrava look, but was
designed by someone else.

View from the bridge

On the bridge

One of several gates through the city wall.

You may recall Sinn Fein from the conflict period. It is now
involved in the political process, and has signs saying "A new
Derry is possible" and "Standing up for equality, respect,
and integrity".

After lunch, we walked back to the Free Derry area and had time to take pictures of the signs and murals Peter had shown us earlier. Then we went into the Free Derry Museum and heard from John Kelly, whose brother was killed. Later, we walked through the museum displays chronicling the thirty years of problems.

Faces of people killed during the "Troubles". Kids slept on
the floor to minimize the chance of getting killed overnight.

An interesting collection of peaceful protesters: John Hume
(Irish leader), Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandella,
Mother Theresa

 After all this depressing history, we checked into our hotel, located inside and  next to the old wall, got settled and did a bit of shopping before dinner.