01 May 2021

The Troubles - Northern Ireland is Fascinating

Is it just me or does your brain also block out 2020? For example, when I started to write this I thought, "Last year I went to Ireland." But it wasn't last year; it was 2019. Despite 2020 feeling like it had 27 months and each month feeling like it was 63 days long, when I think about things that happened I tend to skip last year. 

It has taken a long time to write this because I feel like there's a lot I want to say and a lot that I should cover in order to give you as complete a picture as possible.

Northern Ireland

So in 2019 I went to Ireland and Northern Ireland. Did you know they are two different places? Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain. The Republic of Ireland is an independent country.

They split in 1921. Northern Ireland remained under British rule. Southern Ireland became a free state; now known as the Republic of Ireland. But 40% of those in Northern Ireland wanted  independence from Britain so there's always been a large number of people who weren't happy with the outcome of that split. 



EU/Schengen

How does that fit in with the EU and Schengen? Ireland is an EU member. Great Britain was up until Brexit. Neither are members of the Schengen zone. Schengen is what allows you to pass between EU countries without passport controls. It's also what makes people like me sad because no passport controls means no stamps in your passport when entering one Schengen country from another. So I don't have stamps for most of the countries I've been to :(

This map is pre-Brexit as it shows the UK still in the EU.
[https://schengenvisum.info/wat-is-schengenvisum/schengenlanden/]

But What About Brexit?

Brexit is the nickname given to Great Britain leaving the European Union.  There were two main reasons people voted for Brexit (that's very oversimplified and I've further oversimplified those here) although - in an interesting twist - the majority of Northern Irish voted to remain in the EU. 

1. Economics. Leavers felt that being tied to the the EU (which includes countries whose economies are not as strong as that of Great Britain) was dragging down the British economy.

2.  Immigration. The foreign-born population doubled in 10 years due in large part to the economic issues already mentioned. Jobs were hard to find in many countries and the open borders policy of the EU meant  job seekers from hard hit countries moved to places like Great Britain. At the time of the Brexit vote, seventy-seven percent of Brits believed that immigration levels into the country should be reduced.

One of the bigger Brexit debates revolved around the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.  Ireland remains part of the EU. The worry was that if a "hard" border went up between Ireland and Northern Ireland it would reignite tensions.

Back to Northern Ireland - The Troubles

  • Did you think the fighting in Northern Ireland was a Protestant/Catholic issue?
  • Did you think Sinn Féin was a person?
  • Did you think "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland ended in the 1970s or 1980?

Northern Ireland is predominantly Protestant while the Republic of Ireland is predominantly Catholic and the conflict is often presented as a religious feud. But it's much more than that. 

For several decades, the leaders of the Protestant, unionist majority (those who wanted to stay part of Great Britain), discriminated against the Catholic, nationalist minority (those who wanted to be part of a unified Ireland).  The discrimination resembles the American discrimination against minorities (some past, some present) in many ways:

  1. Gerrymandering voting districts so that Catholics always had fewer representatives.
  2. Allowing only property owners to vote.
  3. Discrimination in employment and social housing.
  4. A Special Powers Act that allowed for detention without trial. Since the armed police forces were wholly unionist this was used to punish nationalists.
  5. Lack of official recognition of Irish nationality in Northern Ireland. The Irish language and Irish history were not taught in state schools. The tricolour flag of the Irish Republic was illegal, as was the Irish Republican party, Sinn Féin (not a person, a political party). 

I can't cover everything about The Troubles here. It's complex and a lot depends on which side is providing the information. However, it's important to point out that the majority of people on both sides did not support the use of violence but the violence used by the minorities of both factions came to define the conflict. 3,500 were killed. Tens of thousands more were injured. Untold thousands were traumatized by violence. Thousands were sent to prison. 

Belfast is still a divided city. Literally. Both physically and ideologically. The majority of peace walls are located in Belfast, but they also exist in Derry, Portadown, and Lurgan, with more than 20 miles of walls in Northern Ireland. They divide the predominantly Catholic section of the city from the predominantly Protestant section of the city. Gates close at night. They have separate schools and community centers. 

One of the gates that closes at night.

There's very little integration even now, more than 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement - the peace agreement signed in 1998 that ended most of the violence. Although there are hints that the desire is there among some in this younger generation. Some people send their kids to integrated schools outside of the segregated neighborhoods. There are some programs that try to introduce kids to the idea that maybe there's no need to be afraid of the "other" side. So they organize things like canoe trips for kids from both groups.  The fact that this is happening in western Europe (as opposed to the middle east, for example), still today, between mostly white people, Blew. My. Mind! I had SO many questions!!

These houses that back up to one of the walls have cages protecting their back gardens. You can see that the wall had height added. This was because Molotov cocktails liked to find their way over the wall. But the cages stayed. My guide told me that the house on the far end needs to have the sofit replaced, which would require taking down the cage, and was planning to leave it down. This is a small step towards accepting that the peace agreement might be lasting - after more than 20 years.


Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, saw the most fighting but there were over 10,000 bombings in Great Britain the 30 years of The Troubles. 

When I visited Belfast, the downtown area was not much different from a lot of other cites. 

But hire a guide for a "Troubles" tour - Trust me on this! One of the things you'll learn is that part of the Good Friday Peace Agreement involved letting out all prisoners on both sides (those in jail for Troubles-related offenses) so even those who might have committed arson or murder were freed.  Some of these individuals are now conducting Troubles tours. Yup. Your tour guide might be a murderer. They have serious first-hand knowledge of what went down rather than tour guides who just learned a bunch of stuff. In the height of the violence many young people had been born and grew up knowing nothing but cinemas being bombed, busses being bombed, literal fighting in the streets of their neighborhoods. So when their homes and families were under attack they fought. 

I'm not defending them. I don't have a side in this. I can say I consider myself to be a pacifist but my home, my family have never been under attack so I can't say what I'd do. And I can't judge anyone. The British government certainly committed atrocities no differently than they did elsewhere in the world. But the Republicans were not without fault. I want to talk to people from both sides. 

It was so fascinating and I wanted to know so much more that a few days later, after returning to Dublin, I took a bus to Belfast, met up with a guide, and spent a few hours with him before taking the bus back to Dublin (my parents were arriving the next day so I couldn't stay any longer). I could definitely see myself going back to Belfast if I could arrange to just sit and talk to people all day. 

The "Peace Wall" 


Murals

According to Wikipedia: 
Belfast and Derry contain arguably the most famous political murals in Europe. It is believed that almost 2,000 murals have been documented since the 1970s. 

Some of the murals are directly related to The Troubles but many are not. My guide told me that now, in order to be allowed to put up a mural, you have to apply and submit your proposed mural to...I don't remember. A committee or a governmental entity...I tried finding the answer online but came up empty. 









Derry/Londonderry

The site of the Bloody Sunday massacre (of the U2 song) was in the Bogside area of Derry (also known as Londonderry). 26 civilian protesters were shot by British soldiers. It is considered to be one of the most significant events of the Troubles.







 Recent Violence

Perhaps you've heard about a recent spate of violence in Northern Ireland. According to the BBC and ABC News:

Nearly 90 officers have been hurt in Northern Ireland's worst street violence for years, after sporadic rioting in several towns and cities since the end of March.

Young people have hurled bricks, fireworks and gasoline bombs at police and set hijacked cars and a bus on fire during a week of violence on the streets of Northern Ireland. Police responded with rubber bullets and water cannons.

Many of those involved in the violence were teenagers and even children as young as 12. They grew up after the Troubles, but live in areas where poverty and unemployment remain high and where sectarian divides have not healed.

Why is this happening now? There are a few possible contributing factors (and here's why I explained Brexit earlier):

Northern Ireland has been called the “problem child” of Brexit, the U.K.'s divorce from the European Union. As the only part of the U.K. that has a border with an EU nation — Ireland — it was the trickiest issue to resolve after Britain voted narrowly in 2016 to leave the 27-nation bloc.

An open Irish border, over which people and goods flow freely, underpins the peace process, allowing people in Northern Ireland to feel at home in both Ireland and the U.K.

The insistence of Britain’s Conservative government on a “hard Brexit” that took the country out of the EU’s economic order meant the creation of new barriers and checks on trade. Both Britain and the EU agreed that border could not be in Ireland because of the risk that would pose to the peace process. The alternative was to put it, metaphorically, in the Irish Sea — between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

That arrangement has alarmed British unionists, who say it weakens Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and could bolster calls for Irish reunification.

Early trade glitches, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, led to some empty supermarket shelves, fueling alarm. Border staff were temporarily withdrawn from Northern Ireland ports in February after threatening graffiti appeared to target port workers.

There was anger that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who long insisted there would be no new checks on trade as a result of Brexit, had downplayed the scale of the changes wrought by leaving the EU. [Remember - the majority of Northern Irish voted to stay in the EU.]

Unionists are also angry at a police decision not to prosecute politicians from the IRA-linked Sinn Féin party who attended the funeral of a former Irish Republican Army commander in June, despite coronavirus restrictions.

Bobby Storey's funeral drew 2,000 mourners - including Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill - at a time when strict Covid restrictions were still in place, limiting the number of people who could gather in public.

Many people expressed anger at Ms O'Neill for failing to follow the guidance she insisted the public should follow - guidance which had led to loyalist band parades being cancelled last summer.

This shows that despite the Good Friday Agreement being in place since 1998, the peace is still very delicate and tenuous. I wonder whether that house did remove it's back garden cage and whether it prompted any neighbors to do the same. I wonder how far this recent outbreak of tension will set back the very small steps towards progress the generation that came into existence after The Troubles had started to make.  

I'm pretty sure this is the longest post I've ever written. I didn't write half of the thoughts I have about this. I feel like it bounced around a lot and doesn't do a good job of explaining anything really. There's just too much. It is truly fascinating to me. How many times have I used the word 'fascinating?' I'm not sure I can fully explain why. But if it intrigues you and you want to learn more, here are a few starters:

  • Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
  • The Wind That Shakes the Barkey and The Miami Show Band are available on Netflix (depending on where you live)
  • I, Dolours is available on Amazon video
I only spent a couple days in Northern Ireland (3 out of 11 days of my Ireland trip) but it was one of the most memorable, impactful (in terms of how the trip made me feel), made me want to go back for reasons different than any other place I've been.

Have I made you want to go to Northern Ireland? Tell me about a place you've been that's made this much of an impact on you...whatever the reason!

[Apologies if I got any of this wrong! I tried my best to get the facts right. This is a very complex issue and to present it in a couple paragraphs was very difficult. If you're Northern Irish, Irish, or British and you want to educate me please let me know!!]

04 April 2021

Stumbling Stones - Sundays in My City

Stumbling Stones, or Stolpersteine (Struikelsteentjes in Dutch), are something I just learned about despite being here for years and having probably walked past them numerous times without ever noticing.  

The Stolpersteine project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, aims to commemorate individuals at exactly the last place of residency—or, sometimes, work—which was freely chosen by the person before he or she fell victim to Nazi terror, euthanasia, eugenics, deportation to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of December 2019, 75,000. Stolpersteine have been laid, making the Stolpersteine project the world's largest decentralized memorial. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein]

Stolpersteine can be found in 110 Dutch cities and at least 25 European countries. Most commemorate Jewish victims but there are also markers for Sinti and Romani people (then also called "gypsies"), homosexuals, the physically or mentally disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, black people, members of the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the anti-Nazi Resistance, the Christian opposition (both Protestants and Catholics), and Freemasons, along with International Brigade soldiers in the Spanish Civil War, military deserters, conscientious objectors, escape helpers, capitulators, "habitual criminals", looters, and others charged with treason, military disobedience, or undermining the Nazi military, as well as Allied soldiers. 

There aren't any listed in my village or any of the nearby little villages so I decided to go to Maastricht where there are  225 according to Maastricht's Jewish Victims website where each of the markers can be seen along with photos of many of the individuals. The photos I found particularly compelling because I couldn't help wondering about the personalities of these people. 

We're still in "lockdown" here which is not truly a lockdown compared to our friends in France or Italy but most everything is closed except for essential shops (those selling food or medicine although you can schedule an appointment to go to a non-essential shop if you need a toaster or clothing or garden tools). So aside from going for walks or bike rides,  I've been doing my part and staying home. Yesterday, though, I decided to go to Maastricht and walk around and see some of the Stolpersteine.  

After looking through all the records and photos [All photos of people from the Maastricht Jewish Victims website mentioned above. I claim no rights to any of the photos of people. I'm crediting the source and using them only to humanize these humans (humanizing humans sounds redundant but I want them to be more than just victims.)], I decided to visit the oldest and youngest victims. I also wanted to visit a few whose photos intrigued me somehow. 



Paula Kaufmann-Daniels looks like a great aunt who would swat you with a tea towel while laughing about something you've done. She was murdered at Sobibor Extermination Camp in Poland. Simon Os looks to me like a lost member of the three stooges. He died in transport so his place of death is just listed as Middle-Europe. Paula's home is located too far outside the city center for the walk I did yesterday. I found Simon's address but didn't find the marker (and there are supposed to be 8 markers at that address).

The oldest victim was Sophie Elekan-Wesly at 87 years old.





Joop Moszkowicz was the youngest at just 2 years old. His entire family was taken (parents and two older siblings).







If you notice there are only four markers for this family and not five, that's because one of the siblings, Max, survived Auschwitz. From the website, he seems to be the only one who was deported from Maastricht who did survive although I do not claim to have done any extensive research into this. The space above his photo where a picture of his marker would be just says "survived" and there is no year of death listed under his photo. That sent me down a bit of internet rabbit hole.

Max went on to be come a rather notorious lawyer in the Netherlands; defending an infamous Dutch drug lord and the Heineken kidnappers. He has four sons who all also became lawyers; three of whom were later disbarred. He is still alive at age 94.  

Here are the rest of the markers I saw yesterday:






I will definitely be noticing these more now when I'm out walking in various cities. I'll also be digging further into the life of Max Moszkowicz, the Heineken kidnappings, the Dutch Godfather, etc. 

Have you seen these where you live? What have you recently discovered in your neck of the world (yes, that was intentional)?

14 March 2021

525,600

I heard Dr. Fauci say there were 525,000 COVID-19 deaths (in the US) the other day.  Obviously this wasn't an exact figure and with the rate of death still as high as it is, the number is now several thousand higher than that.  But the Broadway-lover in me couldn't hear the number 525,000 and not immediately go to Seasons of Love from Rent. And almost immediately my mind started rewriting the lyrics. I'm not a song writer or a poet, obviously. My apologies to Jonathan Larson!


525,600 loses. 525,000 loved ones so dear. 525,600 memories. How do you measure, measure a year?

In lockdowns, in face masks, in clapping for essential workers.

In nurses, in zoom calls, in hugs we couldn't give.

525,600 families, how do you measure the year this past year in our live?

How about love and loss. How about love and loss. How about love and loss. Measure in tears. Seasons of P...P...E.... Seasons of vaccine.


525,600 loved ones. 525,000 no longer here.  525,600 memories. How do you measure how much we've lost this year? 

In truths that We learned, or in times that We cried.

In bridges that we had to build to reach out when people died.


It's time now to be strong, cuz the pandemic isn't done, let's commemorate remember a year we lost family and friends. 

Remember the love. 

Remember the loss. 

Remember the pain. 

Measure in tears. 

Seasons of love and loss. Seasons of love and loss. 


None of us knows what the final tally will be. Too many, that is certain.

  

How are you measuring this past year?