Yesterday afternoon we watched two very moving films about the Bogside region of Derry. Derry is one of the last remaining walled cities in Europe. The walls went up about 400 years ago to protect Protestant settlers inside from foreign attack or attacks from the "natives" (meaning the Irish). The Protestants, though in the minority, held the power and many Catholics settled outside the walls in the Bogside neighborhood. This neighborhood is still Catholic to this day, though there are now Catholics within the walls of the city as well. The Bogside was the site of a great deal of violence throughout the period of the Troubles. We looked at two events in particular that are very well known. The first film that we watched was about the Battle of the Bogside in August of 1969. Rioting on the part of nationalist Catholics in the Bogside in response to celebrations of Protestants on an annual march resulted in a three-day battle between the Bogside residents and the Protestant police, the RUC. The people of the Bogside erected barriers to stop the RUC from entering their neighborhood. When we visited the Bogside today one of our tour guides remembered the fighting and the gas and the bombs. He recalls bringing supplies to a shed full of women making an assembly line of petrol bombs to be brought to the front lines. It was amazing to meet someone who grew up in constant fear of conflict and who was actually there in the fighting itself.
The other major event that happened in the Bogside was Bloody Sunday, which tends to be much more familiar in international minds. We watched a film re-enactment of the disaster yesterday. It was very upsetting, and was made all the more real when we visited the actual site of the massacre today.
We went down from the walls to the Bogside this morning and were led on a tour of the area. We learned a great deal about the history of the place and then we returned to walk on the walls once more. From the top of the walls you can look down upon the Bogside and you see murals on the sides of many of the housing complexes. Murals are a long-standing method of expression in Northern Ireland. They can be found throughout the country, but Belfast and Derry are best known for them. I'll explain a little bit more about them later. As we continued along the wall we came to a point overlooking a fenced in community. The fence is called a peace wall and it separates a Protestant community from the larger Catholic one. The Protestant community is called The Fountain District. It was strange to still see guards posted along the fence. They weren't heavily armed and didn't look very imposing, yet they were still there. Even though Northern Ireland has come to peaceful terms in the last decade the high degree of sectarianism still exists and the communities have yet to truly come together, especially in the working class areas.
After seeing this community we left the wall through one of the gates and headed down into the Bogside. We stopped at Free Derry corner - which you have probably seen before. It is a big white sign that reads "You are now entering Free Derry." This has become a rallying point for the Bogside area for any cause or protest that they might be taking part in. This was also the ending point of the peaceful civil rights march on Bloody Sunday. Interestingly, today the sign read "You are now entering Free Gaza." The sign had been covered with wallpaper to represent the latest protest agenda. There were also flags on the hill behind the sign spelling out the word "Gaza." We were told that demonstrations like this are not uncommon. From Free Derry corner we set out to look at the murals. There are many murals that have been painted by the Bogside Artists as part of the People's Gallery movement. Three artists who grew up in the Bogside worked together to create murals depicting the people's history. They paint murals with the financial and moral support of the people. Their hope is that peace might emerge out of their art. The murals depict scenes from the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday, and Civil Rights marches. They depict victims of violence and scenes from the hunger strike. There was also one representing unity and peace. They are beautiful murals and we were able to speak with one of the artists about what they all mean and what their hope is for the community.
After lunch we returned to the Bogside again. We walked through the Free Derry Museum. This was created by the community and by the families of the victims of the Troubles to tell their story. The museum follows events in the Bogside from 1969 through 1972. They are continually working on expanding the museum and their educational aims. Though small right now, the museum was amazing. They had artifacts from every person killed on Bloody Sunday and we saw the banner that was carried in the march, the banner that covered two of the dead and is still stained by their blood. There was video footage taken by one of the victims who was an amateur photographer up until the moments before he was killed. It all came together to really recreate the sadness and the gravity of that day. However, there was one artifact that really affected me. After seeing it I felt physically sick. There was a letter written by one of the British soldiers who had killed one of the young boys. He wrote to the mother of the boy and said some horrible, horrible things that I will not repeat here. He was not sorry that the boy was killed, he ridiculed the boy's life, and he poked fun at the boy's death. It was the worst thing I could imagine receiving as a mother in grief.
Following our time in the museum we had the opportunity to speak with a man who had been present at the time of the Bloody Sunday massacre. His brother was shot dead across the street from where he had been hiding from the open fire of the British army. His name was John Kelly and his brother Michael was one of the 13 victims from that day. He showed us the square in which most of the killings took place and told us more personal stories about many of the victims. He then took us to a room in the community center so that he could tell us his story and we could ask him questions. He told us about his mother and how she lost five years of her life when she found out that her son was killed - there are 5 years of her life that she cannot remember. He told us about the difficulties for the families of the victims and their quest for justice. After the events took place it was determined by the British that the soldiers only opened fire after they were fired upon. Yet witnesses at the killings saw no weapons on any of the victims. There is currently a new tribunal taking place to examine the events in a more objective light. John talked openly about the soldier who killed his brother and 3 others and the anger that he still must sort through today. We left the Bogside in a pretty somber mood.
Overall the trip to Derry was very enlightening. I liked the city and the experiences we had were very touching and illuminating. I'll be happy to return for seminars further down the road. My only complaint is the weather. It's cold and rainy, but it's not a cold like it is at home. It isn't a biting cold. The air isn't cold, but it's wet. It brings this kind of bone-chilling cold. I was shaking most of the time we were outside and my fingers and toes went a little numb. There was actually a period of about 30 minutes that I couldn't feel one of the fingers on my left hand...at all. It wasn't the greatest. BUT I was glad to have such a wonderful raincoat (thanks Mom and Dad!) to keep me dry. I was actually complimented on it at lunch and a local women said that it was just the prettiest thing she had ever seen. All in all I'm very tired, but it was a great day.
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