Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Transatlantic European Boat Ride...

I looked back through this a realized I never posted anything about our stop in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is a sort of sad, but interesting portion of the trip. if you don't know much about Norther Ireland there has been "The Troubles" going on there since the 1960's. There's long standing resentment between the Irish and the British over basically turning Ireland into a plantation for rich British guys for hundreds of years. Most of Ireland is an independent nation now, but Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom.

Unlike the fun and frivolity of Dublin, was a stark reminder in Belfast of just how divided Ireland still is. For hundreds of years there has been a bleeding of Ireland by the British, much like the British have done of many of their former colonies. Like many former colonies Ireland stood up against it and fought for home rule. Northern Ireland is still a divided place. There are the predominantly Protestant Unionists who favor remaining in the United Kingdom and the predominantly Catholic nationalists who favor all of Ireland being one country. There have been many years of conflict and senseless deaths over these long simmering issues. Our visit was a sobering realization of this.

Belfast is almost like a prison city in a lot of ways with security and walls protecting inmates on both sides. It has stunted the cultural and economic development of the city. We talked to an Irishman today who didn't even know what pizza was when he was growing up during "The Troubles." He said you couldn't even go to a movie. Blast resistant walls are still in existence in front of important buildings. There are huge walls that still separate large portions of the city. Catholic Nationalists on one side and Protestant Unionists on the other. Schools are separated too. Protestant and Catholic.

The ironic thing is that actual religion has little to do with it, it's more Identity politics than anything. Most of the Unionists are more like conservative Americans and support causes like Zionist Israel and most Nationalists are more like Liberal Americans and support things like the Palestinian cause. It's also ironic that most Unionists seem to be even more "British" than the British themselves.

The parliament of Northern Ireland. They are semi-autonomous. Strangely enough a Sinn Fein gal was recently elected as the First Minister. Most Irish folks I talked to think that in the next 10 years Ireland will be united. The demographics simply favor the Irish nationalists.



Looking back toward downtown Belfast...



Famous pub...



Queens university in Belfast. Liam Neeson went to school here. he was kicked out for focusing too much on his acting career.


Well... I'll be back. Flickr just crashed.