Belfast

hello hello hello,

so, being behind the times as i am, two weeks ago we went to belfast, ireland's "other" capital. let me tell you, it is very different than dublin. we had a very short trip, only one night, and so there wasn't a lot to take pictures of. two main events were picture worthy. actually, it was basically the only two events we did. we took a tour of the political murals around the city, and then we went to the ulster transportation museum. the only other things we did were eat too much indian food at a swell restaurant, and go to the strangest nightclub where i had the worst pint of guiness i've ever had. (literally. the worst. i even sent it back and asked him to repour it, but no improvement.)

so anyway, before i show you the pictures, here is a bit of background, so you can understand a bit of what i'm saying.

first off, there are the two sides. one, the unionists. these are the guys who want britain to remain in power over ulster (northern ireland), and are totally loyal to the queen, etc. they are often deemed "more british than the british." this is rather ironic because during the original invasion of ireland by the british, the lords that were placed here to keep charge were often sucked into the local culture and deemed "more irish than the irish." unionists are also called loyalists.
the other side is the nationalists. they are the ones that are for home rule, and are often represented by the IRA and sinn fein (pronounced shin fane). nationalists are also called republicans, which believe me, was difficult to get used to.
now, throughout belfast, you move in and out of unionist and nationalist sections very quickly, and often without realizing it. the best ways to tell are by looking at the murals, or looking at the curbs. in nationalist areas, the curbs are often painted white, green and orange (the colors of the irish flag), and in unionist areas, they are often painted red, white and blue (the colors of the union jack). important to keep in mind if you want to go spouting off political phrases in belfast.

so, after that brief history lesson, if you are still awake, here are the pictures...



this is a typical nationalist mural. note the hands in chains (pretty obvious representation), and the dove at the top. also, note how they have many portraits of specific people, along with the names. these are people who were imprisoned or died for the cause of a united ireland. nationalist murals attempt to give a face to those involved, and acknowledged what has been done. i also like this mural because they quot bob dylan, right in the middle. see? see?



now, this is a typical unionist mural. they prefer to remain somewhat faceless, and represent their cause by masked rebels with guns. UFF stands for ulster freedom fighters, and it is interesting to note that it is not actually a real organization. there are no actual members of the UFF, just on murals. it was created as a representation of the struggle, but was never meant to actually exist in material form. this is not to say that there aren't many unionist organizations, many of which use guns and masked rebels, just not the UFF.



this is an aboriginal mural. it has no relavance to the cause, or the struggles in northern ireland or belfast. but it's very cool. it was right next to the "free the POWs" mural above. but, completely out of place among all the political messages. it was nice to have a breath between the blatent hostility between the two sides. of course, there could be some obscure political reference that we aren't getting, but i don't think so.



this is a mural in two pictures that i attempted to merge. the angles are a bit off, but i still like it. it shows a much more peaceful example of a unionist mural, and represents why they continually hold the upper hand in the fight. britain is in charge, not the republic. and as MLK has said, those in power almost never willingly give it up. so, the struggle continues.

that was the political side of belfast. in part two, i show you more of the fun side...things with motors. that's right, it's the ulster transportation museum. it was quite neat. so check out the next post. it's worth it. i swear.