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Communities Under Attack
Troops Out Movement Member The marching season in the north of Ireland is a time when painful sores are opened and tensions are heightened on both sides of the sectarian divide. It was against this backdrop that I visited the Short Strand area of east Belfast for the weekend of the July 12th Orange Order celebrations of the victory of 'King Billy' in 1690. Short Strand is a small nationalist community housing some 3,000 people, who are surrounded on three sides by a population of around 60,000 unionists/loyalists. The first thing that struck me as I entered the area was the absence of flags and emblems (which are all too evident in the unionist/loyalist communities of east Belfast that completely surround 'the Strand'). On the Newtownards Road, Albert Bridge Road and in Cluan Place there were union, Ulster and paramilitary flags flying from what seemed to be every available lamp post. I was to learn later that the residents of Short Strand had long since taken down their flags in an effort to defuse tensions in the spirit of reconciliation. Down on the junction with Newtownards Road is St. Matthews Church, which was busy on the Saturday evening for the first Mass for the Faithful and was starting to fill up when I entered its grounds. I was curious to discover where the loud music I could hear was coming from. Through a gap in the iron fence that was erected to protect the church from on-going sectarian attacks I could see some wasteland where a bonfire for the unionist/loyalist celebration of the 11th night was being built. Next to an abandoned house was a huge speaker directly facing St. Matthews church. Of course the blaring music coming from it was anti-catholic and sectarian. The picture was becoming clearer. Through the night the offensive music played - occasionally interrupted by Irish ballads - with the words changed. I chuckled aloud when 'Love Is In The Air' played. Even bigots occasionally display a sense of humour! By the morning the bonfire was huge. Pictures of Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, Bairbre de Brun MEP and Deputy Mayor of Belfast Joe O’Donnell had been strategically attached to it (so as to be facing the church) ready to be symbolically burned at midnight. The sectarian music once again rose in volume as people started arriving for Sunday Mass at midday. In the evening I strolled around the estate to get a feel for the atmosphere and to witness what the locals are being forced to live through. An elderly lady on Strand Walk said hello and showed me bullet holes in the protective iron fence that were made by unionist/loyalist paramilitaries. Sadly, some of the houses were empty - the previous occupiers had suffered enough and had left. It was clear that some families (those who had somewhere else to retreat to for the weekend) had done so. There was, however, still a warm feeling of neighbourliness that only this siege-like existence can bring. There were independent and international monitors throughout the estate and on the other side of the divide who would later make their reports. The local community of Short Strand had their own monitors placed at strategic points throughout the area. On more than one occasion they advised me to move out of view of the unionists/loyalists congregating at the bottom of Bryson Street (bordering the area where the 'festivities' were now under way) so as not to inflame the situation by 'provoking' them with my presence. At 10.00pm the first bonfire was lit at the top end of Bryson Street across the 'peace line' in Thistle Court. It was a strange feeling watching from the nationalist side where the children had decorated the huge gates (which closed Madrid Street and divide the community) with a picture of how they imagine the other end of their street now looks. This picture bears the legend 'Love Thy Neighbour' though I imagined it challenging for them to do so as they saw the flames of triumphalism rising from behind it! For the next two hours the area was fairly quiet but there was an air of expectancy before the lighting of the 'big one' and the burning of Gerry, Bairbre and Joe at midnight. There were some reports of some missiles being thrown from unionist/loyalist Cluan Place into the nationalist Clandeboye Gardens part of the estate. Finally the big bonfire was lit at midnight and apart from what sounded very much like a volley of automatic gunfire, the night passed relatively peacefully. Perhaps the full day of unionist/loyalist marching that lay ahead sent many to an early bed. The next morning there were two Orange marches due through the area. This was to be the most contentious part of the weekend. The first at 7.30am consisted of the 'local lodges'. I took up position on the Albert Bridge Road. Whilst waiting there I saw busloads of bandsmen making their way into the area for the bigger march an hour later. What was obvious by their behaviour was that some of the apparently 'local' loyal marchers were here for no other reason than to intimidate Catholics. The smaller parade passed quickly and without incident, apart from the usual gestures and smirks from the marchers who seemed to enjoy another opportunity to exert their supremacy. We moved to the other side of the estate for the later and larger march which included members of lodges from much further afield, including England and Scotland. The marchers included large groups of clearly inebriated people with their carrier bags full of 'refreshments' for their July 12th celebrations. These drunkards marched alongside the 'Temperance' and 'Total Abstinence' lodges in an amazingly hypocritical display of unity against a backdrop of paramilitary flags. I wonder, would some of the more recognisable brethren (Donaldson et al) have been concerned to see some of their beer-swilling supporters - young and old alike - hurling vitriolic sectarian abuse and making obscene gestures towards us whilst the chests of the sash and bowler wearers bulged with pride? Unfortunately, I doubt it. Later, BBC coverage of the marches which joined from other parts of Belfast and paraded through the city centre, was determined to portray the family nature of the occasion and the Protestant ethic of moderation. Propaganda is a powerful thing and one can only see things clearly and objectively through one's own eyes. Before this weekend, I knew little of Short Strand (apart from news reports), but now the place epitomises to me all that is wrong in the north of Ireland. Despite the sectarian attacks and sheer hatred directed towards them, the residents here just want to get on with their lives in peace. They long for nothing more than for their children to be able to grow up in a peaceful and non-sectarian environment. I will always remember the generosity and amity of the people of Short Strand. Their spirit and resolve remains strong and I wish them peace, and ultimately, happiness and freedom.
Short Strand is a
nationalist enclave in East Belfast inhabited by around 3,000 residents.
They are surrounded on three sides by a population of around 60,000 unionists/loyalists. The Short Strand has come under unionist/loyalist attack many
times, but this time the unionists/loyalists have a specific agenda. In a bid
to collapse the peace process, they are attempting to draw the Republican
movement back onto the streets and into an armed confrontation. The video/DVD was launched in November 2002 during the Troops Out Movement's “Communities Under Attack” speaking tour of England. The video/DVD shows the nightly attacks on the tiny nationalist enclave where the residents are deluged with an assortment of stones, nuts, bolts, ball-bearings, doctored fireworks and blast bombs, while the PSNI and British Army stand idly by and do nothing. The speakers from North and East Belfast
spoke of how their families and the lives of their neighbours have
been affected by these relentless sectarian attacks and how they have
become exasperated by the media presenting the onslaught as “tit-for-tat”,
thus suggesting that the victims are also the perpetrators.
Please send your cheque or postal
order, made payable to Troops Out Movement, along with your name,
address, telephone number and E-mail address to:
Ardoyne is a small working class nationalist community in North Belfast. Its people have witnessed some of the worst of the violence of the last thirty years, much of it perpetrated by British state forces. Ninety-nine people of Ardoyne were killed as a result of the conflict between 1969 and 1998. With the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the Ardoyne Commemoration Project began interviewing relatives, friends and eye-witnesses about all those who had been killed. It looked for photographs of the dead. It researched the circumstances of every killing and explored the broader political context prevailing at the time. Over three hundred interviews were completed. This book is the result. The book commemorates the dead through the voices of those who new them best and those who witnessed the terrible events which Ardoyne experienced during the various phases of the conflict. It is a remarkable and at times painful record of a much maligned and marginalised community. As Séamus Deane writes in the preface, the book is a tribute to the resilience of the living. It is what truth sounds like - difficult to listen to and for many, impossible to hear. What this book does is to increase the pressure for further inquiry, to ask the state, before the world to justify its behaviour in Ardoyne. Or even to tell the truth.
This book is available to buy at a cost of £20 (including p+p) Please send your cheque or postal
order, made payable to Troops Out Movement, along with your name,
address, telephone number and E-mail address to: E-mail: TOM@sparkle123.freeserve.co.uk
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