On Friday we had 2 very interesting lectures. The first was Dominic Bryan's pet project, symbols and their use (aka policing the boundaries). He discussed how the use of flags, paint and parades would effectively mark out different territories. It was interesting to see the footage of the Orange Parades throughout the city and how police officers had to patrol these things. A word on policing in NI. You knew I was going to do this at some point. The police force in the North used to be called the RUC- Royal Ulster Constabulary- and their job was to try and keep peace. The problem is that there were several major paramilitary groups that had far more power than they did- the IRA, UVF, and UDA. So what you have is devolution of legitimacy. People stop trusting or going to the police (a representative of the state) and turn to the paramilitary organizations to get things accomplished. The recent peace talks and treaties had the police force renamed the PSNI- Policing Service of Northern Ireland and there is a big push to make it 50/50- Catholic and Protestant. The problem is that the distrust is so deep that it's a huge campaign to try to make this work.
There is a reason that the police structure is important here. Who usually polices parades? Marking off routes? Exactly. So what you have on July 12th - the Orange Order's main day- is traditionally a police force that is at their beck and call. They have to police where the order wants to go, and historically that was through Catholic neighborhoods with bands and posters. Eventually there was a Parade Commission started to look at and approve the routes that the Orangemen wanted to use. The Orangemen found themselves increasingly blocked from doing what they wanted to do and would then see that as a direct attack on them (and Briton since they feel they represent the state). These parades are fundamental to their beliefs and there are still tensions between them and the new PSNI.
Funny side note. At the begining of the lecture annoying Aussie lady (who insists on constantly reminding everyone that she is NOT an American, she is an Australian) raised her hand to ask if she could wear flip flops tomorrow. This threw Dominic a bit as he's never had that question before. That started him off on a tanget about questions and putting it on the website, ect. Some how he arrived at National Anthems (think when talking about symbols and identity). He then proceeded to tell the Aussie that Australia had the chance to have a really great national anthem, Waltzing Mathilda. And that their flag should have a giant cockroach on it because that was all he saw when he was there. After all, wouldn't it be fantastic if they won at the Olympics and got to play that song and raise a flag with a cockroach?
Right, after that Cliff came in to talk to us about some statistics. You see, the troubles aren't about religion; it has nothing to do with one group thinking that they're right or wrong, it has to do with politics. It just so happens that a majority of Nationalists are Catholic and a majority of Unionists are Protestant. There was some overlap originally, a few Catholics that were Unionist or a few Protestant's that were Nationalist, but people were eventually forced to one side or the other. So what Cliff studies is identity, community, and culture.
There is a reason that the police structure is important here. Who usually polices parades? Marking off routes? Exactly. So what you have on July 12th - the Orange Order's main day- is traditionally a police force that is at their beck and call. They have to police where the order wants to go, and historically that was through Catholic neighborhoods with bands and posters. Eventually there was a Parade Commission started to look at and approve the routes that the Orangemen wanted to use. The Orangemen found themselves increasingly blocked from doing what they wanted to do and would then see that as a direct attack on them (and Briton since they feel they represent the state). These parades are fundamental to their beliefs and there are still tensions between them and the new PSNI.
Funny side note. At the begining of the lecture annoying Aussie lady (who insists on constantly reminding everyone that she is NOT an American, she is an Australian) raised her hand to ask if she could wear flip flops tomorrow. This threw Dominic a bit as he's never had that question before. That started him off on a tanget about questions and putting it on the website, ect. Some how he arrived at National Anthems (think when talking about symbols and identity). He then proceeded to tell the Aussie that Australia had the chance to have a really great national anthem, Waltzing Mathilda. And that their flag should have a giant cockroach on it because that was all he saw when he was there. After all, wouldn't it be fantastic if they won at the Olympics and got to play that song and raise a flag with a cockroach?
Right, after that Cliff came in to talk to us about some statistics. You see, the troubles aren't about religion; it has nothing to do with one group thinking that they're right or wrong, it has to do with politics. It just so happens that a majority of Nationalists are Catholic and a majority of Unionists are Protestant. There was some overlap originally, a few Catholics that were Unionist or a few Protestant's that were Nationalist, but people were eventually forced to one side or the other. So what Cliff studies is identity, community, and culture.
From there we were taken into the Cathedral Quarter and to Clifton Cemetery. Clifton Cemetery is important because rich and poor were buried side-by-side, catholic and protestant.
Clifton is the cemetery of the poorhouse and workhouse of Belfast. The most famous person there would be Henry John McCracken, the person who started the United Irishman. Now, here would be a time to note that McCracken was a Protestant and founded the Irishman. His sister Mary dedicated her life to the poor after her brother died and was famous in town for her help. She moved into the poor house and gave up all that she knew.
The cemetary also contains the first known use of the phrase "Emerald Isle."
There are so many bodies in this cemetery that there is no ground without a body in it. This is because during the Cholera epidemic and the famine they dug a pit and didn't cover it over for 7 years. They just kept dumping bodies in it.
Now a bit of disturbing history. There are 2 walls on the Clifton Street side of the cemetery, an inner and an outer wall. When the cemetery was taken over by the state and cleaned up they left what was in between those walls untouched. This is because during the Cholera epidemic there really were people wheeling around carts picking up dead bodies (ala Monty python). Now if they weren't sure if a body was dead they would take it up Clifton Street and toss it over the outer wall so that it would land between the inner and outer walls. They knew that the cemetery might not take them so this was their solution. Another quick side note would be the body snatcher. People would steal bodies from the cemetery and get them over to Scotland so Dr's could use them to study. The average person could receive well upwards of 700 pounds for a body, which at the time was substantial. Now the trick was they would use wooden shovels as to not make noise, leave the shroud so that if they were caught they didn't get caught steeling, and take the teeth out so that dentists could make false teeth. The reason they never took the shroud was because it was often bought by a family member and therefore was stealing, as for the body, who does a body belong to?
From there we went to the John Hewitt Pub. Which is a great little place often having live, traditional music most nights. It was here I found out that Dominic knows Tina and Bob Mahony- my program directors at Catholic. My world just got so much smaller.
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