Hearing from the Locals

Two days after I went up the Falls for the first time, on Monday, I went back, to try to get some local insight on the Republican movement. The atmosphere was totally different to how it had been on Saturday; the sunny, light blue skies had been replaced with a dark and foreboding grey, and there was the constant drizzle of rain. I was actually pretty nervous going up there, I didn't have a plan on who I was going to interview, but knew that I desperately needed to hear the Republican side of the story, and soon. Unlike before, the Falls was dead on Monday, I only saw two or three people on the street while heading up, and there certainly weren't any protesters out this time. I had to get some contacts, so I ducked into the old Victorian library to see if the librarian knew anybody who'd be willing to talk to me. Fortunately for me the head librarian was very friendly, and gave me a list of four names and phone numbers to check out. She also recommended that I go into the Sinn Fein office next door and see what they had to say. I walked into the receptionists office, and was greeted by a large jovial man who introduced himself as Robert.

Robert was all too happy to talk to me, and even beat me to it and asked me if I wanted to record our interview! Of course I said yes, and he led me to his office down the hall. We sat down in the small, cramped room; he gave me the impression of a very busy man, the noticeboard behind him was almost totally obscured by the multitude of papers pinned to it, and all over the floor were boxes of fliers for Republican events. At first he was interested in knowing why someone from across the world would come into his office just out of the blue, so I told him about my project and about my personal interest in Northern Ireland. However, I was supposed to be the one asking the questions. I had written up a handful, in fact only nine, in my little notebook I had bought from Tesco just a few days before, and now was the time to finally hear from the other side of Ulster's divided society.

 I started by asking about Sinn Fein: Do they consider themselves a socialist party? Do they still have a commitment to the ideals of a united 32 county Republic of Ireland? Have they reached out to the Protestant Community at all? Robert responded with a rousing "yes" to all three. Sinn Fein is still dedicated to its socialist ideals, and Robert believes that we will see a united Ireland within the next two decades. Robert also really went into detail telling me about the ways that Sinn Fein has reached out to the Protestants. He says that Sinn Fein is trying to "think past religion and think more of class." Robert also says that both he and Sinn Fein want the peace lines to come down, but tells me that the people who live on the wall still live in fear of attacks, and have actually asked for the walls to be built higher! However, he believes that modern social media will bring the youth in the Protestant and Catholic communities together, and act as a way over the physical barrier that separates them.

 Now I asked Robert about the dissidents, and the answer I got shocked me. Robert claims to be personal friends with most of the dissident Republicans, including the man who planted the bomb under the prison officers car recently! An ex- I.R.A man himself, Robert was arrested at the age of 18 for an attempted bombing and served twelve years in the British army's high security prison, know as the H-Block. During his militant past he made friends with many of the men who currently fight against the reformed government of the region, but Robert assures me that 90-95 percent of Republicans believe in the peace process, and that those still adamant about leading an armed struggle are a very small minority.

Finally, I wanted to know Robert's opinions on the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Robert was brutally honest with me, stating that the P.S.N.I's predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, participated in a British "counterinsurgency campaign" against the Republicans during The Troubles, and worked with Loyalist "death squads" to sow terror on the streets of Catholic neighbourhoods. The most shocking thing about this all is Robert's claims that the officers in charge of the campaign have worked their way up the ranks of the Police Service, and now hold high ranking positions in the P.S.N.I. Robert tells me that while he stands behind Northern Ireland's police service, investigations into the actions of many of its members need to be launched.

I thanked Robert for his time, and as I left he handed me a handful of fliers, in both English and Gaelic, promoting Republican events and giving me more information about Sinn Fein. He told me that if I ever wanted any follow up questions I should just send him an email. Our interview went on much longer than I expected, and I'm very happy that he was willing to spend his time giving me such a good insight into the policies of Sinn Fein, and the attitude of the Catholic community.

If you'd like to listen to the whole interview, which I highly recommend as he goes into much more detail than I can in my writing, I've attached a link below.

Robert Interview

Of course Robert isn't the only person I managed to interview, and I have talked to three members of the Protestant community over the last few weeks. All three have either served in, or have a close relative who served in the British Army. Seeing as I asked all three the same questions, I will summarize all three in the same text block. However, each of them gave me their unique personal opinions, and I highly recommend that you listen to them (they're all much shorter than Robert's, so don't worry that they'll be too long).

I asked them just some basic questions: How successful do they think the peace process has been? Have all the paramilitaries disarmed? Do they believe that Sinn Fein's claim that the I.R.A doesn't exist anymore? Is the police impartial? and will the peace last? All of them gave me similar answers: The peace process has been successful to an extent, the paramilitaries continue to hold onto some of their arms, the I.R.A still exists, the police were impartial, and the peace will last but the tension will always remain.

All stated that they don't have any negative feelings towards the Catholic community, and one man, a former police man and member of the Ulster Defence Regiment of the British Army actually told me his theory about how schools are dividing the country. He says that when he was a child in a mixed neighbourhood, Catholic kids and Protestant kids played together and saw no differences that divided them. However, when they went off to secondary school they were split up, Catholics going to Catholic schools, and Protestants going to state schools. In the schools the idea of a separation between Protestants and Catholics develops in the minds of the students, and a sort of "us and them" mentality is created. Even today very few of Northern Ireland's schools are integrated. I asked Robert about this, and he said that he believes only around 10% of Belfast parents support the idea of integrated schools.

Unfortunately, I was later asked to remove the three interviews over concerns for their personal safety.

Later this week I'll be posting a blog post about the exciting events over St. Patrick's Day. Here's a sneak peak of that post.

Until then!

-Luke van Reede van Oudtshoorn