For the last couple days in Northern Ireland, we visited the ancient Giant’s Causeway and and a modern politician named Claire Hanna. First, Giant’s Causeway. This legitimately looked to me as a part of the movies that I grew up on– the Lord Of The Rings. It was astounding to me that such a place could have been created from nature, Of course, there was steps, that those who were afraid of heights, found it difficult to climb down from, but after overcoming those (because if we’re being honest, any step that could be your last, is a terrifying one) we found the path to be beautiful and much worth the wait. The trip to Giant’s causeway was above and beyond my favorite part of the day Sunday. It was shocking that I could be so close to everyday, yeoman life (referencing the farmers who had owned and taken care of sheep on top of this great hill) and seen the best of what the historic landmark could provide, When we reached the bottom, the group of girls and I could hardly believe what we were walking on. It was like a cobble stone road, but we knew better because it was formed naturally, thousands of years before us.
Secondly, we talked briefly with policy maker Claire Hanna. Of all of the opinions we heard, and all of the information we received about Brexit, she was the most rational. She gave us insight of what a “soft brexit” would look like, and it was almost as bad, if not worse than, a hard Brexit. According to her, if there were to be a soft brexit, then it would be a failure on the Brexitire’s part, and leave them hungry for more. A soft Brexit gives Brexiter’s nothing more than more fuel for the fire, and if Brexit happens anyway but the most extreme way, then it fuels the fire for the extremists to come back and demand hard Brexit, if it is achieved. However, with that said, Hanna believes that Brexit will fall through, and that Northern Ireland will not have to deal with the mistakes that Great Britain has made.
Yesterday (May 17) we sat down with two professors who lectured us about the politics and current status of Brexit. There were a lot of takeaways, but at the end of the day, the consensus is that Brexit is a hot mess, sold by political elites to the population as a pipe dream. The leave/ remain vote for Brexit was extremely narrow at the end of the day in the UK, but its clear that Great Britain was the only province that really voted to leave. Northern Ireland’s concerns were tossed to the wind, and Scotland was essentially ignored, having the most support for staying. Before I talk about the implications of Brexit, I will say that I have a semblance of understanding why anyone would want to leave, but it does not seem to be in line with the reasons people did vote to leave. There does seem to be some moral value to sovereignty, and being able to control your own state. That is implicit in all of us, even down to the individual level, we love our own freedoms. We then sacrifice some of our freedoms (autonomy/ sovereignty) for security (and other things) to the state to create a harmony. Its a simple story on a grander scale with the state, the UK sacrificed some of its sovereignty for the benefits that the EU provides, and there is a lot of them. One of those freedoms it sacrifices though with the EU is control of its borders, a hot topic in the midst of todays geopolitics, borders are always central to a state’s sovereignty. If a state cannot control its own borders, its a major strike at its sovereignty and perceived strength. So with all of that said, I get it, I understand, but the buck stops there. I understand, but do not agree. Membership and coalition for tiny states makes them strong, and at the end of the day, the UK’s leave decision is a mistake.
The first of two major takeaways is that Brexit has created day by day uncertainty, and this uncertainty is the topic of near panic in Northern Ireland. The key benefit of being a member of the EU is having access to all of the economic benefits that come with membership. Namely, and important to Ireland, one of the benefits is that citizens from states within the EU can work and travel freely between states. In the case of The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, that means that theres a lot of Irish coming into the Northern Ireland every single day to work, and to put food on the table for their families. With the leave decision, this all changes. Because the EU dictates borders between member states and non-member states, this entails that there will be a hard border created between Northern Ireland (as its the UK, leaving) and the Republic. There is virtually no scenario where the UK leaves, and keeps the benefit of having Irish citizens cross a porous border to work and maintain that status quo– quite frankly that is asking to have cake and eat it too, and the EU will never allow it.
The second takeaway from the Queens University talks is that there really were no good reasons to leave, that outweigh the costs. Utilitarianism is not my favorite way to evaluate decisions, but in politics, that is the way it is and has to be done. The economic damage the decision does to the UK alone is enough alone to make this determination. Not only do the workers suffer locally, but Brexit has managed to accomplish the one thing in American politics that nothing else can– Democrats and (American) Republicans are agreeing. Both Dems and Rs have come out saying that after Brexit, striking a trade deal with the newly independent UK will be next to impossible. It was said that this will probably shift the UK into more of a service economy (like the US) than it already is, which is difficult to maintain for such an overwhelmingly rural area. London and Belfast may be bustling cities, but thats not the story for the entire island(s).
Today was a more hands on day. Today we received guided tours along a border wall that divides Belfast between its protestants and catholic population. I will preface this part of the blogpost by saying that war, no matter what over, or which parties involved, produces evil. One man’s revolutionary is another man’s terrorist. Whether its an innocent protestant baby, or 9 year old catholic boy, there is no amount of “more context” or story from the other side that will justify those deaths, other than that the unfortunate reality of war and conflict is that those deaths happen. The tour began walking up the Falls Road at the last remaining tour of what was a Catholic ghetto before the wall went up. Our tour guide, Robert, was in charge of the building and a lot of the surrounding area. The first thing that strikes the eye after the massive tour is the murals, and regardless of agreement with any of their political message, they are at the least, beautifully done. Robert told us a bit of his own personal story. He told us that as a boy he joined an IRA youth group, and then when was old enough became an IRA foot soldier. He told us that he had planted bombs in shopping centers, called for evacuation, and detonated them. This landed himself in the Maze prison, where he received his education, and met the likes of Bobby Sands and other major IRA members. He participated in the no wash strike, and while not the hunger strike, his story seemed perfectly in line with a movie the group watched before coming to Ireland, Hunger. His story and tour while rich in history, was focused on the narrative of reconciliation, and moving Belfast past the troubles. Looking to tomorrow, looking for small victories as small as having the gates that divide the city close an hour later. In all honesty, there is no cause that could justify the actions he did when we was younger, but he served his time and is now looking to redeem himself. He is actively involved with teaching the youth, that he did those things, so they do not have to. That is the best possible way to redeem oneself.
The story from our second tour guide was a little different. The second part of the tour was given by a man named Jim, who was a member of the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) and had also served time, 3 years, for his involvement in the troubles. His story, and that side of Belfast in general, was not as uplifting, or looking toward the future as much. We walked the other way, back down the dividing wall down Shankhill road. The area in of itself was all about the past, remembering what lives were lost, and the devastation that would occur when the IRA decided to not warn the populous that they were bombing that day. There are so many murals, one grand one looking at every single person who died in the conflict at the IRA’s hand, and it went as far as being actively opposed to politicians like Jeremy Corbyn for supporting/ not condemning the IRA and Tony Blair who’s “lies had gotten the UK involved in Iraq” etc. Each one of those lives lost deserve recognition, and honor but its a tough case to make that one can have their head buried so far in the past while looking towards the future. Moving forward after conflict is an equation, some parts remembering and honoring those who fought/ sacrificed, but some other part looking past the the negative peace achieved, and looking for a positive peace.
Interestingly enough, there was a lot of tid-bits of social order theory, and conflict resolution theory that I have learned back at ASU put into practice along Falls Road and Shankhill. What was also evident from the things I learned was the spoilers to resolution that we had learned about. It is fair for a mother to never forgive an organization that took her baby from her, but it ought to be recognized that because of those things, that is just another person that will not accept or want reconciliation, and will be content with the status quo, full of contempt for the other.
Today, the group and I rode into Northern Ireland to begin the end of our experience abroad. The roads were long, narrow, and above all else beautiful. The hills were massive and the grass was thick and long like no where else I have ever seen. When we arrived to the Hill of Tara, St. Patrick’s statue and church (early 1800s) were there to welcome us, but the significance of the hill began long before that. Ancient is an understatement, as according to our tour guide Michael, the Hill’s history is dated all the way back to 1500+ BC. We ended up looking out from a vantage point where we could see 13 of 26 of Ireland’s counties. In its day, the Hill of Tara was a ceremonial and spiritual place that also served as a burial ground for the (assumed) aristocrats and kings of the time. One such story was of the remains of a 15 year old boy. When they excavated him, he was wearing a necklace made of exotic materials. He was buried at the very top of the tomb we visited. When looking in the tomb itself, there was art carved directly into the walls and rock. The rock carvings resembled rippling water. One theory, as Michael explained, was that rain was so important (and prevalent, after all its Ireland) to the people of the land that the ripples were seen as signs of life.
Those cave drawings were consistent, but not exactly matching the ones we saw in Newgrange. Newgrange is another ancient tomb, but only rediscovered in the 1960s. Newgrange dates a lot farther back than the Hill of Tara though however, as it was dated to be about 5000+ years old, or around 3500 BC. It is said to have been active for the first 1000 years, but was abandoned for another 2000+. Eventually, nature reclaimed it, there is now about 4 meters of soil/ grass on top of the tomb, sitting on a 3 ton boulder that caps it all off. Amazingly, the tomb mimics a Christian design. When you walk into the tiny passage way, no more than 5 feet tall, you climb a slight incline until you get to a small chamber– a cut away to the left, right, and back end of the dome– forming a cross (Of course, the structure is much older than Christ/Christianity, so it is not a cross). Unfortunately, our guide explained that the tomb is all but a total mystery, as before it was officially discovered, people had come in and cherry picked the artifacts, and even left behind graffiti on the walls. Notable evidence of this was the years “1877” and “1847” scratched into the side of the tomb alongside the names. The most interesting feature of the tomb that made it archaeologically relevant throughout the world, is that there is a hole above the entrance. Weather permitting, the hole is perfectly aligned with the sunrise, and for ~3 minutes it casts a beam of light straight through the tomb to the back. The guide has the set up recreated with lights that way the effect can be seen at any time of day. Attached below is first, a photo of the view from the Hill of Tara, and then the tomb at Newgrange.
When I moved to Mississippi my sophomore year of high school, it really weirded me out when I heard people call it “Thee-a-trey” instead of the normal “Theater” pronunciation. It was not until then that I learned that there was a difference between a theatre, and a theater. One, of course, where plays and live performances happen, and the other where one would see a movie, such as Avengers Endgame. It took almost 4 years after learning that said difference for me to really experience a theatre for the first time– The Abbey Theatre to be specific. The show we saw on the 5th day of our trip was one left purely up to interpretation. It began by mixing the classic sound of tap dancing with new electronic sound. Often time throughout the play I could not tell which was which– whether I was hearing the authentic sound of an instrument, or watching the performers dance over the sound of prerecording music/ and sound. The show was put on by four men, but really stolen by two. There was one man with long hair and a cap that resembled Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, and another who had a black and gray beard. The man who looked like Hammett was doing various fluid and contortion-esque dances while the man with the beard was doing more traditional seeming dances, wearing tap shoes and all. One particularly interesting thing was the fact that all four men were multi-talented. The man who did traditional tap dance was able to sing in harmony at the opening and closing of the show, along side with the other two men, who in honesty seemed like fillers, who were playing instruments and being background performers. Overall, the performance seemed to balance the ability to include illusion and “new wave” sounds, such as the machine that, at the least, seemed to create distorted electronic sounds. The performance did not seem to tell any sort of story, or send any message, which in of itself was a relief. In a word where everything has a secret meaning, agenda, or is metaphoric, it was nice to be able to relax and be purely entertained for a good hour.
On the fourth day of our study abroad trip we took a walking tour of Dublin. Our guide, Shawn (hopefully spelled correctly), utilized song and story to guide us around and teach us about some of the parts of town that we had seen, but had not realized were so important. For me, the most memorable story was of a blind poet. In short, there was a blind poet who was extremely optimistic, who was balanced by a friend who was pessimistic. Interestingly enough, the blind poet, who was a bit of an outcast in his time, was the man who’s work ended up surviving. Shawn made an interesting point out of this. The outcast’s work is the only lens we have to look through to see what life was like in his time, and you never know how the future will look back at your place in history. Below is a picture of our group with Shawn at the end of the tour.
Secondly, we wrapped up the day by visiting Howth, a subsection of Dublin. Howth was beautiful, and reminded me a whole lot of a cross between Newport Rhode Island and (more generally) Cape Cod. We came in by a train, and there was one road to follow to an end where there was an area for boats to park, with a small light house and sea wall. It was interesting that the beaches, specifically the white rock/ shells that covered the sand along with red sea weed was exactly the same as some of the beaches where I grew up. The part that reminded me of Newport the most was the mansions that hung off the side of the cliff, overlooking the ocean and the rest of the town. If I were to draw a parallel between Dublin and Howth and an American city it would definitely be most similar to Boston and Cape Cod. Boston is extremely dense, busy, filled with colleges, and is (or at least was) a great shipping city. The detail down to the chaos that is the road design in Dublin is similar to Boston. Meanwhile, while Cape Cod isn’t really just one city or town, it has the same fishing town feel. Great seafood and a quite small town feeling are great ways to describe both Cape Cod and Howth. Words really cannot explain how striking the similarities between the places are. Below, attached is a picture of the lighthouse and a bit of the town of Howth in the background.
On the first day of the study abroad trip, our group visited the National Museum of Ireland — Decorative Arts and History, and the Kilmainham Gaol. First, I thoroughly enjoyed the national museum, it was an interesting juxtaposition of the art and other cultural things and, in short, a history of Ireland’s military. One thing that put the history of Ireland, and its independence movement/ revolution into perspective was the weaponry, and seeing how recent the history was compared to the history of the US and Britain. Usually when I am learning history around the time of 1916, it involves President Wilson, and World War I, whereas if I were Irish and learning history around 1916 I would be learning about the birth of the nation. It is also interesting to compare the revolutions of the US and Ireland because it goes to show just how important the Atlantic Ocean and the protection it provided us from the British was. Granted, technology and communication were drastically different in the late 1700s compared to 1916, but specifically the combination of archaic communication and the ocean seemed to play a great advantage for our revolutionaries that the Irish did not have. Evidence of this is the use of the Kilmainham Gaol as a political prison. It seems that, because Ireland is significantly closer to Britain, and combined with greater communicative abilities, Britain was more capable at keeping its thumb on the Irish. One thing that was highlighted during the tour of Kilmainham Gaol was the fact that it was used to keep the political prisoners, and that it was where the participants in the Easter Rising were executed. It seems less clear, with the ocean and poor communication, that the British would have been able to run a similar type of prison in the US, though I am sure that the British would have loved the thought of putting the signers of the Declaration of Independence in prison. Seeing the prison first hand was a great experience in of itself. One of the things that was shocking about the prison was that it was a “Reform” prison, that made the men women and children (as young as 5 years old) appreciate hard work, and showed them that earning a living on the outside world was worth while. Of course, it wasn’t that way for the political prisoners years later, but in its early days, it made men break stone for hard labor, and taught women the domestic duties of the day such as cooking, cleaning and washing clothes. The construction of the prison, according to the Tour Guide, was purposefully made out of limestone because its a porous rock that holds moisture. Given just a single blanket and straw to lay on in the prison, it must have truly been a terrible situation to find yourself in, especially in the freezing winter. Attached below is the cell of Joseph Plunkett, a man punished for his part in leading the Easter Rising.
Politics and Culture of Ireland 