Belfast_Diary

The Belfast Diary is a good representation of the struggles in the lives of the common people in Northern Ireland. The author vividly describes the day to day troubles that the people of Clonard, a large ghetto of west Belfast, have to live through. Clonard is a very close neighborhood that only contains about 2000 people and only 15 streets. To understand how harsh the people of Clonard’s living conditions are, one must first look past the violence. The people of Clonard are deprived of certain household needs, which a person in the United States may have always had their entire life. All most all of the houses in Clonard are row homes. Theses row homes usually contain more people then rooms and only one toilet, which was located behind the house. The houses in Clonard also lack hot water and a proper place to bathe. The population of Clonard is split down the middle; it is made up of Catholics and Protestants. No one group has total majority, but the Protestants are wealthier than the Catholics. Protestants own most of the work houses in Clonard and this has caused many strikes by Catholics because they were mistreated. It is not very fair that the Protestants receive better treatment because they share a common religion with England. The author explains in his book that it is fairly easy to tell who a Catholic is and who a Protestant is. One could even tell by something as simple as vocabulary. Protestants would call the city of Londonderry by its full name, unlike Catholics who would call it Derry. Many riots have taken place in the neighborhoods of west Belfast over things like simple religious or political views. It had gotten so bad that the army had to divide people into neighborhoods according to their religion. Catholics were also outraged when bills like Emergency Provision Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act were passed, which were made by the state to try to control the working class Catholics. Catholics felt that these acts violated normal standards of justice. The author, John Conroy, in the beginning of the book was planning to stay on a college campus and out of the war zone. His book benefited from the time he spent living in the boarding house with Mrs. Barbour. He soon came to realize that the people of Clonard were as nice and hospitable as anyone else in the world. He originally thought that because he was an outsider, the people of west Belfast would mistreat him. Conroy spent so much time w the people he starts to become one of them. In the book, he says he starts to do little things that only the locals would do like saying, thank you to a soldier after being patted down by an army guard looking for weapons at a checkpoint. The children in Clonard are really affected by the local violence. A childhood in Northern Ireland is not exactly normal. A child growing up in Clonard have to worry about leaving their house because of fear of being shot or getting caught in a bombing. One of the activities that most teenagers take part in is the hijacking of cars. They did not steal these cars because they wanted to make money. Most of the times these teenagers just want to escape the troubles of Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, these joyrides do not always end well. Teenagers were killed in car chases or they were often shot at when they drove past a army checkpoint. For example, in 1980 alone, fifteen teenagers were shot and three were shot and killed. These shootings angered the Catholic community. They felt that a child should not be shot at or killed over a hijacked car. The peace line was walls that separated Clonard, where most Catholics lived, and Shankill, where most Protestants lived. The peace line was installed by the army not long after August 15, 1969. The army created the peace line in response to night when Bombay Street was burned down. The soldiers formed the wall from structures that were already there because both communities had already but up their own barricades. The army installed iron curtains at several flashpoints in Belfast. The walls soon became accepted as nothing more than urban design. On holidays both Protestants and Catholics would have huge bonfires on their side of the peace line. Bonfires especially took place during the Twelfth parade and Sham Fight. During these days the barriers do a good job separating both the Catholics and Protestants. However on nights before the Twelfth both Catholics and Protestants become quite vicious. Nights like these are part of the reason why still to this day both sides hate each other. On these nights the animosity from both sides is past down to their children. Because the traditions of past generations keep getting past down to future generations both sides might never live in peace together. Protestant rituals start in the month of May, which children from districts like Shankill and Sandy Row begin to collect tires, cardboard, old furniture, mattresses, doors, or anything else they can get their hands on to burn. Conroy refers to the huge piles as a trash pile, but in these towns they are referred to as unlit bonfires. The people in the towns take such great pride in their bonfires that vigils are kept so that they can keep rivals from other neighborhoods can steal from their stacks to add to theirs. Protestants would burn effigies of the pope or images that have IRA labeled on them. Catholic rituals usually start in the month of August. The Catholics burn images of Ian Paisley or the Archbishop of Canterbury. Graffiti dawns the streets, some slandering the Queen of England, others curse loyalist politicians. Some of the bonfires grow out of control and ignite the houses around it. One of the worst events that Conroy details is the story of Tom Williams. Williams and his friends decide to pester a police patrol by firing over them. Williams believed that the police force would retreat but instead they chased after him. Soon Constable Murphy ran into Williams and shots were fired. Williams was badly wounded and before Murphy could finish off Williams, an unknown person shot and killed Murphy. To get his friends out of trouble Williams took responsibility for the murder. Even though he confessed his friends along with him were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. With support of the public, a petition was sign with over 200,000 signatures. The petition was able to pardon all of the men except Williams. On September 2, 1942 Tom Williams, an innocent man, was hung for the murder of Constable Murphy. Over the years the violence in Northern Ireland has decreased. Even with a decrease in violence over the years one should not expect the hostility between the Catholics and Protestants of Northern Ireland to ever stop.