A few trips through Belfast recently have taken me up the Shankill Road, and I wanted to share these thoughts with you.
Firstly, I like the Shankill Road. I can’t stress this enough. Along with the Falls Road, the Shankill has been at the epicenter of Northern Irish news and politics for many years. There’s no doubt that the Shankill Road harbours a colourful (deadly? murderous?) array of paramilitary characters, but aren’t there aggressors on all sides of our conflict?
A few weeks ago, as I was passing through the Shankill, I had to smile when I realised that the vast majority of shop fronts and buildings along the way were painted some combination of red, white or blue. I chuckled to myself: was this accidental or by design?
In the intervening weeks, the Shankill Road has been decorated from top to bottom with Union Flags and bunting and banners on every lamppost, supported by local orange lodges and businesses. The thing is, it’s a bit much. Looking up or down the road, your view is hazed by Union Flag bunting, like an Impressionist panting done by a Loyalist! Comes across as a wee bit insecure, if you ask me.
From Belfast City Centre to the Woodvale Road
As you come up the Shankill Road (from the City Centre), there is a lot of dereliction to deal with. You get that a lot around interface areas – no man’s land.
However, in the last seven days, a portion of waste ground on the lower Shankill has been fenced off. It looks like there’s some construction work about to begin.
Further up the road, the 12th of July is being built. Instead of the usual “Dump Wood Here” sign, a board cockily announces “Carlsberg don’t do bonfires, but if they did this would be the best!“. The structure is massive – that’s going to be some inferno when they light it.
As you pass the traffic lights up the road, you’re entering UVF territory (note the PUP office on the right-hand-side past the junction). The Shankill (like the Falls) is still the bastion of local businesses, and like its Nationalist counterpart is a bustling, busy community. I’ll always maintain these people have much more in common than they’ll ever admit – those steely, hardened faces are pure Belfast…
Pass The Rex bar on the right, marked by serious Loyalist murals – it was the scene of a Loyalist turf war a few years ago. I saw some tourists taking pictures last week (and I wonder if they visisted the bar for a drink, did they get served?). On up the road, there are some posters where waste ground has been fenced off. I must stop there someday to read them.
Stream of Consciousness
Sorry if that was a bit muddled, but I have conflicted impressions of the Shankill. On one hand, it’s the ‘home’ of mindless Loyalism (don’t start me on the cock-eyed portrait of the Queen Mother!), but on the other, the people of the area have come through their own Troubles, coupled with the decline of many local trades. Nothing has risen to take the place of those trades, and the area has fallen into decline, the people represented badly by the mainstream Unionist parties.
We talked quite a bit last year about Protestant/Unionist disenfranchisement. Well, the Shankill’s not that bad, as far as I can see. What it’s really crying out for is to have the paramilitary element removed. How can kids on the Shankill grow up normally when they have gang wars and ‘brigadiers of bling’ on their doorstep? They need and deserve something better, but no-one’s there to give it to them.
Regardless, everyday life continues as normal on the Shankill Road, just like everywhere else…
Padraig Mac Suibne, 
beano 10:10 pm on February 21, 2007 Permalink
“I think it’s telling that every Unionist leader since Carson has eventually recognised the need for conciliation with Catholics/Nationalists.”
Levee, I hope I’m not being too pedantic to point out that Hanson, based purely on the quotes you’ve made, is not refuting the idea of conciliation with catholics and/or nationalists, but (rightly or wrongly) with republican terrorists.
beano 10:11 pm on February 21, 2007 Permalink
Sorry, unrepentent republican terrorists.
Levee 9:08 pm on February 22, 2007 Permalink
OK, fair point, but I’d argue that at some point you’ve got to forget about the past and look to the future.
We can’t keep excluding people because of their past, otherwise we’d also be excluding Paisley & Co for being unrepentant bigots. The difference is that to a large extent they still are.
From my point of view this is all pot calling the kettle black-type stuff. It takes two to tango, etc. Choose your own cliche!
What NI blogs are you reading at the minute Beano?
beano 10:23 pm on February 22, 2007 Permalink
“OK, fair point, but I’d argue that at some point you’ve got to forget about the past and look to the future.”
I wouldn’t necessarily argue that point, I just think there’s a big difference between refusing to deal with catholic and refusing to deal with the IRA.
“What NI blogs are you reading at the minute Beano?”
On a daily basis just Slugger. I’ve my homepage set to this portal so I occasionally spot the odd headline from a local blog in the Northern Irish Blogs feed that diverts my attention for a while.
Levee 1:14 am on February 23, 2007 Permalink
On the subject of doing a deal with the IRA – I’m equally pissed off at seeing Medieval Bigots like the DUP being in such a position of power. I see them as two sides of the same coin really.
The only consolation I can take is that if/when they go into power sharing, both parties will undermine themselves by political point-scoring. I’m hoping the middle ground can use that to their advantage by proving their worth in real politics.
That’s a neat little aggregator you’ve got there, by the way. What’s it running, Magpie RSS? You should really extend the number of feed on there if you can. Big Ulsterman, Tangled Web, Balrog, etc. Levee goes off topic so much I couldn’t recommend myself!
aileen 8:08 pm on February 25, 2007 Permalink
“We can’t keep excluding people because of their past,”
Failure to condem their past is part of their present and I suspect the hall mark of their future.
“otherwise we’d also be excluding Paisley & Co for being unrepentant bigots. ”
I would to God that the IRA and UVF etc had only committed bigotry not murder.
Bigotry/murder – different coins altoghether
Levee 9:20 pm on February 25, 2007 Permalink
“Bigotry/murder – different coins altoghether”
I completely disagree Aileen. Bigotry was the influence that led to numerous murders across the province.
Let’s put it another way – the voices of bigots gave sanction to the actions of more violent men. And I’m thinking specifically of Paisley here.
I read his biography a few months back and one chapter which struck me especially was about a march he held in the markets area. The ensuing chaos and violence he created led to many young nationalists joining the IRA because they felt the establishment wasn’t listening to them.
I often wonder how the current political landscape would look if Paisley had been taken out of the equation back in the 50’s.
aileen 12:13 am on February 26, 2007 Permalink
It is still the murder that matters. Give me any non muderous bigot over a non bigoted murderer any day of the week.
Nothing gave sanction to the actions of terrorist!! It is their willingness to commit the actions that is to blame.
Feeling that the establishment is not listening is a poor excuse for murder. I would have a better excuse myself, but it would still not excuse it.
I wonder how the political landscape would look if murderer had been taken out of the equation.
beano 12:18 am on February 27, 2007 Permalink
Sorry for going OT, but…
“You should really extend the number of feed on there if you can. Big Ulsterman, Tangled Web, Balrog, etc. Levee goes off topic so much I couldn’t recommend myself!”
The feeds are parsed using LastRSS a PHP class. 3 seemed like the perfect number because it fits well across the screen on a 1024×768 monitor and those three were chosen because: The BBC gives it some “quality” news (ahem), NorthernIrishBlogs aggregates all the ones you mentioned and then some, and of course EverythingUlster for shamless self-promotion.
Ideally I probably would have let users pick their own feeds, but I don’t think enough people would use it to warrant it – and then if I did that it wouldn’t really be any different to google or MyYahoo, would it?
Levee 9:52 pm on February 27, 2007 Permalink
@Aileen: You cannot be serious!!! To paraphrase the Rt Hon Robert Sands MP: “Every person, Republican or otherwise has their part to play”.
Politicians and preachers in Northern Ireland are highly influential people. Their media presence has inflamed tensions in the past, driven hatred and yes – driven people to kill other human beings.
I view this almost completely the opposite to you – I think the organ grinders are much more dangerous the the monkeys!
@beano: I was sort of thinking your page could be like a PopURLS for Northern Irish blogs. I like Northern Irish Blogs, but I suppose I still prefer to view information by site….
El Matador 10:46 pm on March 3, 2007 Permalink
Bobby Sands was not a Privy Counsellor!
Hanson 11:32 am on March 5, 2007 Permalink
I have just seen this post.
Thanks for your kind comments.
I stand by my comments about Sir Reg. No one, republican or unionist, should be allowed to hold political office if they are guilty of murder.
beano 1:15 pm on March 5, 2007 Permalink
LOL @ El Mat – good spot.
Levee 10:35 pm on March 6, 2007 Permalink
Crap, my ignorance of political structures has been exposed! What’s a privy counsellor?
Hanson, thanks for visiting. I know you take an anti-agreement stance, but I wonder how else you propose to resolve the long-standing (and yawn-inducing) Northern Ireland situation?
Hanson 10:36 am on March 7, 2007 Permalink
I’m for total integration with the UK. I don’t think anyone in NI would shed any tears if all 108 MLAs were given their P45s. They sat around doing nothing for 5 years. All politicians are a waste of space and (especially in NI) a scandalous waste of money.
Padraig Mac Suibne 3:20 pm on April 4, 2007 Permalink
The only people to blame in all this are successive British Governments. When will Republicans and Loyalists stop blaming each other and realise the root cause of all the problems in Ireland, North and South, has been England and Westminster?
Padraig Mac Suibne 3:23 pm on April 4, 2007 Permalink
Beano,
The past shapes the future. Without the past, there cannot be any future…
Go figure, as the Americans say!