Belfast – razdeljeno mesto Severne Irske

Zahodnjaki oziroma bom raje rekel kar Evropejci smo velikokrat pametni in začudeni nad politično-družbenimi situacijami širom po svetu. Obsojamo zidove med Palestinci in Izraelci, se čudimo nad slednjimi na meji med Indijo in Bangladešem, Marokom in Zahodno Saharo, se zgražamo nad idejami ameriškega svaka o zidu na meji med ZDA in Mehiko in še bi lahko našteval. Vse tako daleč, vedno obsojanja vredno in vedno s pripombo, da kaj takega v Evropi ni možno. A na žalost je takih zidov tudi v naši okolici še kako veliko in podobno stvaritev smo imeli možnost videti tudi v mestu Belfast na Severnem Irskem. Kljub temu, da nisem kakšen poseben ljubitelj obiskovanja mest, moram priznati, da je Belfast nekaj posebnega. Pa ne le zaradi tistih nekaj kilometrov bizarnega zidu, ki že od leta 1969 dalje še vedno ločuje protestantske in katoliške skupnosti Belfasta. V tisith dveh dneh mi je nekako zlezel pod kožo. S svojo posebno energijo, “divjim” šarmom, zanimivim, ponavadi kar črnim humorjem in pa fantastično grafiti sceno, ki jo lahko vidiš praktično na vsakem vogalu. Eno dopoldne smo preživeli skupaj s gospodom, ki nam je v tistih nekaj urah skušal pojasniti ali vsaj malo približati severnoirski konflikt, kateremu je bil priča od malih nog. Zgodbe, ki sem jih do takrat poznal le iz filmov in nekaj knjig, so postale še kako resnične in srhljive. Sploh, ko vidiš, da je konflikt po 50 letih še vedno živ.

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Westerners, or I will say Europeans, are often smart  and very critical about political and social situations around the world. We condemn the Palestinian-Israeli walls, border walls between India and Bangladesh, Morocco and the Western Sahara, we are disappointed about the idea of building the wall at the US-Mexico border… Everything is far away and always with the comment that something like this is not possible in Europe. But unfortunately you can find some “interesting” walls also in Europe, among them also in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Even though I am not a particular fan of traveling in the cities, I have to admit that Belfast is something special. And not just because of those few kilometers of bizarre wall that still separates Belfast Protestant and Catholic communities since 1969. In those two days Belfast somehow got under my skin. With its special energy, “wild” charm, interesting humour, and fantastic graffiti scene you can see on almost every corner. We spent one morning with a gentleman, who tried to explain the Northern Irish conflict he had witnessed from a young age. The stories I had only known from the movies and a few books had become very real and very heartbreaking. Especially when you see that the conflict is still alive after 50 years.