Never again

Last week I spent a couple of days in Northern Ireland. It’s not somewhere I’d ever been before. Growing up in the 1980’s it was somewhere I’d heard of often on the news because of The Troubles. It had been somewhere I’d contemplated for University (but was persuaded to go elsewhere). I was headed for Belfast and had a little over 48 hours from landing to explore the city – and was prepared to make the most of it.

The one place I had been told I had to go was the Titanic Experience. The ill fated maiden Atlantic voyage of the White Star liner is something most people are aware of. The ship had been built here in Belfast and the exhibit, based in the shipyard where the Titanic launched, takes you on a journey through all that happened on that fateful day. It’s a moving experience. The words “Never Again” shine brightly in the muted light towards the end of the exhibition. They’re words that stay with you. But for me – they stayed with me for another reason.

I’m glad I did the Titanic Experience – and got the iconic photo (Leo was man overboard) … but there was something else in Belfast that moved me more. Somewhere else in the city that those words, never again, felt more poignant.

On my final morning I set off on foot to West Belfast. To a part of the city that I wouldn’t have been able to walk through, certainly not alone 30 years ago. This was a part of the city that was talked about on the News during the troubles, an area known as The Falls. Many people do visit – but often they go as part of a guided city tour. I decided to go it alone.

Here you find the Belfast Murals – street art that tells the story, from the Republican perspective, of what happened in the years from 1969 through to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. They’re impressive to see. They’re moving to see.

Taking a left turn off the Falls Road you come to the wall. The Peace Wall. What was a temporary structure erected to dissipate the tension, to quell the rising frustrations and anger. To separate the Republicans on one side from the Nationalists on the other. A wall that has gates that still close at night today.

That part of the United Kingdom, during my lifetime, needed a wall to protect people from other people is something that makes you stop in your tracks. This is where those words, never again, really rang true. Yes – we don’t want to see cruise liners sinking in the middle of the ocean – but the civil unrest that was once seen here. There is no question that we never, ever want to see that again. Surely never again.

As I walked along the wall on the Unionist side I met a local resident who was walking his dog. He asked me out of genuine curiosity why I had decided to come here. Especially coming alone and not part of a tour. My response was simple – to remember what happened, to not let it be forgotten. So it never happens again.

On the Unionist side of the wall people come to add their own name in celebration of peace. I duly added my own alongside the thousands of others that were already there. Because peace is the only way forward.