HC Fordham Abroad: Is Feidir Linn!

There are few Americans who can look at those three Irish words and know what they mean, but in English, there are very few Americans who have never heard those three words: Yes We Can!

I knew prior to this experience that Ireland and America influence one another, but I had no idea to what extent.  In Ireland, there are postcards with Obama’s face on them and Ireland in the background, on campus the “Run for Class Rep” posters have Obama’s silhouette on it and “Is Feidir Linn” is everywhere – on bumper stickers, posters, signs, and even t-shirts.

This past weekend I went to Belfast, Northern Ireland; the history behind the city and the country is amazing.  Throughout western Belfast, there are numerous political murals that line the walls of buildings and homes, these paintings tell the story of Belfast. 

Prior to 1998’s “Good Friday Agreement”, endless years of battle were fought between Republican/Nationalists and Loyalist/Unionists. Thirteen years later, the battle is still prevalent in the social orders of the country.  Although violence and guns are (thankfully) no longer used, there is still a wall separating the Catholic Falls neighborhood and the Protestant Shankill Road neighborhood. This wall was built to prevent children from throwing rocks at one another. 

Also, the schools in Northern Ireland are primarily still segregated between Catholics and Protestants. Over 90% of school-age children go to school where over 90% of the school is of one faith; there are few integrated schools.
The conflict in Northern Ireland is very similar to American history between races.  Some of the muralists address this similarity.

As I was touring Belfast, I was thinking about how in the Republic of Ireland, American culture and politics is evident everywhere and although the representation is different in the political realm, Northern Ireland also has American influence. Northern Ireland is overcoming the challenges of religious differences, in some senses following our footsteps planted in the 1950s and 1960s, when we integrated into one nation of all races.

This weekend in Belfast also gave me a better personal understanding of my family.  I never really thought about dates and events in Ireland in relevance to my own grandfather’s life, but he lived in Ireland through the conflicts of the early twentieth century.  Born in 1907, he was just 9 years old during the 1916 Easter Rising (the climax of the revolts of Irishmen challenging the English) in Dublin (about the same age I was for 9/11). In 1921 when Northern Ireland and Ireland officially became two separate entities, the north remaining part of the United Kingdom, he was just fourteen and growing up on the border of the north and south, his life must have been drastically affected.

While in Northern Ireland, I also visited the Giant’s Causeway which is on the most northern coast of Ireland and is a site of an ancient volcanic eruption. All of the rocks are in a hexagon shape and jet out onto the bay.  The site was beautiful, even despite the stereotypical Ireland weather of cold, rain and wind!

This upcoming week and weekend I plan to reunite with fellow Fordham abroad students in Paris, while also writing midterm essays that are due next week (I can’t believe it is halfway already!).