East, East, East Belfast

Living in East Belfast for the past few years has meant living through the Titanic Centennary just as it has meant living through the Covenant Centenary; enjoying events of the first annual East Belfast Arts Festival and over two months of riots and protests over the removal of the union flag from City Hall; getting leaflets through the door to 'Smash Alliance' and 'Keep Immigrants Out'; alongside free magazines, community newspapers, charity appeals, and invitations to community functions. 

While many places have this broad range of potentiality, there is something particularly dichotomous about the nature of East Belfast.

The tensions that have erupted during the flag protests do not lie too deeply under the surface, but they do remain hidden enough for Belfast to be named the second safesty city in the world for tourists, the top 10 places to see in 2013 by National Georgraphic, and the home to MTV Music Awards, Cultural Olympiad events and a year long festival of Our Time Our Place.

The past two months of protests and riots have led to a great deal of embarassment, anger and confusion throughout the city, which is gradually returning to apathy as road closures are more rare and the general public's lives are less affected.  I myself grew somewhat immune to taking alternative routes, passing through crowds of young people standing around beside recently burnt out cars, and going to sleep to the hum of helicopters overhead.

I have noticed that while the protests are growing smaller and the bus journeys are becoming more regular, an important element of these protests have been under-considered, and that is the social environment that lay the backdrop for the scenes of protest the past many weeks. Waiting for the bus I noticed a new Union flag flying above a derelict building. On the wall there was grafitti 'child snatchers out' and a public announcement about domestic violence. Just as I was starting to lose sight of these important issues, somewhat hidden behind the bright colours of red, white and blue, the words of Kahlil Gibran's spoke wisdom.

''Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world. But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you, So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also. And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree, So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.'' - Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet

The society of Northern Ireland is only as secure and sustainable as its most contentious and deprived communities. As for the world, it is only as prepared for peace as its most conflicted regions. We are all inter-related and inter-connected and because of this we cannot stand by and ignore experiences of discontent as arising from a group of few, for in the few are the many and in essence the 'anti-social' elements of this society is a reflection on our society as a whole.