Belfast and its Troubles
As I stand in front of the International Wall in Belfast, topped with barbed wire and splashed with political murals, I can't help feeling like I've seen it before. Like I've stood here before. And yet, when I stood in front of the colorful murals at Berlin's East Side Gallery – painted on a still-standing section of the now-defunct Berlin Wall – I stood there with the knowledge that that part of Berlin's past was behind it. That part of the wall stands now only as a symbol; a reminder of how things used to be. In Belfast, however? The walls and gates scattered throughout the city of Belfast are still there to serve a purpose. I walk up to a closed-up gate; it's a Saturday afternoon, and my Black Taxi driver/guide Brian explains to me that all the gates in the city close to traffic at nights and on weekends. Unlike in Berlin during the Cold War days, however, this doesn't mean that you can't cross from one side of the city to the “other.” It just si...