Monday, November 16, 2009

Belfast: Us and Them

Kilometres of graffiti-daubed concrete walls snake through Belfast. They divide Catholic neighbourhoods from Protestant. But do these Peace Walls keep the hatred and suspicion locked outside or inside?

The consensus among the locals is clear if the walls came down there would be a return to intractable sectarian violence. If you pull that wall down therell be murder, mayhem, therell be blood spilt, says a loyalist resident. The recent killings of two soldiers, a policeman and a Catholic community worker, indicate that trouble is still very close to the surface. Theres walls of prejudice; walls that were built here 300 years ago and they're still here in legislation, in prejudice and bigotry', tells Republican Sean McVeigh. 'So those are the walls that are going to have to come down first. Are the Peace Walls monuments to the past or vital and necessary peacekeepers in the present?

Produced by ABC Australia, distributed by Journeyman Pictures

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