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Derry Today: Northern Ireland's City of Possibilities
| Article
# : |
20685 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1992 |
4,688 Words |
| Author
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Malcolm McDowell Woods
Malcolm McDowell Woods is a free-lance journalist and editor
of the Irish American Post, a monthly newspaper covering the
Midwest's Irish-American community. Having spent his early
childhood in Derry, he travels to Northern frequently. He
resides in Milwaukee. |
It is late winter in Derry, a gray and dark place even under the high sun of summer, but the colorfully painted storefronts glow as if energy coursed through their walls. Lace curtains soften the window frames, and an ancient bicycle leans against one of the buildings. This is the Ireland of postcards and coffee-table books, the land that its migrated sons and daughters picture in their imperfect memories.
It is not real.
Ireland is a place always damp with symbolism, a land where historical fact quickly becomes overgrown with mythology, but few places here have nourished myth as well as Derry has. The city has been home to a lingering conflict bordering on all-out civil war for years. The battle forever simmers, occasionally rushing to the surface of worldwide media attention as it did twenty years ago on January 30, 1972, a day known as Bloody Sunday, when a protest march turned into a violent confrontation that left thirteen marchers dead.
Approximately three thousand more have been killed since then throughout Northern Ireland as extremist paramilitary organizations, both for and against the province's continued relations with Britain, battle each other and the British army. The troops were sent here to maintain order--Roman Catholic confidence in the mostly Protestant local police forces is weak--but the presence of armed soldiers on the streets leaves a visitor with the impression of an occupied country.
Controversy over the city's very name epitomizes the split: Derry, a part of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, is officially known as Londonderry. But the city council, numerous organizations, and a majority of residents disdain the city's prefix, favoring simply Derry. Only by royal decree, which the Derry council has yet to petition for, could the name be formally changed. Given that for years the use or omission of the prefix marked political and cultural boundaries, it is uncertain whether official action will be taken anytime soon.
Because the mythology that surrounds Derry's history-redolent of hatred, prejudice, and division-has not served the city well, the residents have begun an effort to move beyond the symbolism and mythology. They are intent on digging up the past and holding it to the light. They hope to discover some way out of the troubles, some way forward, hidden in the two exhumed histories.
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