Reconciliation: An Exercize in the Arts

By Katherine Wright, ‘11

I had slept through the border crossing. My sleepy eyes awoke to snow-capped hills and small farmhouses in the distance, and it seemed as if a fairy tale was unfolding before my eyes. I looked down at my watch to discover that we had been driving long enough to have officially reached the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, or the North of Ireland– however you choose to define it.

As we pulled into a rest stop, I quickly stuffed Euros into the back of my wallet and desperately grasped for British pounds so that the waitress would not suspect I was traveling from the South.

An hour later, we reached Belfast; until now, this was a city I had only known through song; as a child with an Irish-American heritage I knew of the ‘Bell from Belfast city with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes’ as early as I can remember.

Our bus had license plates from the Republic and our bus driver explained that had it been a number of years ago, he would have been nervous to drive into Belfast with a bus from Ireland. Now, however, he explained in a thick Irish accent, “Oh don’t ya worry, you’re just fine traveling anywhere in Belfast now. I reckon it’s safer up here than Dublin.”

Despite this reaffirming statement from our knowledgeable driver, my nerves grew as I exited the bus and looked around at the cold city streets as the bright winter sun cast its shadow on the sidewalks. I could feel tension in the air. But was this all in my head? It had been years since violence was a daily reality of Belfast, but not long enough for ‘The Troubles’ to be considered remote, forgotten history. By political terms, the conflict between Catholics and the Protestants, often refereed to as ‘The Troubles’, was over by way of a peace agreement signed in 1998. Since then, the area has stabilized. However, the city streets still seemed to tremble with the stories of lost lives, car bombs and police riots.

I traveled to Northern Ireland with a delegation of seven other students from Occidental College through the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life in order to examine ‘The Troubles’ and the critical role that religion played in the conflict between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We worked to identify the core issues that underlie conflict as well as the methods used to establish peace and embrace reconciliation.
Through our partnership with the Irish School of Ecumenics, we were able to meet with peace and reconciliation organizations and hear from victims and survivors of the conflict. Through these firsthand accounts, we were able to begin to unpack the difficulties, frustrations and successes entailed in the long process of rebuilding Northern Ireland.

In order to further examine the process of reconciliation, I conducted independent research on the murals that surround community walls throughout Belfast. These murals were used as a political and social form of expression during the conflict in order to mark territories, honor fallen heroes, or to voice opinions publicly. To this day, the tradition of mural painting still continues, but instead of spreading staunch political and cultural views, it is starting to be used to promote peace and reconciliation.

As you wander through Belfast’s residential streets, large, colorful murals adorn the walls of this severely divided city. Many of the murals tell the history of the conflict, as dark shadows of paramilitary men, IRA slogans, Bobby Sands, and Union Jacks drape simple architecture with vibrant messages. In order to allow space for other stories to be told, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has designed a program to aid the process of reconciliation through public art with the Re-imaging Communities Program.

The Re-imagining Communities Program is “rooted in the building of a shared future for Northern Ireland, which is peaceful, inclusive, prosperous, stable and fair.” In order to achieve this goal, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland is engaging communities to re-imagine their communities without images of violence and hateful words once used to define their neighborhoods and identities.

This work requires a long process of community outreach, workshops as well as the actual creation of the art. Deborah Malcolmson, a local artist involved in the project, explained that “it is a community led project. We don’t go to communities; they come to us, and you cannot just come in and tell them what to do. You must really work with the community before hand, but there is no template for this.” One of the many facets of this project is to allow people to feel that they are in power of their own lives and communities. Peace and reconciliation through community involvement is necessary to ensure that the time of violence and hatred is redirected in a way that empowers and secures lives within these communities.

However, the violence that lived within these streets is not one that can be easily silenced or forgotten. In light of this, Anne Ward, the Director of the Re-Imagining Communities Program at the Arts Council explained that the project “encourages people to look at the history of their immediate areas” in order to support meaningful cultural expression and to allow “pride” without causing violence or animosity so that communities can “celebrate old traditions in new, more peaceful ways”.  Art has been a useful means to achieve this because “it is a open and safe way of exploring ideas and it helps to transform through its experimental nature.”

Through this brief study of art as a means of reconciliation, I was able to gain insight into a violent chapter in Northern Ireland’s history highlighting both a community’s prideful heritage and its painful losses. Despite its recent violent past, Northern Ireland is moving forward. This project represents Northern Ireland’s path towards reconciliation, but, as Ward explained, “we [in Northern Ireland] have a long way to go, a really long way…we are ten years into the peace process but we have only dipped our toes in the water.”

Katherine Wright is Diplomacy and World Affairs major and can be reached at wrightk@oxy.edu. Support for this project was provided by a Richter-ASP award from Occidental College.

Going Green- A Semester in Freiburg

By Michael Fisher, ‘11

I would not, by any stretch of the imagination, identify myself as particularly “green”.  When my family and I moved to Los Angeles five years ago, we lovingly embraced the consumer-friendly, car-oriented, perpetually air-conditioned world of Southern California.  At one time—of which I am both equally proud and ashamed to admit—we even owned five cars, one for every member of the family.  During my sophomore year at Oxy, my dorm room was equipped with two televisions, two refrigerators, and a stereo that regularly overloaded the circuit breaker in the hallway.  Consequently, considering my lifestyle choices to date, it was a curious decision to spend my semester abroad in a city that has been hailed as the “Green Capital of Europe”.

Let me explain.

After nearly 20 hours and more than 6000 miles of traveling I arrived in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.  Following a strenuous walk from the train station with three large overweight bags, I sat in a taxi on the way to what would become my home for the next four months.  The sights and sounds of that initial drive later came to define my experience in Freiburg.  We passed low-rise office buildings and the historic Innenstadt, crossed over the scenic Dreisam River and skirted the densely forested slopes of the Schlossberg. German graffiti—which I would soon learn to read—with messages like “Your Television Lies” and “Parking Places Over All” (a play on Germany’s national anthem) covered the apartment buildings we sped past.  I saw the university buildings where I would study and the farmers’ markets where I would shop.  The drive even introduced me to the local anarchist encampment, an institution that would soon become a familiar sight.  That first journey from the train station gave me glimpses of a dynamic city with a vibrant culture where green industries thrive and recycling ranks next to godliness.

Freiburg im Breisgau is an incredibly picturesque German city located on the edge of the Black Forest, just minutes away from both Switzerland and France.  Founded in the 12th century, Freiburg quickly became the commercial hub of the Breisgau region. The city’s well-known university, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, was established in 1457 and remains one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in Europe. Famous for its weather, its vineyards, and its natural beauty, Freiburg welcomes over one million visitors every year. With just over 200,000 residents (nearly 30,000 of them students), Freiburg is by no means a small city.  However, walking through the historic downtown or shopping at the local markets, one cannot help but experience a sense of intimacy in this charming city.

Both Freiburg’s high quality of life and distinctive local culture contribute to the city’s green reputation. Its “green city” moniker is overwhelmingly the result of an intense commitment to environmental sustainability on the part of the city government, local businesses, and Freiburgers. As I explored Freiburg during my four months there, the depth of the city’s commitment to environmentalism became increasingly evident and persuasive.

I arrived in Freiburg in late August, just one month before the quadrennial German federal elections.  My first impressions of the German political landscape were surprising.  Unlike American elections, where political advertisements often inundate television, radio, and the Internet, German campaigning is largely limited to posters and local stump speeches.  When the Prime Minister, Angela Merkel, came to Freiburg to support her party, I was fortunate enough to witness Freiburg’s reaction to her. Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, is not known for its environmental policies; the protests against Merkel gave me my first introduction to Freiburg’s green politics.
Freiburg’s history as a green community began over 40 years ago in the late 1960s with the introduction of a citywide sustainable transportation policy.  Catalyzed by the anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s, Freiburg began to explore renewable energy alternatives and environmentally friendly development over the subsequent decades.  Today, local government policies encourage the development of an environmental economy in Freiburg; nearly 10,000 residents are currently employed in green industries, contributing over 500 million Euros to the economy each year. Freiburg is the largest city in Europe to have a Green Party mayor, Lord Mayor Dr. Dieter Soloman.  Living in Freiburg, it is impossible to miss the proof of the city’s commitment to environmentalism.

As I explored Freiburg, I began to take notice of solar panels arrayed throughout the city. With nearly 150 days of sunshine a year, as well as a high level of environmental awareness among citizens, Freiburg has become the solar capital of Germany.  Nearly ubiquitous in some city neighborhoods, solar panels provide a considerable amount of Freiburg’s energy needs.  Even the roof of SC Freiburg’s soccer stadium, is lined with solar cells.  Freiburg also uses other innovative technologies, like small water wheels, to generate power for local homes and businesses.

The evidence of Freiburg’s sustainability extends far beyond renewable energy. Historic downtown Freiburg is closed to all motor vehicle traffic; only pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed to enter the city center.  During the warmer months of my time in Freiburg, I made use of the extensive network of bicycle lanes throughout the city to commute to and from class.  When winter began to set in, I was able to rely on the city’s comprehensive tram system to get around.  Cyclists account for over 28% of all traffic in Freiburg, nearly on par with private car use.  In fact, Freiburg has the lowest motor-vehicle density in Germany, with 423 cars per 1,000 people.  Freiburg’s foray into environmental sustainability has fostered the development of a wide range of innovative green ideas and technologies.

In my student apartment in the Vauban district, I was introduced to the city’s most recent—and most extreme—venture into environmental sustainability.  Vauban, formally the site of a Nazi army barracks, was occupied by the French military until the reunification of Germany in 1991.  Following the withdrawal of French forces, Freiburg began to redevelop the area into an environmentally sustainable community.  Completed in 2006, Vauban offers a unique mix of upscale housing, student apartments, and businesses for its 5,500 residents.  Almost every building is equipped with solar panels and designed to reduce heat loss and maximize energy efficiency. Most importantly, street parking, driveways, and home garages are generally prohibited in Vauban.  While car ownership is allowed, residents are required to pay up to $40,000 for a parking place in a central garage when purchasing their homes.  Consequently, less than 30% of Vauban’s residents own cars.  However, grocery stores, banks, and tram stops are dispersed throughout the neighborhood, ensuring that they are never more than a short walk away from home.

The unique atmosphere of living in Vauban led to a number of interesting experiences.  For example, to block the development of a new “green” shopping center, a group of anarchists squatted on land between my apartment and the tram stop.  While their fortified encampment was initially intimidating, it soon became just another part of living in the greenest section of a green city.  To describe Vauban as tolerant would be a significant understatement.  As I noticed on my first day, ideological graffiti, with messages from “Atomkraft? Nein danke” (Atomic energy? No thanks) to “Revive the F Word (Feminism)”, marked many of the student apartment buildings.  Some things I initially thought were clever—like timers on light switches—proved maddening when I had friends visit. Small energy efficient refrigerators made daily shopping the norm.  I quickly found that my German roommates placed extreme importance on proper recycling.  In Vauban, this entailed sorting waste into one of five separate bins: plastic, paper, compost, glass, and “other”.  Through the frequent, and not so gentle, reminders of my flatmates, I gradually became accustomed to the Freiburger lifestyle.

A semester abroad is an opportunity to immerse oneself in another country’s language and culture.  My study abroad experience was no exception. I traveled to Freiburg in August with expectations of improving my German, meeting new people, and studying the European Union.  What I did not expect were the environmental habits I brought back with me to Los Angeles after four months in Freiburg. While I would still hesitate to identify myself as “green”—particularly in comparison to the people I met in Germany—I have grown substantially “greener”.

Michael Fisher ‘11 is a Diplomacy and World Affairs Major at Occidental College. He can be reached at mfisher@oxy.edu.