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Little
House on the Peace Line
Living and
working as a pacifist on Belfast's Murder Mile
by Tony
Macauley
Blackstaff
Press
2017
It is not
essential to enjoying this story to have had experience of the streets and
places that feature in the book but, as it happens, as a Belfast kid myself, I
can picture a lot of the scenes. My parents were born and raised in the New
Lodge Road area and I made many visits to see grandparents, aunts and cousins
over the years. I am familiar with the territory as well as the tensions and
troubles of Northern Ireland, the ingrained hatred and division, the death and
injury, the devastation and destruction, the
dug-in-heels-wait-a-wee-minute-catch-yourself-on politics, a somewhat shameful
history and ongoing saga. But I am also aware of the organisations and
individuals involved in peace and reconciliation, and their persistence and
courage.
Tony Macauley
(TM) writes: 'In 1985, I went to live on
the other side of the peace line. Everyone said my head was cut. It was the
summer of Live Aid and Bob Geldof pledged to save Africa from hunger. My
ambitions were more modest. I wanted to stop the violence between Catholics and
Protestants in Belfast.'
TM
was convinced that he could make a positive difference to Belfast's community
spirit that he ended up running a youth club. Big deal, say you! But this
was a kind of mission impossible because he was a Protestant from the Shankill
Road and the youth club was across the so-called 'peace line' in the Catholic
New Lodge area. It was a Daniel and the lions thing, but he was driven by faith
and determination and by a sound belief that he could find the good in people.
It was a tough challenge made even juicier by the stipulation that he had to
live near the club, in the Catholic area where everyone knew or would soon find
out he was from 'the other side'.
The youth club was situated on a stretch of the Antrim Road,
nicknamed the 'Murder Mile' because of a litany of atrocities. The area was
experiencing a 90% unemployment rate, a staggering statistic that was not
expected to improve much because of a severe lack of employment opportunities.
Many young people endured feelings of hopelessness. TM: 'I hated it when
older people in the local community dismissed the young people as wee hoods,
troublemakers and scum. I was well aware of just how much
trouble they could make, but most of the young people I got to
know just wanted somewhere to go, something to do and some hope for the
future."
Living accommodation started with a makeshift bedsit and
progressed to a new house near the peace line with neighbours including an army
barracks and a cats home. During this period, TM married Lesley and they set up
home in this tricky part of Belfast. The work trying to keep young members'
minds on positive activities and managing their natural tendencies towards
aggressive talk and actions against anyone they viewed as enemies brought daily
pressures. TM's Christianity was tested too, sometimes to the limit, but it was
bolstered and rejuvenated by a visiting American pacifist who saw no
complications in rejecting violence and forgiving anyone involved.
This excellent, streetwise book has a fair amount of ripe and
feisty young characters and pulls no punches on the unpredictable atmosphere in
Belfast in those days. Trouble was always brewing and happening, and summers,
it seemed, were for riots. TM manages to emphasise the bad things that happened
but he also has a great knack for finding comedy in edgy situations and in what
people say. Commitment, belief and faith kept him going. Add to that a
necessary and defusing sense of humour.
The
part of the story that deals with his father's death is very powerfully written,
an event that stirred mixed emotions including anger at the circumstances.
He talks sensitively and lovingly about his mother's struggles with the
grief at losing her husband. He is open about his feelings of devastation at
the murder of club member Billy. In fact, throughout the book and all of the
humorous dialogue, asides and one-liners, moments of tragedy and sadness keep
us in touch with the fact that this was a time of unpredictability. Towards the
end of the book, he adopts a more general, reflective tone about Northern
Ireland and its people, wise words, based on practical experience.
This is a human story, probably even more important and useful
than many a political memoir. This is about real people trying to get through
daily life as best they can, when often the odds were stacked against
them.
Tony
Macaulay is a natural storyteller but he is also an example of someone who
believed he could change things for the better and, unlike a lot of us, he did
something about it. It took guts, determination and a huge amount of faith to
cross that line. I have no doubt that he changed some lives for the better and,
when you read this book, he will do the same for you.
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