So I did the Museum of Free Derry and a tour of the murals a few days ago. It was pretty emotionally draining actually. It's just so recent still. The museum is right on the square where Bloody Sunday happened. And when you go in there the man behind the counter taking your money tells you how the museum works and then he tells you that his younger brother was one of those 13 people killed on Bloody Sunday. A big group of people from Michigan came in a few minutes after me and I eavesdropped on their introduction thing from him.
There were two inquiries made to look into what happened on Bloody Sunday--the first one was done by a British general who discounted all the eye-witness testimonies and declared the British troops were in the right: that the people of the bogside were gunmen and bombers. So then three years ago, there was another inquiry made and more testimonies from people that were actually there, and the statements made by British troops themselves, and it has been declared that all the people of Derry who were killed that day were innocent--that they were murdered. Now, the families of the victims want the 4 British soldiers responsible to be prosecuted. I can't imagine why they wouldn't be.
In the museum there are all kind of things from the whole conflict that have been donated by families. There are the huge rubber and plastic bullets that people were killed with because they were shot at point blank range. There is a recording that's looped all day long that was taken by a reporter who was there, and it's the rally, the shootings, and the reaction to the killings. There is the Derry civil rights banner. There's the white hankerchief that Bishop Daly waved as he was trying to rescue one of the boys shot. There are a bunch of different articles of clothings with bullet holes on display.
My walking tour was led by a man who was a member of the IRA and who was prison for seven and a half years because of it. There are 12 murals in the bogside and he explained them all to us. Three are of the most famous pictures of the conflict:
The one there in the middle is Bishop Daly waving the white handkerchief, Jackie Duddy's body being carried to an ambulance, and a British paratrooper standing in the way--and on civil rights. The one on the right is called Petrol Bomber. It's from the Battle of the Bogside in 1969. The lad is only 12 I think.
There's one mural that changes all the time. It's the one that says "You are now entering Free Derry" I was a little ashamed that I didn't know this when the tour guide asked me, but they got it from Berkeley. Most of the civil rights movement here was based on ours. But yeah it changes all the time: a couple months ago it was pink for gay rights, when Bush came over here they covered it with a black curtain in protest of the Iraq war, right now it's red and black because of the local anarchist association or something like that.
After that we've just been going out the past few nights. It's great craic. The locals seem to like us--there was this man who came and talked to us in the bar and was telling us about how much he hates the British and how many of them he killed in the Troubles, and where he was on Bloody Sunday. He could have been lying about the whole things. You never know. He also thinks that Princess Diana was murdered. Another guy was almost impossible to understand. I really tried though and I reckon he appreciated that cause he bought us a few drinks and told us we made his day and told us to be careful and enjoy ourselves while we're here. Everybody has been so nice to us--for the most part.
I do have to leave tomorrow though. Partly because I don't want to pay to stay here anymore--the exchange rate to pounds is way worse than euros, and I have my first final on Tuesday and I should probably study just a bit. I will miss it here though. It's been the best time I've had since I've been over here.
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