st1:place>White City: An estate under seigeo:p>

Many Unionist residents of North Belfast now, more than at any time
since the early seventies, believe that there has been a strategic
plan to drive them out of North Belfast. This has been reinforced by
the fact that areas like Tiger Bay, Glenbryn, White City, Torrens and
Westland have become, or are quickly becoming, small enclaves under
siege. When we look at coloured "before and after" maps of North
Belfast whole swathes of land have changed their political colour
from being predominantly unionist to being mixed and then to being
predominantly nationalist.

For the past thirty years Unionist areas have been decimated as their
inhabitants have moved out to the peripheral estates and beyond.
Some, such as the middle classes, have moved to escape the effects
of "the troubles" or to avoid having to live in close proximity to
members of the expanding nationalist community who were moving into
their areas. Working class unionists who did not have the financial
wherewithal to "buy" themselves out of North Belfast, or who simply
did not want to leave the communities in which they and their
forbears had grown up, were subjected to a planning strategy that
deliberately allowed their housing stock and community facilities to
run down. This, together with a conflict situation that set community
against community and neighbour against neighbour, forced those
living in interface areas to move out.

What nationalists call "demographic change", working class unionists
regard as strategic expulsion. Their homes were vested, they were
relocated and their houses were either razed to the ground or left
derelict. There was either no redevelopment or inadequate
redevelopment, with the result that people could not come back.
Looked at from a nationalist perspective this mass exodus of
unionists was seen as their hope for the future. They needed housing
and the enforced outward migration of unionists to Newtownabbey,
Carrickfergus and Ballyclare was a godsend. Looked at from a unionist
perspective it is seen as a "reddin' out" of the unwanted.

While the focus for loyalist anger is the nationalist community,
there is a perception too that certain public sector officials,
believing that North Belfast could best be handled on a single
identity basis, embarked upon a programme of social engineering aimed
at greening the constituency. There is a feeling too that the
unionist middle classes have deserted North Belfast and left working
class unionists to their fate. Many unionists believe, rightly or
wrongly, that the "greening of the constituency" was part of a
strategic programme aimed at managing the conflict. In the post-
ceasefire period it appears to be aimed at addressing the chronic
need for housing by the nationalist community.

A single identity North Belfast continues to make sense to the
planners, and many nationalists appear quite happy to see that policy
develop. Indeed, for many, it is not happening fast enough and there
is a belief that there may be collusion at times between
strategically placed public servants and nationalist politicians, who
desperately want housing land for their constituents. There is a
feeling too that some nationalists have decided to give the process a
push by putting physical and psychological pressure on those small
unionist enclaves that appear easiest to cleanse.

Nowhere is this sense of "being squeezed" felt more acutely than in
the White City, a small housing estate of some two-hundred homes
sandwiched between the Upper and the Lower Whitewell. Over the years
both the Lower Whitewell and the Upper Whitewell have changed from
being predominantly unionist to being strongly mixed in terms of
political identity to being predominantly nationalist. A similar
demographic shift has taken place in the nearby Longlands-Mill Road
area. Consequently, the White City is a small unionist enclave
surrounded by nationalists. An estate which many residents believe is
an estate under siege. A tiny obstacle blocking the progress of the
greening process.

White City used to be part of a stretch of road that was fairly
mixed. As one resident from Gunnell Hill pointed out to me, "I have
lived here for nearly thirty years, the majority of that time quite
happily. People around the Whitewell area mixed freely together. You
could walk the Whitewell Road, stop and have a chat, go to the local
shops and school with no bother. . ." This story was reiterated over
and over again by the residents. There used to be a mixed community
where relationships were quite good, but this all changed
dramatically just after the cease-fire(s).

Another resident had this to say, "I would like to give you an
insight into what it is like to live on the White City side of the
peace line. For me life changed in the last three to four years. It
was then that trouble was beginning to stir. Tension in the area was
raised when peace was supposed to be happening. My home and the homes
of my neighbours were being stoned, windows were broken and
gutterings were smashed."

A middle aged couple agreed that the trouble started about four years
ago and feel that the attacks are becoming more and more
frequent. "We have never felt so frightened as we do now because of a
large element of the nationalist community in the surrounding
areas. . ." Most of the residents spoke about having abuse and
threats directed at them on a regular basis and expressed concern
about the devastating effect that the situation is having on their
children and teenagers. One mother explained that her children were
regularly subjected to abuse and that her young daughter was with a
group of friends waiting for the school bus when they were threatened
by four youths carrying a knife. Another lady talked about the early
morning attacks which wake the children and how it was almost
impossible to get them back to sleep "in case another attack
happens".

A family from Gunnell Hill explained how they had to move the
children from the back of the house into the front bedrooms when the
attacks happened. The mother mentioned having to "go to bed with the
fire extinguisher" in case the house was petrol bombed and spoke
about the cost of having every window in the house fitted with
laminated glass. Yet another resident who has lived in Gunnell Hill
since 1990 said that the last five years have been the worst. "I
dread the weekend. I lie in bed worrying what the next weekend will
bring. Things happen. Things that I only ever saw on TV - police land
rovers, petrol bombs being thrown, bricks hitting the back of the
house, kids squealing…"

A single mother of three small children explained that over the past
five years her windows have been broken over twenty times. She went
on to tell me, "My children had to be carried from my home nightly
three years ago because of rioting outside my door. We have had to
see counsellors during the past five years and the kids have
nightmares frequently due to windows being smashed. Three weeks ago I
saw a fella being beat with a hammer outside my house, when I went
out the nationalists told me to get into the house. They yelled abuse
and told me they'd be back to sort me out".

What really annoys the residents that I spoke to is the fact that not
only will no-one listen to their stories, nationalists give the
impression that all of the trouble is coming from the White City. As
one young mother said, "I am disgusted at the articles appearing in
nationalist newspapers and at the comments of some of their
politicians frequently claiming all intimidation and violence in the
Whitewell area is one-sided." Another asked, "What's the crack Billy,
do their reporters not know that we exist? Why will they not talk to
us? Do we have a disease or something?"

The strain of feeling that they are living under siege, the sleepless
nights and the constant worry about their children is evident on the
tired, but determined, faces of the people I have spoken to. As one
lady put it, "I constantly sit and watch out my front window and
become very anxious when there is no police presence, as this is when
the attacks happen". Her friend remarked, "I dearly wish to live a
normal life again and get a peaceful nights sleep".

I was struck by the sympathy that many of the residents had for
nationalists living under the same strain and tension. A resident who
has lived in the White City for three decades remarked, "I am sure
that most of the people living down the lower Whitewell are sick of
all the fighting, but there is a large section of the community
wanting to cause trouble".

The general feeling amongst the residents who spoke to me was that
there is an element within the nationalist community who want to push
them out of the area so that they can take over the White City. The
following remarks sum up the feeling, "This is the last bit of
territory on the Whitewell Road where there is a unionist community,
and they want us out" and "There has been a slow but steady take over
of the lower Whitewell area and we feel that they (nationalists) are
after the White City too".

A lady who has had to leave her home on several occasions to stay
with friends told me that she hated coming back and seeing the stones
and the broken glass littering the garden, "People are trying to
force me to leave my home for good, but I couldn't move. I love my
home, and my friends and my neighbours are here. I hate all this
trouble, but this is my home and I am not for moving".

Another resident who grew up in the estate said, "This is my home. I
don't know how long they intend to keep it up (the trouble) or where
they think it will lead to, but if it is the houses they want they
will have a long wait".

Two local mothers have maintained detailed diaries of events since
July 16th last year. I examined these two diaries on 26th January of
this year.

The diary of Mother "A" records:-
· 51 incidents affecting her family as a result of attacks on her
home or her neighbours home.
· 20 of these attacks were on her own home
· 31 attacks were on neighbours homes
· 6 petrol bomb attacks
· 8 blast bomb attacks
· 5 evacuations from home
· 1 physical assault on her partner resulting in multiple stitches
· 1 school boy killed in circumstances that led the police to charge
the perpetrator with murder
· 1 case of direct physical intimidation against both herself and a
neighbour while out shopping.

The diary of Mother "B" records:-
· 42 attacks on her home
· 8 petrol bomb attacks
· 3 blast bomb attacks
· 1 neighbouring bungalow attacked by petrol bomb
· The roof of her house set on fire
· 2 evacuations from home
· 1 physical assault
· 1 car petrol bombed as person drove home into to the estate
· 1 school boy killed by person who was later charged with murder

No one, unionist or nationalist, should have to live under such
violent circumstances. No one should have to bring up their children
under such traumatic circumstances. No one should feel that they are
less worthy of understanding and compassion than people living in
other communities. In this new post-ceasefire, post-Agreement era of
alleged peace no community should feel that it does not have a right
to exist, that its very existence is seen as a blot on the landscape
or that its refusal to leave is seen as the cause of conflict.

No one is saying that it is all one-sided. No one is saying that
people living "across the peace-line" have not had similar
experiences. But the people of the White City feel that media
coverage of the situation is one-sided, that political validation of
their experience is virtually non-existent and that they have even
been forgotten by civic unionism. They feel that their fears and
their concerns are being ignored and that the wider world of politics
and civic society would rather they packed their bags and moved.

There is a feeling abroad within loyalism that it is now politically
incorrect to believe that working class unionists can ever be the
victims in a conflict situation. They have become the scapegoats for
the "troubles" - the 'poor white trash' of post-Agreement Ulster.
Thus the media, being the pillars of politically correctness, will
continue to ignore the story of those who feel unwanted in their own
land. Mothers and children who suffer abuse on the Ardoyne Road are
the darlings of the local, national and international press. Mothers
and children who suffer abuse in the White City are the embarrassing
victims of a new class-based sectarianism that must be hidden from
public view. No letters of sympathy from Hilary Clinton, no visits
from Orphrah Winfrey or Desmond Tutu, no General Practitioners to
spell out the long-term affects of the nightly violence on the
children, no outraged protests from the leaders of our churches or
trade unions and not a whimper of comment from the socialist groups
that have so much to say on other matters.

In the absence of a caring and understanding media I have tried to
outline the fears and experiences of some members of the White City
community. I doubt if I have been able to do justice to their story,
but I do hope that someone listens and tries to understand. The
problems of North Belfast will not go away while the core issues are
ignored.

Billy Mitchell

http://lark.phoblacht.net/whitecity.html