Bethlehem, Berlin, Belfast: Walls Come Tumbling Down?
Divided places, displaced people, destroyed lives.
The Berlin Wall, Belfast’s Peace Walls and Jerusalem’s Separation Barrier, known in Arabic as the Wall of Apartheid, reflect a dramatic failure of politics, vision and tolerance. The Berlin Wall tried to keep people in and ideas out, Belfast’s peace walls, most of which have been built since the Troubles, tried to keep the lid on sectarian killings, while the West Bank barrier represents the complete failure of the Oslo Accords. All succeed in creating the “other” over the Wall, reinforcing and entrenching division, obliterating hope and cementing a sense of permanence – until they don’t. Join our three panellists – all three of whom have lived behind one of the walls – as they explore everyday life in these divided cities.
Katja Hoyer, Nathan Thrall, Andrea Catherwood with Naoise Nunn