Well, Special K the photographer is here in Belfast for his annual visit - staying at my gaff for the duration of Orangefest (yes folks, that's what the 12th has become artistically known as). My fondest memory of K's visit last year was being out in the car with him traversing the walls of Belfast that still separate Nationalist communities from Loyalist communities, and so on. Peace may be here but it's not settling as fast as concrete. To elaborate on the concrete metaphor; the walls form a protective barrier system pretty much in the same manner as when making concrete, except that while it keeps moisture and water out of a structure, it can also can trap moisture inside the concrete. While both communities still feel that the walls around Belfast are needed, the existence of them continues to keep low-level sectarianism alive. On this particular day, a wild bunch of kids on the nationalist side surrounded K's car, jumping all over it and throwing stones at the windscreen. Nice. A young girl no more than eight years of age reefs open the passenger door and shouts at me: "are you a fat hippy?", which was fantastically feral of her and blew me away. Bless. After which she began explaining her reasons for throwing stones at the "Orangees" (i.e. protestant kids on the other side of her section of wall) because they are bad and usually throw stones first. "My da says not to trust the Orangees". This is a child born after the 1994 peace deal was brokered, but it seems her family are just as intent in justifying the walls in a 'wee' mollycoddle aggressive manner to the next generation. Cute, that'll really help move things along. K recently launched a new book in New York chronicling areas around the world that erect walls and/or barriers reminiscent of Germany's Berlin Wall. His latest collection also includes 51 pictures stemming from five journeys he made to Israel and the Occupied Palestinians Territories from Autumn 2003 to January 2006. And for some reason, this is what we spend our time arguing about every time he's here. As you know by now the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a focal point of the crisis between the West and Islam, with liberal lefties fallilng over themselves to convince us that the "whole Palestinian" thing is wrong and it's all Israel's fault....all the torturous build up of violence in the Middle East stems from this small corner, and in the absence of looking any further, it's obvious the jews are to blame. Last night I suggested we watch: The War on Brtain's Jews which was aired on Monday night, presented by Littlejohn. The documentary basically covers a lot of the findings in an All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism last year that found violence, desecration of property and intimidation directed against Jews are all on the increase in Britain. Richard Littlejohn talks to victims and analysts and argues that antisemitism, once the preserve of the extreme right, now has a foothold among some Muslims and says even elements of the Left are fuelling the fire. K said the programme was "totally simplistic" and didn't cover the issues objectively and once again, veered back to the Israel/Palestine arguement to finish off his singular debate. I was too drunk to argue so sucked on a mint Baileys and secretly wished he'd break his ankle and his lens sometime soon. Maybe this is all about inherited German guilt and nothing whatsoever to do with the hotbed of political discord straddling the Middle East right now. The Palestinians refer to K as: 'Habib al-Schaab', friend of the people...and why wouldn't they as his work is totally biased in their favour. I thought the programme was brilliant, specifically Nick Cohen's comments (Observer journalist) about how it's almost 'trendy' these days to be anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish... even at "Islington dinner parties" it's a top topic that gets thrashed about over canapés. On the Indymedia website following the programme, some masterful idiot wrote: 'the pro-zionist lobby already have a vice like control on much of the world's media which is why the desparate plight of the Palestinians is allowed to continue'... This posting has been hidden because it breaches the guidelines but still it's readable and not really that hidden after all. In K's case, there's not much point reiterating the fact that Israel's barrier has, in reality, dramatically lowered the number of terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians in the central and northern regions of Israel where it's erected. His mind is staunch on the matter, but in general, I find it incredible that the mega-left are shamefacedly displaing the sort of racist behaviour they are surely meant to oppose? Or are am I missing something crucial here? Who knows. Anyway, I've told K the discussion is out of bounds this year as I'm not spending a week in my own house hopping mad in response to his potent ignornace even if he is an award winning photographer of international renown. Watch this space for updates (or details on how I was forced to bludgeon him to death with an empty lasagne dish) over the coming days. In the meantime, the loyalist bomb fires have started; bangs and farts in the skyline here. UTV showed a veritable 'wee' Wickerman type of scenario up the Shankers earlier.....a stockpile of about 300 wooden crates with a stiff scarecrow figure on top, a bit like a bizarre Christmas tree with the night sky turning burnished red and trails of snake smoke slithering around those Lidl cans of beer. Someone nearly always gets fried and someone else will get beaten up on their way home but it doesn't have the same level of fear & abhorrence of previous years. And it's all becoming that much easier to flout. K is out taking pics of it all and I told him to be careful, but he just sniggered in my face. "It's only Belfast!" he muttered, "it's not like it's the Gaza Strip or something." True K, true, but don't ever underestimate the latent madness that gripped this place way before you ever picked up a camera or tasted your first Musakhan.
UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! K came back last night (well this morning at about 2.30am) very shook. Their cameras got reefed off them (him and a colleague) by some scuzzbuckets at a bombfire after a fight between Catholic & Protestant youths. They were chased and harassed and got into a fight before the police intervened. There you go.... it may not be the Gaza Strip here but Belfast's Geezer Strip can be just as unpredictable! You should've listened to the blow-in with the big tits K.
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