Written comprehension.
Read the three texts, then answer the question. Text 1
A SENSE OF SAFETY
Within Belfast the west of the city is predominately Catholic, east Belfast is largely Protestant, the south of the city is more mixed, and north Belfast is a patchwork of Protestant and Catholic neighbourhoods.
We found that the everyday use of parks in west and north Belfast was often focused on local facilities - within a 10-minute walk. People are prepared to travel for specific activities, but maintain a more frequent relationship with local spaces which act as community hubs.
Remnants of The Troubles remain in Belfast. Distrust of Belfast City Council and the Police Service Northern Ireland, as well as communities from different parts of the city, persists. Some residents stay in their local area as it provides a sense of ownership and safety they may not feel elsewhere.
How Belfast's parks promote shared space in a historically divided city, The Conversation, 20 Oct 2020.
TEXT 2
The undercurrent of savagery is rarely far away
It's been that way from ancient times, until the present day That murky world of politics, where they always try and fail
Where deals are done in private, behind the secret veil
Held up as a precedent, for all the world to see
How little Ulster saved itself, from a life of misery
We listen to the sound bites, each day's a brand new start Yet our celebrated peace walls, keep communities apart Leslie Wilson, Peace? (excerpt)
TEXT 3
The Re-Imaging Communities project
In Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, hundreds of colorful murals line the city's streets, detailing a century's worth of conflict and political division. (.)In 1998, the internationally-brokered Good Friday Agreement, also called the Belfast Agreement, officially ended the conflict and set up power sharing government between Protestant Unionists and Catholic Nationalists. Since then the violence has largely subsided. But tensions still linger between Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, with some residents reluctant to bridge the gap. (…)
In the last several years, some communities have repainted portions of the most controversial murals or erected new ones in an effort to continue normalizing relationships between Protestants and Catholics.
Under the Re-Imaging Communities project through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, some communities received funding to create new murals in place of older images.
These murals lie at the center of a debate over Northern Ireland's future, Canvas Arts, PBS NewsHour, Feb
25 2017
Questions
Make an account in English of the three texts in order to answer the questions:
• How is the current situation between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast portrayed in the three texts?
• What explanations for the situation and solutions for improvement are mentioned? ( 150 words )
