Images of Conflict in Northern Ireland Murals

Sometimes on our travels we have walked into unanticipated situations, emotional events we didn't expect, though we perhaps should have. The hangover in Northern Ireland, and in Ireland too, from the years of the Troubles was evident to us from the moment we crossed into Derry from Donegal. We were a little taken aback, but over the last few weeks we tried to come to terms with the emotions we found inside ourselves. It was a rough go.

This poem on a wall in Belfast commemorates Bobby Sands, who starved to death in a British prison. He and nine others refused to wear prison uniforms; they wanted to wear their own clothes to confirm their status as political prisoners - the British decided that Irish nationalists were mere criminals, took away their clothes and left them naked. Cleaned their cells and them with fire hoses. To keep the shreds of their dignity the Irish prisoners died. This was in 1981, not very long ago.

Bobby Sands, who became a poet in jail. Note these murals are not signed.

We weren't looking for serious political confrontations on our holiday. Still, we went on guided tours in Derry and Belfast, trying to understand something of the tension we couldn't help but notice. 

The Troubles ended, more or less, in 1998 with the Good Friday Accords. Many Irish and British and Northern Irish died in this decades-long conflict. People were burned out of their homes, livlihoods were destroyed. Bitter memories persist. 

Nobody was a saint in this conflict. Both sides did terrible things. It's truly hard to defend bombs blowing up teenage girls and people you don't know at all. It's easy to get depressed about what humans are capable of, isn't it? We tried to stay on keel.

The issues are incredibly complex, and I don't think I can explain them. Everybody thinks they themselves are right. Both cities still have segregated housing, and also it appears that jobs and education are highly segregated. Both sides engage in political exchanges via wall-sized murals. Here are some. 

The child in this photo was shot.
Celtic interlace identifies the mural as Catholic.

This first lot are from Belfast. Notice the Celtic edging, and how in Bobby Sands' portrait the interlace becomes chains that are broken by his actions. The imagery is good. The colors are engaging. The message is a moral one:  it isn't right to kill these children, these young people. 

The Memorial Flute Band, commemorating two deaths.

Who are these people, responding to murder with a flute band? Just makes a body to think!

I didn't pick up who wrote this song.
The message is clear - nationalists are not criminals.

I'm including rather handsome murals with dazzling color and clear positions. There are many, many more.

Now, here are a few from the Protestant Orangemen. The style is quite different. We arrived in Derry on June 24 and left from Belfast on July 3. In Belfast, preparations were underway for the Orange March.

July 12 commemorates the Battle of the Boyne, when in 1690 William of Orange defeated the Catholic James II to claim the throne of England and Ireland for Protestant rule. Every summer on July 12 military-style Orange units march around (used to be through) the Catholic neighborhoods, trying to annoy the Catholics, which they do. Generally violence comes along with the march, and this year again there was a small riot. We, however, were gone by then.

The ex-government of Northern Ireland coat of arms still appears on this wall

Quis Separabit = Who Shall Separate?

There's a lot of symbolism in this mural, besides the English lion and stag. You can see the Irish harp, upper left, for instance, and the Red Hand in the center. This refers to a myth:

The kingdom of Ulster, in pagan times, had no heir, and two contending sides agreed to a boat race - whoever laid their hand on Ireland first, would win. Naill O'Neill realized he was losing, cut off his hand and threw it onto the shore to claim the kingship.

Well, so the story goes, and if you don't believe me, let me tell you another, having to do with two fighting giants. This lion is laughing ferociously, compared with many English heraldic lions which are rather glum, and the whole painting is pretty cheerful. However, overall the Protestant Ulstermen seem to feel threatened, and that's not a cheerful feeling.

Neighborhoods are separated by fencing

More symbols of the Orangemen.
The central figure is a sniper.

Now why would you remind your neighbors that you idealize violence against them? Can't we just all get along? Seems not. Large Protestant settlement happened in Derry and elsewhere in Ulster after William II won his crown, right through the 18th century, and Catholic elites saw their lands confiscated, their power destroyed. Catholics were thoroughly marginalized in Ulster and all over Ireland. Then there was the cruel famine, exacerbated by British indifference, and the death or emigration of millions of Irish. So. Uneasy lies the head that can never say, we're so sorry.

At the culmination of the Orange marches, bonfires are set.
Here's a bonfire-in-the making.
Inside the framework of pallets are hundreds of tires. A smoky fire!

I'm not Irish by descent (Julianne is), and I'm not Catholic by upbringing. My political tendency is to side with the underdog. I like the Catholic murals much better than the threatening Orangemen ones. Can't help myself.

But actually nobody comes out smelling good in this struggle. Random bombings and targeted assassinations - done by both sides - how can you walk back from that? How will the survivors ever trust you, or work together for the common good? They won't. They never will.

In Derry, things are darker, and the murals too are harsher. Just a few, for the flavor.

In Bogside, a Catholic neighborhood

Another from Bogside

From Waterside, the Protestant half of town

However, in Derry there's an overt effort to change the imagery. Derry is a grimmer place, lots of awful things happened there. Yet there's a need to find a way out of those feelings.

The girl was killed, her soul as a butterfly flies up.
The gun is broken, signifying the IRA has turned
away from violence. Note Irish flag here in Northern Ireland.

This mural, in the Waterside, has had a provocative anti-
Catholic image painted out.

Peace sculpture  stands between Bogside and Waterside.

And, they're not shooting each other. That's good. 1998 isn't very long ago, and people have to keep watch, to keep these fires from flaring up again.

by Nancy, pictures by Nancy too
comments from Julianne prompted some revisions