Last week I visited Belfast, Northern Ireland, a city that was until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 riddled with forty years of terrorist and sectarian bloodshed known as the "Troubles". This was between Irish republican separatists (Catholic paramilitaries such as the IRA and INLA), those groups loyal to the United Kingdom (the Protestant paramilitaries such as the UFF, UVF and LVF), the Royal Ulster Constabulary and ordinary, innocent people. Today the paramilitaries are represented by their political wings (Sinn Fein and the Progressive Unionist Party) working with always-peaceful parties such as the DUP and SDLP in a peaceful, devolved government, the Northern Ireland Assembly, but dissident groups such as the Continuity IRA and Real IRA still kill and spread terror, and the paramilitaries on both sides of the religious/sectarian divide control large areas of Belfast, dishing out intimidation, shootings and punishment beatings to other groups, "undesirables" and simply those of a different persuasion.
Today most people in Belfast, along with most of Northern Ireland still live segregated lives, growing up and living in areas almost exclusively occupied by either Protestants or Catholics dependent on their religion and politics, and in many cases still hateful and untrusting of the other side. Memories, allegiances and old wounds from the Troubles remain, and these are commemorated in the many murals that litter the streets of West and South Belfast (particularly the Catholic/Republican Falls Road and the Protestant/Loyalist Shankhill Road). Most relate directly to the paramilitaries and groups of the Troubles, some relate to Irish history and heroes; some relate to allegiances with the British crown or other causes. Each is thought-provoking in its own way, and most exist in places that up to even a few years ago would have been areas too dangerous to be visited by tourists.
The photos are not of great quality, and for that I apologise. However, their unique content and relevance to British and Irish history are worthy of note.
Mural marking the entrance to Sandy Row, a loyalist UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters) heartland.
The West Belfast Taxi Association mural. Commemorates the use of taxis as a means of transport during the Troubles when many buses were burned and destroyed. I learned that the "B" licence plate denotes that the taxis are linked to the IRA and pay a £100 per week supplement to them to operate in the Falls Road.
Mural for Bobby Sands MP, the first person of the 10 to die in the 1981 IRA hunger strike, and elected to Parliament as an MP while in prison on hunger strike.
The building that the mural sits on is the local office of Sinn Fein, a republican party believed to be the IRA's political wing.
Republican commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, when Irish republican volunteers rioted and fought against the English in Dublin, took many of the major buildings and declared an Irish Republic. This ultimately led to the Irish War of Independence.
Note the new street name "RPG Avenue". The "RPG" in this case stands for Rocket-Propelled Grenade.
A defaced (or unfinished?) Union Jack on the Shankhill Estate. The initials UYM stand for the Ulster Young Militants, the youth wing of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association, known for their acts of arson, intimidating and rioting.
Loyalist mural denoting the US President Andrew Jackson, whose parents were Presbyterian Scots-Irish.
Mural commemorating loyalist UDA (Ulster Defence Association) member William McCullough, who was shot dead by the Republican paramilitary the INLA (Irish National Liberation Army) in 1981.
A UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters - the military wing of the Ulster Defence Asssociation) mural containing the famous "Belfast Mona Lisa", known because the gun seems to point at you no matter from which position you look at the mural.
