Photos Military Photos 1 June - 7 June 2015

[snapper]

I decided to move away from the usual pictures of tanks, guns etc etc and post some interesting pictures of the Murals in Northern Ireland. i have always been interested in this artwork regardless of who created it.
I wonder if the murals are an obstacle to the peace process?, are they simply there to mark a territory or are they propaganda

Professor Bill Rolston and Irish man himself believes that they are Propaganda and Unashamedly so.

Murals in Northern Ireland have become symbols of Northern Ireland, depicting the region's past and present political and religious divisions.
Belfast and Derry contain arguably the most famous political murals in Europe. It´s believed that almost 2,000 murals have been documented since the 1970s. In 2014, the book,The Belfast Mural Guide estimated that, in Belfast, there were on display. approximately 300 quality murals, with many more in varying degrees of age and decay. Murals commemorate, communicate and show display aspects of culture and history. The themes of murals often reflect what is important to a particular community. A mural therefore exists to express an idea or message and could generally be seen as reflecting values held dear to that community.
In Irish republican areas the themes of murals can range from the 1981 Irish hunger strike, with particular emphasis on strike leader Bobby Sands; murals of international solidarity with revolutionary groups are equally common, as are those which highlight a particular issue, for example the Ballymurphy Massacre or the McGurk's Bar bombing. In working class unionist communities, murals are used to promote Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups such as the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force and commemorate their deceased members. However traditional themes such as William III of England and the Battle of the Boyne, the Battle of the Somme and the 36th Ulster Division are equally common. [text source - Wikipedia]

A Unionist mural - Belfast
By uploadnow (user) (Own photograph) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons


A Loyalist Mural - Cluan Place, Belfast
By Lasse1974 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


An Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) mural - Bangor
By Kilcooleykingbilly (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


A mural in Belfast saying "Slán Abhaile" or "Farewell" to British troops
By Jimmy Harris (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


An IRA mural Ballymurphy, West Belfast
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballymurphy.jpg


Loyalist murals on Thorndyke Street, Belfast
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thorndyke_Street.jpg

Here is a video from Professor Bill Rolston via the BBC regarding the Murals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/0/24465711

 

[Bombardier]

Good subject matter Snapper
Personally I believe that they are an obstacle to peace in the Ulster, they are a constant reminder of the divisions of the past and offer no assistance to the peace process. I enjoyed the video of Professor Rolston gave a good account of the murals.

Here are some murals i found posted in the Galleries

A republican Mural depicting Bobby Sands & Che Guevara in the Bogside

Even the British Army painted Murals in their Sf bases

Murals at the rossville Flats, Bogside

 

[Brit-Pop]

Great post
here is one I found marked public Domain
It remembers, I believe the sacrifices made by lads of the ulster Volunteer Force during World War One and is of course a Loyalist Mural



You Smug faced crowds with knowing eye
Who cheer when soldier lads pass by
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

 

[Bombardier]

THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTHERN IRELAND, 1969 - 2007. © Crown copyright. IWM (TR 32952B)IWM Non Commercial Licence

Paramilitary graffiti daubed on a wall in a street in Belfast: 'Revenge we seek '.
An example of some less artistic but never the less impactive Graffiti created during "The Troubles"


THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTHERN IRELAND, 1969 - 2007. © Crown copyright. IWM (TR 32952A)IWM Non Commercial Licence
A loyalist slogan daubed on a wall in Belfast 1969