BELFAST: A CITY OF POLITICAL MURALS

by Paolo Morisi

This summer I traveled to Belfast during the month of July, when marching season was in full swing. I wanted to visit the city and especially its painted murals, because in Northern Ireland they represent an important means of cultural and political expression. Murals can be found all over the city, but especially in the working-class areas of West and North Belfast. Irish nationalists and Unionists both use the murals to highlight their main political issues and to rally popular support for their cause.

Murals first appeared in the protestant working-class areas of Sandy Row and the Shankill in the early part of the last century when unionists were fighting against the incorporation of Northern Ireland into the Irish state. The unionist theme of resistance resounds through these images, most often through the character of King William III. The image of the king commemorates his victory in the Battle of the Boyne on July 12 1690, in which he defeated his father-in-law, took control of the English throne and initiated British rule in Ireland. Other unionist murals depict the Union Jack, the Red Hand of Ulster and the flags of Ulster proclaiming the loyalty of the region to the state and the union. In the early part of the 20^th century the unveiling of a new mural was a community event in the protestant neighborhoods and was often conducted by a local Ulster Unionist Party representative. Following the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, unionist murals reflected a new feeling of popular alienation from the structures of the British state, but the main topic was still resistance to a united Ireland. In the 1990s many unionist murals reflected the leftist orientation of the emerging Progressive Unionist Party, which has had some success in blending the unionist cause with working-class politics. For instance, the Progressive Unionists support policy proposals such as the just wage, more investment in struggling areas, better schools and job-training schemes for young people, and their murals reflect the party’s social concerns.

Catholic and nationalist neighborhoods have their own, more recent mural tradition, which dates to the 1981 hunger strike carried out by Bobby Sands and other republican prisoners in appeal for political prisoner status. The strike came at the end of a five-year campaign during which republican prisoners, refusing to wear prison uniforms, were clothed only in blankets or towels. When the nationalist candidate of the Fermanagh/South Tyrone district died, Sinn Fein, the political wing of the republican movement, put Sands up for election. The nationalist electorate united to elect him to the Westminster parliament, hoping to save his life. Bobby Sands was 27 years old when he died on the sixty-sixth day of his hunger strike, May 5, 1981, just a few days after his election. He had spent the last nine years of his life in prison because of his Irish Republican Army activities. His memory is captured in the many murals that still can be found in Belfast and other Northern Irish cities.

Despite the tragedy of Sands’ fate, he might have been pleased by some of the unintended consequences that came from it. Prior to 1981 republicans had either refused to participate in elections in the North, or, if elected, had refused to take their seats. But after Sands was elected to the British Parliament, Sinn Fein decided that there was electoral support to be tapped. As they began to run with great success in electoral contests, republicans developed a political machine. Sinn Fein organized its mass base into local party organizations and also created strong links with labor unions and local civic organizations. In just a few years the party became a stable presence in local government, and in many large towns it now runs the council government. At the national level, Sinn Fein has been able to hold on to the West Belfast parliamentary seat at Westminster since 1983.

The long-term ramifications of Sinn Fein’s political development include the Good Friday Agreement and the end of violent conflict between the British state, the nationalists and the unionists. As a result of this mobilization, Sinn Fein and its Protestant working class counterpart, the Progressive Unionist Party, have slowly begun to embrace constitutional politics.

In the 1980s nationalist muralists broadened their range to aid the increasingly successful election campaigns of Sinn Fein, to highlight prisoner issues, and to link the republican campaign with struggles abroad. In the last twenty years, republican muralists have drawn inspiration from a variety of anti-imperialist and democratic struggles around the world. Many murals reference Nelson Mandela and the struggles of blacks in South Africa, or the Zapatistas in Mexico. Other murals depict the events of 1916, when a loose coalition of the Irish labor movement led by James Connolly and nationalist agitators revolted against the British presence in Ireland. The murals strive to express the complex mix of hopelessness and passion that a poorly organized group of rebels must feel when they stand against a much more powerful and resourceful political enemy.

Belfast today remains a bitterly divided city. High steel and concrete walls still cut through its neighborhoods, separating the nationalist from the unionist areas. As this society edges towards a post-conflict situation, murals continue to be a prominent form of memorial. Many images commemorate the loss of life on both sides, caused by years of violent conflict. In some areas the peace process has generated a number of humorous, cartoon-style murals. In the Protestant areas, for instance, bulldogs allude to the British connection.

Hopefully, political violence will not return to Northern Ireland. But we may also hope that Northern Ireland’s rich tradition of political murals will live on as a popular expression of politics, culture, and their intersection.