If Irish Walls Could Talk


 

Today in Belfast, Northern Ireland, we took a little time away from speaking engagements for sightseeing in a city that still shows the marks of its violent conflicts, but which also welcomes visitors to its beautiful landscapes, dramatic murals, and Titanic celebrations.

I was most intrigued by the political murals, which are posted on buildings all over town. These competing murals have replaced bullets and bombs, but there’s no doubting the political passions of those who paint them.

One tourist book suggests there are about 300 murals in Belfast, and, indeed, they are popular tourist attractions. But they’re also deadly serious and express the competing passions of royalists and nationalists. Here are some I saw today. The one immediately below honors the memories of the victims of the 1981 hunger strike.

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