Decommissioning Northern Ireland’s War Murals

“Over the past 20 years, Belfast has become famous (perhaps infamous) for its paramilitary murals, visual depictions of its “troubled” times. In Catholic republican areas, street paintings celebrated the Irish Republican Army; in Protestant loyalist areas they paid tribute to a host of splintered violent outfits such as the UDA, the UVF, the UFF. Things are starting to change. With the help of generous city government funding, community activists are replacing these symbols of war with advertisements for peace.”