History of Political Murals

The walls in northern Ireland were primarily under the control of Loyalists until the Hunger Strike. Most of the loyalist murals depicted men in military attire armed and ready to put down any opposition. When Republicans were unable to express their national sentiments through murals, they would create propaganda pieces on napkins. These were then used to relay information about the Republican movement to other members. Republican murals differ from Loyalist or Unionist murals as they often depict a greater variety of political views. Republican murals are known to sympathize with the plight of other people around the world like the Palestinians. As Palestinians are fighting for independence from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, the Irish Republicans are fighting British control over Northern Ireland.