Yesterday we visited the Northern Irish city of Londonderry/Derry. The reason for the dual name of the city is apparent as soon as one walks through the town. It is divided between Catholic and Protestant, Nationalist and Loyalist, much like Belfast. The city is known for the Bloody Sunday massacre that took the lives of 13 Catholics a few decades ago. The most striking features of the city were, without a doubt, the murals that have emerged throughout the “Bogside” (the Catholic side of the city.) These murals were moving and powerful, and told the story of the massacre from the Nationalist side. Additionally, some murals show the solidarity of the Catholic Nationalist movement with other civil rights movements throughout the world, such as the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1960s. Derry’s murals were quite a sight, and the city’s stark divide between its citizens left an unforgettable memory.
Derry's Solidarity Mural