8
Street Art
This painting is not so much famous as notorious. It has been widely interpreted as a glorification of terrorism and an incitement to attack the perceived 'enemy'. Notice the ruin of the Free Derry Corner gable wall as a sign of where the imagined action is taking place and the green uniform of the fallen foe. I never interpreted it in that way and was mildly surprised when it was. I saw the message as being the determination of the loyalists to defend their cause to the death and beyond and to achieve victory at any price and any sacrifice. The painting is adjacent to the one of the Queen and to the paramilitary insignia both on page 5.
The painted plaque above the painting reads:-
There must be no retirement with our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end.
We determine the guilty. We decide the punishment.
More loyalist insignia, this time on the wall of the community centre in the Irish St estate. It is interesting that in this and other such paintings the valiant fighting men are still depicted wearing masks. Says something, I think, about the attitudes these people have to their own behaviour! Anti-social and proud of it perhaps?