Territory, the grand determinant of power. Those who control it decide who shall reside within its sovereign borders. Marking such territory is in essence not just marking home, but rather it is a move towards declaring one’s own power. It is in claiming a place that an entity may create a community, or even preserve an existing one. Often groups mark their territory with flags, symbols, and monuments. The permanence of these things often align with the sovereignty that a group holds over an area. Conversely a lack of these well defined fixtures are indicative of waning control. It is in this regard that I am interested in the Irish Republican Army tagging around the Bogside of Derry (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Irish-Republican-Army).
The history of Derry is a history of territory, though I must admit the history of many things is really the history of territory. This can even be seen in the very name of the city itself, Derry or Londonderry, a thing mentioned by our tour guide when we first toured the Walls. The name changes depending on where or who you are talking to. In a city so divided by politics, names and territory carry great importance.
The tagging of Derry along the Bogside follows a border, starting at the Free Derry sign and follows down the row of murals. Between the two there is a sense of a territorial border, a sense of sanctuary for some. This border along the Bogside holds Irish flags from the Republic, memorials to those lost in territorial conflict, the markings of the IRA. The signs of a place claimed. More specifically it serves as a sign of an important place claimed, home. This part of the city marks the site of Bloody Sunday, a monumentally important part of history for the Catholic Nationalist Republican faction of the city. (https://www.museumoffreederry.org/content/bloody-sunday).
For this faction the IRA represented something important, their ability to maintain sovereignty. So even in a time where they have reached less prevalence their name and symbols invoke a sense of independence. Despite the long road towards disarmament, the IRA still means something and that is important to the identity of those on the Bogside. It means not just the violence of the past, but the understanding of mistakes going into the future. For some the tagging means home, it means sanctuary.
SOCI 387 Diversity, Conflict, and Peace in Northern Ireland 