ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the semiotics of the paramilitary iconography, and considers how the paramilitary groups use both new and established symbols to situate themselves within the wider unionist tradition and legitimize themselves in the political arena. The focus of analysis can be extended to explore variations in the subject-matter of murals in different areas of the city. Collectively, these seven murals depict established unionist themes, and, apart from the reference to the loyalist prisoners, would not seem out of place on an Orange parade; but the reference to paramilitarism is muted and presented as an act of solidarity with the prisoners, rather than support for militarism. The contemporary paramilitary groups remember the fighting heroes of the past, they also intend that the volunteers of the contemporary campaign will be remembered ‘at the going down of the sun, and in the morning’. The resurgence of mural painting within the loyalist working-class areas peaked about 1988.
