Shoot me! … I’m Irish!

©Pierre Tardjman, Shoot me I’m Irish.

Each year, on January 30th, some Irish people walk in the streets in order to commemorate the Bloody Sunday, this day 26 civilians were killed by parachutists of the British army, whereas they didn’t have weapons. 13 of them, among whom 7 teenagers died immediately. Bloody Sunday, also called the Bogside massacre -because of the place where the massacre took place-, happened on January 30th 1972. The victims, who were manifesting, came from the Nothern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), a political movement who defends the equality before the law. All happened in LondonDerry, an Irish and British city. The victims were Irish; the parachutists, who killed those innocents without reason, were British. The government probably asked them to do that.
This event symbolizes the eternal fight which opposes Irish against British.

On the photo, taken by day, one individual attracts our eyes. He is an old man who stands in the middle of the photo, taken by a close shot. Everything around him is blurred. Moreover, he constitutes the triangle which organizes the photograph. He wears a black T-shirt where is written « Shoot me I’m Irish » upon an orange, green and white cercle (as a target) drawn on his heart. This short humoristic sentence is a pun: it refers to the camera of the photograph but it is also quite provoking towards British people. We can’t see his eyes and hands, because those elements often define a person. Taking the photo, the photographer didn’t want the man to be easily recognizable. Maybe be the caption is more important than the identity of the man. Each Irish coud be  a target. Actually, we don’t have to know his identity to understand the message : this old man embodies the whole generation who lived Bloody Sunday, and who still protests against the injustices Irish endure.

Bertherat-Dentone Zoé, Buisson Jean-Philippe, Seconde Euro, Lycée François Arago, Perpignan, 2010

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London Derry is located in Northern Ireland ( Ulster), it’is the second biggest city in Northern Ireland

Londonderry or Derry?

According to the city’s Royal Charter of 10 April 1662 the official name is Londonderry. This was reaffirmed in a High Court decision in January 2007 when Derry City Council sought guidance on the procedure for effecting a name change. Despite the official name, the city is more usually known as simply Derry, which is an anglicisation of the old Irish Dair and translates as « oak-grove/oak-wood ». The name « Derry » is preferred by nationalists and it is broadly used throughout Northern Ireland’s Catholic community, as well as that of the Republic of Ireland, whereas many unionists prefer « Londonderry »; however in everyday conversation Derry is used by most Protestant residents of the city. Apart from this local government decision, official use within the UK the city is usually known as Londonderry. In the Republic of Ireland, the city and county are almost always referred to as Derry, on maps, in the media and in conversation. Usage varies among local organisations, with both names being used. Examples are City of Derry Airport, City of Derry Rugby Club, Derry City FC and the Protestant Apprentice Boys of Derry, as opposed to Londonderry Port, Londonderry YMCA Rugby Club and Londonderry Chamber Of Commerce.] Most companies within the city choose local area names such as Pennyburn, Rosemount or « Foyle » from the River Foyle to avoid alienating the other community. Londonderry railway station is often referred to as Waterside railway station within the city but is called Derry/Londonderry at other stations. The form « Londonderry » is used for the post town by the Royal Mail, however use of Derry will still ensure delivery.
The city is also nicknamed the Maiden City by virtue of the fact that its walls were never breached during the Siege of Derry in the late 17th century. It is also nicknamed Stroke City by local broadcaster, Gerry Anderson, due to the ‘politically correct’ use of the oblique notation Derry/Londonderry (which appellation has itself been used by BBC Television). A recent addition to the landscape has been the erection of several large stone columns on main roads into the city welcoming drivers, euphemistically, to « the walled city. »
The name Derry is very much in popular use throughout Ireland for the naming of places, and there are at least six towns bearing that name and at least a further 79 places. The word Derry often forms part of the place name, for example Derrymore, Derrybeg and Derrylea.

Bloody History

The city has long been a focal point for important events in Irish history, including the 1688-1689 siege of Derry and Bloody Sunday on 30 January 1972.
A civil rights demonstration in 1968 led by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was banned by the Government and blocked using force by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The events that followed the August 1969 Apprentice Boys parade resulted in the Battle of the Bogside, when Catholic rioters fought the police, leading to widespread civil disorder in Northern Ireland and is often dated as the starting point of the Troubles.
On Sunday January 30, 1972, 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead by British paratroopers during a civil rights march in the Bogside area. Another 13 were wounded and one further man later died of his wounds. This event came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
Violence eased towards the end of the Troubles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Irish journalist Ed Maloney claims in « The Secret History of the IRA » that republican leaders there negotiated a de facto ceasefire in the city as early as 1991. Whether this is true or not, the city did see less bloodshed by this time than Belfast or other localities.
The city was visited by a killer whale in November 1977 at the height of the Troubles; it was dubbed Dopey Dick by the thousands who came from miles around to see him.[

Pierre Terdjman

Pierre Terdjman is a photojournalist, trained at the school of war for 7 years. He has lived in Israël, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He worked from 2003 to 2007 for the « Daily Haaretz », Israeli newspapers and photos. He began to make themselves known through the photographs he took on the tsunami in Sri Lanka and through his work on the war in Georgia, but also on post-election conflict in Kenya (he took pictures of people dissatisfied the results of rigged elections), and lastly but for this series of photographic “Shoot me I’m Irish” where he denounced the Bloody Sunday in England. Pierre Terdjman also worked of “Paris Match” after returning to the Gamma Agency in 2007, hence it followed several months the French soldiers in Afghanistan. He was asked by the Ministry of Culture to hold an exhibition of photos of Haiti January 12, 2010. Pierre Terdjman worked in newspapers and magazines such as Le Monde, The Observer, The Guardian
U2 Bloody Sunday, Lyrics


Ican’t believe the news today
Ican’t close my eyes and make it go away
How long, how long must we sing this song ?
How long ? Tonight we can be as one
Broken bottles under children’s feet
Bodies strewn across a dead end street
But I won’t heed the battle call
It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
And the battle’s just begun
There’s many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trenches dug between our hearts
And mother’s children, brothers, sisters torn apart
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
How long, how long must we sing this song ?
How long ? Tonight we can be as one
Tonight, tonight
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Wipe your bloodshot eyes
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday

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