“Free Gazz” is corrected to “Free Gaza” – graffiti in Pacific Avenue, Newington’s “best kept street, 1981”.
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We Cannot Live Only For Ourselves
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New Lodge Volunteers
Twenty portraits in circular frames have replaced the twenty-one square portraits seen on the ‘Out Of The Ashes Of 1969’ mural in the New Lodge. From left to right, those portrayed are Michael P Neill, Seamus McCusker, Gerard Crossan, Colm Mulgrew, Francis Liggett, Brian Fox, John Kelly, Robert Allsopp, Louis Scullion, Billy Reid, Danny O’Hagan, Michael Kane, Sean McIlvenna, Jim O’Neill, Rosemary Bleakley, Martin McDonagh, James McCann, James Sloan, Dan McCann. Paddy McManus is no longer included, as compared with the earlier portraits.
For the mural without any portraits, at the time of its launch in 2012, see X00857.
See also the New Lodge IRA memorial garden.
New Lodge Road, north Belfast.
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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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The Craigavon Two
“There is no lie big enough to cover the shame of jailing two innocent men #JFTC2”. Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton were convicted of the 2009 murder of Constable Stephen Carroll (BBC), and sentenced to life with 25-year and 18-year minimums, respectively. The case is under review (Guardian | An Phoblacht).
This RNU (Fb) board also appeared on Northumberland Street in west Belfast.
Berwick Road, Ardoyne, north Belfast. For the Fıanna mural, see Gal Greıne. For the pro-Palestine board, see Old Is The New New. For the right-most board, see Óglach Sean McCaughey.
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Still Standing
The WHO and UNRWA now estimates that of the 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, about 14,000 were children (Egypt Today). 18 were killed in a single explosion in Rafah yesterday (AP). This new board in west Belfast illustrates the disparity between Israeli forces and ordinary Palestinians by showing children in ragged clothing armed only with a single, odd-looking (AI hallucinated?), slingshot facing off against other children armed was assault rifles and wearing riot gear.
Of the RNU social-media handles along the bottom, only the Facebook and TikTok ones actually work.
Previously, from 2018: RNU Stands With Palestine.
Northumberland Street, Belfast.
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Stand Up And Speak Out
Here is a survey of the republican boards along Central Drive, Creggan. Above, “Victory to Hamas” graffiti has been added to emic’s Younger Days street art. The piece immediately below was seen in Victory To The PFLP, and the anti-extradition piece was seen previously in the 2022 post covering Central Drive. The other pieces – “Stop crown force harassment”, the 1981 hunger strike board, the “struggle for equality and social justice” board, and the IRPWA board, are all new.
“Bear witness to both right and wrong, stand up and speak out.” is from day two (March 2nd) of Bobby Sands’s hunger strike diary (Sands Trust).
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Humanitarian Intervention
On March 25th, Israel declared that it would no longer work with UNRWA to deliver aid into Gaza (Reuters | Guardian). On March 28th, Foreign Minister Micheál Martin announced that Ireland plans to “intervene” in South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel, asserting that the Genocide Convention includes blocking humanitarian aid (BBC | Guardian | RTÉ).
The support for Palestine by Ireland and South Africa is illustrated here by Irish, Palestinian, and South African children standing hand-in-hand. The same type of image was also used, with younger children, in the Painting For Palestine project on the International Wall – see The International Court Of Justice, which also gives details of South Africa’s initial case against Israel.
South Link, west Belfast, facing the Israeli tank in Though An Army Besiege Me, My Heart Will Not Fear.
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Hold On, Pain Ends
“North Belfast is in a crisis. RNU [Republican Network For Unity (Fb | ig)] calls for better mental health provision. Hold on, pain ends. Hope.”
Northern Ireland has the highest suicide rate in the UK, at 14.3 per 100,000 (2021), and Belfast has a suicide rate of 24.9 people (2022), and north Belfast the highest in Belfast, at a rate of 31 per 100,000 (2013-2018) (Assembly Research Matters | Zero Suicide Alliance). Here is a Bel Tel article (£) about the lack of GPs and mental health services in north Belfast, from 2021.
Berwick Road, Ardoyne, north Belfast. Replaces Don’t Ever Give Up.
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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Eye To The Telescope
Life Hack (Xitter) is a youth project in Creggan, Derry, based in the Ráth Mór centre on Bligh’s Lane. In addition to this long telescoping eye around the Westway Roundabout (with Peaball (ig)), its members were also involved in painting the pillars at the lower entrance to Bishop’s Field/Gort An Easpaıg – see the final image, below.
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Black Shamrock
The black shamrock is a symbol of Irish neutrality dating back to 2006 (Irish Times | Pensive Quill). In the light of the attack on Gaza it is being used by the IPSC and other pro-Palestinian causes as a symbol of solidarity. This shamrock, on Free Derry Corner, has been augmented with two small Palestinian flags, one with a dove and the word “peace” (shown below).
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Copyright © 2024 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Róısín Dubh
“A Róısín, ná bíodh brón ort fé’r éırigh dhuıt”/Róısín, be not sad about what has happened to you”. The song ‘Róısín Dubh’ [usually translated as ‘Dark Rosaleen’] is a love song to Ireland, in which the infatuated singer recounts the lengths he would go to on her behalf (song (youtube): Muıreann Nıc Amhlaoıbh | Caıtlín Maude | poem/lyrics in English: Mangan | Kinsella at WP).
This new piece in the New Lodge, north Belfast, was painted (presumably) by emic (ig), (presumably) under the same auspices as, and as a thematic complement to, the project we reported on in Communities In Transition and New Lodge Gardens. The lack of explicitly nationalist or republican signifiers is perhaps necessary if the piece is to be funded by Communities In Transition, while the cultural reference is perhaps necessary if the art is to survive on what has for the past dozen years been an anti-Agreement wall – see Damn Your Concessions, England and Unbowed, Unbroken. Another emic piece, in Creggan, Derry, has been marked with republican graffiti – see Stand Up And Speak Out. This very skilful piece walks a very fine line very precisely.
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