Month: Aug 2016

Administrative Detention

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03743 2016-08-09 IRPWA Bilal+

Palestinian prisoner and hunger striker Bilal Kayed last week called off his hunger strike after 71 days of fasting, after reaching an agreement with his Israeli captors for his release in December, after a six-month “administrative’ extension to his original 14.5 year sentence (Alternative News). Hence the slogan “End internment, end administrative detention” (alongside “Free all political prisoners” and the IRPWA emblem). Update: Kayed released 2016-12-12.

The mural is at the right-hand end of the so-called International Wall in west Belfast. For the controversy over the painting of the mural adjacent to the historical panels on the rest of the wall, see The World Did Gaze In Deep Amaze.

03742 2016-08-09 IntWall2016 Amaze IRPWA+

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The World Did Gaze In Deep Amaze

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03802 2016-08-27 IntWall2016 Amaze+

Towards the end of July, the IRPWA began painting a POW mural for the right end of the wall, space that the historical painters hoped to use for a gallery of international figures inspired by Irish resistance — Leonard Peltier, Marcus Garvey, V.I. Lenin,W.E.B. DuBois, Mahatma Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Muammar Gaddafi, Yassar Arafat, General Giap, and Sukhdev Thapar (see the final image, below) — under the title “And the world did gaze with deep amaze” (a line from the song The Foggy Dew).

This would have provided a book-end to the mural similar to the gallery of early nationalist figures at the left-hand end. The IRPWA whitewashed the end of the wall (see the third image, below) and commenced work on a POW mural (leading to two sets of painters working at the wall in late July (second image)). In the end, only Leonard Peltier was painted, in the same style as Wolfe Tone. And later, Seany McVeigh’s Pearse Surrenders To The Developers was added (see the fourth image).

03689 2016-07-29 Free Political Prisoner Bilal prog+

03688 2016-07-27 IntWall2016 Whitewash+

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AndTheWorldDidGaze

Ógra Shınn Féın

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03798 2016-08-23 Ogra Shinn Fein+

A vintage Ógra Shınn Féın stencil still visible in north Belfast. On the removal of the petrol bomb from the modern Sınn Féın Youth logo, see Slugger O’Toole.

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But Never The Revolution

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03781 2016-08-20 Neil McMonagle+

Derry INLA man Neil McMonagle – who died in February 1983 – is placed among the seven signatories of the proclamation of the provisional government of the Irish Republic.

For more information about his life, see previously McMonagle.

The board was launched on January 31st, 2016, just before the anniversary of McMonagle’s death (Derry Now).

Leafair Park, Shantallow, Derry

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X03781 killed in action 2nd february 1983

Where Did The Seeds Fall?

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03741 2016-08-09 IntWall2016 Kilmainham+

This part of the new mural on the International Wall uses the area of Kilmainham jail where most of the leaders of the Easter Rising were executed in order to tie together the blanket protest – Kieran Nugent and Maıréad Farrell are shown with raised fists –  the hunger strikers – including Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan on the ground – and Roger Casement, walking towards the gallows. Casement was executed not in Kilmainham but in Pentonville Prison, England, convicted of treason for his attempts to secure German rifles and machine-guns for the Rising.

Between Bobby Sands and Mickey Devine in the lower centre of the image is a 200th-anniversary stone in Maynooth/Maıgh Nuad(h) of the 1798 rising. A photograph of the stone is available here. “The Tree Of Liberty: What is that in your hand? It is a branch. Of what? Of the tree of liberty. Where did it first grow? In America. Where does it bloom? In France. Where did the seeds fall? In Ireland.”

At the launch (on August 3rd) actor James Doran (see the final image, below) read from Casement’s speech from the dock after his conviction for treason.

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03713 2016-08-04 IntWall2016 Jim Doran+.jpg

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X03741 X03740 X03713 Divis St armagh women’s prison proclamation irish republic smash h block

Pearse Surrenders To The Developers

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03704 2016-08-03 Seany+

In January (2016) a stencil like the one above appeared in Moore Street, Dublin. Moore Street was the place of the last stand of the Easter Rising after the GPO caught fire and campaigners were thus fighting to save it from redevelopment (Irish Times). (Moore Street’s future is still uncertain at this time, late summer 2016.)

The stencil is based on the image – third below – of Padraig Pearse and Elizabeth O’Farrell surrendering to the British General Lowe. The piece was ‘signed’ by Banksy, though it was immediately suspected to be not by Banksy, as he had not signed any pieces for some years, and indeed, Banksy denied that it was his (e.g. Irish Times) and Will St Ledger wished that the artist had had the confidence to claim it as their own (RTÉ).

The artist was in fact Short Strand man Séan “Seany” McVeigh, who then died in June. In honour of his life, a fellow Short Strand resident (see second image, below) produced this version of McVeigh’s piece, with the name “Seany” proudly attached. (For his other “Banksy” see a Belfast version of Banksy’s Palestinian “peace” wall stencil.)

03705 2016-08-03 Seany DD+

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Pearse-Lowe-1916

Willowbank Huts

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X03714 2016-08-04 IntWall2016 Willowbank Huts+

The old military huts at Willow Bank (or: Willowbank; the modern-day La Salle/Iveagh area on the Falls) – which were still in use in 1896 – provided a training ground for Cumann Na mBan and the Irish Volunteers in the run-up to the Easter Rising.

The small figures between the huts and the trainees in the foreground are Charlie Monahan (born in Ballymacarrett, raised in the Markets, who died in a car accident on the way to meet Casement’s arms on board the Aud (findagrave | An Phoblacht)), Manus O’Boyle (BMH witness statement), Jack White (who fought for Britain in the second Boer War and was later captain in the Irish Citizen Army (WP)), and Volunteer Sean O’Neill.

03738 2016-08-09 IntWall2016 Vols Willowbank+

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Drink A Loving Toast

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03766 2016-08-19 Kenneth Nicholl+

“Remember those not here today, And those unwell or far away, And those who never lived to see the end of the War & Victory, And every friend who’ve lost [or: passed] our way, Remember as of yesterday, It’s absent friends we miss the most, To ALL, Let’s drink a loving toast.”

William Walker’s poem Absent Friends is used as a part of UDA/UFF commemoration of various Larne men: “Ewan ‘Shug’ McPherson, Raymond ‘Toby’ Sloan, Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Nicholl (who is featured in a separate board, above; BBC-NI report of his killing), Ian ‘Big Ian’ Hamilton. Walker was a pilot during WWII who wrote poetry and returned to the brewing trade after the war; he died at age 99 in 2012 (Guardian).

Union flags with “Ulster Is British” have been added to the board seen previously in Her Majesty’s Forces In Afghanistan.

03767 2016-08-19 Drink A Loving Toast+

03774 2016-08-22 Ulster Is British+

03768 2016-08-19 Linn Rd w+

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X03766 X03767 X03774 X03768 Linn Road gone but not forgotten

Spreading The Word

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03736 2016-08-09 IntWall2016 MacDiarmada Lightbox+

Seán MacDıarmada was born in Leitrim but worked on the trams in Belfast in 1905. He also, as member and organiser for many nationalist groups, including Sınn Féın (formed in 1905) and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He is shown here speaking on Clonard Street in the lower Falls, in 1906, flanked by fellow Brothers Denis McCullough (l) and Bulmer Hobson (r), both from Belfast. (For a brief account of MacDıarmada’s life, see this previous mural on Extramural Activity The Mainspring, which shows MacDıarmada delivering his speech from the back of a coal cart, and also this Saoirse32 post. See also MacDıarmada for a board near where he lived in Ardoyne.

The other part of the picture illustrates the use of magic lanterns to display images on gable walls to spread nationalist history and ideology. On one wall is Eoın MacNeill’s article ‘The North Began’ (which also features earlier on the new wall; see Shared Space and We Won’t Have Carson. On the other wall is an image of An Gorta Mór/The Great Hunger. (Magic lanterns were used by Alice Milligan (NWCI | Field Day | also a kids version from Creative Centenaries) when she gave talks; for her newspaper work, see Shan Van Vocht.)

The image below shows that there were originally (or at least, in April) plans for a face (whose? Mac Dıarmada’s?) to be featured.

03354 2016-04-01 IntWall2016 Cages InProg+

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NorthBegan

March Against Internment

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03728 2016-08-07 March Against Internment+

The old Nissen huts of Long Kesh are rendered in cartoon style of this ‘march against internment’ poster, which has been plastered over a commercial hoarding on Northumberland Street.

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