CNR

An Ní Is Áille

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“Níl an ní is áille – súil ghléigheal [sic] an linbh – slán faoinár gcúram níos mó!” [The most beautiful thing – the sparkling eye of a child/the bright hope of a child – is no longer safe in our care!] This Bóthar Chluanaí/Springfield Road graffiti seems to be a response to the recent vote in the Republic Of Ireland removing the constitutional protection of unborn children (see Yes & No). There has previously been Irish-language graffiti in favour of abortion: Ceart Ginmhillte Anois!
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Camera Settings: f5, 1/250, ISO 80, full size 4152 x 3672
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Camera Settings: f4.4, 1/250, ISO 80, full size 4404 x 2700
text: X06025 X06026 [X06027] Buíochas le Mícheál agus Seosamh.

The Keys To Freedom

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Here is a vintage mural still hanging on in St James’s in west Belfast. It was painted in 1995 (by Andrea Redmond?) and dates back to the peace process and the “Green Ribbon” campaign to secure the release of political prisoners: the dove carries the keys to set them free. The graffiti on the keys, however, reads “IRA” and “FTQ” (“Eff the Queen”), and in the upper wing, “UTP” (“Up the Provos”).
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Copyright © 2017 Extramural Activity
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text:

Briogáid Dhoire

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The Linsfort Drive (Creggan) memorial garden (see M02663 and M02775) is featured in the centre of this board of IRA volunteers from the 2nd battalion of the Derry Brigade. There are two similarly designed boards to the 1st battalion in Westland Street and in Lecky Road.
Below is a fresh “IRA” nail-up in Central Drive.
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Copyright © 2017 Extramural Activity
Camera Settings: f8, 1/3200, ISO 400, full size 2592 x 388
text: X04340 X04341

West Belfast Waiting For A Home

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Here is another PPR/#buildhomesnow stencil on the issue of affordable housing in Belfast. The sites suggested in this piece are the old Mackies factory off the Springfield Road (demolished in 2003) and Glenmonagh (west of the Monagh by-pass).
For the suggestion of Hillview as a site, see Homes!!! and Lidl On Quality. For a fuller list of sites, see Build Homes Now. See also Equality Can’t Wait
Replaces the COYBIG mural for Euro 2016.
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Camera Settings: f8, 1/400, ISO 100, full size 3888 x 2592
text: X04947

Killed In Action

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“Killed in action” (on the mural) or “active service” (on the plaque) often means killed by a bomb exploding prematurely, as in the case of Finbarr McKenna, who died in Crocus Street intending to attack the RUC station on the Springfield Road at Violet Street. Here is an account of McKenna’s death from a British soldier. Lost Lives estimates that as many as 163 volunteers (9% of the total killed by the IRA) died from premature explosions. Footage of McKenna’s funeral appears in the (Sinn Féin-produced) account of Larry Marley’s funeral.
The plaque dates back to at least 2004.
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Camera Settings: f4.5, 1/200, ISO 80, full size 3469 x 5039
text: X04992 In memory of IRA Volunteer Finbarr McKenna who died on active service in Crocus St. 2nd May 1987. Erected by the Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners Association.

Here To Stay

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The wall of the Royal (on the Falls just above Springfield Road) continues to serve as a prime spot for graffiti. “IRA – here to stay” is connected with the recent controversy over “IRA” lettering and an assault rifle (Belfast Live) mounted on flagposts both here (Irish News) and on Divis Street (see Life In The Old Dogs Yet).
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Camera Settings: f4.6, 1/320, ISO 80, full size 3192 x 1296
text: X04991

Be There All The Way

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The draw for the 4th round matches in the men’s All-Ireland Football Senior Championship takes place this morning at 8:30. Antrim have already been eliminated (in both football and hurling) but four other Ulster counties await their fates: Armagh, Fermanagh, Monaghan, and Tyrone. The new mural shown above celebrates (men’s) Gaelic games in County Antrim (tw) and at two local clubs: Naomh Gall (tw | web), founded in Clonard Street in 1910, and Naomh Pól (tw | Fb) in Hawthorn Street – the site of the mural – in 1941.

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Camera Settings: f4.3, 1/400, ISO 80, full size 4829 x 3661
text: X04993 Sam Maguire cup, Liam MacCarthy cup established 1884 hayes hotel thurles bunaithe 1884 ostán uí haodha durlas éile

White-Line Picket

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“White-line picket in support of Niall Lehd – Saturday 30th June, International Wall, Falls Road [in fact Divis Street] at 2 pm”. For details of his incarceration, see Free Niall Lehd. This IRNC/IRPC poster is in the New Lodge (Join The IRNC | IRPC).
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Camera Settings: f3.3, 1/200, ISO 80, full size 3178 x 4722
text: X04985

Resistance Is Not Terrorism

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Saoradh (web | Fb | tw) have added a pro-Palestine mural with the slogan “Resistance is not terrorism” to the Falls Road at the old Linden Street (replacing TMN’s homage to Vaughan Bodē).
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Camera Settings: f5.6, 1/1000, ISO 80, full size 4752 x 3000
text: X04987

Beir Bua

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This mural has been added to the “D company” corner at Northumberland and Divis streets (see Our Struggle Continues), with traditional words (“saoirse/freedom”, “beir bua/seize victory”) and imagery of the four provinces and a lark in barbed wire.
In the background can be seen the old Divis flats. The flats were built to replace the tightly-packed streets of the lower Falls (see the first image below). After the first three blocks were completed in 1969, there was a plan to have a mixture of flats all the way up to Dunville Park (“Phase 2” in this 30-minute BBC video on the flats, which also includes the story of its eventual demise.
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Camera Settings: f5.6, 1/200, ISO 80, full size 4248 x 3240
text: X04981