CNR

Be My Voice

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Two cases are currently under deliberation concerning the establishment of abortion services in Northern Ireland after the vote in Westminster during the suspension of Stormont. One, heard in May, was taken by the NI Human Rights Commission in support of services (BBC), and the other, heard last week, was brought by SPUC (web) alleges that the NI Secretary lacks the authority to direct Stormont to establish services (BBC).

The pro-life stencil shown here is on the Antrim Road, below the Fortwilliam shops.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
X07166 X07167

From The Plough To The Stars

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“A free Ireland will control its own destiny from the plough to the stars.” So James Connolly is said to have explained the significance of “the plough in the stars” (Ursa Major) as a symbol of Irish revolutionary socialism. (Though no source is given for the remark. See the Paddy Duffy Collection for more.)

Connolly and Seamus Costello, heroes of the IRSP (web) are painted on James Connolly house in Chamberlain Street, Derry, which is also home to Teach Na Fáılte, the Republican Socialist Ex-Prisoners group.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08455

Perverting The Course Of Justice

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is another set of images concerned with the on-going search for answers related to the death of teenager Noah Donohoe and to the PSNI inquiry into his death. It is now 67 weeks since Noah’s death and a new Facebook page has been set up to campaign for justice, and a petition to demand the resignation of Chief Constable Simon Byrne. These images are from the upper Falls and New Lodge areas of Belfast.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08466 X08548 [X08547] [X08546] [X08545] X08544 X08463

Serving Their Community Through Transport

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“In memory of all taxi drivers – public and private – who were murdered by loyalists/British crown forces during the conflict serving their community through transport.” This is the side wall to a larger mural to black taxi drivers which has been in place since 2001, was repainted in 2011, and is again looking in rough shape.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08009

Girl With Calf

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The inspiration for this piece is the Ould Lammas Fair, one of Ireland’s oldest and, some claim, biggest festivals, which is held in Ballycastle on the last Monday and Tuesday of August (Irish Culture & Customs). The piece, by emic (web), is in Castle Street which was perhaps the location of the market within the mediaeval town walls.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08560

Genocide In Ireland

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Photography was still in its infancy in 1850 and would not appear in newspapers until the 1880s (LoC). Instead, newspapers used illustrations to bring their stories to life. This board in Ard An Lao (Ardoyne/Bone) – “An Gorta Mór [The Great Hunger] 1845-1851 – The Great Irish Famine” – combines three of them to serve as a background for other images and information.

On the left is Family Being Evicted From Their Home In Rural Ireland.

At the centre is Searching For Potatoes In A Stubble Field from the Illustrated London News. ILN images are a staple of Belfast muraling on the Great Hunger: they were previously used in 1995 (An tOcras Mór in the New Lodge), 1999 (Ireland’s Holocaust on the Whiterock Rd), 2002 (An Gorta Mór in Ardoyne). (Here is a list, with links, of all of the illustrations of Ireland in ILN from the period 1845-1852.)

On the right is food arriving from the USA in the famine of 1879-1880.

See also The Mass Graves Of Ireland.

See also the Visual History page on the Great Hunger in muraling.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08360

More Blacks, More Gays, More Irish

Extramural Activity1 Comment

The old shop-window sign of the Irish experience in England “No blacks, no Irish, [no dogs]” is repurposed and reclaimed positively by the RNU in the Colin area, with the rainbow flag, Irish tricolour, and Nelson Mandela (alongside James Connolly) below the skyline of Belfast. For the original, see previously Oppose Racism | No Dogs, No POWs

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08464 X08465 pantridge rd Phil Lynott

Victory To The Republican Prisoners

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Victory to the republican political prisoners from across the ages – “H-Block to Maghaberry” – but also from Ireland to Palestine.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08440 strabane

Lifford Remembers The Hunger Strikers

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na hÉıreann” [they died for Ireland’s freedom] Although it’s the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike, this Lifford (Co. Donegal) board includes Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg who died in English prisons in the 1970s.

If you can explain the flag in the centre, please get in touch. The wide shot, below, includes a call to rally for 100% Redress, No Less.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08446 X08447

Unrepentant Republicans

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These two new boards along the Falls Road were mounted by Belfast RNU (tw), commemorating the actions of Billy McKee, Alec Murphy, and Brendan Hughes in 1969 at the onset of the Troubles, and of Máıre Drumm and “the brave women of Belfast who stood up against the might of the British” in bringing the Falls Curfew to an end. (This board was previously a mural on Divis Street.)

McKee and Hughes are profiled in a D Company mural in the number one spot of the International Wall. Murphy died in 2019 “unrepentant” of his republicanism (which was prompted by the Falls Curfew) and in particular his conviction along with Harry Maguire for the Corporal Killings (Irish News | BelTel). For a personal obituary, see The Pensive Quill.

For the plaque and board to the left of the wide shot below, see The Falls Road Massacre.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08366 [X11832] [X15342]
X08364 [X08365] [X15340] [X15341]
X08367 [X11831] [X15343]
launched June 17, 2021