Goodnight, Sisters

Derry native Nell McCafferty was commemorated by a new mural in the Maiden City, launched on International Women’s Day (March 8th), 2025, and the annual Femme Sesh event was also dedicated to McCafferty (ig | Derry Journal).

McCafferty died last year (2024) after a long career as a journalist and activist (BBC). “Goodnight, sisters” was her parting phrase at the end of her segments on The Women’s Programme, which aired on RTÉ between 1983 and 1986 (Journal).

Here is RTÉ footage of Nell and Marian Finucane on the Late Late in 1991 and in 1980.

The mural was painted by Peaball (web) on a gable in Lisfannon Park and is visible from Lecky Road. The portrait of McCafferty appeared on the cover of (the Penguin Ireland edition of) her autobiography Nell.

For the mural on the low wall (in the wide shot, below), see Two Nations One Struggle.

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Show Israel The Red Card

“Show Israel The Red Card” is a campaign to suspend Israel from UEFA and FIFA competitions (Haaretz).

Supporters of various teams around the world (Quds News | Combat Antisemitism) have been displaying the slogan at games, following the lead of Celtic ultras in a match against Bayern Munich (youtube).

On March 8th, various groups, including RSYM (Fb), held a protest at Free Derry Corner (Fb video).

In smaller letters below the main slogan is “#LajeeCeltic” – Lajee Celtic (web) is a football academy in a camp in Palestine.

For the small posters see Boycott The White House.

Free Derry Corner has its own Visual History page.

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Boycott The White House

“Boycott St. Paddy’s Day at the White House. Sign the petition!” The petition (at ActNow) is sponsored by twenty different Palestine-solidarity groups, headed by Derry IPSC (Fb), and calls for politicians not to shake “hands soaked with the blood of Palestinians” (and wearing a sleeve with US stars-and-bars and an Israeli-flag cuff).

Taoıseach Mıcheál Martin spent two days in Austin (Texas) before travelling to Washington DC for meetings and St Patrick’s Day celebrations (itinerary from Irish Central), including a meeting with President Donald Trump, who told him that Ireland is cheating the US economically, because “Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies” (AP).

Among northern politicians, First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Sınn Féın did not travel to the States but Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP did (RTÉ) and gave Trump a flag from Royal Portrush golf club (Irish Times).

On Free Derry Corner, Bogside, Derry

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Sailortown Sea Monster

A kraken awakes in Belfast harbour, under the watchful eyes of working-class men on the waterfront in Belfast’s Sailortown, in front of local landmarks.

Street art by KVLR in Corporation Street.

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Nazis Not Welcome

Graffiti on the Falls Road at the Royal Victoria Hospital: “racism, nazis not welcome in our community”.

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Right Of Return

DUP leader Gavin Robinson posed in front of the original graffiti reading “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” outside the Royal (see Stop Israeli Terror, from October 2023) in order to draw attention to its continued presence, despite a complaint had been made that it was anti-Semitic (BBC). Immediately upon its obliteration this past week (November 2024), a condemnation of the DUP appeared (above and below), and shortly afterward the slogan was restored, though without the Palestinian flag (see wide shot below).

“LD” is (presumably) Lasair Dhearg (web)

Falls Road, west Belfast

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The Memory Of Our Dead

“Beır bua – It is the responsibility of the living to keep alive the memory of the dead.” This is the second ‘Working Class Heroes’ piece in Ballymurphy. The other, from 2014, features Tommy “Toddler” Tolan, who appears here to the left of the phoenix.

The plaque on the right reads “This mural was unveiled by Johnny Doc and Maureen Tolan, 5th November, 2023.” There is video of the launch on Facebook, which contains a reading of the names of all the people pictured from the 1m 57s mark onwards.

Glenalina Crescent, Ballymurphy, west Belfast

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Saoırse Don Phalaıstín

Saoırse don Phalaıstín [Freedom for Palestine]. On August 9th, 2024, Irish-language rappers Kneecap launched a third mural in Hawthorn Street/Sráıd Na Sceıthe, (joining Incendiary Device and England Get Out Of Ireland,) which blows up a sticker seen on a nearby street-sign (seen previously in Land Grab) into a mural and which imitates the version from England Get Out Of Ireland which shows Britain grabbing a piece of Ireland.

For images from the launch, see the Paddy Duffy collection.

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Free As A Bird

The Guinness toucans – invented in the 1930s by John Gilroy (Collectors’ Weekly | Guinness Project) – balance pints of “Guinness 0.0” on their beaks as they fly over Clonard Monastery and the houses and shops along the Springfield Road, including (in white) Dan’s Bar (Fb), which is the site of this large poster (on its Cupar Street side).

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Dark Dreamer

The info plaque next to this new piece of street art in north Belfast reads: “The Dark Dreamer – The Silkie mural by Loretta Lizzio is a recreation of the oil painting “Dark Dreamer” by world-famous Irish artist Patrick Jones who lived here in the family home.”

Patrick J. Jones (web) grew up in Belfast before leaving for London, England, in 1984 and Brisbane, Australia, in 1997. Lizzio, (web), who is also from Australia, reproduced Jones’s original (Fb) on the side of the Stax coffee-shop on the Cliftonville Road, renaming it ‘The Silkie’, though it depicts a mermaid rather than one of the seal-folk; compare with KMG’s interpretation of the Selkie myth in the city centre.

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