CNR

Whispering Winds Why Do You Weep?

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IRA volunteer Francis Liggett was shot dead by the British Army during an attempted armed robbery at Royal Victoria Hospital, Falls Road in 1973 (Sutton) while local Sinn Féin member Paddy Brady was shot by the UFF while at work in 1984 (Sutton | An Phoblacht). They are commemorated in the St James memorial garden with the board shown above, featuring two verses from Bobby Sands’s poem Weeping Winds: Oh, Whispering [Whistling, in the original] winds why do you weep/When roaming free you are,
Oh! Is it that your poor heart’s broke/And scattered off afar?
Or is it that you bear the cries/Of people born unfree,
Who like your way have no control/Or sovereign destiny?
Oh! Lonely winds that stalk [walk] the night/To haunt the sinner’s soul/
Pray pity me a wretched lad/Who never will grow old.
Pray pity those who lie in pain/The bondsman and the slave
And whisper sweet the breath of God/Upon my humble grave.

The board is similar in design to the painted one it replaces, except that Éire was at the centre rather than the “SF” logo.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Embrace Change Together

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A mosque rises between Samson and Goliath, the Harland & Wolff cranes, while in the lower third, people of different races and nationalities share the same streets of terraced housing.

Here are pictures of the launch on August 21st, part of the Active Communities Network‘s ‘Walk The Walls‘ event.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Beır Bua

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“Seize victory”. This is the third in a small series of nail-ups in Derry/Doıre using “classic” imagery, in this case, the phoenix. (Here is a representative mural from 1989: Out of the ashes arose the Provisionals). Previously: Sniper At Work  | Join The People’s Army.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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School Of Champions

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Olympic boxing champion (and former Ireland soccer player) Katie Taylor is currently 6-0 in her professional career. Her image is being used here as an inspiration (or warning?) to the children of Victoria nursery in the New Lodge. She was also featured in a mural outside Coláiste Feirste in west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Come On You Boys In Green

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New Lodge soccer club St Patrick’s (Fb) have a new mural on the New Lodge Road, painted earlier this month by Ed Reynolds (steadyhanded.com | tw).

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Those Who Gave Their Lives

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“We salute those who gave their lives for Irish freedom”, including James Connolly and Padraig Pearse in the 1916 Easter Rising, planned by Pearse (and others in the military committee of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). The IRA would be formed in 1919. The mural in the wide shot was featured in Mothers & Sisters.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Silence Of Our Friends

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Martin Luther King is used to support the end of “complicity” in the practice of internment: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” The quote comes from King’s Steeler lecture entitled “The Trumpet of Conscience” (which was also used as the title of a 1968 collection of lectures). The Marwan Barghouti board (in Belfast) was featured previously. Both boards are from the IRPWA (Fb | web).

William St, Derry

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Athbheochan/Renewal

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The inspiration for the new installation outside Coláıste Feırste entitled “Athbheochan” (“renewal”) is the area’s previous life as the site of spinning mills, established in the 1800s to take advantage of local rivers (Forbaırt Feırste). The Bog Meadows nature reserve down beside the M1 is the only part of the Blackstaff’s flood plain that remains in an undeveloped state.

The launch was on August 11th during Féıle by Maırtín Ó Muılleoır, but the piece is also part of Irish-language festival Lıú Lúnasa (tw | web) which is going on this week. Artist Aodán Monaghan can be seen on the left in the final image of kids climbing all over the artwork.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Bernadette

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The new Bernadette mural on Lecky Road, Derry, is considerably lighter than its predecessor (which can be seen at Peter Moloney Collection). The setting is still the Battle Of The Bogside, after which Devlin was served six months for inciting a riot, but Bernadette, with megaphone, is in red while the woman with the bin lid is wearing blue jeans. The bulldog and the child in yellow carrying the bin lid like the shield of a Celtic warrior are new additions. The wall in the background was previously Free Derry Corner.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Éıstıgí

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Éıstıgí, or “listen, yous-uns” in Derry/Doıre, is the youth organisation associated with Soaradh (web); it promotes a socialist (and republican) ideology.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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