CNR

The Mainspring

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03275 2016-02-03 MacDiarmada+

Seán Mac Dıarmada was born in Leitrim, left for Glasgow at age 15, and after two years returned to Belfast in 1905 and – according to the new mural above – spoke from the back of a coal lorry in Clonard Street, outside the Clonard branch of the Ancient Order Of Hibernians. Mac Dıarmada was for a short time an AOH member, before moving on to the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Irish Volunteers, which led to his participation in the 1916 Easter Rising and execution on May 12th of that year.

The title of today’s post is historian F.X. Martin’s assessment of Mac Dıarmada, quoted in a pamphlet on Mac Dıarmada from the National Library Of Ireland. The NLI made many letters from and to Mac Dıarmada available in 2016. (See also this Irish Times write-up).

Previously: A 2013 Mac Dıarmada mural in Ardoyne and a 2009 small board, also in Ardoyne.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03275 clonard st quigley’s coal merchants séan executed by the british for his role

Don’t Ever Give Up!

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03273 2016-01-30 RNU Lifeline+

Positive thinking in a suicide-prevention poster from the Republican Network for Unity (RNU) in Ardoyne: Place your hand over your heart, can you feel it? This is called purpose! Your’re [sic] alive for a reason! … Don’t ever give up

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03273 berwick rd

He Sowed That We Might Reap

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02871 2015-08-26 SeanDolanSociety+

The Derry branch of the 1916 Societies (Fb) is named after Sean Dolan, an IRA volunteer interned at the outbreak of WWII on the prison ship Al Rawdah (WP | saoırse32) before being moved to Crumlin Road gaol. He was released on grounds of ill health shortly before dying in 1941 at age 28 in Derry. The title of today’s post comes from Dolan’s gravestone, which is in Ardmore (findagrave).

It was the 1916 Societies that hoisted an Irish tricolour from the roof of Stormont in June 2015 (BBC).

The wide shot below shows the 1916 board next to a Fıanna roll of honour and an IRSP O’Hara-McCreesh hunger-strikers memorial (see Socialist Volunteers).

02869 2015-08-26 RacecourseRdWide+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02871 X02869 racecourse rd derry

The Accordion Player

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02993 Aerosol Accordian+

Jef Aérosol (Jean-François Perroy) is a French stencil-artist who did (at least) three pieces in Belfast. Below is a crossed-legged boy that was in Islandbawn Street and above is an accordion-player in Sevastopol Street; for a third piece, on Northumberland Street, see C02031. When the nearby Bobby Sands mural was extended this past year (2015), the stencil was retained. (See also the Visual History page of the Bobby Sands wall.)

02588 2015-04-16 SandsSide+

00330 AerosolCrossLegged+

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Copyright © 2009 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02993 X02588 X00330

They Shall Not Pass

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02962 2015-08-23 RunnerNoPasarancrop+

“No pasarán” is Spanish for “they shall not pass”, a phrase used by the Communists and Republicans as they tried (unsuccessfully) to defend the city of Madrid during the Spanish civil war. The board in front commemorates “those from this area who left Ireland to fight against Fascism during the Spanish Civil War 1936-1938”.

“The Runner” in the background mural (part of The People’s Gallery) is also having trouble holding his ground in the (repainted) famous Bogside Artists’ (web) work intended “to be a cautionary reminder to the young of the dangers inherent in civil conflict”. (CAIN)

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02962 rossville st Manus Deery Charles Love Patrick Walsh Thomas traynor john murphy benjamin frederick murray eamon mcgrotty george gorman jack flynn james donald peadar o’donnell james campbell hugh o’donnell paddy o’daire joseph kelly paddy roe mclaughlin francis william vincent o’donnell brian goold-verschoyle paddy glacken phil boyle hugh bonner herbert pollock charles mcguinness william mcchrystal joe boyd irsp teach na faılte irsp.ie tear gas

Peace Or War?

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02868 2015-08-26 PeaceOrWar+

More vintage graffiti, this time in Derry, dating back at least to 2001. It might come from 2001: after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and its implementation, the IRA moved toward decommissioning its weapons, beginning to do so in October 2001.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02868 racecourse rd

History Carved In Stone

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03227 2015-12-18 Falls Garden 2+

The two images featured today are of carved panels in the Falls Garden Of Remembrance (with the gold-plated surround removed). The garden commemorates fallen members of (IRA) D company but the panels suggest a wider appreciation of lower Falls residents. The same is also true of the mural in the background of the wide shot (third image, below), for which see Cry “Havoc”.

03226 2015-12-18 Falls Garden 1+

03242 2015-12-31 Divis Garden+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03227 X03226 X03242 falls cultural society  the service and loss of its sons a daughters  in the pursuit of irish freedom

McMonagle

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02864 2015-08-26 LeafairPkMcMonagle+

This painted board (shown above) to INLA volunteer Neil McMonagle is in Leafair Park, Derry, close to the spot where McMonagle, aged 23, along with friend Liam Duffy, were shot by undercover British soldiers (specifically Sergeant Paul Oram of 14 Intelligence Company (WP)) on February 2, 1983. McMonagle died instantly while Duffy was wounded but survived. The official account alleged that both McMonagle and Duffy were armed; locals deny this. For an account of the killing and a tribute, see these obituaries from republican publications in 1983.

The board shows an armed McMonagle behind a stone wall with a Plough In The Stars flag with a blue background, with the view towards Buncrana (perhaps).

“Vol Neil McMonagle, Derry Brigade INLA. Killed in action 2nd February 1983. “They may kill the revolutionary but never the revolution.””

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02864

Universal Soldier

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02800 2015-08-23 BreakTheConnection+

A Coors Light “Closer to Cold” ad, with Jean-Claude Van Damme on a snowy mountain in jeans and loafers with his foot on a snowy tree-stump, is co-opted by the IRSP: “Ireland didn’t vote for Tory cuts — Break the connection with England!”

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02800 northumberland st irish republican socialist party http://www.irsp.ie plough stars inla mountain

Another Sunrise, Another New Beginning

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03188 2015-11-12 Fianna banner+

This is the middle wall on the site of the former Andersonstown RUC station, which has undergone three changes in recent months. The longstanding Fıanna sunburst (see X00350) was painted over with IRPWA stencils (Stop strip searches, End Internment, Justice For The Craigavon 2) which in turn were largely covered with writing by DAZE (see the image below). Most recently, a large Fıanna banner, shown above, has been placed over the wall.

03014 2015-09-17 JFTC2 Daze+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03188 X03014 Falls Rd Sınn Féın republican youth óıge phoblachtach ógra shınn féın  glaıne ınár gcroí neart ınár ngéaga beart de réır ar mbrıath purity in our hearts strength in our arms truth on our lips irish republican prisoners welfare association