The Heart Of Our Community

02758 2015-08-10 Kickhams+

In early August the RNU blacked out an Ard Eoın Kickhams GAA mural in Ardoyne (featured previously) and replaced it with a tarp calling for the RUC/PSNI to be disbanded (see this Belfast Live article for an image). After complaint from the local community, the tarp was removed and the central part of the mural was repainted, showing the celtic cross of Cumann Lúthcleas Gael, a football, sliotars, and hurleys. Members of the RUC were forbidden from GAA membership until “Rule 21” (WP) until 2001; they are now permitted to join and play Gaelic games, even if they not welcome in the area – see the image below.

03138 2015-10-13 Ardoyne Kickhams blue Not Welcome+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02758 X03138 founded 1907 MI5 british army not welcome in this area gaelic athletic association GAA CLG

Maghaberry Torture Camp

02822 2015-08-24 MaghaberryTortureCamp+

Here are three boards in Derry focused on HMP Maghaberry. The high security prison holds 1,000 prisoners and segregates loyalists and republicans, a situation described as “a festering sore” in a recent inspection. (Tele) Republicans say that the current crisis overlooks existing issues such as controlled movement and strip searches. (Irish News)

02821 2015-08-24 MaghaberryDurrow+

02819 2015-08-24 JFPoliticalPrisonersLecky+

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X02822 X02821 X02819 justice for political prisoners end forced strip search  in defence of the nation 32 county sovereignty movement IRPWA irish republican prisoner welfare association barbed wire

Socialist Volunteers

02757 2015-08-08 IRSPBoard+

The board above, on Derry’s Racecourse Road, commemorates two hunger-strikers from Derry, Patsy O’Hara and Michael Devine, both members of the INLA; the third INLA hunger-striker was Kevin Lynch, from nearby Dungiven. The seven others who died were members of the IRA, whose political wing was Sınn Féın, while the Irish Republican Socialist Party, who sponsored this board, serves as the political face of the INLA.

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X02757 irish republican army IRSP páırtí poblachtach sóısıalach na héıreann plough stars red star raised Armalite vol bobby sands francis hughes ray mccreesh joe mcdonnell martin hurson kieran doherty tom mcelwee belfast armagh tyrone

The F-Bomb

03158 2015-11-06 FTPSNIRA+

Three F-bombs today in a concentrated package. Above we have the PSNI and the IRA combined into one (and next to a swastika, not shown) in Maladon Street, south Belfast. Below, we have “Fuck the TV man, part 3” in Roulston Street in Londonderry’s Waterside. And finally, there is is “Fuck DAAD fags” on the New Lodge Road in north Belfast. “DAAD” stands for “direct action against drugs”, a group which counted Kevin McGuigan and Jock Davison as members (both of whom were killed in a feud this summer) and now goes by “AAD”. (For AAD and the murders of Davison and McGuigan see Irish News | Belfast Telegraph | Guardian.)

02858 2015-08-26 FuckTheTvMan+

03152 2015-10-19 Fuck DAAD Fags+

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X03158 X02858 X03152

Red Mick

02856 2015-08-26 DevineShantallow+

Michael “Mickey” (though here “Micky”) Devine was red-headed and was a founder member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) in his native Derry (The Plough & The Stars) and also of the INLA (IRSP Derry). The mural on the gable shown above includes the socialist symbols of the red star and the plough, great bear (ursa major), or “big dipper” shining over the towers of Long Kesh, where Devine died on the 21st of August, 1981, after 60 days on hunger strike, the tenth and final striker to die.

The writing that can be seen faintly in the lower third (from a previous version of the mural) reads “They have served their British masters, the poor pathetic fools. They think that inhumanity and cruelty can break us. Haven’t they learnt anything? It strengthens us, it drives us on, for then more than ever we know that our cause is just. INLA Vol. Micky Devine, Long Kesh 1981”

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X02856 shantallow derry

Roll Of Honour

02870 2015-08-26 RollOfHonour2009+

Mural in Derry commemorating members of Na Fıanna Éıreann, the youth wing of the IRA. The names are listed in the order of death, from earliest to latest, beginning with fifteen-year-old Gerald McAuley who was shot dead in Clonard (Belfast) in 1969, and ending with John Dempsey shot on the Falls Road (Belfast) in 1981.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02870 michael sloan eamonn mccormick gerard donaghey david mcauley sean oriordan michael magee joseph campbell john dougal tobias molloy joseph comiskey bernard fox sean hughes michael marley neal mccrory robert allsop james templeton kevin mccauley james o’neill paul mcwilliams brıogaid dhoıre 1909-2009 oglaıgh na héıreann fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na héıreann sunburst ógra shınn féın

Pick Us Up If We Fall Down

02833 2015-08-25 BrandywellPanel+

This mural featuring the rights of children was painted in Derry’s Brandywell area in 2014; it puts images alongside parts of Caroline Castle’s rendering of the UN’s Rights of the Child. The one above reads “Understand that all children are precious. Pick us up if we fall down and if we are lost lend us your hand. Give us things we need to make us happy and strong and always do your best for us whenever we are in your care. Right no. 3”.

02832 2015-08-25 BrandywellFull+

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X02833 X03154 X03155 X03156 X03157 X02832 whoever we are wherever we live these are the rights of every child under the moon and the stars gallagher and sons oil and coal all children shall have time to play and time to rest when we are tired right no 31 watch over us wrap us up against the cold and rain and give us shade from the hot sun make sure we have enough to eat and drink and if we are sick nurse us and comfort us right no 24 if we are disable either in body or mind treasure us especially and give us the care we need to live happily in the world right no 23 no one on earth has the right to hurt us not even our mums and dads protect us always from anyone who would be cruel right no 19 all children should be allowed to live and to grow and grow and grow until we are grown up and and can decide things for ourselves right no 6 keep our families together and if we have no family look after us and love us just the same right no 9 faılte go dtí welcome to

Stop Wars Not People

03143 2015-10-19 Capitalism Imperialism Created Refugees+

The bombs of the US, NATO, and the EU drive fleeing refugees into a circle of barbed wire in this new mural on Beechmount Avenue: “Capitalism & imperialism created refugees! Syria • Iraq • Afghanistan • Libya … Stop wars not people!!!” A report in Saturday’s New York Times on the migrant crisis cites a June UN report when it asserts that “There are more displaced people and refugees now than at any other time in recorded history — 60 million in all”.

Previously: Refugees Welcome

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X03143 ascaill ard na bhfeá antifa international

The Way We Were

02961 2015-08-24 TheWayWeWere+

“The way we were” written on the bog side of the walls of Derry provide a name for this mural behind Derry’s Bogside Inn. The old Rossville flats are in the top left hand corner. (Both Rossville flats and graffiti on the walls – “God made the Catholics, the armalite made us equal” – can be seen in this 1982 image (M00039) from Peter Moloney’s collection.)

In the lower right-hand corner is a “Free Gaza” board that was on the back of Free Derry Corner.

In the lower left-hand corner is a picture of the second version of the “You are now entering Free Derry” writing on the gable wall of 33 Lecky Road.

02828 2015-08-24 TheWayWeWereSide+

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X02961 X02828 fuck all hoods INLA IRA BRY irish national liberation army bogside republican youth

I Don’t Like Mondays

02831 2015-08-25 BallymoorFC+

On Saturday mornings Brandywell Celtic play in the premier division of the Northwest league, while on Sunday mornings Brandywell Harps and Ballymoor FC play in the Senior league. Brandywell Swifts played in the Astroleague. Also included are the Oakleaf Amateur Boxing Club (Fb) and the Long Tower Judo Club.

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X02831 Derry dove peace oak leaf