Belfast west

It’s OK To Talk

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October 10th is WHO World Mental Health Day. To mark the occasion and respond to the continued high rates of suicide in west Belfast (Assembly Research), emic (web | tw | ig) and local youth painted an “OK” gesture on the side of the Alternatives (web) offices in Agnes Street, which also includes the numbers for Lifeline and Samaritans. In-progress images of the mural being painted by can be seen at AlternativesRJ. In the US, the “OK” hand gesture has recently become associated with the ‘white power’ movement (WP).

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Belfast Graffiti Art

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Here’s a year-end gallery of the graffiti art and wild-style writing that didn’t make it into an individual post this year (2020). Artists include SCAN, NOTA, JAKOV, MASH. Belfast city centre and Cupar Way “peace” line.

See also HAS, ROMPS, NOYS.

See also: State Art Vs. Graffiti On The West Belfast “Peace” Line.

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Pat Ward

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The 39th Bundoran (RSF) hunger strike commemoration took place at the end of August, scaled-back due to the coronavirus pandemic (RSF). The poster above, on the electrical box on Northumberland Street, includes Pat Ward alongside the twelve “traditional” hunger strike deaths (for the first inclusion of Gaughan and Stagg, see Remember The Hunger Strikers from 1985) Ward, a Donegal fisherman and IRA volunteer, took part in four hunger strikes, lasting 148 days in total, including 45 in Portlaoise in 1975. He died in 1988. (RSF | Pensive Quill)

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Praying For A Miracle

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Saint Luke’s C of I opened in 1863 in what was then the lower Falls but – because of the “peace” line is now the lower Shankill. It closed in 2006 and the congregation merged with St Stephen’s (in Millfield). The building served as a community centre. In 2015 two pigs’ heads with racist graffiti were left in the doorway in response to rumours that the building might become a mosque (BBC). The property was (later) acquired by Living Faith Global – “a miracle believing and seeing church” – which opened in April 2019.

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Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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Plum Position

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The Cupar Way “peace” line, home to graffiti-art/wild-style writing and patronising slogans from around the world, is also home to a single Troubles-related memorial plaque, to Plum Smith (one | two) of the UVF/RHC and subsequently the PUP, which thus far has resisted the artists’ can and the tourists’ Sharpie. It is not known whether the “Plum” graffiti (and previously “RIP Plum Smith”) is by locals or by a visiting writer.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Old Firm

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Glasgow Celtic stickers on Divis Street, Glasgow Rangers sticker on the Shankill. We can’t really improve upon the WP entry‘s introduction: “the rivalry between [the two teams] has become deeply embedded in Scottish culture. It has reflected, and contributed to, political, social, and religious division and sectarianism in Scotland. As a result, the fixture has had an enduring appeal around the world.” – including Northern Ireland.

See previously: Ultras Celtic | Balance Enquiry
A Matter Of Life And Death | Follow, Follow | The Boys In Blue | We Are The People
Also Gegen Rechts

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Don’t Emigrate – Agitate

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Emigration of Irish nations outstripped their returning counterparts for most of the 2010 but stabilised in 2018 (Irish Times). (Migration data for NI nationals could not be found.) This Connolly Youth Movement (cym.ie | ig | tw account currently suspended) sticker on Northumberland Street street sign encourages young people to stay and work for change at home.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Big Love, Belfast

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“Grá mór” [lots of love] on an electrical box in Ardmoulin Street. Artist unknown.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Falls Road Massacre

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Muralist Gerard ‘Mo Chara’ Kelly (whose catalogue of work can be seen in a separate site) and others from Gael Force Art (Fb) have mounted a three-piece memorial for the centenary of the Falls Road Massacre in which four people were killed – one of them being Mo Chara’s great uncle Jimmy Shields – in a 5-minute shooting spree by a “special patrol” on the night of the funerals of three men killed by the ‘RIC Murder Gang’ (see the 2007 post). For more background see the memorial’s Facebook page.

More than 500 people were killed in Belfast from 1920 to 1922; for details and their locations see The Social Geography Of Violence During The Belfast Troubles.

“These four innocent local men were murdered by an RIC/British Army death squad near this spot in [September 28th] 1920: James Shields, William Teer, Robert Gordon, Thomas Barkley.” With perhaps the first appearance of a hashtag on a plaque: #fallsroadmassacre1920

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“F” For Fascist

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“Only fascists stand with ‘Soldier F’.” Lasaır Dhearg (web) sticker on the Falls Road about the trial of an anonymous British Army soldier charged with the deaths of James Wray and William McKinney on Bloody Sunday.

At the end of September (2020) the Public Prosecution Service ruled that none of the other paratroopers would be charged in connection with the 14 deaths (BBC).

In the sticker, the Nazi swastika has been added to the emblem of the paratroopers, making it look very much like the emblem of the Nazi army.

Previously: Stop The Witch Hunt

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Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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