Belfast west

Meet The New Boss

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This UVF poster urges residents of east Belfast who owe money to loan sharks not to sell drugs or find some other way to pay it back, but instead to get in touch with a political representative.

The Sunday World reported that repayments are being withheld after the Shankill UVF ordered the leadership in East Belfast UVF to stand down (in November 2023 – IRN | BBC) and took over the operation. The posters thus come from the old (East Belfast) guard, trying to thwart the new bosses and hoping to resume collection themselves.

SDLP councillor Séamus De Faoıte commented (in the Irish News), “Anyone who has knowledge of criminal activity or exploitation of vulnerable people should report it to the relevant authorities, but people do not need to take any lessons from the UVF when it comes to upholding the law.” (Also: BelTel)

Meanwhile, the endingtheharm.com campaign (part of the Executive/DOJ’s programme designed to tackle “paramilitary activity and organised crime”) continues. See They Control You for a 2019 version. For the mural on the right of the final image, see Herbie McCallum.

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Copyright © 2024 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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X15043 [X15042] Ainsworth Ave Shankill/Woodvale

Not A Dumping Ground

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These Shankill placards read “Landlords take notice: “You have a responsibility” This is not a dumping ground.” and “Landlords take notice: We are taking back our community.” Their wording is not as explicit as the tarps and posters that have been seen in other areas which read, “NIHE & Private Landlords take note: [Belvoir | Suffolk | Finaghy | Newtownards] will no longer accept the re-housing of illegal immigrants or the excrement of other communities!” (BBC Belvoir | BBC Suffolk | (BelTel Newtownards) and “We have had enough of undesirables and immigrants being placed into our community. The time has come for locals only.” (BBC Finaghy). The “excrement” language has been condemned by politicians from both sides, as it (probably) refers to homeless people and those suffering intimidation who apply for Housing Executive housing (here is the points system). See also: similar placards in Rathcoole (Belfast Live).

See previously: “Locals Only” graffiti on Shore Road.

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Meditating Boxer

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This is one of Solus’s (ig | web) boxers in graceful poses, painted for HTN24 on Millfield at the bottom of Brown Street.

For close-ups, see the post at Paddy Duffy’s site.

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In The Service Of Our Country

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These are images of people collecting for Andy Allen Veterans Support (web) on the Shankill, Belfast. At its peak (in 1973) the UDR had more than 9,000 personnel (Statista). The UDR was amalgamated into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992 and a 2005 estimate put the number of its veterans at about 58,000 (Veterans Services NI).

The title of the post comes from a UDR memorial in Carrickfergus.

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Still Standing

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The WHO and UNRWA now estimates that of the 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, about 14,000 were children (Egypt Today). 18 were killed in a single explosion in Rafah yesterday (AP). This new board in west Belfast illustrates the disparity between Israeli forces and ordinary Palestinians by showing children in ragged clothing armed only with a single, odd-looking (AI hallucinated?), slingshot facing off against other children armed with assault rifles and wearing riot gear.

Of the RNU social-media handles along the bottom, only the Facebook and TikTok ones actually work.

Previously, from 2018: RNU Stands With Palestine.

Northumberland Street, west Belfast; later with a knotwork surround – see T08102.

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Let The Fight Go On

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This is a west Belfast instance of INLA graffiti – seen previously in Derry (Saoırse Go Deo) – celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the group’s founding, in December, 1974.

The Lasaır Dhearg (web | tw) stencils go back to 2020; see Britain’s Occupation Of Ireland.

Waterford St, west Belfast, replacing Victory To The [Palestinian] Resistance.

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Easter Commemoration

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This RNU (Fb) board calls for attendees at a gathering in Milltown cemetery to commemorate the Easter Rising of 1916. The signatories to the Proclamation can be seen above and behing the large Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann gravestone on the right.

Glen Road, on the grounds of the old Andersonstown RUC barracks.

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Though An Army Besiege Me, My Heart Will Not Fear

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In 2000, during the Second Intifada, Palestinian teenager Faris Odeh was photographed by an AP photographer in the act of throwing a stone at an Israeli tank. He was shot and killed a few days later and the image became a symbol of resistance. (A mural of the photograph was painted in Springhill: see David And Goliath.) The iconic image is updated here for Israel’s current invasion of Gaza, showing a young girl with a soft toy standing in front of a tank that is bedecked with the flags of the European Union, France, the USA, the UK, and Germany.

The F-16 jets and rubble and child with teddy-bear are the same as in the We Stand With Palestine mural in Ardoyne.

For the teddy-bears and soft toys, see Boycott Israeli Genocide and It Could Be You.

For the Easter Rising mural, see The Undauntable Thought.

South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast. Launched November 18th, 2023 (PD Fb).

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from the river to the sea will be free Mickey Doherty

Land Grab

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The “Put it back, thief” imagery is applied here to Palestine and Israel, except that there is no piece of territory in the Israeli arm, only a grasping hand, and the slogan is “Saoırse don Phalaıstín”.

In case you need any reminding of the trope, a close-up from the Kneecap mural in Hawthorn Street is included directly below; in CNR muraling, the imagery dates back to Stad Maggie Anoıs (1986) and England Get Out Of Ireland (1989). Similar imagery, based on a Soviet poster, was seen recently in Give It Back, Thief, concerning Lough Neagh.

Finally below is “An Phalaıstín” with the flag as a shield, as though the country were a sporting club.

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