Belfast

All Flags Are Welcome

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“Over 40 years ago the presence of this flag [the Irish Tricolour] on this street unleashed a vicious campaign of discrimination and violence against this community lasting decades … 45 years on … this flag can flow [sic] freely from every corner … All flags are welcome on this road and so are you … failte [fáılte] go dtí … West Belfast.”

The event referenced in the flying of the Irish Tricolour in 1964 from Billy McMillen’s electoral office, which Ian Paisley (and the RUC) found objectionable. Danny Morrison in An Phoblacht (web) has an account of the election and events. Here is news video from 1964 (DFA) of charges subsequently brought against 70 people.

The mural from Coıste Political Tours (web) is on Divis Street, just beyond down-town Belfast and directed at foreign visitors; the Union Flag, however, is not included among the display of international flags. On the right is a placard for the Eileen Hickey Republican History Museum (web).

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Frederick Douglass

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Here are some in-progress shots of the new Frederick Douglass mural being painted on Northumberland Street, being painted by a Short Strand artist, Marty Lyons, and Mark Ervine. (An image of the three artists during work on the  mural can be seen at An Phoblacht.)

Nelson Mandela is in the second image. The person in the third image is Harriet Tubman rather than Rosa Parks, though Tubman did not wear spectacles; Parks will also be included.

For the completed work, see Liberating Minds.

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Fıanna 100

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Na Fıanna Éıreann was founded by Constance Markievicz – shown on the left of the mural – and Bulmer Hobson in 1909 as a scouting organisation for boys. When they reached 17, they were recruited into the IRB.

Falls-Beechmount Corner

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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1981-2011

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Mural in Beechmount Avenue/Ascaıll Ard na bhFeá commemorating the 30th anniversary of the hunger strike. The watchtowers of Long Kesh provide a lower border, joined by symbols of republican prisoners the lark and the green ribbon, as well as the Easter lily and Sınn Féın logo. “Honour Ireland’s dead – wear an Easter lily”. “I gcuımhne ar an staılc ocráıs. [In memory of the hunger strike.]” Replaces the previous Honour Ireland’s Dead which did not feature the hunger strike.

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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They Cannot Break Our Spirit

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“They cannot or never will break our spirit … Tıocfaıdh ár lá” – Bobby Sands. For the 30th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike in which ten republican prisoners died in the H Blocks.

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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IRA Final Salute

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“30th anniversary of the hunger strike. 5th May 1981. IRA final salute. IRA Vol. Bobby Sands, MP Fermanagh South Tyrone.” Gerry Adams watches on as a funeral volley is fired over Sands’s coffin.

(Here is a close variant of the photograph reproduced in the mural.)

Whiterock Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Vote Éırígí

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In 2011, Éırígí contested the local election in Belfast, fielding candidates in two areas. Pádraıc Mac Coıtır received 1,415 first preference votes (more than 10%) in Upper Falls and John McCusker 647 in Lower Falls. Neither was successful (WP).

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They Sleep Beyond Ulster’s Foam

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Here are three details from the metalworks in the Mount Vernon WWI memorial garden, showing scenes from the conflict and a map of the area around Messines (photoshopped in red). For more, including the panels to John Cordon and William McFadzean, see M07770.

Update: As the images below from 2017 and 2018 show, the metalworks themselves have also been repainted (and replaced in a slightly different configuration), a new gate has been installed and the boards on the surrounding wall have been restored, against a freshly-painted background of green. The boards have verses from Laurence Binyon’s For The Fallen. “They mingle not with their laughing comrades again/They sit no more at familiar tables of home/They have no lot in our labour of the day-time/They sleep beyond Ulster’s [originally, England’s] foam.”

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T04420 T04419 courtesy of Paddy Duffy

Victoria By The Seaside

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Queen Victoria and entourage paddle along the Irish shore at the end of the Great Hunger. (Here are one | two discussions of her visit and (un)involvement with famine relief.) Work by Rosie McGurran (Fb) in Linden Street, Belfast.

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