Belfast west

Hands Off Venezuela

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“Hands off Venezuela – Dlúthpháırtíocht le muınt[ı]r Veınıséala [Solidarity with the people of Venezuela]” Commentary from Ógra Shınn Féın (web) on the recent US actions against Venezuela, which have included attacks on small boats beginning in September 2025 (WP), an embargo on oil leaving the country announced in December 2025 (Guardian), and most recently (January 2nd) air-strikes on targets in and around Caracas and the capture of Nicolás Meduro and Cilia Flores (BBC). After the removal of Meduro, US President Donald Trump said that the US would run Venezuela and that between 30 and 50 million barrels-worth of Venezuelan oil would be shipped to the US, sold, and the proceeds disbursed by Trump himself “to ensure it used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States” (AP).

For a history of the image, which shows a Venezuelan hand grabbing a US hand, see England, Get Out Of Ireland.

Falls Road, west Belfast

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The Typist With The Webley

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“The typist with the Webley: Winifred Carney – socialist, republican, freedom fighter, Irish Citizen Army, Cumann Na mBan, suffragist, trade unionist, revolutionary.”

Winifred Carney was a qualified secretary and typist, and became secretary of the Irish Textile Workers’ Union in 1912, in which position she met James Connolly, who was secretary of the Belfast branch of the ITGWU. She was a member of Cumann Na mBan and participated in the Easter Rising of 1916. Carney was in the GPO when it was taken over and was among those who surrendered at the end; during the occupation she typed up dispatches from the Moore Street headquarters – this is how she was portrayed in the the 1916 Centenary mural.

(DIB | Ulster Biography | A Century Of Women | BBC | WP)

Stencil from Lasaır Dhearg (web) in Glenveagh Drive, Lenadoon, west Belfast, replacing the simple graffiti Ní Saoırse Go Saoırse Na mBan.

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This Is Our Israel

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“This is our Israel and this we shall defend.” “This” is Northern Ireland.

This is a vintage sticker (dating back to 2021) on the Shankill Road at Lawnbrook Avenue.

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To All The Women Of The Shankill

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“She hasn’t a sword and she hasn’t a gun. But she’s doing her duty now fighting’s begun.” This entry updates the 2016 entry with details from the board – now almost a decade old – dedicated “To all the women of the Shankill” and highlighting the roles played by women during WWI as nurses and welders and in the Land Army.

The troops in the upper-middle part of the board are shown gathered outside the West Belfast Orange Hall, on the Shankill at Brookmount Street.

outside the Ulster Rangers Supporters Club (Fb) on the Shankill Road

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LWF

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For Remembrance Sunday, rows of hand-painted wooden medallions were attached to the railings at West Kirk Presbyterian to pay homage to the dead of the British armed forces.

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Free Marwan

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“Free Marwan and all Palestinian political prisoners”. Marwan Barghouti, a leader of the group Fatah, has been in Israeli prison since 2002. He was seen last month in a video showing Israeli’s national security minister taunting the 66-year-old Barghouti in his cell (BBC | Al Jazeera | NPR).

Barghouti and 1,000 other prisoners went on hunger-strike in 2017 in order to win family visits for prisoners; see “Free Marwan Barghouti” in Belfast and in Derry and Barghouti’s quote “Our Chains Will Be Broken Before We Are” in a north Belfast stencil.

The photograph reproduced in this mural, of Barghouti giving the “V” for victory symbol while in handcuffs, can be seen at New Arab.

Divis Street, west Belfast, on the International Wall, where Barghouti’s son Aarab spoke at the launch (youtube).

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The Dividing Wall Between Us

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Work on the “New Life” (New Life City church – Fb) concrete relief on the Cupar Way “peace” line (war wall) at the North Howard Street gates has been completed – with brightly coloured paints and a pair of plaques below the cross that read “The first 3D cement peace fresco on a Belfast dividing wall. Created by local artist Debbie Hutchings ‘Irish Angel’. The for the amazing help of ECC Builders. Created on behalf of New Life City Church. Dedicated by Pastor Johnny McKee with young people & others from New Life City Church from both sides of the wall. Thursday 14th August 2025. ‘He is our peace who has destroyed the dividing wall between us’ Eph. 2.14.”

The creator is Debbie Hutchings, a member of the New Life City church (Fb) (Belfast Media); the piece is on top of the ‘repent’ version of the New Life mural, and it contains scriptural quotations from John 3:16: “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotton [begotten] son so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” and John 3:8: “The wind blows as it chooses, you can hear it’s [its] sound but you do not know where it came from or where it is going; so it is with the hearts of those born of the spirit”. There is video of Hutchings at work in this Irish News video on Fb and at the BelTel.

Work began at the beginning of April; there are in-progress images below from July 1st and May 1st.

For the board to the left, see Hope Unlocking Friendships.

July 1st:

May 1st:

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Hope Unlocking Friendships

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“Tackle inequality – create opportunities – inspire change”. The large board shown here is in Cupar Way, near the security gates in North Howard Street, which are locked nightly between 8:30 and 6:30 a.m. (DoJ). These and the nearby Northumberland Street gates separate the lower Falls and the middle Shankill, including the young people from the Active Communities Network (web), a cross-community youth group that lobbied for increased opening hours to allow members to return home quickly after meetings (BBC).

The board was originally on Northumberland Street (Belfast Live) in the Arthur Guinness spot but is now in Cupar Way.

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Bi Herri, Borroka Bat

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“Bi herri, borroka bat – ETA [Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, a Basque separatist group]” – “Two peoples, one struggle”, in Basque, on the side of the Falls library in Sevastopol Street.

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Fellowship

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Anti-immigrant graffiti on the wall of Mustardseed Christian Fellowship in Crimea Street, west Belfast

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