Belfast west

In The Service Of Our Country

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Above are images of a new UDR [Ulster Defence Regiment] veterans association board in Woodburn Avenue, Carrickfergus; below are images of people collecting for Andy Allen Veterans Support (web) on the Shankill, Belfast.

“In memory of those who gave their lives in the service of our country and are still doing so.” 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).

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we will remember them

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 was 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, Belfast.

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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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Humanitarian Intervention

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On March 25th, Israel declared that it would no longer work with UNRWA to deliver aid into Gaza (Reuters | Guardian). On March 28th, Foreign Minister Micheál Martin announced that Ireland plans to “intervene” in South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel, asserting that the Genocide Convention includes blocking humanitarian aid (BBC | Guardian | RTÉ).

The support for Palestine by Ireland and South Africa is illustrated here by Irish, Palestinian, and South African children standing hand-in-hand. The same type of image was also used, with younger children, in the Painting For Palestine project on the International Wall – see The International Court Of Justice, which also gives details of South Africa’s initial case against Israel.

South Link, west Belfast, facing the Israeli tank in Though An Army Besiege Me, My Heart Will Not Fear.

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Ireland Says “No”

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“… to Genocide Joe”. This mural – a copy of a cartoon by Carlos Latuff – was painted in Divis Street in advance of the visit by Irish politicians to the United States for St Patrick’s Day – for background, see Don’t Look Away and The Fog Of War (which showed the same message on Slıabh Dubh).

In the mural, the leaders of “SF”, “FF”, and “FG” (Sınn Féın, Fıanna Fáıl, Fıne Gael) on their knees offer shamrock to US president Joe Biden, the blood dripping from whose hands spells “Gaza” on the ground.

However, the mural was completely blacked out the week before March 17th (Xitter) and then had to be cleaned, to give the version shown above.

In 2016, a Latuff reproduction in Beechmount, which was critical of Martin McGuinness’s shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth of England, was whitewashed (and was not subsequently restored). See The Butcher’s Apron for ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos.

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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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Joe Cahill Annual Tournament

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Easter Saturday is traditional day for the Joe Cahill tournament, hosted by Cardinal O’Donnell’s (Fb) and involving about 250 children (Belfast Media). Shown above is the new board in Beechview Park, updating the one from last year.

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T04075 [T04076] [T04077] “Mol an óıge agus tıocfaıdh sí” [encourage youth and it will flourish, or less literally, youth responds to praise]

Still Undefeated

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The UVF mural in Carlingford Street, east Belfast, that the one shown here replaces was controversial at the time (2013) because of its proposed inclusion of two hooded gunmen in fatigues firing into the air. In response to the concerns expressed, the final version put both figures in WWI uniforms and had only one firing into the air – the other gazed downward in prayer – and the modern UVF was referenced only in the forms of the towers and cages of Long Kesh and of a roll of honour. (See Years Of Sacrifice for both the draft and final murals.)

The cages are retained in this new board but the depiction of violence is more explicit here than in the proposed mural a decade ago: at the centre of this piece is a hooded gunman carrying an assault rifle.

For the wider context of re-imaging and re-re-imaging (that is, the disappearance and return of PUL hooded gunmen), see Visual History 11.)

Long Kesh’s cages are also included in a Shankill board to Stevie McCrea – A True Soldier Of Ulster.

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T04149c T04148 X14985 [X14986] Ulster Volunteers 1912 Ulster Covenant In memory of all friends & comrades of the cosy bar east belfast

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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Road Rage Ruth

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Here are a few pieces from the so-called “peace” line dividing CNR and PUL west Belfast, featuring, above, ‘Road rage Ruth’ by Kilian (ig). Previously by Kilian on the “peace” line: The Brain Is Wider Than The Sky. See also the works done for HTN23, HTN22, and HTN21.

For wild-style from December (2023) see Bombing The “Peace” Line. For ten or so pieces of street art and wild-style writing on the wall from May 2023, see Ready To Rumble.

The obscured piece by Bust and the “World Wall Stylers” tag can be seen in better condition in New Levels, Same Devils (2022). “Ríoghnach” is an Irish-language name.

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