Ár Tae Will Come

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Sınn Féın representatives Paul Maskey (above), Gerry Adams, and Martin McGuinness are photoshopped into these beverage-themed, Irish-language puns outside the ‘Falls Rolls’ bakery: Ár tae will come, Tıocfaıgh [sic] ár látte, and Mocha-ra.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03829 X03830 X03831 X03832 falls rd sıopa báıceareachta na bhfál

A Mother And Father Of Ulster

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Billy Moir, who died this past May (2016) was a central figure in the Glasgow flute-band scene. The board above, dedicated to Billy and his wife Anne, is in the lower Shankill estate. “Dedicated to a mother & father of Ulster: William (Big Billy) & Anne Moir, in appreciation for their Dedication, Loyalty, Support and Friendship to all the people of the Shankill Road and their beloved ULSTER. In Glorious Memory, Lest We Forget, Quis Separabit.”

Hopewell Crescent, lower Shankill, west Belfast

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X03848 X03849 Hopewell Cr

RPG Avenue

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Since 1982 (and perhaps earlier) Beechmount Avenue in west Belfast has been known as “RPG Avenue”, after the rocket-propelled grenade launchers used by the IRA. The tarpaulins shown in the first two images (from a recent dedication at the memorial garden across the street) here recall the 80s, with images of armed volunteers and of the support for the blanket men and hunger strikers from “Beechmount/Iveagh H Block-Armagh Committee”.

The first (above) was previously used in 2001 – see J1054. The final image, taken in June of this year, shows that the street still retains its unofficial name and also gives the names of various volunteers from A Coy, 2nd Battalion, including Pat McGeown, a hunger striker whose family intervened when he lapsed into a coma, and who was elected to Belfast City Council in 1993 and died in 1996 of a heart attack.

For the murals in the background see Free Tony Taylor and Bilal Kayed.

See also: RPG west Belfast 1981 | PLO-IRA RPG 1982 | RPG with phoenix north Belfast 1986 | RPG with ‘Vote Adams’ 1987 | RPG with phoenix west Belfast 1989 | RPG south Belfast 2002 | also surface-to-air missile launcher and SAM-7 Avenue in Strabane.

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X03826 X03825 X03463 roll of honour stan carberry frankie dodds paul fox sean bailey paul marlowe tony campbell albert kavanagh tom mcGoldrick fuaır sıad bás as son na héıreann ireland unfree will never be at peace ascaıll ard na bhfeá

End Internment – Free Tony Taylor

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Tony Taylor, an RNU leader and former IRA man in Derry, remains in Maghaberry prison after having his license revoked in March of this year. (See Free Tony Taylor.) Sinn Féin last week again called for Taylor’s immediate release of Tony Taylor (youtube). The Cogús mural above is in Beechmount Avenue.

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Self-Government Is Our Right

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Here is the second (of three) new paintings on the exterior wall of Casement Park in Andersonstown, west Belfast celebrating the life and death of Roger Casement. The words come from Casement’s speech from the dock at his trial on charges of treason. The quote in fact reads “Self-government is our right, a thing born in us at birth; a thing no more to be doled out to us or withheld from us by another people than the right to life itself — than the right to feel the sun or smell the flowers or to love our kind.” As the post on the first painting (see It Is Better For Men To Fight And Die) noted, Casement made his name (and was knighted) for his reports into abuses of “human rights” in Congo and Peru.

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X03724 Andersonstown Rd

The Re-Birth Of The Irish Republic

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In addition to the seven signatories of the Proclamation of an Irish Republic, 9 other leaders of the Easter Rising were executed in the wake of the rebellion. The portraits of all 16 are part of the — newly refreshed — mural of Walter Paget’s painting The Birth Of The Irish Republic. The mural now includes a bright red phoenix. (For the original mural, and Paget’s painting, see the painting’s Visual History page.) In order of appearance, the 16 (with links to their WP pages) are …

             (Left-hand side)

  1. John MacBride
  2. Roger Casement
  3. Thomas MacDonagh
  4. Éamonn Ceannt
  5. Thomas Kent
  6. Con Colbert
  7. Michael Mallin
  8. Edward Daly
  9. Michael O’Hanrahan
  10. Willie Pearse
  11. Seán Heuston
    (Right-hand side)
  12. James Connolly
  13. Joseph Plunkett
  14. Patrick Pearse
  15. Tom Clarke 
  16. Seán Mac Diarmada

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X03747 andersonstown road provisional government

Music Is Our Drug

Five images of the St. James Youth mural on Rodney Parade across from the farm: “Music is our drug – R speaker is R dealer” and “Mates do hugs, not drugs”.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03835 X03836 X03554 X03555 X03834 [X02937] [X02938] [X02939] [X02940] [X02941] [X02942] dan devine inverness FC ruari dalton all-ireland boxing stephen webb boxer joseph mccall music promoter irish champion dee walsh professional boxer stephen hall snooker bam neeson GAA

Bilal Kayed

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“RNU stands with hunger striker Bilal Kayed”. For more information on this Palestinian prisoner who recently ended his hunger strike, see Administrative Detention. Update: released 2016-12-12.

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X03797 beechmount ave

It Is Better For Men To Fight And Die

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Shown above is the first of three new boards at Casement Park in west Belfast, named for Roger Casement. Working for the British Colonial Services, Roger Casement wrote extensive reports on the abuse of indigenous people in Congo Free State (1904) and in Peru (1910).

In Congo Free State, King Leopold II of Belgium was using a private force to suppress the locals while extracting rubber; Casement’s report (archive.org) led to the Belgian government taking over Leopold’s operation and creating the Belgian Congo.

In Peru, Casement investigated abuses against the Putumayo indians at the hands of the Peruvian Amazon Company. As a result of his report, the PAC gradually lost business and folded. (WP) Casement was knighted in 1911 for his human rights work, though this title would be stripped shortly before his execution.

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X03723 Andersonstown Rd

Where Did The Seeds Fall?

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This part of the new mural on the International Wall uses the area of Kilmainham jail where most of the leaders of the Easter Rising were executed in order to tie together the blanket protest – Kieran Nugent and Maıréad Farrell are shown with raised fists –  the hunger strikers – including Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan on the ground – and Roger Casement, walking towards the gallows. Casement was executed not in Kilmainham but in Pentonville Prison, England, convicted of treason for his attempts to secure German rifles and machine-guns for the Rising.

Between Bobby Sands and Mickey Devine in the lower centre of the image is a 200th-anniversary stone in Maynooth/Maıgh Nuad(h) of the 1798 rising. A photograph of the stone is available here. “The Tree Of Liberty: What is that in your hand? It is a branch. Of what? Of the tree of liberty. Where did it first grow? In America. Where does it bloom? In France. Where did the seeds fall? In Ireland.”

At the launch (on August 3rd) actor James Doran (see the final image, below) read from Casement’s speech from the dock after his conviction for treason.

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X03741 X03740 X03713 Divis St armagh women’s prison proclamation irish republic smash h block