Rest Easy Big Man

2015-07-28 RIPTommyCrossan+

Former CIRA commander Tommy Crossan’s 2014 murder by former colleagues was unusual in that is was carried out during the daytime (and also because he was abducted just off the Springfield Rd). (BBC-NI news video) The graffiti above declares that vengeance will be won.

Previously: Tommy Crossan

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02708 RIP Vol Tommy Crossan 18/4/2014 justice will be done

Respect Equality

2015-08-09 RespectEquality+

The People Before Profit Alliance is an all-Ireland political party closely related to the Socialist Workers Party. In the north, candidate Gerry Carroll was elected to Belfast City Council in 2014, representing Black Mountain. Gay rights does not seem to form an explicit part of the platform, but the mural above, featuring a heart with the rainbow colours, appeared on Divis St in time for the Pride parade on August 1st.

See also: Cherish from Sınn Féın

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X02722

Imagine

This mural of a skateboarder emerging from a girl’s reading replaced a Red Hand Commando mural (see D01242) at the Brooklands Road entrance to the Ballybeen estate in the mid 2000s. The lettering from the former mural is beginning to bleed through – above the window can be seen “Ballybeen [C Company]” and below it, “Ulster’s Elite”.

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The High Meadow

2015-07-28 ClonardBoardWide+

As the map below shows, the area between the Shankill and the Falls roads in 1789 was largely undeveloped and perhaps titles such as “Cluain Ard” (“Clonard”) were descriptions as well as names. The ‘White Linen Hall’ – on the site of the current City Hall – had been completed the year before. St. Mary’s was the first Catholic church in Belfast. Wikipedia reports that on the day of its first mass, May 30th, 1784, “the mostly Presbyterian 1st Belfast Volunteer Company paraded to the chapel yard and gave the parish priest a guard of honour, with many of the Protestants of Belfast also present and sharing the event”. (WP) The map also shows a series of ponds connected to the nearby Flush. A close-up of the board is below.

2015-07-28 ClonardBoard+

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X02700 X02699 aine dell aisling aimee clare roisin paul

1789BelfastMap
1789 map of Belfast by James Lawson.

Cherish

2015-08-04 Cherish+

The 1916 Proclamation Of Irish Republic includes the sentence “The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.” At the time, it had a political meaning, but it has since been pressed into service by advocates of children’s right and now, in the board above, by supporters of gay rights. James Connolly (leader of the Irish Citizen Army) and the text of the declaration are shown against a backdrop of the gay pride rainbow flag. Launched 2015-07-31

02779 2015-08-19 GlenRdWide+

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X02714 X02779 ceartas anois truth ballymurphy massacre springhill pearse jordan belfast IRSP commemoration parade britain out of ireland

The Vigil

“Felons presents an exciting new drama by Roseleen Walsh [web]– The Vigil – sixty one years apart yet both [Kieran Doherty 1981 and Terence MacSwiney 1920] died on hunger strike for the cause of Ireland.” The play was produced for Féile An Phobail (web). Walsh’s introduction and excerpts from the play are available on youtube.

Falls Road, Belfast, on the railings around the site of the former RUC barracks.

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X05338

Murals Of Innocence

2015-07-25 ChangeTheWorld+

The mural ‘History Is Written By The Winner‘ was replaced by the mural above as part of Oliver Jeffers‘s film (trailer) for U2’s Songs Of Innocence. It features Joey Ramone (after a song on the album called “The Miracle Of Joey Ramone”) with Earth for a head. The band finished a tour of North America with a July 31st concert in New York, attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton (USNews).

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X02698 all the stolen voices will one day be returned i can’t change the world but i can change the world in me 1951-2001 Hey! Ho! Let’s go U2 bono edge radio plug magnetic poles lightbulb

Yeomna Qadm

This is a pro-Palestine mural just off Beechmount Avenue/Ascaıll Ard na bhFeá. If there’s a better translation/pronunciation for the Arabic “Tıocfaıdh ár lá”, please let us know.

Previously: Freedom In ArabicViva Palestine on Black Mountain/Slıabh Dubh | Leila Khaled in Hugo Street | The Popular Front

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Remembering The Hunger Strikers

2015-07-24 RemHungerStrikers+

The six weeks from July 8th to August 20th 1981 saw the death of six hunger strikers – McDonnell, Hurson, Lynch, Doherty, McElwee, and Devine – adding to the four who began in March and died in May. All ten, along with Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg from 1974 and 1976, are remembered in this recent (spring 2015?) board in Rockmore Road, west Belfast.

This is the fourth iteration of this board, which goes back (at least) to 1995. For two of the previous versions, see the Peter Moloney collection: third | first.

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X02696 lark barbed wire bobby sands mp 5th may francis hughes 12th may raymond mccreesh 21st may patsy o’hara 21st may joe mcdonnell 8th july michael gaughan 3rd june 1974 frank stagg 12th february 1976 martin hurson 13th july kevin lynch 1st august kieran doherty 2nd august thomas mcelwee 8th august michael devine 20th august st james commemoration committee sınn féın