A week before he was assassinated and his government overthrown, Burkina Faso president Thomas Sankara asserted: “While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.” Sankara gained power of Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta) in a 1983 coup and launched an ambitious programme of literacy, feminism, public health, and agricultural self-sufficiency, in addition to launching a drive against corruption and of nationalizing natural resources. He attempted this all without the assistance of foreign aid or the IMF or World Bank. However, he wielded power outside the jurisdiction of the courts and controlled the press. He and twelve colleagues were killed in October 1987.
For weeks (since April) a whitewashed panel on the International Wall sat empty, before being partly filled in with “RIC – RUC – PSNI”, “RUC -> Collusion covered up by PSNI”, but progress seems to have halted again and a 32-County Sovereignty Movement tarp has been placed on top: Oppose British political policing.
The stands of three football stadiums are shown in the background of the Don Patricio mural at the bottom of the Whiterock: Belfast Celtic’s Celtic Park (“Paradise”), Manchester United’s Old Trafford, and Barcelona’s Camp Nou. The Old Trafford stands bear the emblems of the teams Patrick O’Connell played for and managed: Liffey Wanderers (whose shirt is also featured, on the left), Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City (The Tigers), Manchester United, Dumbarton, Real Racing Club de Santander, Real Oviedo, and Real Betis Balompié (also shirt on the right).
Yesterday we had ‘Barcelona Past’ in the form of Patrick “Don Patricio” McConnell (The Don); today we have ‘Barcelona Present’, in the form of Lionel Messi. The Argentinian forward is shown in front of the Spanish League cup, which Barcelona won this year (2014-2015) with a goal from “La Pulga” (“the flea”) – Messi is 5’7″ but four-time world player of the year.
Here is part of the new Patrick O’Connell, “Don Patricio”, mural at the bottom of the Whiterock. As a player, the Dublin-born O’Connell started with Belfast Celtic before moving on to various English and Scottish clubs, including a period at Manchester United at the time of WWI. He then went on to manage a string of Spanish clubs. As manager of Barcelona during the Spanish civil war, he accompanied the club on their tour of Mexico and the United States. The money from the tour saved the club from bankruptcy but 12 of the 16 players went into exile in Mexico and France. (WP) Barcelona returns to the US this month (2015-07) for games against the LA Galaxy, Manchester United, and Chelsea. (FCBarcelona)
The newspaper in the mural above crams all of this news onto one page: “Civil war erupts in Spain – Barcelona bombed”, “Football suspended – President [of FC Barcelona] Josep Sunyol assassinated” [by Franco’s troops] (WP); “Irishman O’Connell takes players on tour – FC Barcelona saved from extinction”; “Funds lodged in Switzerland”. In the bottom left-hand corner of the newspaper is Robert Capa’s famous photograph of ‘The Falling Soldier’, purporting to show a Republican soldier at the very moment he is struck by a bullet and dies. The image is now thought to have been staged (WP).
Englishman Clive Dutton was an urban planner who was best known for work in Birmingham, London (Newham), and Belfast. He produced “The Dutton Report” in 2004 and “The Big Plan” (pdf) (the cover of which is pictured in the mural) in 2013. In them, he proposed and then updated a plan to tackle economic deprivation in west Belfast by the creation of a ‘Gaeltacht Quarter’ or ‘Ceathrú Gaeltachta’. He died on June 8th at the age of 62 and the mural above has been painted in remembrance.
This new mural pays tribute to two long-time residents of Clonard. On a good day, Noel Fitzpatrick, a cobbler with a little shop on the corner of Odessa and Clonard streets, would take his chair out into the street and play the uıleann pipes. Looking down from above is Alec Reid, the Redemptorist priest who spent 40 years at Clonard monastery and played an important role in the peace process. He died in 2013 at age 82. (WP)
Painted by Marty Lyons & Mickey Doc in Springfield Drive. For the large ‘flower’ mural to the left of this mural (which imitates the stained glass in the cathedral), see C01044.
Here’s a wide shot of the right-hand side of the murals in the lower Shankill estate. These gables have remained in place while the estate has been redeveloped, causing the removal of the Red Hand, Martin Luther and Cuchulainn murals.
In 1997, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office issued a statement acknowledging that the administration of the time of the Hunger failed to intervene (Guardian | Independent).
The mural above asserts that it was not merely a matter of negligence but of will: “With over 1,500,000 deaths “sorry” is not enough. It is time the British government and its war machine to leave Ireland and her people in peace. During the genocide or 1845 to 1852 the British government seized from Ireland’s producers tens of millions of head of livestock, tens of millions of tons of flour, grain, meat, poultry and dairy products, enough food to sustain 18 million people. 200,000 British troops (100,000 at any given time) and 12,000 RIC removed Ireland’s food at gun point. This mural is dedicated to the men, women and children who died of starvation during the Great Hunger. To call this period in Irish history a famine dishonors the pain and untold suffering our ancestors endured. British warships took the food of our land for profit while our people starved. It was genocide. With this truth told may they rest in peace.”
Each white cross on the map represents a mass grave. The map is originally from irishholocaust.org.
Extramural Activity 