The images below (taken in January 2014) show part of the old Kevin Lynch mural revealed by the removal of the board that was part of the Marian Price mural (featured previously). The new version of the Lynch mural – shown above – is almost identical to the previous one. It shows Lynch’s likeness framed by the red star and yellow background of the IRSP (Irish Republican Socialist Party) – see also the Mickey Devine mural in Mount Pottinger.
A new mural on the International Wall combines two current events. One is the furore surrounding the recent description of Islam as “satanic” by Belfast pastor James McConnell (Tele) and a ‘Rally Against Racism’ that took place on Saturday (31st) (Tele). The middle of the mural reads “Respect and defend our Muslim brothers + sisters – kardeslik azadi”.
The other is the death of Maya Angelou (WP), who died this past Wednesday (May 28th). Angelou is pictured in the top half of the mural with Muhammad Ali along with a quote: “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the past inaccessible.”
In the bottom half appear Padraıg Pearse and James Connolly and a line from the Proclamation of the Irish Republic: “Cherish all the children of the nation equally.”
Here are close-ups, and a final wide-shot, of the “Reaching Out” suicide-prevention mural in Springmadden on the Springfield Road, painted by Lucas Quigley.
Above, a girl is carried away by balloon hearts; below, a fox peeks out from behind giant sunflowers and foliage sporting a ladybird while a butterfly looks on.
Graffiti in the Highfield estate complaining about/threatening someone allegedly reporting [touting] others to the authorities about unemployment claims [bru, brew; the dole].
According to one source, “bru” is originally a Glaswegian corruption of “bureau” from the 1930s.
The pro-Union NI21 party was founded in June of last year (2013) and is contesting council and European elections today. Above is an Irish-language hoarding in support of Europe candidate Tina McKenzie who hails from republican west Belfast. “Is é seo #freshpolitics. Vótáıl McKenzie 1 do Eoraıp” – “This is #freshpolitics. Vote McKenzie 1 for Europe.”
Poster from the junction of Whiterock and Springfield Roads: “It’s not joyriding, it’s murder. Debbie McComb Aged 15 Killed by car thieves, March 1, 2002.” McComb died of her injuries after being hit by Henry Marley, who was driving a stolen car and drove through a red light. Her death and other deaths led to a substantial campaign against “death drivers” in 2002 (see, for example, An Phoblacht | The (Sunday) People). Marley was sentenced in April of this year for colliding into two other cars (Newsletter).
Four generations of headgear and rifles, from 1912 to the present, are featured in this new UVF board in Glenwood Street. A portion of the previous No. 4 Platoon ‘graveyard scene’ mural it replaces can be seen in the top right, with black figures superimposed. The title of the post, which comes from Ecclesiasticus 44, appears on the accompanying info panel along with a verse from Laurence Binyon’s poem For The Fallen. The fourth verse of Binyon’s poem is more often quoted, as in What Do We Forget When We Remember and At The Going Down Of The Sun.
U.S. civil rights protester John Lewis (WP) – leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and co-organizer of the march on Washington in August, 1963 – made a visit to Dublin, Derry, and Belfast at the end of April (Newsletter | DerryCity.gov.uk). In honour of his visit, the ‘We Can Do It!” (a.k.a. “Rosie The Riveter”) figure at the left edge of the Douglass mural (under Barack Obama) on Northumberland Street was painted over and Lewis’s image – wearing the Presidential Medal Of Freedom – put in its place. For a wide-shot of the mural pre-Lewis, see Liberating Minds, which gives all of the quotes in the mural, including the quote from Abraham Lincoln that provides the title of today’s post.