A sad Scotsman has been swallowed by a whale and is living in the belly of the beast along with an octopus, a little boy, and various other creatures. For CNB 2014 by Martina Scott, Drawn In Belfast, John McFarlane/Cosmic Bacon and others.
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Bobby Sands’s poem The Rhythm Of Time, published in 1981 as part of Prison Poems, is printed in full along with images of Long Kesh and other prisons in which republican prisoners were held.
The work was launched 2014-08-10, to coincide with the anniversary of the introduction of interment in 1971 (see e.g. this BBC news report).
Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast
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X02082 1954 h-block palestinian flag starry plough dedicated to all past and present principled ex-prisoners maidstone maghaberry crumlin magilligan armagh women’s rooney toal
There’s an inner thing in every man, Do you know this thing my friend? It has withstood the blows of a million years, And will do so to the end.
It was born when time did not exist, And it grew up out of life, It cut down evil’s strangling vines, Like a slashing searing knife.
It lit fires when fires were not, And burnt the mind of man, Tempering leadened hearts to steel, From the time that time began.
It wept by the waters of Babylon, And when all men were a loss, It screeched in writhing And it hung bleeding from the Cross.
It died in Rome by lion and sword, And in defiant cruel array, When the deathly word was ‘Spartacus’ Along the Appian Way.
It marched with Wat the Tyler’s poor, And frightened lord and king, And it was emblazoned in their deathly stare, As e’er a living thing.
It smiled in holy innocence, Before conquistadors of old, So meek and tame and unaware, Of the deathly power of gold.
It burst forth through pitiful Paris streets, And stormed the old Bastille, And marched upon the serpent’s head, And crushed it ‘neath its heel.
It died in blood on Buffalo Plains, And starved by moons of rain, Its heart was buried in Wounded Knee, But it will come to rise again.
It screamed aloud by Kerry lakes, As it was knelt upon the ground, And it died in great defiance, As they coldly shot it down.
It is found in every light of hope, It knows no bounds nor space It has risen in red and black and white, It is there in every race.
It lies in the hearts of heroes dead, It screams in tyrants’ eyes, It has reached the peak of mountains high, It comes searing ‘cross the skies.
It lights the dark of this prison cell, It thunders forth its might, It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend, That thought that says ‘I’m right!’
“He had the courage to climb out of the traditional trenches, meet the enemy in no man’s land and play ball with him.” David Ervine was a UVF member, arrested in 1974 and served six years in the Maze before turning to politics. He first ran for office in 1985 and represented East Belfast in the NI Assembly from 1998 until his death in 2007. The new board, above, shows Ervine’s silhouette in a wreath of poppies along with pictures of and information about his life; the image below of the lower left-hand side includes a photograph of Ervine with Gusty Spence.
Video of the launch (on 2014-11-01) is available at U.tv
The info plaque on the right describes the Memory Chair sculpture in front of the first Ervine board.
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21st july 1953 8th january 2007 red hand comrades association progressive unionist party of northern ireland
“David Ervine was born in nearby Chamberlain Street, the youngest of five children. A lifelong supporter of Glentoran Football Club he was a true son of East Belfast. David attended Avoniel Primary School and Orangefield Boys High School. Leaving school before his fifteenth birthday he began his working life in an atmosphere of tension and violent confrontation. At nineteen he joined the UF. He was arrested in 1974 and served five years in Long Kesh, a wasteland that he and other prisoners transformed into a place of personal and political growth and development. A founding member of the Progressive Unionist Party and its most articulate spokesperson, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum, Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly. David Ervine was a truly inspirational leader. With vision and courage he led his community from violence to peace, winning the respect of friend and foe alike. He gave voice to the common man and woman acting always in the interest of peace and his beloved Ulster.”
Here is Faigy’s (Fb) finished piece, begun for CNB 2014, in William Street, just round the corner from Bellaire Hair & Beauty (Fb) in Royal Avenue (and opposite Hicks’s Lurid Wood from the previous year): one of Faigy’s wide-eyed beauties sports an extravagant pink hair-do. (Some of the jewels in the original version have been painted out.)
Previously: Faigy’s 2013 CNB piece | piece for Inked tattoo parlour.
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Here are two details from the Ardoyne, Bone, Ligoniel mural featured yesterday, as well as a shot of bouquets of flowers in front of the plaque on the stone put in place in 2003. The first reproduces a photograph of Maıréad Farrell during the “no-wash” or “dirty” protest in Armagh Women’s Prison. (See the middle of this 1989 Frontline documentary.) The second shows the walls and guard-towers of the H-Blocks (featured previously in You Know Where). The frames and photographs of 40 locals are printed, not painted.
Video of the launch:
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X02277 X02278 X02279 dedicated to those friends and neighbours from ardoyne, the bone and ligoniel whose contribution and support to our struggle was and remains invaluable aıthníonn muıd a gcrógacht óglaıgh na héıreann meán fómhaır 2003
26 volunteers and 14 others from the Ardoyne, Bone, and Ligoniel areas are commemorated in a new (2014-10-05) mural. The images below show artist Mickey Doherty, himself an ex-prisoner, at the start of the process – with the grid-work visible – and shooting an “action” shot for VICE TV.
The previous mural also commemorated local volunteers (34 painted portraits rather than a printed board), but this mural adds a Celtic cross, funeral volley, and images of Armagh women’s prison, the cages at Long Kesh, and the H-blocks, as well as (an inverted image of) blanketman Hugh Rooney – detailed images can be seen in Prison Walls.
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X02304 X02284 X02305 X02306 gerard mcdade david mcauley james reid joseph mccomiskey pat mccabe marley alan lundy john copeland terry toolan stephen scullion terry clarke declan mccluskey patrick markey peter hamilton thomas begley jim saunders martin meehan
A pro-Gaza “Viva Palestine” mural/stencil has replaced the Maıréad Farrell piece at the top of Berwick Road/Paráıd An Ardghleanna in Ardoyne/Ard Eoın. The flyer on the box touts high-speed broadband – you can go anywhere you want on-line, but, as can be seen from the wide shot below, the road itself runs straight into the Glenbryn “peace” line.
The mural – with stencilled fists and the image of Leila Khaled – is very similar to one in Hugo Street. It is positioned between ‘PSNI Not Welcome‘ and an RNU phoenix (shown in the Maıréad Farrell image)
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Here’s DMC’s (Fb | Web) CNB 2014 mural in Kent Street, featuring dubstep artist/producer Skream (Oliver Jones), who was one of the artists at the Red Bull Music Academy at the end of September (which was also promoted in KVLR’s piece – see Home Taping Is Killing Music).
Previously from Dermot McConaghy for CNB 2013: Long Runs The Fox
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This graffiti on the hoardings around the building-site at the top of Woodvale Road is in reference to the on-going dispute at Twaddell Avenue, which is just to the right of the PSNI land-rover in the right of frame – each night Orange bands march up to the police line, attempting to march past the Ardoyne shops and finish a parade from the Twelfth (of July) 2013.
See previously: Civil Rights Camp | Twaddell Protest Camp | Supporters Club
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The 7.5 million people of the Spanish region of Catalonia will go to the polls on November 9th for a vote on independence, though it will no longer be a referendum but a non-binding ‘consultation of the citizens’. Indeed, the Spanish government in the last 24 hours has begun taking steps to block even that vote (Reuters). The “Catalan Countries” are Catalonia, Valenicia, and the Balearic Islands, along with Andorra and the French region of Rousillon – see the WP page on Països Catalans for greater detail.
The Catalan mural was painted on top of the mural to blanketman Kieran Nugent (and Brendan Hughes) (seen here in Belfast’s Infamous Prison) which caused some consternation. As can be seen below, Nugent is now being painted into the hunger-strikers mural (Peace With Justice) along with Mairéad Farrell, who led the protest in Armagh Women’s Prison.
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X02310 X02319 yes to the referendum for independence for catalan countries catalans want to vote
Extramural Activity 