City/Town

No Shame

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“S[inn] F[éin] IRA – No Shame” in reference to Shankill bomber Sean Kelly (on the right) campaigning for SF Belfast North candidate John Finucane (on the left) on Lanark Way and Cupar Way. See Steeped In Blood for more. Voters go to the polls on Thursday (December 12th).

With “patronising slogans” by tourists from around the world: “Peace for everyone”, “Stop the walls”, “Can’t you all just get along?”, “Share love – help one another”, and “Impeach Trump”.

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The Green Line

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When the negotiators for Israel sat down with counterparts from each of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt after the Arab-Israeli war to draw the ceasefire lines between their countries, they did so in a green ink, after which it got the name “the green line”.

The line ran through the town of Baqa and in 2004 (and still part of the border between the West Bank and Israel) Israel built a wall dividing the community. The image above (from Kai Wiedenhöfer’s Confrontier collection of dividing walls and pasted onto Belfast’s own ‘green line’ in Cupar Way) shows a Palestinian back garden butting up against the wall, with a Banksy-style ‘hole-in-the-wall’ view of the other side providing an alternative (also seen previously on Northumberland Street).

For more images of the Wiedenhöfer exhibit on the “peace” line, see Confrontier and Wall On Wall. This piece is in the spot where Kevin Killen’s ‘Face’ was.

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Sinn Fein-IRA’s Golden Boy

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We are now a week away from Westminster elections (December 12th). John Finucane is standing for Sınn Féın in Belfast North but this banner is at the top of the Shankill, intended to stir up animosity towards Sınn Féın, and support for DUP candidates, in all constituencies.

The same banner was hung in Tiger’s Bay, York Street, Antrim, and Ballymena, though the Tiger’s Bay one was removed because it was on council property (News Letter).

The banner presents a gallery of Finucane’s relatives John Snr, Dermot, Seamus, and Pat: “The real Finucane family  – human rights abusers – steeped in the blood of our innocents.” The (former) IRA involvement of the three uncles is well documented. Controversially, Sean O’Callaghan (in the Daily Telegraph) alleged that father Pat Finucane was in the IRA, contrary to the findings of the de Silva report into collusion: “Pat Finucane was first and foremost an IRA volunteer, and he exploited his position [as a solicitor with access to prisoners] ruthlessly to wage his war on the state.” The source of the claim that Finucane is the chosen candidate of the PIRA Army Council is unknown. Sınn Féın leader Mary Lou McDonald called the banners “dangerous” (RN). The Belfast Telegraph reported that the Shankill banner was ordered by an alleged planner of Pat Finucane’s assassination, Jim Spence of the UDA (BelTel).

See previously: Steeped In The Blood | The Anti-Brexit Candidate | What Does Brexit Mean? See also: No Fouling.

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What Does Brexit Mean?

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Brexit means … borders, job losses, medicine shortages, and more. It takes all of the colours of the rainbow to set what Sınn Féın believes its consequences would be. The Sınn Féın candidate in Belfast North is John Finucane, in a close contest with the DUP’s Nigel Dodds: see The Anti-Brexit Candidate.

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Is Féıdır Lınn!

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Inspirational female figures inside Coláıste Feırste: Marie Curie – Duaıs Nobel, Emmeline Pankhurst – “Vótaí do mhnaí” [votes for women], Alice Ní Mhaolagáın [Milligan], Mary Anne Nıc Reachtaın [McCracken], Maıréad Ní Fhearaıl [Farrell], Bernadette Ní Dhoıbhılın [Devlin], Angela Davis, Rosa Parks – “Shuıgh sí le go dtıocfadh lınn seasamh” [She sat so that we would stand], Méabh – Banríon Chonnacht [queen of Connacht], Gráınne Mhaol [Grace O’Malley], Marina Ginestà, Wınıfred Ní Chearnaıgh [Carney], Mary Mhıc Gıolla Íosa [McAleese] – Uachtarán na hÉıreann [President of Ireland], mná Bhóthar Seoıghe [women of Shaw’s Road] – scoıl Ghaeılge Bhéal Feırste. Dalta Choláıste Feırste – An tusa an chéad laoch eıle? [Pupil of Coláıste Feırste, are you the next hero?]

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Our Ship Yard

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Harland & Wolff shipyard workers occupied the premises for nine weeks this (2019) summer in response to news that a sale by owners Dolphin Drilling was falling through. The unions called for the yard to re-nationalised, as it was from 1970 to 1989 before being sold into private hands (BBC). The UK government declined to intervene. Ultimately, the yard was sold for 6 million pounds to InfraStrata, an energy company based in London. The deal included continued employment for the remaining 79 employees (BBC). The poster above is in the window of McDowell’s chemists on the Newtownards Road. 

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No Fouling

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Neither the Greens and Sınn Féın are contesting the Belfast South seat, leaving a clear path for the SDLP’s Claire Hanna to make up the 2,00o-vote margin of the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly, which she seems likely to do in a constituency that voted 68-32 for ‘remain’ (BBC). Unlike in Belfast North (see Steeped In Blood | The Anti-Brexit Candidate), the UUP is fielding a candidate (Michael Henderson) which, along with the Alliance party, provides an option for liberal unionists. Henderson is against the current proposal for an Irish Sea economic border. The banner shown above refers to campaigning in North Belfast by Shankill bomber Sean Kelly (WP).

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Our British Identity

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“[Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous.] In war you can only be killed once. In politics, many times. [ – Winston Churchill, 1903] Our British identity is non-negotiable! UVF East Belfast Battalion.” Hooded UVF volunteers are shown in active poses (as compared to the cradled rifles in The Erosion Of Our Identity) ready to resist any compromise in the still-unresolved tension between Brexit and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998.

For the piece on the right, see Clonduff Youth.

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The Anti-Brexit Candidate

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“The only anti-Brexit candidate who can win!” After the withdrawal of the UUP and SDLP candidates, the contest in Belfast North is essentially between Sınn Féın’s John Finucane and the DUP’s Nigel Dodds. In an attempt to attract voters from the absent parties, Finucane’s campaign hoardings have eschewed the traditional green of Sınn Féın in favour of blue, a colour normally associated with unionism (and conservativism in Britain). 

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When Needed We Shall Rise Again

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“Present peace now stills our hand/Death no longer stalks our land/Our guns are silent and shall remain/But when needed we shall rise again.” The boards that made up the Thiepval Street mural have fallen down and the mural that now replaces it is once again dedicated to the UVF 1st (= West) Belfast battalion, A company, 5th platoon. (The side walls and stone remain as before.)

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X06891 X06889 [X06890] [X06892] [X06893] northland st this stone is dedicated to the memory of the fallen volunteers of no. 5 platoon, a company 1st belfast battalion, ulster volunteer force, as poppy petals gently fall remember us who gave our all not in the mud of foreign lands nor buried in the desert sands, in ulster field and farm and town fermanagh’s lanes and drumlin’d down we died that violent death should cease and ulstermen might live in peace lest we forget in memory of our fallen comrades