A colourful mural on Sráıd Brighton (Brighton Street, Falls at Broadway) from the organization Pobal.
“ar scáth a chéıle” is a shortened version of “Is ar scáth a chéıle a mhaıreann na daoıne”: it is in each other’s shadow (or, as here?, umbr(ell)a) that the people exist; figuratively “no man is an island” or as Dimitry put it in Dostoevsky’s The Brother Karamazov, “we are all responsible for all”.
Two pieces from the recently seeded, though still enclosed, site of the old Andersonstown police station, both commenting on austerity measures prompted by the current recession. On Oct. 9th, 2012 the Assembly passed the first stage of a welfare bill (instigated by London) which will cut benefits significantly (BBC). SF and the SDLP opposed the measure. In the background of the shot below various SF boards can be seen.
The meme “____ Isn’t Working” in the placard below originates with this classic Labour Isn’t Working poster from 1978.
Ground-level wide shot from the New Lodge showing “Support the POWS” on the left and “Free Marian Price” on the right.
On the mural itself: “Níl aon rud acu ına n-armlann ımpırıul [ımpırıúıl] a bhrısfidh meon an Éıreannaigh [Éıreannach] nar mhaın [mhıan] leıs a bheıth brıste – They have nothing in their whole imperial arsenal that can break the spirit [of an Irishman who does want to be broken]” “Damn your concessions, England – it’s our freedom we want.” [– Seán Mac Dıarmada]
“Maghaberry concentration camp – End forced strip searches – End controlled movement.”
At the bottom of the figure in black on the orange background – “Damn your concessions England. Give us our freedom.” [– Seán Mac Dıarmada.]
St Patrick’s College – popularly known as Bearnageeha – is another school (in addition to Coláıste Feırste) with a mural. In fact, this mural went up before the Titanic and Olympians murals in Beechmount Park. This image of the W. B. Yeats mural has been photoshopped extensively in order to remove several alarms and notices and a light socket, which took away from the mural greatly. The background colour has also been lightened. (Alternative title for this post: mind the gap!)
A new mural was launched on Sunday (Oct 7th, 2012) on the international wall, presenting five local (lower Falls) volunteers who died at this time forty years ago (during 1972): Daniel McAreavey, Joseph McKinney, Jimmy Quigley, John Donaghy, Patrick Maguire (real name Patrick Pendleton). Maguire, McKinney and Donaghy died together in an explosion (Oct 10); Quigley (Sept 29) and McAreavey (Oct 6) were shot. For further details of the how these five met their deaths, see among others Lost Lives by McKittrick et al. (Archive.org | Amazon UK | US). Biographies of the five begin at 7m46s in this history of D Company. Quigley holds a copy of James Connolly’s 1910 pamphlet Labour in Irish History.
“End sectarianism – it hasn’t gone away. Bring down the walls.” Workers Party (web) stencil on Northumberland Street, Belfast. “It hasn’t gone away” echoes Gerry Adams’s remark (Sunday 13 August, 1995) that the IRA “haven’t gone away”.
Below, a Workers Party banner rests against a wall in Custom House Square prior to the march Up The Shankill And Down The Falls on Saturday (October 6th, 2012), the day before the mural was photographed.