While taking part in the Easter Rising centenary parade, members of the James Connolly 1st Republican Flute Band from Glasgow (tw) pause on the Falls Road during a squall. Embroidered on the rear of their shirts are the words “We serve neither king nor kaiser, but Ireland”, the slogan which hung outside the ITGWU’s Liberty Hall during the first world war. Image courtesy of Bronagh Bowerman.
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Copyright © 2016 Bronagh Bowerman
03351 tricolour plough stars
Arrayed against the forces of the British Army (which are shown laying siege to the Dublin GPO during the Easter Rising in armoured cars and in sniping positions in the foreground of the mural, along the whole length of the wall) are various symbols of Irish nationalism:
Oliver Sheppard‘s 1911 statue of Cú Chulaınn dying (see the Visual History page);
the pikemen of the 1798 Rebellion (featured in Éırí Amach 1798);
the four provinces of Ireland;
Érıu the mythological queen of Ireland/Éıre as designed by Richard J King/Rísteard Ó Cíonga; Easter lilies;
the emblems of Na Fıanna Éıreann and Cumann Na mBan on either side of a quote from (The Mainspring) Sean MacDiarmada, “We bleed that the nation may live; I die that the nation may live. Damn your concessions, England: we want our country”;
a phoenix rising from the flames of the burning Dublin GPO (inspired by Norman Teeling’s 1998 painting The GPO Burns In Dublin);
the GPO flying an ‘Irish Republic’ flag and a Tricolour;
portraits of signatories and other rebels — (left) Padraig H. Pearse, Thomas J Clarke, Eamonn Ceannt, Thomas MacDonagh, (right) Countess Markievicz, James Connolly, Sean MacDiarmada, Thomas Plunkett;
the declaration of independence, placed over the advertising box of AA Accountants – see the in-progress shot below.
For more work-in-progess images, see the previous entry, Éırí Amach 1798. At the very bottom is a quote from the mother of Gerard ‘Mo Chara’ Kelly, Harriet Kelly: “We want the freedom of our country and your soldiers out.”
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03345 X03346 X03136 mcquillan st Cú Chulaınn Cróga who fears to speak
Here are two murals from the Youth First (Tw) group in and around their Bogside home in Meenan Square. In the image above, a young mother sporting both a nappy pin and an Easter lily tends to her infant child while casting a look back at Free Derry corner and the silhouettes of marchers and washing on a line. The image below also shows Free Derry corner and the skyline of the city.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02799 X02830 you are now entering celtic cross caolan tonisha P.m. amy-leigh BAP chloe liam E.s. cian conor chantelle KT tricolour
The crew whiles away the hours sitting atop a Bogside stairwell, with IRA-emblazoned tricolour fluttering overhead, keeping an eye on a heap of bonfire wood. Below: another tricolour in the same area, with “Brits out now – IRA” board beneath.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02806 X02807 meenan sq
Three images of flags. In the one above, flags are seen on either side of the Short Strand “peace” line: the Irish tricolour and the flag of Palestine stand over a Union flag hung next to the local bonfire site.
The second is a “flag of flags” in Tullycarnet – the Union flag, the cross of St. George, St. Andrew’s Saltire, and the Ulster banner, all together around the red hand of Ulster and the crown, and “No Surrender”.
In the third, the flag of Hamas flies above the red-and-yellow Starry Plough of the Irish Republican Socialist Party in Derry’s Bogside.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“End the torture in Maghaberry Gaol – Smash Stormont – www.irpwa.com – Irish Republican Prisoners’ Welfare Association – strip searching – isolation – controlled movement.”
IRPWA board on the rear of Free Derry Corner.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Felons presents an exciting new drama by Roseleen Walsh [web]– The Vigil – sixty one years apart yet both [Kieran Doherty 1981 and Terence MacSwiney 1920] died on hunger strike for the cause of Ireland.” The play was produced for Féile An Phobail (web). Walsh’s introduction and excerpts from the play are available on youtube.
Falls Road, Belfast, on the railings around the site of the former RUC barracks.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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CIRA stencil outside the offices of the West Belfast Partnership on the Falls Road, with the offices of Sınn Féın Poblachtach and a tricolour reflected in the window.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02469 continuity irish republican army
The Belfast Telegraph reports that an Irish language bill will be published in the near future, though the DUP have already rejected such an Act. (For more background and discussion see Brian Walker’s post a few days ago on Slugger.) The éırígí stencil above, calling for “Acht Na Gaeılge Anoıs!!!” – “An Irish Language Act Now!!!”, is in Hugo Street below a tricolour and a plaque in the memory of Pearse Jordan (see the second image, below). The wide shot shows the two other pieces on this side of the street, a ‘Justice For The Craigavon 2’ stencil (featured previously in Justice) and Palestinian skyjacker Leila Khaled.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02407 X02408 X02409 wreath oıfıg béal feırste in memory of murdered 25th november 1992 the fools they have left us our fenian dead and while ireland holds these graves ireland unfree shall never be at peace john paul wootton brendan mcconville saoırse arabic
Under a tricolour flying from the roof of the Rock Bar on the Falls, in green, white, and orange: “Rebel Sunday – The Rock Bar – Every Sunday – From 6 PM”
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 