Gaeilge

Reıfreann Anoıs

2020-12-232025-01-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Referendum now”. On this day 100 years ago (1920-12-23) the ‘Government Of Ireland Act‘ – the fourth Home Rule bill – was passed in the UK parliament, partitioning Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, both within the UK. The rest, as they say, is history, history we are still living out. Sınn Féın’s Mary Lou McDonald claimed (in an interview with Owen Jones of the Guardian) that Irish unity would be achieved this decade. Martin McGuinness said in 2003 that unity would be achieved by the centenary of the Rising (Indo) but that year has come and gone. (Feb poll | Oct poll)

Previously: #TimeForUnity | Time For Irish Unity

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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GAWA Away

2020-11-292025-01-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Fáılte” [Welcome] in green on white, with a GAWA (Green And White Army) [supporters of the NI football team | web | Fb] sticker.

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Old Firm

2020-11-242025-01-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Glasgow Celtic stickers on Divis Street, Glasgow Rangers sticker on the Shankill. We can’t really improve upon the WP entry‘s introduction: “the rivalry between [the two teams] has become deeply embedded in Scottish culture. It has reflected, and contributed to, political, social, and religious division and sectarianism in Scotland. As a result, the fixture has had an enduring appeal around the world.” – including Northern Ireland.

See previously: Ultras Celtic | Balance Enquiry
A Matter Of Life And Death | Follow, Follow | The Boys In Blue | We Are The People
Also Gegen Rechts

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The Falls Road Massacre

2020-10-272025-01-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Muralist Gerard ‘Mo Chara’ Kelly (whose catalogue of work can be seen in a separate site) and others from Gael Force Art (Fb) have mounted a three-piece memorial for the centenary of the Falls Road Massacre in which four people were killed – one of them being Mo Chara’s great uncle Jimmy Shields – in a 5-minute shooting spree by a “special patrol” on the night of the funerals of three men killed by the ‘RIC Murder Gang’ (see the 2007 post). For more background see the memorial’s Facebook page.

More than 500 people were killed in Belfast from 1920 to 1922; for details and their locations see The Social Geography Of Violence During The Belfast Troubles.

“These four innocent local men were murdered by an RIC/British Army death squad near this spot in [September 28th] 1920: James Shields, William Teer, Robert Gordon, Thomas Barkley.” With perhaps the first appearance of a hashtag on a plaque: #fallsroadmassacre1920

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Socialism Is Neither Protestant Nor Catholic

2020-10-032025-01-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Socialism is neither Protestant nor Catholic, Christian nor Freethinker, Buddhist, Mahometan, nor Jews [sic]. It is only human. We of the Socialist working class realise that as we suffer together we must work together that we may enjoy together. We reject the firebrand of capitalist warfare and offer you the olive leaf of brotherhood and justice to and for all.” From part 6 of Connolly’s Labour, Nationality And Religion in 1910. The mural is in Beechview Park, across the street from Áras Uí Chonghaile/James Connolly Visitor Centre.

Le Chéıle – Thegither

2020-10-022025-01-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

East Belfast GAA (tw | Fb) was set up at the end of May, with Linda Ervine as club president (video | Irish Times). The ladies football team recorded the club’s first win, on August 16th, with the hurlers winning on September 3rd, and the camógs on September 19th. The emblem (here shown in somewhat blurred stitching) includes a (black) Ulster hand flanked by shamrock and thistle, over Samson and Goliath (the Harland & Wolff cranes) and “together” as Gaeılge, in English, and in Ulstèr-Scots.