Republican Sınn Féın and Provisional Sınn Féın were formed in 1986, when Sınn Féın split over the issue of taking Dáil seats. They reject the Belfast Agreement and support the use of force; the poster above calls for political status for prisoners, the same issue that led to the blanket protest and hunger strikes. (Their web site is in fact republicansinnfein.org; they are also on Twitter.)
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Saoradh salute the men and women of violence.” Namely the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation, the women of the 1970s IRA, and modern “dissidents” with home-made weapons. Saoradh currently (mid-late 2019, in the wake of the death of Lyra McKee) no longer has a web site or Twitter feed, and the Belfast and Derry section’s Facebook pages are non-existent (other section’s pages are still up, including Tyrone, Dublin, and Munster).
On the same wall as the Larry Marley plaque.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Don’t forget republican prisoners – spoil your vote for political status.” Below are two images of RSF posters in support of republican prisoners (also, Éıre Nua).
Stencil in Ascaill Ard Na bhFeá/Beechmount Avenue, Belfast.
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“End British internment: Strip searching, controlled movement, isolation.” This Saoradh/éistigí/IRPWA board in Central Drive, Creggan, Derry, uses the words of Bobby Sands to put current political prisoners in parallel with the blanket protest and hunger strikes. The quote is an English translation from the final day of Sands’s hunger strike diary, March 17th: Mura bhfuıl sıad ın ınmhe an fonn saoırse a scrıosadh, ní bheadh sıad ın ınmhe tú féın a bhrıseadh. Ní bhrısfıdh sıad mé mar tá an fonn saoırse, agus saoırse mhuıntır na hÉıreann, ı mo chroí. Tıocfaıdh lá éıgın nuaır a bheıdh an fonn saoırse seo le taıspeáınt ag daoıne go léır na hÉıreann. Ansın tchífıdh [chífıdh] muıd éırí na gealaí.” = “If they aren’t able to destroy to the desire for freedom, they won’t break you. They won’t break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is is my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then we’ll see the rising of the moon.”
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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The IRPWA/Saoradh/éıstıgí office on the Antrim Road is courting controversy (Irish News | BelTel) with its the holiday images in its front windows. On the right, a Grinch in PSNI uniform (in front of a bleeding poppy with swastika) harasses the child of a Soaradh member. (“Hey, peelers! Leave our kids alone” is a play on the Pink Floyd song ‘Another Brick In The Wall‘). On the left, Santa takes aim with a home-made RPG (modelled on the image included in Resistance). The Derry IRPWA office also received a Grinch cartoon in which he is battering down a door.
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Junior McDaid house – the offices of the IRPWA (web | Fb) and Saoradh (web) in Derry – was opened two years ago (video) in Chamberlain Street. The offices are “proudly named after” IRA volunteer James McDaid, who was killed by the British Army in 1972 (Derry Journal), apparently without consulting with or inviting his wife (Derry Journal). A plaque to McDaid is to the left of the door, with two murals on the Harvey Street gable. (A third mural – shown separately – is just out of shot to the right.)
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Gabriel Mackle was returned to prison most recently in November, 2017 (Pensive Quill | Irish News) and released in March, 2018 (An Phoblacht). The RSF board on the front of Lecky Road remains in place, however, as is joined by “IRA” graffiti. Bernadette Devlin (as she then was) organises in the background.
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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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IRPWA is the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association (web | Fb | tw), a body working to support republican prisoners and their families in Maghaberry, Portlaoise, and Hydebank. Barbed wire has long been the symbol of political prisoners, both republican (1981) and loyalist (1988). Previously in this series of boards: éıstıgí | Sniper At Work | IRA | Beır Bua
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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IRPWA (Fb | tw) board protesting the treatment of republican prisoners in Maghaberry “torture camp”, next to Free Derry Corner, with a Palestinian flag and the Bogside Artists’ Bloody Sunday mural in the background.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 