“There is no lie big enough to cover the shame of jailing two innocent men #JFTC2”. Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton were convicted of the 2009 murder of Constable Stephen Carroll (BBC), and sentenced to life with 25-year and 18-year minimums, respectively. The case is under review (Guardian | An Phoblacht).
A rally at Free Derry Corner took place on Tuesday evening to express solidarity with the Palestinians (Derry Now). The wall has been decorated with support for Palestinians. On the left a boy in a tricoloured t-shirt waves a Palestinian flag although at his feet are the words of Bobby Sands: “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children”. On the right, a lark in barbed wire (symbol of political prisoners) sports the colours of Palestine, above “RSYM” [Republican Socialist Youth Movement (Fb)]. The text in the centre draws an analogy between Palestine and Ukraine: “Ukraine vs Russia = Self-defense. Palestine vs. Israel = Terrorism??”
More solidarity rallies are planned in towns around Ireland throughout the week (IPSC) including a white-line picket in Derry on Saturday.
“There is no lie big enough to cover the shame of jailing two innocent men #JFTC2”, in this case Brendan McConville and John Paul Wooton. Their portraits have been appearing on RNU (Fb) walls (and on Sliabh Dubh) since 2013. They are in prison, for 25-year and 18-year minimums, respectively, for the 2009 killing of PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll (BBC).
“Ní coırpıgh sinne! Éıreannaıgh sınne! [we are not criminals; we are Irish people] “There is that much to be done that no select or small portion of people can do; only the greater mass of the Irish nation will ensure the achievement of a socialist republic, and this can only be done by hard work and sacrifice.” – Bobby Sands [Hunger strike diary, March 14th, 1981]” With photographs of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers.
“Why did you do it? Have you not the guts to say?” The question is for David Holden, who in 1988 was an 18-year-old Grenadier Guardsman, manning a checkpoint in Aughnacloy, Co. Tyrone. On February 21st, Holden shot Aidan McAnespie as he was walking to the nearby GAA club. Holden was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence (BBC | Belfast Live) and was sentenced in February to three years, suspended for three years. The family expressed disappointment, saying that Holden did give a clear account of what happened nor express remorse (Sky News | Journal). Holden has now decided to appeal his conviction (BBC | RTÉ).
The lark in barbed wire is used here not as a symbol of political prisoners but of the struggle for justice in the UK system. (See the Visual History page on the lark and the dove.)
This is the wall at the south end of the Creggan shops that was first muraled in response to the ceasefire (see Time For Peace). This IRPWA (web) board “supporting republican political prisoners” is now in disrepair but it is unclear whether or not it will be replaced, as new construction on Central Drive has greatly reduced its visibility while the new sports centre across the street provides a much more prominent notice-board (see Central Drive).
Creggan sports centre opened in October 2009 (Leisure Opportunities) and part of the architecture was to cover the brick exterior with five plain-white panels along Central Drive. These have been taken over by Saoradh/IRPWA, this year to protest the extradition, internment, and treatment of republican prisoners, commemorate the 1981 hunger strikers, support Palestine, and threaten drug dealers.
No Amnesty For British State Forces: “Democide is the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide and mass murder. Democide is not necessarily the elimination of entire cultural groups but rather groups within the country that the government feels needs to be eradicated for political reasons and due to claimed future threats. – No amnesty for British state forces”
Bobby Sands/IRPWA: “I’ll wear no convict’s uniform/Nor meekly serve my time/That Britain might brand Ireland’s fight/800 years of crime” [Francie Brolly song] (IRPWA (web))
Free All Political Prisoners! (IRPWA)
1981: 1981: “I am a political prisoner. I am a political prisoner because I am a casualty of a perennial war that is being fought between the oppressed Irish people and an alien, oppressive, unwanted regime that refuses to withdraw from our land.” [Bobby Sands’s diary, day 1] (IRPWA)
Unity Referendum Now!: “British occupation has been a disaster for the people of Ireland. A united Ireland is the way forward for all the people of Ireland.” (IRSP.ie)
40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike: described previously in For A Socialist Republic (IRSM/IRSP)
Three months after it was initially whitewashed (mid June, 2022), the repaint of so-called “Freedom Corner” is now complete, with a new mural on each of the 11 panels that make it up. Today’s post is a gallery of fifteen images from the new wall. The main gables reproduce photographs of the UDA (and more specifically the East Belfast brigade) during the 1970s. The side walls celebrate the formation of the UDA/LPA/UFF/UYM in 1971-1974 and the role of women in supporting prisoners.
Patsy O’Hara was born in 1957 Bishop Street, Derry, and joined Na Fianna in 1970 and the local Sinn Féin cumann in 1971 and, in August was shot in the leg by British soldiers. In 1972 he joined the Republican Clubs and in 1975 the IRSP. He was imprisoned multiple times, the final time being in January 1979 for possession of a hand grenade (Bobby Sands Trust). He went on hunger strike 41 years ago tomorrow (March 22nd) and was the first of the three INLA hunger strikers to die in 1981. The long-standing mural in Bishop Street was repainted for the 40th anniversary of his death. (For the previous version, see Let The Fight Go On.)
“Óglach Patsy O’Hara, INLA Derry Brigade, Irish hunger striker, who died after 61 days on 21st May 1981, age 23. Last words ‘Let the fight go on’.”
“After we are gone, what will you say you were doing? Will you say you were with us in our struggle or where you conforming to very system that drove us to our deaths?”
Extramural Activity 