barbed wire

After We Are Gone

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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?”

Bishop Street, Derry

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Honour, Loyalty, Liberty, Sacrifice

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A new backdrop – of a field of poppies beneath a blue sky– has been added to the UFF memorial garden in Tigers Bay. The four stones/plaques in the garden are shown below in the order that they were added to the garden, starting with two to the North Belfast Brigade that were present in 2008 (see M04397). The third was a roll of honour of the “Scottish Brigade North Ayrshire”. The fourth is generically to “those we have loved and lost” but contains a strand of barbed wire, symbol of POWs.

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Beechmount Remembers

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A new board has been mounted in AMCOMRI Street for the fortieth anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike, with photographs from the area in the background, including the Revolution mural at the bottom of Beechmount Avenue in 1996-1997.

“Everyone, Republican or otherwise, has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small, no one is too old or too young to do something.”

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Free Zack Smyth

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“Free Zack Smyth – end internment”. Support from Saoradh and the IRPWA for political prisoner Ciarán ‘Zack’ Smyth, who is in Maghaberry after having his license revoked on suspicion of plotting to attack Sinn Féin leaders (Irish News | Saoradh) and involvement in a New IRA plot to bomb Musgrave PSNI station (BelTel). As an IRA member Smyth served nine years in the 1970s and seven of fourteen years for a 2013 robbery.

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Join 32CSM

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Today’s post updates the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (web | tw) mural seen previously in We Support All POW’s. The shot was evidently taken before the mural was complete: the stencil shown here, of a hand clasping a strand of barbed wire, and an e-mail address (Belfast32csm@hotmail.com) for people to “Join 32CSM” have been added.

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Loyalist Prisoners Of War

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This UVF LPOW mural in Inverary Drive, east Belfast, probably dates back to the years after the Agreement, when the release of prisoners from both sides was being implemented between 1998 and 2000. That would make the mural about 20 years old.

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We Forget Them Not

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Three of the UDA/UYM/LPA murals in Kenbaan Street (see We Forget Them Not and Tomorrow Belongs To Us) have been replaced by the spray-painted boards shown here and the wall of the memorial garden repainted. The red colour-scheme matches the Tim Collins board to the left.
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End British Internment In Ireland

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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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The Proclamation

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Robert Ballagh’s 1916 Proclamation was first painted as a mural by Mo Chara Kelly and Risteard Ó Mhurchú in 1991 for the 75th anniversary of the Easter Rising (see Cáisc 1916 which also contains the Ballagh piece). That version stood for ten years on the Whiterock Road. It has reproduced again in Ard An Lao above the hunger strikers, after the removal of several plaques (see All Our Dead). “With special thanks to Hugo Óg Wilkinson”.
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Beir Bua

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This mural has been added to the “D company” corner at Northumberland and Divis streets (see Our Struggle Continues), with traditional words (“saoirse/freedom”, “beir bua/seize victory”) and imagery of the four provinces and a lark in barbed wire.
In the background can be seen the old Divis flats. The flats were built to replace the tightly-packed streets of the lower Falls (see the first image below). After the first three blocks were completed in 1969, there was a plan to have a mixture of flats all the way up to Dunville Park (“Phase 2” in this 30-minute BBC video on the flats, which also includes the story of its eventual demise.
In the (blacked out) spot of the Orlando nightclub shooting mural.
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