cultural

A Vote For The IRA

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1,800 tyres were removed from the bonfire in Lismore Street this week by contractors in “armoured Land Rovers” (according to by Robert Girvin, East Belfast Cultural Collective, to the BBC; see this gallery of images at Belfast Live) working for Belfast City Council. PUP councillor John Kyle spoke out in favour of their removal (twitter | Belfast Live). Local residents have interpreted his comments as treasonous, with three pieces of graffiti painted in the area, one on Roseberry Road next to Young’s fish and chips (above), one on London Road (below), and one at the bonfire site on Lismore Street (final image): “A vote for John Kyle is a vote for [the] IRA.” The graffiti has been criticised by unionists – PUP | DUP – though Jamie Bryson suggested that the Council was pushing unionists and the PSNI into conflict.

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Carnany Bonfire

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“Carnany Bonfire Site. Respect your community and follow the site guidelines: no hazardous waste, no electronics, no tyres, no aerosols. Any person found fly tipping will be prosecuted.”

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Gateway To West Belfast

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Fáılte Feırste Thıar‘s second mural (the first is outside its offices in the middle Falls – see Go West) reinforces the claim that (republican) west Belfast begins as soon as you cross the motorway, five minutes’ walk from the city centre. Coıste’s tour of republican murals begins at Divis Tower and the new mural already seems to be drawing tourists – see the final image, below. The previous Coıste mural (M04900) has been deleted and incorporated into the mural, promising tourists “a unique walking tour by former political prisoners”.

The mural is a mix of landmarks – the new Raıdıó Fáılte building (which is located just below the mural), Divis tower, St Peter’s, Conway Mill, the so-called “international wall” of murals, the Bobby Sands mural, the Falls library, the new James Connolly centre, Cultúrlann, and Milltown cemetery – cultural images (Irish dancing and Féıle An Phobaıl) – and sporting images (clubs include Immaculata ABC, Gort Na Móna GAC, St Paul’s GAC). A gay pride ‘rainbow’ stripe runs below the Divis Street portion. Before the previous mural was painted (M07533), there was a Gateway To Belfast board at this spot.

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Fáılte Go Dtí Glengormley

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Irish-language signage was in the news recently after Antrim & Newtownabbey council threatened an 85-year-old Randalstown pensioner with a fine of up to 2,500 pounds if she failed to remove a street sign erected by her granddaughter (Irish Central). So far, no action has been taken by the same council against the Glengormley graffitist who added Irish to the new ‘welcome’ sign on the bridge near the Bellevue Arms, though without translating the placename: “Fáılte go dtí (Gleann Ghormlaıthe).” There is a matching sign at the other end of the area, on Sandyknowes roundabout.

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No Hedge Trees Or Shit

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06634 2019-06-11 PDown Dump Wood+

With less than a month to go until 11th night, bonfire builders are busy collecting materials for their pyres, but although they want people to “dump wood”, they don’t want to become dumps. Thanks to squire93@hotmail.com for this image of the site in the Edgarstown estate (Portadown): “Dump wood – no hedge trees or shit.”

For the mural in the background, see In Answer To The Echo Of Alarm.

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Dump Wood, No Shite

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With less than a month to go until 11th night, bonfire builders are busy collecting materials for their pyres, but although they want people to “dump wood”, they don’t want to become dumps. “No shite” is on Lanark Way (west Belfast). For a more articulate list, see previously Stuff We Don’t Need.

The other three images are from the RYL [Roslyn?/Ravenhill? Young Loyalist] bonfire site in Lismore Street (east Belfast). where the “Irish News [is] not welcome” to write stories and take pictures of sites as the controversies surrounding them resurface each year, such as toxic fumes from tyres (see e.g. Tyre-Free Pyre and Tyred Of Your Culture) and state attempts to exchange funds for conditions on fires (see e.g. Culture Before Cash and Real Loyalists Will Never Be Bought).

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They Said We’d Never Last

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Ronnie’s hardware shop in east Belfast, vacant for many years and the site of Our Brave Defenders, was finally torn down last year and a pocket park created with murals commemorating east Belfast volunteers who died in the Great War and the UVF Regimental Band (tw), this year celebrating its 50 anniversary (video of the launch). See previously: 40th anniversary banner at the same spot (Belvoir Bar).

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100 Years In Northern Ireland

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“Commemorating 100 years of the Royal Air Force in Northern Ireland.” This Donegall Road mural highlights six locations in the north and their connection to the RAF in WWI, including Bentra, near Whitehead, home to the Sea Scout airships that guarded Larne-Stranraer ferries against U-boats.

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The Somme 1916

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The ‘Liverpool No. 4 battalion’ UVF mural in Tynan Drive, Monkstown, (seen previously) has been replaced by a Dee Craig (Fb) mural to the soldiers of the Ulster Volunteers (see the ‘bleeding hand’ symbol in the apex) at the Somme. The small plaque on the fence to John Webster (a.k.a. Webber), Lee Irwin & Steven Cook, remains.

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The Irish Regiments

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Various other murals pay tribute to the 10th and 16th Irish divisions alongside the 36th division (see, e.g., We Are The DeadBrothers In Arms | Killed Wounded Missing | Their Only Colour Was Khaki) but this tarp outside the Whiteabbey British Legion (Fb) shows instead the eight regiments raised in Ireland, whose battalions served not only these three but many other divisions: Royal Irish Rifles, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Irish Fusiliers, Connaught Rangers, Leinster Regiment, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Royal Irish Fusiliers [should be Royal Irish Regiment], Royal Munster Fusiliers. The geographical distribution of the regiments (royal-irish.com has a map of the recruiting districts in Ireland; for battalions, divisions served, and regimental headquarters, see WP.) The background image is of the 36th in their trenches at the Battle Of The Somme.

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