international

Your Wall, Your Border

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US president Donald Trump followed a three-day state visit to the UK (London and Portsmouth) with a few days in Ireland before briefly stopping in France for D-Day commemorations. In London, protesters gathered in their tens of thousands and the ‘Trump baby’ blimp flew in Parliament Square (gallery of images at CNN) before making its way to Dublin (BBC) for the second leg of the trip. The Trumps were likewise met by protesters when they landed at Shannon Airport (Irish Times) where he met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and remarked “I think it [Brexit] will all work out very well [for the UK]. And also for you, with your wall, your border. We have a border situation in the United States and you have one over here, but I hear it’s going to work out very well.”

The besieged president would have been welcome, however, in loyalist west Belfast – the Israeli Star Of David and graffiti shown above were added below the Imagine mural between the security gates on Northumberland Street: “President Trump welcome in Belfast. No surrender.”

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Shankill Brigadistas

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After the Nationalist coup in 1936, the UK and US continued to recognise Spain’s Republican government but did not intervene militarily. Individuals from these counties thus participated in the conflict by joining the British and Lincoln battalions of the XV International Brigade, fighting alongside Balkans, Belgians, and Cubans at Jarama, Brunete, and the Ebro river, among other battles. For background on Belfast socialism of the period see this article by Stevie Downes.

“International Brigades – Spanish Civil War 1936 – 39. Commemorating all those who served and died with the XV International Brigade in the fight against fascism including the following Brigadistas from the Shankill area: William Beattie … Bill Henry … William Laughran … Henry McGrath … James Isaac Hillen … Joseph Lowery … Andrew Molyneaux. No pasarán. Unveiled by Tommy and Freddie McGrath, nephews of Henry McGrath, and Baroness May Blood, trade union & community activist. International Brigade Commemoration Committee. Saturday 1st February 2014.”

Previously: Plaque to (Protestant) Beattie and (Catholic) O’Neill | Belfast Socialists marching at Bodenstown (though possibly those from the Shankill were excluded) | Derry Brigadistas | a bust to the International Brigade in Writers Square, Belfast. Also: Guernica | Derry Guernica.

The plaque is in the Shankill Road Library.

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UN 194

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Tonight’s second round of performances in the Eurovision Song Contest sees the Irish entry take the stage. (The UK’s song has a bye into Friday night’s finals.) The competition is taking place in Tel Aviv, Israel, which has prompted the BDS movement to urge a boycott of the event. Among those lodging a protest are Gael Force Art, who took to Slıabh Dubh last weekend with a large Palestinian flag. Article 11 of UN Declaration 194 asserts that refugees displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war should be able to return home.

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Stop The Genocide Of Yemeni People

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The United Nations in February called the humanitarian crisis in Yemen the worst in the world (UN) with famine and cholera affecting 18 million people (WP). According to UNICEF, a child is dying every ten minutes (UNICEF). The crisis results from the on-going civil war. Saudi Arabia (with arms, training, and intelligence support from the UK (Theresa May on the left next to Union Flag headscarf), the US (Trump on the right next to US flag headscarf), and France (French flag on the lowest missile) has conducted an air campaign to restore Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who was driven from Aden in March, 2015, by Houthi forces. The Saudi intervention has been criticized for killing citizens and destroying infrastructure (WP), shown in the mural above by bombs falling on a hospital and a school. Update: UK sales were found to be illegal by the Court Of Appeal on June 20th, 2019 (BBC).

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X06543 Divis St

Freedom For The Basque Country

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“Freedom for t[he] Basque country! Fucking bastards from Iruña.” Iruña is the Basque name for Pamplona, capital of Navarre, the district neighbouring the Basque Country and part of the greater Basque region but which has a majority pro-Spanish government.

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Solidarity With Palestine

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éıstıgí (Saoradh’s (tw) youth organisation) expresses solidarity with the PFLP (Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine) by adding both their emblems to a Palestinian flag.

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We Shall Overcome

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For the refurbishment and expansion of the Museum Of Free Derry, artist Locky Morris (web | ig) created in metal a soundwave of marchers on Bloody Sunday (January 30th, 1972) singing the civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome (BBC-NI). The Bloody Sunday Centre and Museum Of Free Derry originally opened in 2006.

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Fáılte Feırste Thıar

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“Welcome to West Belfast.” The sights of nationalist west Belfast are depicted in (part of) a new mural by Mickey Doherty and Marty Lyons on the side wall of the tourist office. From left to right: The (2015) Bobby Sands mural in Sevastopol Street, tourists being introduced to the IRA D Company memorial garden on the lower Falls by Peadar Whelan, Conway Mill, Divis tower, RISE at the bottom of Broadway (better known as the “Balls on the Falls”), the Falls library, the “international wall” in 2012 (with marchers in support of a nondescript international cause, crocodiles for the Irish language, and gay rights), St Peter’s pro-cathedral, a black taxi, the Connolly statue outside Comhaırle Phobaıl an bhFál, and the model for the new Casement Park stadium.

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Dumnie Pamiętane I Nigdy Nie Zapomniane

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“Proudly remembered and never forgotten.” The ‘Band Of Brothers’ mural, which celebrates the contribution of Polish airmen stationed in Northern Ireland to the Battle Of Britain in WWII, was partly covered over with a vertically aligned Polish flag, obscuring fire damage from August(?) seen in the third image. The wreath on the right-hand side interestingly combines poppies (perhaps for Armistice Day and the centenary of the end of WWI) and the Polish writing used as the title of this entry, along with the Polish WWII eagle (perhaps commemorating the end of the Battle Of Britain, which is marked (in the UK) on September 15th). The wreath of poppies is next to the Kitchener mural.

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