physical force – Page 3 – Extramural Activity

Volunteers, Defenders, Civilians

2024-11-082025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Part of the most recent development of the upper streets in the Village was not to rebuild the two rows of houses on Ebor and Nubia/Moltke streets and in their place construct a park – the Village Green, and now officially the “Ruby Murray Village Green” – and playground. The board on the outside railings make the park a “community park of remembrance” for WWI, showing an Ulster Banner with a Union Flag in the canton. (Seen previously in The Village Green Preservation Society.)

There is also a memorial to “loved ones and friends”, “volunteers, defenders & civilians” of the South Belfast UVF (though there is 36th (Ulster) Division emblem in the corner!) who were “cruely taken away from us by republican scum”: Dinah Campbell, Francis Campbell, Alexander Scott, Frankie Smith, Stevie McCrea, John Hanna, Sammy Mehaffy, William Kingsberry, Jackie Campbell, David Poots.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X15256 X15255 X15257

Gaza Unbowed

2024-11-082025-10-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The 1916 centenary mural in Andersonstown has been repurposed and repainted to express solidarity with the people of Palestine.

From the frame of the previous mural – see The Undauntable Thought – the title, phoenix, and chains have been preserved but two instances of the inverted red triangle have been added at the top and bottom – see Resist! (and My Kite You Made).

The main panel puts the struggles in Palestine and Northern Ireland in parallel, showing (from top to bottom on each side) political prisoners, violence against protesters, and relatives carrying portraits.

On the left, Palestinian prisoners languish in Israeli jails (based on a photo of Hamza Abu Halima and on this Reuters photograph of prisoners sitting in the street, both from December 2023) and IDF soldiers make violent arrests – the one on the left is from 2016 (CCUN) and the one on the right is perhaps based on this Reuters photograph.

On the right: British soldiers restore order after the Burning Of Long Kesh (see Operation Pagoda), next to blanket-man Hugh Rooney, above three arrests made by British Army soldiers – their caps indicates that they are from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (left) and the Paratroop regiment (centre). (For two of the original photos, see BBC | Getty.)

Along the bottom of both sides, marchers hold portraits of the dead, including the recently-killed leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar (BBC).

Also visible in the wide shot is Ag Fíorú Na Poblachta.

Launched on November 10th, 2024 (PD Fb). An Neasc Theas, Baıle Mhıc Aındréıs, Béal Feırste thıar (South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast)

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X15261 X15260
X15262 X15263 X15264 X15265
X15266 [X15267]

The INLA

2024-08-202025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Commemorations of the INLA’s fiftieth anniversary have so far been limited to graffiti – see Saoırse Go Deo in Derry and Let The Fight Go On in Belfast – but here we have two deliberately painted panels in the Bogside (specifically Meenan Square) (one replacing The Way We Were).

“Irish National Liberation Army, Derry brigade. This mural is dedicated to the women and men who gave their lives in the struggle for national liberation and socialism. Erected by the James Connolly Memorial flute band.”

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
X15207 X15208 X15209 X15210

Dump Inside

2024-08-122025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a 2024 revisiting of the waste-ground (an old weaving factory) at the Westlink corner of the Village, south Belfast. Compared to 2023 (see This Area Needs Social Housing), there is some UVF graffiti (some of which has been covered over with heart stickers – see also Smothered In Kisses) and many new flags, including the row overlooking the Westlink (in the tenth image) among which are the flags of Israel and Ukraine.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X15234 X15235 X15236 [X15237] X15238 X15239 X15240 X15241 X15242 X15243 X15244 X15245 X15246

City Hall Stained Glass

2024-05-252025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a gallery of seven pieces of stained glass in Belfast City Hall. BCC has a guide to all of the stained-glass windows in the Hall.

1 (above): North Irish Horse, and in particular, the WWII battles it participated in (listed at the bottom of the window).

2 (below): Spanish Civil War

3 Cú Chulaınn – seen previously in Ulster’s Defence Force. See also the Visual History page In The Shadow Of Cú Chulaınn.

4: The Dockers’ Strike – seen previously in One Big Union.

5: The Famine Window. See also the Visual History page on The Great Hunger.

6: The Pathways Window – according to the guide, this window commemorates the pain caused to the relatives of deceased persons from whom organs were taken without consent.

7: The Centenary Window

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X15061
X15062
X15063
X15064 X15070
X15065 X15069
X15066
X15067 X15068

Let The Fight Go On

2024-04-162025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a west Belfast instance of INLA graffiti – seen previously in Derry (Saoırse Go Deo) – celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the group’s founding, in December, 1974.

The Lasaır Dhearg (web | tw) stencils go back to 2020; see Britain’s Occupation Of Ireland.

Waterford St, west Belfast, replacing Victory To The [Palestinian] Resistance.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X14951 X14952 X14950 [X14949]

Though An Army Besiege Me, My Heart Will Not Fear

2024-03-282025-10-15Extramural Activity2 Comments

In 2000, during the Second Intifada, Palestinian teenager Faris Odeh was photographed by an AP photographer in the act of throwing a stone at an Israeli tank. He was shot and killed a few days later and the image became a symbol of resistance. (A mural of the photograph was painted in Springhill: see David And Goliath.) The iconic image is updated here for Israel’s current invasion of Gaza, showing a young girl with a soft toy standing in front of a tank that is bedecked with the flags of the European Union, France, the USA, the UK, and Germany.

The F-16 jets and rubble and child with teddy-bear are the same as in the We Stand With Palestine mural in Ardoyne.

For the teddy-bears and soft toys, see Boycott Israeli Genocide and It Could Be You.

For the Easter Rising mural, see The Undauntable Thought.

South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast. Launched November 18th, 2023 (PD Fb).

Highland Fusiliers

2024-03-112025-01-08Extramural Activity2 Comments

March 10th was the 53rd anniversary of the killings of three Highland Fusiliers, Dougald McCaughey and teen-aged brothers Joseph and John McCaig, who were drinking in a city centre pub and lured to their deaths in north Belfast at the hands of the (Provisional) IRA. The killings led to the resignation of NI prime minister James Chichester-Clark and an increase, to 18, in the minimum age for service (WP).

There is a monument in Ballysillan and a stone to the three in Ligoniel near the spot where they were executed, and a mural in Rathcoole.

This mural is at the Rangers Supporters’ Club in Carrickfergus. Also from the Club: a gallery of Rangers’ Managers in We Welcome The Chase | commemorative murals to the 36th Division in A Name That Equals Any In History and to the UDR in Some Gave All | various others from the laneway and courtyard in We Don’t Do Walking Away, and from inside and from the side patio in The Rangers That I Love.

Conscience

2023-11-112025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Cogús supports the republican prisoners”. Cogús (Fb) is (was?) the prisoners’ welfare arm of the RNU. The board above — using a vintage illustration going back to 1981’s I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform — replaced More Blacks, More Gays, More Irish on Pantridge Road, Dunmurry, joining the “Join RNU” and mental health boards shown below.