Here are three “nail-ups” from west Belfast, all showing their age.
The first is “IRA – Brits out, not sell out. Join RSF” in Fallswater Street.
The second is a “Lower Shankill UFF C Coy” board high above the “Shankill Protestant Boys UVF” mural at the junction of Northemberland Street and the Shankill.
The third is the phoenix in the apex above the mural in AMCOMRI Street.
The images were taken in late 2014; the phoenix goes back at least to 2003 and the others are at least six years old.
The 2010 work of Jade, Andi, Katie, Leigh, Ellen, Lyndsay, Shannon, and Hannah on the substation at the top of the Glenfield estate’s Oakfield Road has been replaced this week by a new UDA mural sporting a hooded gunman facing the viewer with a slogan borrowed from Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata: “Better to die on your feet than live on your knees in an Irish republic. Join the UDA.”. The two wide shots below allow you to compare the scene this week with last week.
The mural has been criticized by both DUP and Alliance councillors (Newsletter). The final words – Join the UDA – have drawn particular ire, as in other respects it is similar to other murals in featuring hooded gunmen, such as these two other Carrickfergus murals: Inclusion | Eternal Vigilance.
Nolan Show discussion of the mural on 2015-02-11: Part 1 | Part 2
“Audemus jura nostra defendere – We dare to defend our rights”. The UDA/UFF/UYM/LPA mural above shows hooded gunmen standing either side of a view of Carrickfergus castle. The phrase “The price of peace is eternal vigilance” is associated with British politician Leonard Courtney (who also said “Lies – damned lies – and statistics) though it probably goes further back. As can be seen from the second image, the mural watches over Woodlawn primary school. The third image shows the memorial garden off to the right-hand side; the plaque is shown fourth: “This memorial is dedicated to the memory of the officers and members of our organisation who were murdered by the enemies of Ulster and to those who paid the supreme sacrifice whilst on active service during the present conflict. Quis separabit.”
“Attempted criminalisation of republican prisoners is alive and well”: Above is a new board erected 2015-01-23 by Republican Network For Unity (RNU)’s Cogús committee in support of “Republican prisoner welfare and support”: “End controlled movement, forced strip searches now.” On the opposite corner, the Rock Bar advertises the Celtic v Rangers League Cup match last Sunday February 1st.
Maghaberry Prison’s Roe House, home to about 50 republican prisoners, was this past week the scene of a stand-off with prison guards, as 30 (BelTel) or 40 (BBC) inmates refused to enter their cells. There was also a protest outside the jail and a bomb-threat on Tuesday (U.tv).
The Queen’s golden jubilee (50th anniversary 1952 – 2002) is celebrated in this long-lasting UFF/UDA mural in Rathcoole. It originally included a (painted) “plaque” at the bottom, which has been painted out. On September 10th, 2015, Elizabeth II will surpass Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch.
UDA mural in Monkstown “Simply The Best”, along with a faded UVF wall with “The Ulster People’s Army” on one half and “Taigs out” over “Ulster Volunteer Force” on the other. For the mural in the background, see M03088.
Three different campaigns for inquiries into deaths at the hands of British paratroopers are brought together into a single board on the site of the former Andersonstown RUC station: the Ballymurphy Massacre of August, 1971, in which 11 were killed; the Springhill Massacre of July 1972, in which 5 were killed, and the killing of IRA volunteer Pearse Jordan, who, like the others, lived in the greater Ballymurphy area.
“This poppy cross is in memory of the two men murdered at this spot by a no warning sectarian IRA bomb attack on the Four Step Inn public house on 29th September 1971.” The two men were Alexander Andrews (60) and Ernest Bates (38) (CAIN). A similar cross was also erected further down the Shankill, at the former site of Frizzell’s Fishmongers, bombed in 1993. Both attacks are among the five Shankill bombings commemorated in Where Is Our Truth?
Extramural Activity 