political

This Parliament On Irish Soil

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On June 22nd, 1921, the parliament of Northern Ireland was opened by George V at Belfast’s City Hall. In his address to the assembled dignitaries, he said “I have … come in person, as the head of the Empire, to inaugurate this parliament on Irish soil. I inaugurate it with deep felt hope and I feel assured that you will do your utmost to make it an instrument of happiness and good government for all parts of the community which you represent. This is a great and critical occasion in the history of the Six Counties … I pray that My coming to Ireland to-day may prove to be the first step towards an end of strife amongst [Ireland’s] people, whatever their race or creed.” “Partition has failed” to answer his prayer. Above: the latest message on Slıabh Dubh; below: the mountain from the bonfire pallets collected on the Highfield estate.

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Decade of Centenaries | Ulster 1885 - 1925 | King George V opens new Parliament

Deal Off!!

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Commentary from Tullyally Young Loyalists, who on their Fb page call for the collapse of Stormont and an end to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement: “PSNI Out”, the “Deal [is] off!!” “FTP” is typically “eff the Provos” but here “P” might be “police”.

Previously from TYL: And The Cry Was “No Irish Sea Border”

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Remember The Hunger Strike

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The “Do not use” sign – from last year – is Saoaradh (web) reserving a wall in Braemar St (on the Falls Road) that has never (to our knowledge) been used by anyone else. As the image above shows, the space is now being used – in part – by a hunger strike 40th anniversary board.

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Our Great Wee Country

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Referring to Northern Ireland: “A wee country so great, even her haters won’t leave.” PUL board on Tullyally Road, Londonderry

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Happy Birthday, Northern Ireland

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Both Clifton Street Orange Hall and the statue of King William pre-date the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921. The building opened in 1885 (ArchSeek | Belfast Media gives 1886) and the statue was unveiled before a crowd of 50,000 on November 11th, 1889 ((Melbourne) Advocate | (Sydney) Protestant Standard).

For the “Thank you NHS” banner, see Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamos.

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Modern Family Living

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The first four units of these 3 bedroom semi-detached houses on the Cavehill Road, collectively called “Kyle Mews“, will be available in mid October, by which time the construction wall with its “No surrender” graffiti from the neighbouring Westlands should be gone.

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No Union Without “NI”

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Celebrations of the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland have been dampened by the fall-out from Brexit and the NI Protocol, the on-going coronavirus restrictions (and the leadership races in both the DUP and UUP). This Rathcoole house a flag to mark the centenary (the coat of arms of NI on a St Patrick’s Saltire) and stickers decrying the Protocol (“Northern Ireland unionists against NI Protocol”) and thanking the NHS.

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An Staılc Ocraıs

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On this today 40 years ago, Francis Hughes, the second of the 1981 hunger strikers, died after 59 days without food. The flag is flying over Groves Reilly Corner in CNR west Belfast.

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This Image Is Blessed

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Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who, from age 19 onwards, claimed to have visions of a suffering Jesus, including one at age 26, of Jesus with red and white rays emanating from his heart and issuing instructions to have the vision painted – it appears here on the right. Kowalska died at age 33 in 1938, of tuberculosis, and was canonized in 2000 (WP). The “H Block Martyrs” pursued a vision of a United Ireland, and likewise died young, of starvation; this is the 40th anniversary of their deaths.

Both Kowalska placards are marked “This image is blessed. Please do not remove.” It is not clear if the hunger striker tarp on the left has also been anointed.

At Groves Reilly Corner.

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The Centenary Of Oppression

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‘Parliament Buildings’ were not opened until 1932 – 102 years after Stormont Castle and eleven years after partition and the formation of Northern Ireland – but it has largely taken over the meaning of “Stormont” and has become synonymous with the Northern Ireland government in all its forms over the century, a century of – as this Lasaır Dhearg (web) poster in CNR west Belfast has it – “pogroms, sectarianism, job discrimination, police brutality, imprisonment, collusion, housing discrimination, Orange supremacy, torture, internment, special powers, state sponsored death squads, language discrimination, gerrymandering, women’s rights denied, colonialism.”

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