political

RIP Plum Smith

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UVF volunteer William “Plum” Smith entered Long Kesh in 1972 at the age of 18 for his role in the attempted murder of a Catholic. After his release, he became an ITGWU shop steward, a community organizer, and spokesperson for the PUP. Smith died in June of this year (2016); the message in today’s images appears on the Cupar Way “peace” line.

Short bio from BalaclavaStreet | Gareth Mulvenna tweet of Plum’s bio at age 20 from the Orange Cross | Tele account of the funeral.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Loose Talk Costs Lives

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Republican graffiti in Meenan Square, Derry hearkening back to a 1970s poster (revived earlier in 2016 in this Belfast poster on the International Wall) cautioning people against undercover British agent and touts.

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Lost Duppy

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Two pieces by TLO. Above, “Have you seen Duppy?” Ian Paisley Jnr gets a strange mouse make-over, with a pink nose and Irish harp ears. Below, a sprung skull.

Previously by TLO: Demonizing Paisley, Three Studies Of Ian Paisley, and Ian Jong-un, Wee Angel, Taking The Hump, Derryrhoea.

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X03875 X03683 a malevolent spirit or ghost west african origin

Charter NI Scum Out

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Charter NI chief executive Dee Stitt returned to work on Wednesday after a three-week holiday following controversial remarks that a Bangor flute band (the North Down Defenders) provided “homeland security” for the area and that he was the big man in the area. (The remarks were included in this Guardian video, starting at 7m 22s. For more on the UDA in north Down, see this Tele article.) Many have called for his resignation, including Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP (Irish News), though the Charter NI board, who conducted an internal review, did not fire him. At least one of the local people in east Belfast was already unhappy with the organization this summer, when the graffiti above was sprayed in Beechfield Street.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03598 NI Executive “managed” September and not “controlled” November

Taughmonagh Remembers

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The bus turnaround at the entrance to Taughmonagh estate has been turned into a Somme Garden (see the third image, below). The “Welcome to Taughmonagh” sign at entrance has been covered over with a Union flag board with “Taughmonagh remembers” and the three figures in the sculpture in the middle have each been given a union jack cap.

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X03922 X03920 X03921 Taughmonagh heritage and culture society the bulbs for this somme garden were bought with donations by from the estate planted by the children to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the battle of the somme and in the morning we will remember them

Who Fears A United Ireland?

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The night before he was executed for his part in the Easter Rising, republican leader James Connolly (5.6.1888-12.5.1916) penned a brief statement calling the British presence in Ireland “a usurpation and a crime against human progress” and declaring “The British government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, never can have any right in Ireland”. Here are two images of Free Derry corner with Connolly’s quote, including The Petrol Bomber by the Bogside Artists and and “SFRY” (Sinn Féin Republican Youth) banner on the railings.

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X03602 X03601 lecky rd

End Internment

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32 County Sovereignty Movement (web) graffiti on the Alliance Avenue “peace” line.

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Where’s Our Graduated Response?

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Carrickfergus United Loyalists portray Peter Robinson, Mike Nesbitt, and Theresa Villiers as the three monkeys who “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. The evil that they fail to recognize is the oppression of Orange culture in the form of the blocked 2013 parade at the Ardoyne shops. The march was completed and the protest camp dismantled on October 1st. (NewsLetter) The phrase “graduated response” comes from the Unionist response to the collapse of 2014 talks. (Irish News)

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The Battle Of Antiville

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The experts’ best guess is that the gentleman on the white horse (on the right of the painting) is James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, at the siege of Maastricht in 1673. Scott was commander of the English forces fighting with the French during the Franco-Dutch war. It’s not clear, thus, what the connection is to the Antiville area of Larne or the wars fought in Ireland over the English crown. It was painted by Jan Wyck, who also did a painting of the Battle of the Boyne. On either side (as shown below) are a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the English version of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.

This trio of boards has been added to a wall behind the Antiville community centre, softening (somewhat) a very aggressive set of six UDA boards (seen in UDA Flag Bearer and Secret Army Silhouettes.)

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Gulliver’s Voyage To Brobdingnag

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Minuscule humans work in the land of the giants: a lily in London-/Derry and Larne’s crowning glory.

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X03775 X03760 Rossville St Circular Rd Roundabout