graffiti/writing

Peace Or Protocol

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Agriculture minister Edwin Poots’s directive to stop checks on goods coming from Britain to Northern Ireland – which did not come into practical effect – was struck down on Friday, and reverting the policy to what it was under the NI Protocol and Brexit deals. The High Court judge who handed down the decision did so on the grounds that Poots’s directive was politically motivated (BBC) – in other words, it was taken as part of the DUP’s opposition to the Protocol, which next (in February, 2022) involved collapsing the executive.

Sales from GB to NI increased 7% (about 1 billion pounds in value) in the year after the Protocol came into effect (BBC | BelTel) but money isn’t everything (the “erosion of our identity” is “non-negotiable“) and protests persist, offering the bargain of “the peace” (i.e. the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement) or “the proticol”. Efforts continue by the UK government to reach a new deal with the EU and/or to pass a bill allowing unilateral changes (News Letter).

Glenmore St and Gawn St, Belfast.

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Death To Informants

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Republican graffiti in Fahan Street, Derry, adjacent to the Che Guevara Lynch mural. Any specific reference is unknown; in 2019 there was controversy over signs threatening informers in relation to the killing of Lyra McKee (e.g. extra).

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The Rising Place

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The buildings on North Street above the art deco Bank Of Ireland building – including a former home (called The Loft) of the artists’ collective now known as The Vault– were razed in 2017. Since then, the hoarding around the site has been a site for street art and graffiti art, most recently a series of Clash Street Kids pieces (inspired by the ‘Bash Street Kids’) by the TMN krew. The plan for the location is now to produce (for 100 million pounds) a building housing a multi-media presentation of the results of an “unparalleled programme of story collection” (Belfast City Council) that will be attractive to an anticipated 1.8 million annual visitors (Architects’ Journal).

For the street art in the background, see Belfast Deco.

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British Gaols In Ireland

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Here are various IRPWA (tw)/Saoradh (web)/Éıstıgí (Fb) statements in Derry’s Creggan and Bogside.

Above, in Iniscarn Road, “Irish republican prisoners still interned within British Gaols in Ireland”. Below that, two from Central Drive, “Support our hunger strikers in Ireland” (explained in Are You On The Side Of The 2020 Hunger Strikers?) and an aging “Disband the rebranded RUC” (seen previously in 2019).

And at the bottom, two from Westland Street, “Irish republican solidarity with Palestine” (described in a north Belfast appearance) and “Salute the men and women of violence” (for which see Her Old Tradition Of Nationhood) and one from the gaggle of boards next to Free Derry Corner: “Support republican prisoner”.

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West Belfast UFF

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Here is some vintage graffiti and a small UDA mural from behind the Tennent Street police station in the upper Shankill (Mill Street West). Above: “Ulster says No”. Bottom: “S/Hill West Belfast UFF 2nd Batt C Coy”.

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Shared Space

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More “turf” markings, at the entrance to the Glen estate, Newtownards; above and directly below, a North Down UVF and graffiti, while directly above it (final image) two UDA hooded gunmen take aim at the viewer on the pavement.

Also in Glen: a UVF hooded gunman at the bottom of the estate – Neighbourhood Watch – and UDA gunmen at the top of the estate – Hope That It Will Get Better.

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Life Is Tough

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“… but so are you”. LAD Talk (ig | profile) mural in Sandy Row by ArtFillNI (Fb) and Codo (ig).

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Our Day Will Come

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“Either ballot or gun, our day will come – PIRA.” This graffiti dates back to at least 1998 (see C01268) and probably to the breakdown of the ceasefire in 1996; the same slogan was present in Wall St (Carrick Hill) in 1996. It is still visible on the Falls Road in 2022.

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Bowtown UVF

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The “east Belfast” board shown above is on the east side of Bowtown while the two pieces of fresh “north Down” graffiti are on the west side, perhaps indicating that the tension between the two UVF factions – persists. The east Belfast faction was suspected in the bus burning in response to the Protocol in 2021 (BBC | Tele).

See previously in various Newtownards estates: Always A Little Further (Whitehill) | East East Belfast (Westwinds & Bowtown) | EB UVF (Westwinds). For the UDA factions in the Glen estate, see Ulster Defence Unions.

The phrase on the board is also used in an east Belfast mural: “We seek nothing but the elementary right implanted in every man … the right, if you are attacked, to defend yourself …”

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Larne Sports

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Toals bookmakers are offering odds and taking bets on racing, soccer, and … shooting? The PSNI are in the crosshairs. In the background are the Black Arch on the Coast Road and Chaine Memorial tower.

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