A female figure walks barefoot through flowers.
locationunknown
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Barefoot
painted wall
Ulster Volunteers
Centre: Carson signs the Covenant – the document is top right; top left: gunrunning on the Clyde Valley; bottom left, mounted rifles; bottom right, Carson presenting colours (and the 2011 Ballyduff bonfire).
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Gregg & Carson
John “Grug/Grugg” Gregg and Robert “Rab” Carson of the UDA’s Southeast Antrim brigade were killed on February 1st, 2003, on orders from Johnny Adair of the West Belfast brigade after Gregg and other brigade bosses voted to expel Adair from the UDA (October 2002).
The emblem is of the Royal Irish/Ulster Rifles/Regiment – it’s not clear if there is connection to Gregg or the UDA; the emblem is also used by the Cloughfern Young Conquerors, but again the connection to the RIR is unclear.
Replaces the Cloughfern Eddie. (See also the Visual History page on Eddie.) Gregg was known as “the grim reaper” and had a tattoo of the reaper on his back (Guardian).
The Israeli flag flies from the Watta-Chip in Knockenagh Avenue, Newtownabbey.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Skipping Rope
This is one of the panels on the wall behind Short Strand community centre, next to Geordie Bell.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Right To Defend Yourself
“We seek nothing but the elementary right implanted in every man: the right if you are attacked, to defend yourself.” Hooded gunmen return to east Belfast at the junction of Newtownards Road and Dee Street (Bright Street), replacing a mural for the Glentoran Community Trust. It’s not clear who the UVF felt attacked by in 2011; it is possible that this mural is also about local muscle-flexing in addition to sectarian politics or attention from the police.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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All Flags Are Welcome
“Over 40 years ago the presence of this flag [the Irish Tricolour] on this street unleashed a vicious campaign of discrimination and violence against this community lasting decades … 45 years on … this flag can flow [sic] freely from every corner … All flags are welcome on this road and so are you … failte [fáılte] go dtí … West Belfast.”
The event referenced in the flying of the Irish Tricolour in 1964 from Billy McMillen’s electoral office, which Ian Paisley (and the RUC) found objectionable. Danny Morrison in An Phoblacht (web) has an account of the election and events. Here is news video from 1964 (DFA) of charges subsequently brought against 70 people.
The mural from Coıste Political Tours (web) is on Divis Street, just beyond down-town Belfast and directed at foreign visitors; the Union Flag, however, is not included among the display of international flags. On the right is a placard for the Eileen Hickey Republican History Museum (web).
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Frederick Douglass
Here are some in-progress shots of the new Frederick Douglass mural being painted on Northumberland Street, being painted by a Short Strand artist, Marty Lyons, and Mark Ervine. (An image of the three artists during work on the mural can be seen at An Phoblacht.)
Nelson Mandela is in the second image. The person in the third image is Harriet Tubman rather than Rosa Parks, though Tubman did not wear spectacles; Parks will also be included.
For the completed work, see Liberating Minds.
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Fıanna 100
Na Fıanna Éıreann was founded by Constance Markievicz – shown on the left of the mural – and Bulmer Hobson in 1909 as a scouting organisation for boys. When they reached 17, they were recruited into the IRB.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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I’m Not A Criminal
When the mural to “the first blanketman” Kieran Nugent mural (in the Rock streets) was re-done in February 2011, it was initially framed with a terrific selection of posters from the period, many of them from continental Europe, about Kieran, the blanket protest, and hunger striker.
“I’m not a criminal. The Brits will have to nail prison clothes to my back.” For the previous mural, and some background about Nugent going “on the blanket”, see M02550.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Under Ben Madigan
Titanic sails (impossibly) between the Giant’s Causeway (on the left) and one of the Harland & Wolff cranes – all under Napoleon’s Nose and Cave Hill.
This mural replaced a UDA mural in Downing Street, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 