Voters go back to the polls for a UK general election on June 8th. Election materials for the Stormont elections are still visible, such as this Gerry Kelly placard in the Sınn Féın offices in Ardoyne, defaced with a Saoradh ‘quislings’ poster, also from the last Stormont election. John Finucane, rather than Kelly, is the Sınn Féın candidate for the general election this time (Irish News).
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“Stop drug dealers in our area.” “No drug dealers welcome in our area.” These anti-drug-dealing posters from Greater Ardoyne Residents’ Collective (Fb) are all over the area at present. A leaflet was also circulated as part of the campaign.
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Another “Lá Dearg” – organised by An Dream Dearg (Fb) (the red group) takes place next Saturday with a march from An Chultúrlann to the city hall. The image above shows graffiti in Divis Street; the image below shows posters for the event on the Lıú Lúnasa mural.
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A variety of posters for marches in Easter week: on the 14th, Saoradh’s call for a counter-protest to the march by former soldiers against prosecutions for deaths during the Troubles (see e.g. Irish News); on the 16th, an Easter Rising commemorative march, somehow associated with the IRA’s D Company; on the 17th (see the final image, below), an Easter Rising commemoration in Derry, organised by Saoradh (and on the 30th – also in the final image below – a commemoration for “Óglach Teddy Campbell”).
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Another selection of distressed posters, torn to reveal … more posters. The electrical box in the third image was included in last year’s collection: We Had Our Distresses.
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New work (presumably) by TLO in Belfast city centre showing King Billy (and horse!) wearing a gas mask as he rides over a river of tyres piled up for burning on bonfires. (The original painting is in the Royal Museums Greenwich). The practice of burning tyres has been controversial over the last few years as it is thought to cause toxic fumes. A collection of tyres was removed from Connswater in mid-March (Tele).
Previously by TLO: Demonizing Paisley | Three Studies Of Ian Paisley | Ian Jong-un | Wee Angel | Taking The Hump | Derryrhoea | Lost Duppy.
Thanks to Belfast Street Art (@Belfast_Beyond) for the tip.
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Two final pieces from the #ae17 election campaign. Above, a somewhat menacing crocodile waits impatiently for an Irish-language act: “Meas do chách – Acht na Gaeılge anoıs!” (“Respect for all – Irish language act now!”) The white circle on red is the logo of An Dream Dearg, an Irish-language campaign (Irish News); the crocodile stems from DUP leader Arlene Foster’s response to Sınn Féın demands for an Act, when she said “If you feed a crocodile, they’re going to keep coming back and looking for more.” (BBC-NI | video at RTÉ) She later said she regretted the remarks as they allowed her to be demonised during the campaign (BelTel).
Below, Saoradh’s plea that “A vote for Stormont equals a vote for British rule – Don’t vote! Reject the quislings and Brit collaborators.” (See also: Stormont Must Go)
Previously: Previously from the 2017 Assembly Elections: Tapaıgh An Deıs | End The Age Of the Dinosaurs | Keep Belfast Clean | Hard Border | The Burning Issue
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More from the 2017 campaign (see also Tapaıgh An Deıs), this time a Labour party (Web | Fb) hoarding (this one for Courtney Robinson, standing in East Belfast), encouraging voters to “end the age of the dinosaurs” which has wrought “RHI scandal, NHS in crisis, LGBT and abortion rights denied, and sectarian squabbling” and vote for a “cross-community alternative”. The Ulster banner hangs from the light-pole.
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This is an old poster (dating to November 2012) still visible in Castle Street, calling for a march and vigil in remembrance of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian dentist living in Galway, who died from a septic miscarriage after being denied an abortion.
As a result of her death, the Protection Of Life During Pregnancy Act was signed into law in 2013, more than 20 years after the X Case, clarifying the issue of abortion in Ireland in the case of a threat to the mother’s life.
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Work by screen-printer Leo Boyd (Fb | Tumblr) in Belfast city centre. A tank gets a spray-can top for a turret.
Are you a robot? | Big Men Wail Hammers | When Urban Love Goes Wrong | Oh You Pretty Thing
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Extramural Activity 