poster/paste-up/sticker

Meet The New Boss

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This UVF poster urges residents of east Belfast who owe money to loan sharks not to sell drugs or find some other way to pay it back, but instead to get in touch with a political representative.

The Sunday World reported that repayments are being withheld after the Shankill UVF ordered the leadership in East Belfast UVF to stand down (in November 2023 – IRN | BBC) and took over the operation. The posters thus come from the old (East Belfast) guard, trying to thwart the new bosses and hoping to resume collection themselves.

SDLP councillor Séamus De Faoıte commented (in the Irish News), “Anyone who has knowledge of criminal activity or exploitation of vulnerable people should report it to the relevant authorities, but people do not need to take any lessons from the UVF when it comes to upholding the law.” (Also: BelTel)

Meanwhile, the endingtheharm.com campaign (part of the Executive/DOJ’s programme designed to tackle “paramilitary activity and organised crime”) continues. See They Control You for a 2019 version. For the mural on the right of the final image, see Herbie McCallum.

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Off The Ledge

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Leo Boyd (web) returns to a familiar subject – the PSNI land-rover – this time going over the edge into deep water. See previously: Freshly Made For You | Winding Up The Peelers | 999 99 | Peeling In The Sun | X-Wing Land Rover | My First Meat Wagon (which dates back to 2018). Also: My 1st Meat Wagon in Paddy Duffy’s collection.

Church Street, Belfast city centre

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Land Grab

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The “Put it back, thief” imagery is applied here to Palestine and Israel, except that there is no piece of territory in the Israeli arm, only a grasping hand, and the slogan is “Saoırse don Phalaıstín”.

In case you need any reminding of the trope, a close-up from the Kneecap mural in Hawthorn Street is included directly below; in CNR muraling, the imagery dates back to Stad Maggie Anoıs (1986) and England Get Out Of Ireland (1989). Similar imagery, based on a Soviet poster, was seen recently in Give It Back, Thief, concerning Lough Neagh.

Finally below is “An Phalaıstín” with the flag as a shield, as though the country were a sporting club.

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Ban Israeli Goods

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Here is an assortment of images concerning boycotts of Israeli goods in response to the invasion of Gaza. Above, “Ban Israeli goods” on the wall of the Alexandra Park Tesco, north Belfast; below, V-for-victory fingers as scissors snipping barbed wire (bdsmovement.net) in a shop window in Andersonstown, west Belfast; “BDS” [Boycott, divestment, sanctions] and “IPSC” [Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which maintains a list of Israeli goods] next to a painted Palestinian flag in the middle Falls, west Belfast; plus an Artists Against Genocide (ig) sticker.

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Birds Not Bombs

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Here are seven pro-Palestinian posters on a planter outside the Royal in west Belfast.

The “Rise Up Against Genocide” poster is from ‘Love Letters From Palestine’ (ig).
“Birds Not Bombs” is by Dani Knight (ig).
“Boycott Apartheid Israel” is by Chris Hutch (Palestinian Poster Project).
The “Save Gaza” poster is by Pakistani designer Hazem Asif (ig | web).
“Unity In Confronting Zionism” is by Deliberately/Collectively Anonymous (PPP)
“Palestine Will Be Free” is by Josh McPhee (ig)
“Free Palestine” ?

Falls Road, west Belfast.

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from the river to the sea

Victory To The PFLP

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“Victory to the PFLP.” “PFLP” is the Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine, a revolutionary (where Fatah is democratic) left-wing militant group within the PLO. It dates back to 1967 and known for skyjackings in 1969 and 1970 led by Leila Khaled (see the entry on the mural featuring Khaled in Hugo St) and for suicide bombings during the Second Intifada (BBC | WP).

The PFLP emblem also appears in murals from Éırígí (Resistance Is Not Terrorism | Solidarity With Palestine) and RNU (Peoples United).

The posters read: “Republican solidarity with Palestine! التضامن الجمهوري مع فلسطين www.irpwa.irish” and “Stand with Palestine. End Israeli apartheid. End the siege of Gaza.” Both posters have also been murals: for the prisoners joining hands (which is a Carlos Latuff (ig) design) see Hands Across The Yard; for the protester tying her keffiyeh, see #Gaza.

Central Drive, Creggan, Derry.

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Don’t Look Away

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Sinn Féın leaders Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill intend to travel to the USA for St Patrick’s Day, despite US support for Israel in its sustained attack on Gaza (Indo). The SDLP has said that it will not travel to the White House (Bel Tel). Sinn Féın say they will use the trip to promote business opportunities in Northern Ireland. The Taoıseach will also be in DC, while the Tánaıste will be in Vancouver (Breaking News).

These posters are in west and south Belfast, from https://socialistdemocracy.org/ and the Socialist Party (NI) (web).

“Tell your politicians… boycott the White House. We’re all running out of time to be on the right side of history. Don’t let genocide-mongerers be pandered to in your name.”

“Don’t look away. 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza. End the genocide.”

“Boycott genocide Joe. No greenwash at the White House. Leo/Mıcheál/Mary Lou stay away from St Patrick’s Day celebrations! Solidarity with Palestine.”

“Tell local politicians… Boycott the White House or… we will never forgive you. We will never vote without recalling which politicians partied with the gleeful killers of thousands of Palestinians. We will never forget. We will never let you forget.”

An additional poster can be seen in the Paddy Duffy Collection.

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Sh’ma Yisrael

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“I stand with Israel.” These two stickers expressing support for Israel are in (PUL) Cluan Place, in east Belfast.

See also: Ulster & Israel | אי כניעה

For Ian Ogle, see Justice For Ian Ogle.

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Protect Our Children

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“No illegal immigration – protect our children.” The January Fact Sheet from gov.uk on 2023’s measures against illegal migration includes a “Small Boats Operational Command” with a staff of 500 people to tackle “illegal migration by small boats”. Summary statistics for small-boat arrivals can be found on WP. Stopping the boats was one of the government’s “five key priorities” in March, 2023 (Reuters) and included in the Bill approved in July (gov.uk). The plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in November (Reuters).

This small sticker on the Mersey Street street-sign is in east Belfast. The source of the need to “protect children” is unknown; the attacker outside Gaelscoıl Choláıste Mhuıre in Dublin in November was originally from Algeria (it is not known how he arrived) and a naturalised Irish citizen since 2014 (WP).

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Justice For Ian Ogle

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Two men were given life sentences on Thursday for the murder of Ian Ogle in 2019, pleading guilty but on the basis of intent to cause serious harm rather than to kill. The trial of three others on a murder charge will begin on Tuesday (iTV | BBC).

Ogle lived in Cluan Place in east Belfast, site of these stickers and many other tarps and posters since his death. See previously: (2020) Justice For Ian Ogle | (2021) The Leaders Of This People Cause Them To Err | Remember Your Own | (2022) For His Family | What Fire Does Not Destroy It Hardens

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