Introduction
(Not to be confused with The International Wall (Divis Street) )
This is a gallery of murals (and some examples of graffiti and flags) expressing solidarity with other countries.
A number in parentheses at the end of an entry refer to items in a list of 32 international murals from 1982-2006 by Bill Rolston in ‘Brothers On The Wall’ (Journal Of Black Studies 39.3 pp. 457-9).
Images
PLO-IRA. PLO = Palestine Liberation Organization. Ariel Sharon became Israeli Minister Of Defence in 1981 and in 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon. Note that “RPG Avenue” is on this side of the street; it is gone by 1986’s ANC mural. Beechmount, west Belfast. (1)
“Viva Argentina Ole! Britania [sic] rules the waves no more!” In April, 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland or Malvinas islands, over which it claims sovereignty. Bogside, Derry.
“Basques OK” and “ETA OK.” The Spanish constitution of 1978 makes the Basque country an independent “nationality” with Spain, but many in the region reject the constitution. ETA is Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, which at the time was waging an armed campaign. Bogside, Derry.
“Solidarity Between Women In Armed Struggle.” Female volunteers from the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), Cumann Na mBan, and SWAPO (Southwest African People’s Organization, from Namibia). Middle Falls, west Belfast. (2)
The ANC is the African National Congress, a South African group banned until 1990. Moloise was executed by hanging in 1985. Beechmount, west Belfast. (3)
Mandela. In 1988, Mandela was in his 26th year in prison. He would be released on February 11, 1990. His birthday is July 18th, 1918. Divis, west Belfast. (4)
“Free Leonard Peltier” AIM (American Indian Movement) member Leonard Peltier was convicted in 1977 of the murder of two FBI agents at Pine Ridge reservation. (5)
“Only Our River Runs Free”. Women of various ethnicities: Native American, Palestine, ?, Irish?, and Mexican?. Unity Flats, Belfast.
Sands-Che-Lenin. Bogside, Derry. (6)
[There is a separate Visual History page on Che as an icon in republican murals, as part of a discussion of the influence of Jim Fitzpatrick.]
Nicaragua Must Survive – painted on boards and displayed in Belfast city centre. (7)
(1990 GerardMoCharaKelly.com | DS1 110)
Our Struggle, Your Struggle. Native American solidarity. Whiterock, west Belfast. (8)
Women Against Oppression. Lower Falls, west Belfast.
You Can Kill The Revolutionary. Irish volunteer, James Connolly, Emiliano Zapata, member of the United Farm Workers. Dedicated to the San Patricios. Ballymurphy, west Belfast. (9)
Basque (Rossnareen, west Belfast). (10)
(1992 DS2 059)
Doıre [Derry] – Managua. Managua is the capital of Nicaragua. (11)
Free Catalonia graffiti, with drawings of the Catalan flag. Whiterock, west Belfast.
Weary People, What Reap Ye? (The Great Hunger in Ireland with imagery of native Australians). St James’s, west Belfast. (There is a separate Visual History page on the Great Hunger.)
Forward To Freedom and Free Catalonia, United Ireland (side by side in Rossnareen Ave, west Belfast).
Saoırse – Askatasuna. Clonard, west Belfast.
No Pasarán on the walls of Derry.
“Timeless Time” Australian Aborigines. New Lodge, north Belfast. (12)
Free Catalonia. Beechmount, west Belfast. Would later be repainted with a white background. (13)
Biko (with, clockwise, Ché, Miriam Daly, Peltier, Lila Khaled, Maıréad Farrell; Mandela on the side wall) with the flags of Catalonia, Ireland, the Basque Country, Palestine, and Mexico, with a (sideways) aboriginal flag on the chimney and the pots painted in the colours of man: red, yellow, white, black. Middle Falls, west Belfast. (14)
Askatasuna 1997. Beechmount, west Belfast. (15)
Children Of The World in Creggan, Derry (16)
Cuba – Ireland in Shiels St, middle Falls, Belfast. (17)
Peltier – Hillman St, New Lodge, north Belfast. (18)
Mumia – Conway St, lower Falls, west Belfast. (19)
MLK – Hillman St, New Lodge, north Belfast. (20)
Londoner Stephen Lawrence was murdered by stabbing in 1993 and, although arrests were made, no charges were brought. A 1998 public inquiry found that the Metropolitan Police Service was “institutionally racist”. In 2012, two of the original suspects were found guilty of the murder (WP). Catholic Robert Hamill was beaten to death by loyalists in Portadown in 1997 while police in an RUC land-rover looked on (WP). Ardoyne, north Belfast.
East Timor Raytheon – Market St/Orchard St, Derry (21)
East Timor/Raytheon (Free Derry Corner, rear). (22)
(2000 DS3 062)
F-Block Martyrs (in Turkey), Rock streets, west Belfast.
Erdogan Hunger Strike (23), on the International Wall, Divis, Belfast.
Black & White – School de-segregation in Arkansas, USA in parallel with the Holy Cross Primary dispute. Ardoyne, Belfast. (24)
Sharon-Arafat in the Markets, south Belfast. (25)
Palestinian flag painted on a board in the Bogside, Derry.
Che Guevara in Strabane.
Palestine Freedom, the International Wall, Divis St, Belfast. (26)
Saoirse do Peltier on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast. (27)
ETA on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
F-Block hunger strikes in Turkey on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
PLO – Óglaıgh in the Bogside, Derry.
Malcolm X (29). Ardoyne, north Belfast.
Basque Youth (28), Andersonstown, west Belfast.
Boycott Israeli Goods.
Lá na bPalíneach tarp on the middle Falls.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade/PLO/ETA in Derry.
Llibertat Països Catalans (30) on the International Wall, Divis St, west Belfast.
America’s Greatest Failure on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast. (31)
Castilla Nacion – Fuera Fascistas de Castilla on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
Support The Palestinians. Crocus Street, west Belfast.
Frederick Douglass on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast. (32)
These next two pro-Palestinian murals were off Lecky Road, on the back of the Bogside Inn.
Balata is a refugee camp in the West Bank, near Nablus. Bogside, Derry.
“Palestine: A Homeland Denied”. PLO leader Yasser Arafat died in 2004.
SSharon
Catalan Countries off the Falls Road in Andersonstown, west Belfast.
“Support Hezbollah in their fight against Isreal [sic] scum! Isreal [sic] scum out now!” Rossville Street, Derry.
Stop Israeli Bulldozers, Derry.
The next two are graffiti on the wall at the old Andersonstown RUC barracks in west Belfast, which was demolished in 2005.
Ireland – Palestine – Basque Country
Hezbollah Rule – 2006 was the year of the Lebanon War on the Lebanon-Israel border. Stanley’s Walk, Derry.
Hand-drawn Basque flag in Dove Gardens, Derry
Palestinian flag flying in William Street, Derry.
“No imperialist intervention in Iran” on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
USA: Hands Off Cuba on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
Guernica, reproduced as a mural, depicting the Nazi bombing of the Basque town Gernika during the Spanish Civil War. The International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
Las Brigadas Internacionales 1936-39 on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
“Askatasuna! Not Spain, not France – self-determination for the Basque country” on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
Hamas Rule The Gaza Strip. Lecky Road, Derry.
“Catalonia: 300 years of occupation, 300 years of resistance!” Outside Pilot’s Row Centre in Rossville Street, Derry.
Catalonia 300, Bogside, Derry.
Ernesto Che Guevara Lynch, Bogside, Derry
Iraqnica – Picasso’s Guernica reproduced in red and grey as a protest at the invasion of Iraq. Outside the Museum Of Free Derry.
Two from Whiterock Road, west Belfast.
“Fuck Isra[e]l”
“Free Palestine From 60 Years Of Nakba!” on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
George Dubya Bush, War Criminal (west Belfast)
“Freedom for the Basque Country” – tarp outside An Cultúrlann, Falls Road, Belfast.
Ireland – Catalonia (white version)
Gaza Bleeds, The World Fiddles
Palestine outside the Free Derry Museum
US Support = Children’s Slaughter; Free Palestine on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
Cuba – Fifty Years Of Revolution on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
Arkansas – Ardoyne – South Belfast on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
All Flags Are Welcome, Divis, west Belfast.
Palestine flag in Short Strand, east Belfast.
Israeli flag flying in PUL area (in this case, Shore Rd, north Belfast).
Palestinian and Basque flags flying in Top Of The Hill, Derry.
50 aniversario Cuban Revolution 1959-2009 in Strabane.
Free Palestine Now in Derry’s Bogside
Israeli Scum (also “Hamas”) in the Bogside, Derry
Boycott Israeli Goods in Derry.
Askatasuna (Basque) mural at the former site of the Andytown RUC barracks, west Belfast.
Shame On You Israel
Not Spain, Not France – Catalonia. Beechmount, west Belfast.
Barbarian Israeli Aggression – updated mural on the International Wall, Divis, west Belfast.
Rosa Parks – Mother Of The Civil Rights Movement. New Lodge, north Belfast.
Welcome To Iveagh, west Belfast.
Women Of Inspiration in St James’s, west Belfast.
End The Blockade Of Gaza at the Top Of The Rock, west Belfast.
Pro-Hamas and Gaddafi graffiti in the Bogside, Derry.
Glen Road/Falls Rd, west Belfast.
Che-Sands board in Hugo Street, west Belfast.
The new Frederick Douglass mural, now in Northumberland Street, Belfast.
Palestinian hunger strikers on the International Wall, west Belfast.
‘Free the five’ on the International Wall, west Belfast.
Jim Stranney plaque in west Belfast.
Basque Country mural in Beechmount, west Belfast.
Latuff cartoon in support of Palestinian POWs on Northumberland Street, Belfast.
‘Free the Cuban 5’ on the rear of Free Derry Corner.
32CSM placard expressing “solidarity” with Palestine. Lecky Road, Derry.
“End Israeli terror in Palestine” in Derrybeg, Newry.
Break The Connection With Capitalism, Northumberland Street, west Belfast.
Free Gaza, Free Derry in the Lecky Road underpass; had previously been on the rear of FDC.
For later murals, you can use the “international” category on …
Peter Moloney Collection – Murals
References in parentheses to mural collections:
C = Tony Crowley collection
D = squire93@hotmail.com collection
J = Jonathan McCormick collection
M = Peter Moloney collection
S = anonymous collection
T = Paddy Duffy collection
X = Extramural Activity collection
“DS” refers to Bill Rolston’s “Drawing Support” series of books.
Written material copyright © 2017-2024 Extramural Activity CIC. Images are copyright of their respective photographers.
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