Laid Off, Rehired, Furloughed, Fired

Two posters from Unite: “My rent payments aren’t getting cut – why are my wages?” “Hospitality workers demand respect”. The pandemic’s economic impact is felt most acutely among those in high-contact (and non-frontline) occupations, such as clubs and pubs.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Border Country

“The battles we refuse to fight today becomes the hardships our children must endure tomorrow.” We have amassed here five additional graffiti from “lower north Belfast” saying “No to an Irish Sea border”. Some operations at Larne and Belfast docks were suspended for over a week after reports – which police eventually did not deem credible – of threats made against employees and number plates being recorded (BBC timeline of events).

Lower north Belfast is the residential areas between the Antrim Road and the motorway/docks – York Road and Shore Road from Tiger’s Bay to Mount Vernon and north into Loughside and Graymount.

For the tarp in support of the NHS, see Uniting Our Community.

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Copyright © 2021 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Illest Villain

Rapper MF Doom rarely appeared in public without his trademark mask, shown in this McKibben’s Walk mural. The rapper and producer died at the end of October, 2020, at age 49 (Rolling Stone) – “Rest easi”.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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1st Shankill Somme Association

The Shankill Somme association (Fb) uses the Ulster Tower in Thiepval, France, as its emblem. The association celebrated its 20th anniversary last February (2020) with a parade (gallery of images).

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X07942 Shankill Rd

Whitewell Supports Fiona

Noah Donahoe, whose body was found on June 27th after six days missing, is drawn as an angel at the bottom of the Serpentine Road, north Belfast. The current line of enquiry in the search for an explanation for how he ended up in a storm drain involves a possible assault in the city centre, somewhere between the art college and Yorkgate (Belfast Live).

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Stronger, More United

The Shankill Road pays to tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, who raised more than 30 million pounds for the NHS, after his death on February 2nd, with a tarpaulin on the fence of the community garden. The flowers are from current Belfast mayor, Frank McCoubrey of the DUP. Elsewhere, Sinn Féin members of Fermanagh & Omagh council did not join their colleagues in expressing condolences (Impartial Reporter).

See previously: Different Wars, Always Heroes | You’ll Never Walk Alone

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Shipping Forecast

The long-term extent of disruption to goods entering Northern Ireland, caused by Brexit, remains unclear: some fresh veg and cheeses are missing from supermarkets and Amazon has stopped shipping alcohol. The problem of businesses no longer shipping at all seems to be more troublesome than delays in goods shipped. DUP leader Arlene Foster caused confusion and satirical comment on twitter yesterday for her remarks that nationalists were suffering delayed parcels along with unionists (Irish Times), though graffiti such as is shown here – calling for the scrapping of the “Northern Ireland Protocol” – has so far been painted only in PUL areas.

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X07953 Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X07960 Copyright © 2021 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
Lowwood Pk/Shore Road

Alter Ego

“PSNI Out” is the latest message on Slıabh Dubh from Gael Force Art, mounted in response to what it sees as disparate treatment of nationalists on the one hand (intruding, ostensibly on Covid-related grounds, interfering with a flower-laying ceremony in commemoration of the attack on the Sean Graham bookies shop on the Ormeau Road (Feb 5th, 1992) and arresting one of the victims, Mark Sykes (RTÉ)) and unionists on the other (PSNI monitoring but not confronting a UVF show of strength in Pitt Park (iTV)).

Michelle O’Neill called the Ormeau incident “a watershed moment for public confidence in policing” (Irish News); one officer has been suspended. The writing on the mountain is seen here over the Captain America panel of the wall of superheroes, enhanced versions of their human alter egos: Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Clark Kent, etc.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Marrowbone Youth Club

Máirtín Ó Dochartaigh, one of the founders of Club Óıge Mhachaıre Botháın in 2001, died in 2011. The club was renamed in his honour in ?2020? as Cumann Óıge Uí Dhochartaıgh (Fb | ig) (An Phoblacht). The mural, bearing the original name of the club, dates back to 2012.

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Milltown Young Volunteers

This is a vintage board in Milltown (south Belvoir), carved and painted with the YCV/UVF emblems but with “MYV” instead of “YCV”. The band’s last on-line presence seems to be from a decade ago, playing in Rathcoole.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X07899 Ballycairn Rd