“Saoırse don Phalaıstín [freedom for Palestine]/فلسطين حرة [free Palestine]” and “Ireland stands with Palestine/ايرلندا تقف مع فلسطين” – CYM [Connolly Youth Movement (web)] sticker with a mash-up of the Palestinian and Irish flags and a key that represents the keys that about 700,000 Palestinian householders took with them when they fled their homes in the Nakba of 1948.
TUV (Traditional Unionist Voice) has put up placards attacking the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) – including outside the office of DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson – in response to the possibility that the DUP might re-enter Stormont – which has been defunct now for two years – and implement the NI Protocol (BBC | BelTel).
It hasn’t happened yet, but a combination of public dissatisfaction concerning inaction over strikes by transport workers on December 22 and a general strike planned for January 18 (ITv)) and a financial package for pay awards are keeping the pressure on (Shropshire Star).
The Clements coffee shops in Belfast city centre closed in October, leaving only the two at Queen’s and UUJ (BelTel).
The abandonment of the Rosemary Street shop provides a space for art (see Visual History 11 on the rise of street art); replacing the Clements signage there is a “temp sign”: “And you may ask yourself, “Where is my beautiful signage[?]””.
Is this a plea for the return of Clements – a local chain – or investment in the city centre and a new business? Or perhaps it is meant ironically, as a protest against capitalism – the line is a modification of a lyric from the Talking Heads song ‘Once In A Lifetime’ (Stop Making Sense | Remain In Light), which describes a moment of awakening for the middle-aged and middle-classed: “How did I get here?”
On the permanently-closed shutters is a different kind of beautiful signage, a MOSCO throw-up.
W. B. Yeats’s poem When You Are Old is generally understood to be directed at Maud Gonne, who was born on this day in 1866. Yeats met the actress and activist in 1899, fell in love with her, and proposed marriage four times in the years to follow, each time being rejected. It is as Yeats’s muse — and not for her mysticism or anti-Semitism or Irish nationalism — that she is the subject of this mural in Union Street, Sligo, painted by artist Nick Purdy of Blowdesigns (Fb) in 2018.
“Together building a united community” (“T:BUC” for short) is an Executive-Office strategy (pdf) aiming (among other things) at “good relations” for children and young people. The web page details various programmes that fall under this initiative, including youth camps that bring together children from different religious communities.
The piece shown combines wild-style writing with graphics of landmarks (The Big Fish, Albert clock) and “hello” in various languages, including Irish.
With support from South Belfast Alternatives (web) and Flour Power sandwich shop (web) – “home of the Belfast Melt” – both in Donegall Pass.
The name “Ulster-Scots” refers to the emigrants to North America from Ulster that had previously come from Scotland and the English borders, and most of the Ulster-Scots murals in the 2000s focused on emigration to America and on US Presidents with Scotch-Irish heritage (see the Visual History page of Ulster-Scots murals).
In 2017, a series of boards along York Street focused on industrialists in Northern Ireland with Scottish backgrounds: 13 panels in five posts: one | two | three | four | five. And this new collection of “Ulster-Scots” luminaries (which is 100 paces away) likewise presents figures who are associated with Northern Ireland rather than America. Modern folk such as those portrayed in these new boards presumably have Scottish heritage rather than Scotch-Irish. (The title of this entry – The Scots In Ulster – comes from a Discover Ulster Scots poster about the Scots who came to Ulster in the 1600s, regardless of whether or not they or their descendants later moved to America.)
From left to right, the people shown are as follows. (Links are to previous entries in the Extramural collection.)
Mountcollyer: motorcyclist Rex McCandless, author CS Lewis, physicist John Stewart Bell, song-writer Jimmy Kennedy, medical inventor Frank Pantridge
Going by the streets and places mentioned in these plaques – see the list below – “old Ardoyne” would not have included Balholm Drive, where this gable wall is; Brompton Park and the streets above it – built c. 1935 are renamed c. 1939 (after a 1937 rent strike) – were known as Glenard. (See also Belfast Forum one | two.)
According to an entry on Belfast Forum, Skinny Lizzy’s real name was Elizabeth Gilmore. According to another, Greast Nellie’s chip shop and the Crumlin Star was opposite one another.
left side: Crumlin Star, Peter Toal’s hard wear shop, Beltax [Beltex] mill, Cassidy’s shop, Holy Cross Boys school
top row: Chatham Street Skinny Lizzy shop, Elmfield Street Reid’s shop, Brookfield Street McCafferty shop, Flax Street Greasy Nelly’s, Granny Byer’s shop
second: Oakfield Street, Kerrera Street Skillen’s shop, Hocker Street Rock’s shop, Butler Street Tom’s shop, Top Of The Pad, Dan The Man’s Rockiet[?]
third: The Millie Dam, Crumlin Street Billy O’Hara’s, Herbert Street Davidson’s shop, Fairfield Street Black’s shop, Paddy’s barber shop, McNab’s Chippy, Raynardo’s chippy
fourth: The GAA Tin Hut, The Gap Andy’s shop, Hole In The Knickers, The Unity Club
fifth: Rose Bank mill, Flax Street mill, Toby’s Hall, The Hibbs [Hibs] Club [in Herbert St], Bloody Mary’s Arch
sixth: Brookfield mill, The League AWMC [Ardoyne Working Men’s Club (Fb)], Roy Kane’s shop
The Easter lily and the red star mark this graffiti-art-style slogan in Durrow Park, Derry, as republican-socialist; RSYM = Republican Socialist Youth Movement (Fb), IRSP = Irish Republican Socialist Party (web), AFA = Anti-Fascist Action (Fb)). There is a small “Victory to Hamas” graffito to the right.
For the large Arm Saoırse Náısıúnta Na hÉıreann (INLA) board, see Serious Trouble.
Extramural Activity 