The Israeli flag flies outside the ‘Union Jack Souvenir Shop’ on the Newtownards Road, east Belfast, “world flag suppliers” and “British by birthright”.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Wild-style writers RASK from Drogheda (ig), SNAK from Derry (ig), and SKARE from Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine by way of Warsaw, Poland, (ig) hit the so-called west Belfast “peace” line on Saturday and left their mark.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Israeli bombing of Gaza resumed on Friday, with bombing of southern Gaza and a demand that civilians move even further south, to the border city of Rafah (Al Jazeera). This graffiti and a simple painting of the Palestinian flag are in the Elmfield area of Glengormley, Newtownabbey.
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The “put/give it back, thief” imagery that we saw used for the Lough Neagh protest (and much earlier in republican murals) is used on an “Israel, get out of Palestine” sticker on the bollard now outside Cultúrlann McAdam-O’Fiaich that originally came from McAdam’s Soho foundry in Townsend Street. (A sticker in worse condition was also seen in Israel Get Out Of Palestine.)
“Caıth bomaıte ar son na Palaıstíne. Seol ríomhphost chuıg gach ceannaıre polaıtiúıl sa tír. – Caırde Palestine.” [Spend a moment on Palestine’s behalf. Send an e-mail to every political leader in the land. – Friends of Palestine]
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“Dorn san aer do na Gaeıl [a fist in the air for the Irish] Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí 1970-2023”.
Mac Aodha Bhuí joined Ráıdió Na Gaeltachta in the 1990s but was best known for his Rónán Beo@3 programme (which is inscribed on the ring on the first), which began in 2006. He was a passionate advocate for the Irish language. He died this past September after a four-year battle with cancer. (RTÉ | Irish Times | Donegal Daily)
The official launch of the mural will be at 2 p.m. on Friday (December 1st).
Fallswater Street, west Belfast
Update: by the time of the launch a photograph of Mac Aodha Bhuí was added.
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Here is another gallery of teddy-bears and soft-toys wearing “Boycott Israeli genocide” stickers in support of the children of Gaza, this time from the fencing in front of the Royal Victoria Hospital.
See also the soft-toys from the Milltown roundabout junction, former site of the Andersonstown RUC Barracks.
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The UN Security Council last night passed resolution 2712 (UN), calling for extended humanitarian pauses in Israel’s assult on Gaza. The resolution was proposed by Malta, who wrote the resolution to focus on the plight of children. Today’s images show a selection of the teddy bears and other soft toys that have been placed on fences and lamp-posts in CNR west Belfast in memory of the children who have been killed in Gaza. It is estimated that a child dies in Gaza every 10 minutes (Reuters) and that 4,600 children have died so far (UN).
For more on the bears, see Belfast Media.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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William was granted the peerage “baron Carrickfergus” as a wedding present in 2011, which made Catherine/Kate baroness (WP). They visited the town in 2022 (BBC). The black-and-white photograph on the left is of Queen Elizabeth visiting in 1961 (youtube).
Replaces the kids mural We Are Friends in Hawthorn Avenue, Carrickfergus.
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“When it comes to punk, New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason.” – Terri Hooley in 2012’s Good Vibrations (IMDb).
The final incarnation of Hooley’s Good Vibrations record shop (Fb) closed in North Street in 2015 (BelTel). It began in October 1976 at 102 Great Victoria Street (Spit Records | Louder Than War | Spit Records) — the shop and Hooley are included, along with footage of the Undertones, Outcasts, Stiff Little Fingers, and many others — in the 1979 documentary Shellshock Rock (UK viewers can watch at BFI | Spit Records has a great write-up of events surrounding the film’s launch).
The new mural is close to the shop’s second location (from roughly 1984-1993), on the other side of the road, at 121 Great Victoria Street, which itself has had “Good Vibrations” signage reinstated by Zippy (ig) – one of the new pieces around the corner on 127 Great Victoria Street that can be seen in the entry in the Paddy Duffy collection.
Big Time Punk is in Stroud Street, painted by Peaball, specifically RAZER (ig) and NOYS (ig).
The plaque (final image) outside the Harp Bar (in Hill Street) reads, “For the contribution made by Terri Hooley and the role of Good Vibrations to Belfast’s music heritage and putting Belfast on the international music map. The Harp Bar and its shared history of the people and bands who played here. The Outcasts, Rudi, SLF, The Defects, The Undertones and many more 1978-1982.”
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“Cogús supports the republican prisoners”. Cogús (Fb) is (was?) the prisoners’ welfare arm of the RNU. The board above — using a vintage illustration going back to 1981’s I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform — replaced More Blacks, More Gays, More Irish on Pantridge Road, Dunmurry, joining the “Join RNU” and mental health boards shown below.
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Extramural Activity 