Spreading The Word

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03736 2016-08-09 IntWall2016 MacDiarmada Lightbox+

Seán Mac Dıarmada was born in Leitrim but worked on the trams in Belfast in 1905. He also, as member and organiser for many nationalist groups, including Sınn Féın (formed in 1905) and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He is shown here speaking on Clonard Street in the lower Falls, in 1906, flanked by fellow Brothers Denis McCullough (l) and Bulmer Hobson (r), both from Belfast. (For a brief account of MacDıarmada’s life, see this previous mural on Extramural Activity The Mainspring, which shows MacDıarmada delivering his speech from the back of a coal cart, and also this Saoirse32 post. See also MacDıarmada for a board near where he lived in Ardoyne.

The other part of the picture illustrates the use of magic lanterns to display images on gable walls to spread nationalist history and ideology. On one wall is Eoın MacNeill’s article ‘The North Began’ (which also features earlier on the new wall; see Shared Space and We Won’t Have Carson. On the other wall is an image of An Gorta Mór/The Great Hunger. (Magic lanterns were used by Alice Milligan (NWCI | Field Day | also a kids version from Creative Centenaries) when she gave talks; for her newspaper work, see Shan Van Vocht.)

The image below shows that there were originally (or at least, in April) plans for a two larger faces to be featured.

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March Against Internment

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03728 2016-08-07 March Against Internment+

The old Nissen huts of Long Kesh are rendered in cartoon style of this ‘march against internment’ poster, which has been plastered over a commercial hoarding on Northumberland Street.

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Craigyhill Provost Team

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03765 2016-08-19 Craigyhill Provost Team+

There was some consternation (Larne Times) when the UDA/UFF board (shown above) with a silhouetted paramilitary holding a pistol was set up in late 2014, but the board remains in place in the summer of 2016. “South East Antrim 3rd Batt., D Coy.” If you know what “provost team” means, please let us know.

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Shan Van Vocht

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03735 2016-08-09 IntWall2016 Shan Van Vocht+

Ethna Carbery (the left-most of the four female figures, who wrote the song Roddy McCorley) and Alice Milligan (with her hand to her face) together founded both The Northern Patriot and The Shan Van Vocht (“the poor, old, woman,” i.e. Ireland), the latter being a monthly socialist newspaper that ran from 1896 until 1899 and included some early writings by James Connolly (pictured on the right of the mural), such as the piece “Socialism And Nationalism” which appeared in The Shan Van Vocht in January, 1897 and from which the quotation on the wall is taken: “If you remove the English army to-morrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic, your efforts would be in vain.” (For the passage in broader context, see (previously) If You Remove The English Army Tomorrow.)

The other two women shown are Elizabeth (seated second) and Nell Corr (standing), Cumann Na mBan members from the Ormeau Road in Belfast, who were in Dublin on the morning of the Rising but headed north. (For more information and a mural depicting the political complexity of their family, see previously The Corrs.)

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The Poppy Trail 1915

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03648 2016-07-07 Poppy Trail 1915+

The 1915 board in the ‘Poppy Trail’ series in south Belfast focuses on the Gallipoli campaign, claiming that “more men from Ireland died there than from Australia and New Zealand.” The ship on the left-hand side is the River Clyde, a converted collier, carrying men from the 1st Royal Dublin and 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, who were decimated as they tried to reach shore — “only 372 of the original 900 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers remained”.

As with the 1914 board, the 1915 board includes the stories of men from both south and west Belfast, in this case, Joseph Wilson, who hailed from Donegall Road and died in Belgium, and Michael Magill, from the Divis area, who died at Gallipoli.

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03650 2016-07-07 Poppy Trail 1915 r+

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Howth Gun-Running

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03734 2016-08-09 IntWall2016 Howth Gunrunning+

Nora Connolly in her Cumann Na mBan uniform is the centre point of the ‘Howth Gun-Running’ panel in the new mural on the International Wall. Her sister, Ina, is shown to the right, unloading a rifle from a car outside their home in Glenalina Terrace. About 1,500 rifles were smuggled into Ireland on two boats, 900 of them on the yacht, Asgard, shown left-of-centre with Molly Childers and Mary Spring Rice aboard (the latter kept a diary of the trip; extracts are included in this RTÉ History Show video). Asgard docked at Howth on July 26th, 1914. (Here is a tcd.ie collection of images of Asgard’s journey; image #53 is the one reproduced in the mural). The other rifles eventually came ashore two weeks later at Kilcoole. (See this RTÉ article for an account of their tortured journey.)

The vintage Mauser rifles were received by members of Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann and Na Fıanna Éıreann (top left of the image above; here is the original photograph). The off-loading took place during the day but when the police and army met the marching volunteers at Clontarf they were able to capture only 19 rifles. As the army regiment involved returned to barracks it was pelted with stones or fruit by a crowd and killed three (with a fourth dying a week later), as recorded on the front page of the Irish Independent in the bottom left.

Below are two in-progress shots, and below those, two shots including the artist, Marty Lyons.

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03721 2016-06-28 IntWall2016 Howth GunRunning+

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03560 2016-06-24 IntWall2016 Marty 2+

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This Divided Ulster Community

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03522 2016-06-13 McMichael Memorial Garden portrait+

The South Belfast UDA/UFF commander was killed by an IRA car bomb in 1987. In addition to organising a team of assassins in the 70s and 80s, he founded a Political Research Group and wrote two documents proposing an independent Northern Ireland. The memorial garden, shown in full in the image below, is just off Sandy Row, near the John McMichael Centre. The other pieces can be seen in close-up in ‘A’ Batt. See also: We Must Share The Responsibility

“There is no section of this divided Ulster community which is totally innocent or indeed totally guilty, totally right or totally wrong. We all share the responsibility for creating the situation, either by deed or by acquiescence. Therefore, we must share the responsibility for finding a settlement and then share the responsibility of maintaining good government.” (John McMichael 1948-1987)

03521 2016-06-13 McMichael Memorial Garden w+

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Among The Heroes Of Labour

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“¡No pasarán! In memory of the International Brigades and the men from Derry, Donegal & Tyrone who served in the struggle against fascism in defence of the Spanish Republic 1936-38. … I measc laochra lucht oıbre go raıbh a n-aınm – May their names [name] be among the heroes of labour. Erected by the North-West Spanish Civil War Project, July 2013.”

For brief biographies of those named, see Ireland Spanish Civil War. For some background see DonegalDiaspora. The plaque is above the Unite offices in Carlisle Road, Derry.

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Celtic Queen

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A mythological Celtic queen under the Lecky Road/Barrack Street flyover. Painted by RAZER (ig).

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Féıle 2016

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The tarp says féıle is “a year round cultural experience” but the main event is still the Gasyard Féıle in August. This year’s féıle included a screening of the film 66 Days (Derry Now). The festival ends on the 18th. (Final night write-up from Derry Journal.)

On the rear of Free Derry Corner.

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