“Felons presents an exciting new drama by Roseleen Walsh [web]– The Vigil – sixty one years apart yet both [Kieran Doherty 1981 and Terence MacSwiney 1920] died on hunger strike for the cause of Ireland.” The play was produced for Féile An Phobail (web). Walsh’s introduction and excerpts from the play are available on youtube.
The mural ‘History Is Written By The Winner‘ was replaced by the mural above as part of Oliver Jeffers‘s film (trailer) for U2’s Songs Of Innocence. It features Joey Ramone (after a song on the album called “The Miracle Of Joey Ramone”) with Earth for a head. The band finished a tour of North America with a July 31st concert in New York, attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton (USNews).
IRA volunteer (and marksman in the Irish Army) John Starrs was killed in a May 13th, 1972, gun battle with the British Army in William Street (Seachranaıdhe), near his plaque in Chamberlain Street, Derry, which is also home to Connolly House, home of the IRSP in Derry, and Junior McDaid house, home of Saoradh/IRPWA.
This is a pro-Palestine mural just off Beechmount Avenue/Ascaıll Ard na bhFeá. If there’s a better translation/pronunciation for the Arabic “Tıocfaıdh ár lá”, please let us know.
The six weeks from July 8th to August 20th 1981 saw the death of six hunger strikers – McDonnell, Hurson, Lynch, Doherty, McElwee, and Devine – adding to the four who began in March and died in May. All ten, along with Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg from 1974 and 1976, are remembered in this recent (spring 2015?) board in Rockmore Road, west Belfast.
This is the fourth iteration of this board, which goes back (at least) to 1995. For two of the previous versions, see the Peter Moloney collection: third | first.
Like yesterday’s array of flags, the adjacent mural of army badges around a burial scene from the first world war features some lesser-seen items. On the left, alongside the Royal Irish Rifles (top left) and the (modern-day) Royal Irish Regiment (at the time of WWI the harp was plain and there was no garland), we see the emblem of the North Irish Horse, a cavalry unit in the Territorial Army. On the right, the emblem of the Royal Irish Rangers (which was folded into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992) is joined by the star of the Irish Guards (above) and the emblem of the Ulster Special Constabulary or B-Specials (below). Only the Royal Irish Regiment and the Irish Guards remain as regiments of the British Army; “The Horse” now forms squadrons of other units. Of the six, four served in WWI; the B-Specials were formed in 1920 and the Rangers in 1968.
Genesis 35:11 reads (NIV) “And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.” The flags of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England are joined in the mural above by those of Australia and (a simplified version of) the Falkland Islands (on the left) and New Zealand and Canada (on the right). The flag flying in the centre is the Royal Standard, flown on the building or vehicle where the monarch – currently EIIR, Elizabeth II Regina, Queen Elizabeth the second – is.