Ulster Says “Tá”

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2013-04-05 GlenwoodRight+

A few words of Irish – “Lamh Dearg Abu” – in a loyalist mural in Glenwood Street, just off the Shankill Road, through strictly it should be “Lámh Dhearg Abú”. “Lámh dhearg” means “red hand”, and this is a Red Hand Commando mural.

The same motto was on the mural that this one replaced, which can be seen at M02433.

The title of the post is the headline of a recent article in the Irish Times, giving an account of Irish language classes in (loyalist) east Belfast. “Tá” is Irish for “yes”.

2013-04-05 GlenwoodWide+

2013-04-05 GlenwoodBouquet+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01037 X01038 X01036 believe we dare not boast not fear we stand to pay the cost in all that men hold dear rudyard kipling ulster 1912 belfast west south east down north england co. down antrim scotland a company shankill road; it is not for glory or riches we fight but for our people; in proud and loving memory of our fallen comrades; they went with songs to the battle they were young straight of limb true of eye steady and aglow they were staunch to the end and against odds uncounted they fell with their faces to the foe they shall not grow old as we that are left grow old age shall not weary them nor the years condemn at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them; in memory of volunteer stevie mccrea from the commando staff officers & volunteers

Ard Eoın CLG

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2013-04-08 ArdoyneGAAScene+

The scene at the top of Bealach Havana/Havana Way in Ard Eoın/Ardoyne. From left to right: a “Free Marian Price – End Internment” board, a “1 Ireland, 1 Vote” board (calling for a 32 county referendum), and a Gaelic games mural featuring hurling, football and handball – seen previously in 2008.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01045 cumann luthcleas gael, ard eoın kickhams, vote online @ http://www.1916societies.com, free all republican prisoners, martin corey, éıre, founded 1907, o’neill’s

Spirit Of Freedom

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2013-03-07 SpiritOfFreedom+

This is a 2011 mural in the Bogside of Derry/Doıre featuring republican hunger-strikers (the ten who died in the Maze, along with Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan, who died in English prisons in the 70s), along with an oak leaf symbolizing the city of Derry. Chains, rather than a Celtic knot-work, serve as a frame for the main mural.

A close-up of the piece to the left, which “is dedicated to all those who tragically died on the streets of Derry during the hunger strike era” and features head-shots of various Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann volunteers, can be found below.

2013-03-07 SpiritOfFreedomLeft+

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X00999 X01000 our revenge will be the laughter of our children baınfear ár ndíoltas amach leıs an gháıre dár bpáıstí 1st battalion doıre brigade 3rd october 2006 suaımhneas dé dá n-anamacha, in fond and loving memory of those who died for the cause for ireland’s freedom. bogside and brandywell memorial committee

Living Like Animals

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2013-04-22 LiveLikeAnimal+

A third piece of Thatcher-related graffiti (one | two), this time in the loyalist Tiger’s Bay area: “If Mr. Sands wants to act like an animal, he can live like one.” Although it is attributed to Mrs. Thatcher here, there does not appear to be any reputable source for the quote. Thatcher’s funeral is tomorrow, Wednesday 17th.

Note the freshly painted kerb stones. Eithne House, one of the New Lodge tower blocks, can be seen in the background of the picture, with a board to hunger-striker Patsy O’Hara on the left-hand side.

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Breaking The Boom

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2013-02-14 BreakingBoom+

The mural of the Mountjoy, taking part in the Breaking of the Boom that ended the Siege of Derry in 1689, has seen better days, in part because of the replacement of the original two-line street sign with a modern single-line one which does not fit into the mural.

Roulston Avenue, Waterside, Londonderry.

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Rust In Peace

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2013-04-09 RustInPeace+

Here is another piece of graffiti in response to the death of Margaret Thatcher, outside the Royal Victoria hospital on the Falls Road: “Iron Lady? Rust In Peace”, with “Upara” – Up The (I)RA. Thatcher was given the sobriquet by the Soviet army newspaper Red Starin 1976, apparently in imitation of the “Iron Chancellor”, Otto von Bismarck (WP).

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Remember 1690

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2013-03-14 CarlowSt1690+

A UVF (and previously UFF – there’s an “F” under the middle “V”) mural in Carlow Street, a few blocks above the “peace” line.

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Killing With Impunity

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2013-03-06 LatuffImpunity+

Line drawing in Derry/Doıre by Carlos Latuff showing an army soldier, with “impunity” across his shoulders, taking aim at a blind-folded woman, representing martyrs’ families.

Latuff is a Brazilian political cartoonist (web site). This piece is outside the Free Museum of Derry (pictures of the piece in progress). Just out of shot (to the right) is an actual bullet-hole from Bloody Sunday. He also added a drawing to Free Derry corner (M08306). On the same visit (July 2012), he worked in Belfast on a mural expressing solidarity between Palestinian and republican POWs and also did a line drawing on a café wall. (See also: Latuff cartoon used in a flyer for a rally to End Impunity.)

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X00986 tıocfaidh ár lá

Rot In Hell, Thatcher

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2013-04-09 RotInHell+

Reaction to the death (on Monday, April 8th) of Margaret Thatcher, U.K. Prime Minister 1979-1990 (WP), in an alley below Divis flats, between Divis Street and Clonfaddan Crescent.

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X01047

Still Alive And Sinnin’

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2013-03-24 WilliamBloat+

Here is a close-up of the fourth panel of the five-panel piece in the Duke Of York featured yesterday. The four other panels represent the production of rope, ships, whiskey, and tobacco products. The “William Bloat” panel presumably stands for the linen industry, as the star of the tale is the bed sheet that is fashioned into a noose. The words to the song, including an extra verse not shown on the board, can be found below, along with a Tommy Makem performance of the song (from 1973!) in which the blade is Japanese-made.

William Bloat – Raymond Calvert (1926)

In a mean abode on the Shankill Road
Lived a man named William Bloat;
He had a wife, the bane of his life,
Who always got his goat.
And one day at dawn, with her nightdress on
He slit her bloody throat.

[With a razor gash he settled her hash
Never was crime so slick
But the drip drip drip on the pillowslip
Of her lifeblood made him sick.
And the knee-deep gore on the bedroom floor
Grew clotted and cold and thick.]

Now, he was glad he had done what he had
As she lay there stiff and still
‘Til suddenly awe of the angry law
Filled his soul with an icy chill.
And to finish the fun so well begun
He decided himself to kill.

Then he took the sheet from his wife’s cold feet
And he twisted it into a rope
And he hanged himself from the pantry shelf,
‘Twas an easy end, let’s hope.
With his dying breath and he facing death
He solemnly cursed the Pope.

But the strangest turn to the whole concern
Is only just beginning.
He went to Hell but his wife got well
And she’s still alive and sinning,
For the razor blade was German made
But the rope was Belfast linen.

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