“Where is our Alternative Ulster?” Alternative Ulster was a fanzine (Fb | Musical Revolutions) and later a magazine (Issuu) and radio show covering the Belfast music and arts scene until March 2012; the name was then used for the Stiff Little Fingers’ song (youtube) in 1978. By Verz (Fb) and Belfast One (web) in Fountain Street, Belfast.
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A trio of international causes aimed at the visiting Joe Biden, president of the United States, from Gael Force Art and People Before Profit. What’s new here is the “No 2 NATO” under the Irish Tricolour. The other two parts have been on the mountain previously: the Cuban flag with “unblock Cuba” reprises the maassive Cuban flag on the mountain in 2021, which was depicted in the La Solidaridad Invariable mural on Divis St, and the Palestinian flag with “BDS” [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] in 2018’s #BDS.
The third image shows the Cuban flag being rolled out; Bayview Media has a video of the installation on twitter.
For more on Biden’s visit, see Joe Biden, Globalist.
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“Joe Biden, globalist. Not welcome in Ireland.” Joe Biden landed in Belfast yesterday and was greeted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Bel Tel | Reuters). This morning, he will deliver at the Belfast campus of UU, before heading south to Louth, Dublin, and Mayo (Journal).
This is an Ógra Shinn Féin (ig | web – youth division of Sinn Féin Poblachtach) sticker in Divis Street; they also have a “Joe Biden, warmonger” version (tw).
In the same vein is the poster below from the “Belfast Anti-war group” advertising rally outside city hall and an upcoming conference at Queen’s: “No to Biden, no to war”
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CNR west Belfast, but not that rising. Rather these two placards on the Falls Road encourage reactions to risings of the Christian kind – we should “repent” our sins even as they forgiven; the shroud of Turin dates to roughly 1300 but is a symbol of Jesus of Nazareth in the tomb between crucifixion and resurrection – and of the inflationary kind – Lasaır Dhearg (web) declares “Costs are rising. And so must we!”
Falls Road, west Belfast.
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There are dozens of Easter Rising commemorations happening this weekend – see Belfast Media for a full calendar. Above is a board for Saoradh’s (web) Easter parade on Saturday 8th. Below is the Falls/D Company gathering.
“National Republican Commemoration Committee Easter commemoration. Unfinished revolution. 2.30 pm Saturday 8th April. International wall, Divis Street, Belfast. Bands in attendance. Honour Ireland’s patriot dead, wear your Easter lily with pride.”
Havana Way, north Belfast.
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Four generations of UK royalty: the previous Queen Elizabeth II, the current King Charles III, the heir apparent William, baron Carrickfergus – here written as “baron of Carrickfergus” (also the prince of Wales), and his nine-year-old son George. Charles’s coronation will be on May 6th, 2023.
Ballyearl Terrace, Newtownabbey.
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An IRSP (web) electoral board joins the Miriam Daly tribute at the end of Oakman Street (see previously History Is Written By The Winners). Dan Murphy took 2.5% of the first-preference votes in the 2022 Assembly elections (WP) on a platform focusing on housing: “Demand better! Housing – Equality – Community. Someone who stands up to landlords in Beechmount (e.g.), fighting for affordable rents, fighting for our community.”
The IRSP first painted on this Oakman Street gable in 1996, with the original Daly mural. Before that, in 1986, there was an IRA anti-touting message (see M00413).
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The gates on Lanark Way are part of the west Belfast “peace” wall. On this site we always put the word in scare-quotes to signify that it has a different meaning than it typically does. Without them, “peace wall” might suggest a place where people can go for a few moments of quiet reflection.
Rather, the wall – and the gates and the cages that surround many buildings on either side of the wall (see above) – is a divider meant to keep the peace by separating warring factions. Indeed the reason for the re-painting of the gates is not just the up-coming 25th anniversary of the Belfast or “Good Friday” Agreement (on April 10th) but the fact that they were damaged in the 2021 rioting (BBC). (This Irish News article surveys 150 years of violence at the site.)
The new art on the gates is inspired by the cover of the booklet sent to every household in advance of the May vote to ratify the Agreement (available at CAIN), which was similar in various ways to the television ad shown at the time (Ads On The Frontline). It showed a family of four in silhouette against a red-and-orange sunset; given the rioting associated with Lanark Way, on the gates this sunset could be mistaken for flames, and the rejoicing silhouetted figures for gesticulating and petrol-bomb-throwing rioters. For the previous art on the gates, see the Visual History page on the west Belfast “peace” line. (For the mural in the background, see Sailortown Dockers.)
For all your “peace” line needs, see the Belfast Interface Project.
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There was previously a (painted) mural on this wall – see Passchendaele Court – but this latest display is a large printed board, with photographs blended together and framed by graveside mourners, poppies, and the emblems of the Pride Of Govan flute band and the Govan Somme Association (Fb), which also supported the previous mural.
To the left, as seen in the final images, is a smaller UVF (1st Battalion) A Company 5th Platoon board – like the other new board in the street We Will Always Be Ready (and on the other side of Conway Street – see When Needed We Shall Rise Again).
Conway Walk, Belfast
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North Street Arcade was burned down in April 2004 – see Who Burnt Us Out?. Since 2012, there has been street art at both its North Street and Donegall Street ends, the latest (from September, 2021) being this piece by Danni Simpson (ig) in Donegall St.
For the girl with owl left over from the previous Matt Sewell street art, see Only When The Dusk Starts To Fall (along with A Bird In The Hand and Carnival Of The Animals).
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Extramural Activity 