Author: Extramural Activity

Courage Is The Foundation Of Integrity

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“With courage and vision you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity. – Mark Twain.” (The quote does not appear to be from Twain but is widely attributed to Keshavan Nair, who wrote a book on “lessons from the life of Ghandi”.)

This new board above the Red Hand Commando mural in Glenwood Street honours three UVF men who turned to politics and community work: Augustus (Gusty) Spence, who was among the earliest members of the UVF and after release in 1984 joined the PUP and set up the Shankill Activity Centre; David Ervine, also a UVF and PUP leader – see David Ervine and Memory Chair; Plum Smith, a founder member of the RHC and later shop steward and PUP leader – see RIP Plum Smith.

Click here for the full RHC mural.

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The Poppy Trail

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“This memorial is in honour of the men from our neighbourhood who made the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War. The handmade ceramic poppies were created by the GVRT [Greater Village Regeneration Trust] Well Women’s Group.”

The Poppy Trail: 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917

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Chuckle Babies/No Walls

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The story of the lead image is told in the images below. First, Paul Doran and Mark Ervine paint a mural of two “Chuckle Babies” (images 2 and 3 – see also Mark’s baby for Hit The East) between Imagine and the Frederick Douglass mural with its recently Xed out Aung San Suu Kyi and obscured by the recently-painted lower gates of the war wall (a.k.a “peace” line) on Northumberland Street (image 4).

Secondly, the mural is covered in French posters from the 1970s – which visitors were encouraged to sign and leave messages on – as “Act 1” of the No Walls project involving KRM (Cherif and Geza, a couple from France and Germany), Paul Doran, and Londoner John Costi, and which also included an exhibition in the Titanic museum (pdf of the full project).

Some of the posters and writing were ripped off (to be used in Act 2) on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 (video at the Irish News) to reveal again the babies (final image).

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Join Today

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This Ardoyne hoarding for Saoradh the “revolutionary republican party ” (web | Fb), uses a pike (for 1798 Rebellion), the Sunburst (traditionally used by Fıanna Éıreann), and the Starry Plough (from the Irish Citizen Army of the Easter Rising). Cut off at the top is a red star of socialism.

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Lidl On Equality

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The PPR (Participation & The Practice Of Rights) project has called for homes to be built at the Crumlin Road “Hillview” site but the council’s planning council approved a retail park (Belfast Live) by a vote of 7 to 6 (BelTel). The connection to supermarket chain Lidl is unclear, as there is no mention of a supermarket in the plans for the retail park. If you can shed any light, please leave a comment. Their slogan “Lidl: Big on quality, Lidl on price” has been rephrased as “Lidl: Big on quality, Lidl on equality”.

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Frontline Of British Occupation

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This is a tarp from republican party Saoradh (“liberation” web | Fb), alleging that the “supposed police service in the north of Ireland” is engaged in “the brutal militarised suppression of a civilian population”. “The uniform may be different but the brutal tactics are the same.” “End human rights abuses in Ireland now”. Replaces the Resistance tarp (previously seen in Ardoyne).

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Special Service Force

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The Ulster Special Service Forces (USSF) was an elite unit of the Ulster Volunteers. Its flag includes the UVF emblem with a garland of thistle, shamrock, and rose. For an earlier (1988) example and more info, see USSF in Belfast; also another in Londonderry (1998).

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Benson Kingsberry

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When the UFF hooded gunman were removed from the corner of Kilburn Street and Donegall Road in 2009, a memorial panel to the UDA’s Stephen “Benson” Kingsberry, who died from consuming tainted ecstasy (perhaps distributed by the UVF) was again included, illustrated with a poppy – an early use of what has become common in 2017: UDA (rather than UVF) poppies, as seen in Fulton & Goatley | Common Sense | Sandy Row Remembers. For the main mural see Progress.

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