Amid all the GAA and other sports tops in the O’Neill’s shop in the Kennedy Centre can be found a number of jerseys produced for the 2022 ploughing championships (RTÉ).
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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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After the May, 2022, elections that resulted in Sınn Féın being the largest party, the Assembly met twice but on both occasions the DUP refused to participate in a vote for speaker after which Stormont could not function. The DUP explained its boycott of the Assembly as a form of protest at the NI Protocol and voted against the “Windsor Framework” intended to resolve those problems (Sky News). Various deadlines have passed, a pay-cut is threatened (Belfast Live), but, as it stands currently, there will not be a new Assembly election under January, 2024 (Guardian | BBC).
A Belfast Live poll three weeks ago found that 75% of respondents thought the rules should be changed to allow Stormont to be restored without DUP co-operation.
Council elections take place on May 18th (BBC).
Clooney Road/Limavady Road, Londonderry, east of the Caw.
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“Some believe it is only high walls that can hold fear in check but that is not what I have found. I have found that it is the small, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay, small acts of kindness and love – Gandalf and me [called_to_create_ (ig)].” The quote is from the movie of ‘The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey’ (youtube) and not any Tolkein book. Whatever the truth of the quotation, residents generally want the so-called “peace” walls to remain: 2023 BelTel (about Derry) | 2019 Irish Times | 2015 BBC.
Cupar Way “peace” line, with “patronising slogans” in felt tip by tourists.
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Queen’s University’s “Agreement 25” conference wrapped up yesterday with speeches from Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, Joe Kennedy III, Leo Varadkar, and Rishi Sunak. The anniversary is commemorated slightly differently on Free Derry Corner: “GFA25 – partition is injustice. ‘In the ashes of our broken dreams we’ve lost sight of our goal’, the republic!”
The quotation is from Liam Weldon’s song ‘Dark Horse On The Wind’ (youtube).
For the braille, see A Wall For All.
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“I’m a child. They have the guns. Who is the terrorists? ‘Cherish all the children of our nation equally’? ” The quote is from the 1916 Proclamation (CAIN); it has been used inclusively for various classes (see Cherish | The Children Of The Nation) but here is applied to children.
Anti-Agreement republicans have complained about being searched in the streets and in their homes, sometimes in front of children. (There is a Facebook group on the issue.)
RNU (ig | Fb) board in Divis Street, west Belfast.
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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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There has been graffiti art of the side wall of what was Vogue Hair & Beauty and is currently the Kurdish barbers since 2008 (see Visual History 11) but in 2018 the wall was claimed by Saoradh (web) with a mural depicting the Palestinian flag (see From The River To The Sea – it has recently been repainted) and a changing message to the right-hand side – currently a pair of IRPWA “No extradition’ boards.
See also the old Linden Street, where Resistance Is Not Terrorism took over from a TMN homage to Bodé (but was itself later replaced by a tribute to Norah McCabe).
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On the heels of the RNU’s use of the Proclamation’s “cherish all the children of the nation equally” (Who Is The Terrorist?) here is a use by anti-abortion party Aontú (web), which separates them from the other nationalist parties: “London–SF–SDLP impose abortion. They said to cherish all the children equally. Get active … join us. Aontú – life, unity, economic justice.”
Falls Road, west Belfast.
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“Rotten And Corrupt: Christopher Little (39) entered guilty pleas to nine charges at Belfast Crown Court last month – including attempting to have sex with a child. [Irish Times] 20 officers shared racist, sexist and misogynistic messages including texts and images which mocked Arabic and Islamic people. [Spotlight programme] Six PSNI officers all had hearings for an array of alleged offences. PSNI revealed they themselves had dismissed 11 police officers amid claims of over 130 misconduct cases throughout the force. [Belfast Live]”
It’s not clear who is behind these flyers in north Belfast; the harpist on the electical box is by Kerrie Hanna (ig).
New Lodge Road, Belfast.
Update: the posters have been removed (by the end of July, 2023).
See also the Visual History page for electrical boxes.
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 