Author: Extramural Activity

The Sleeping Giant Has Awoken

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Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor (near Honolulu, Hawaii) on December 7th, 1941. In the movie adaptations of the events, Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Pearl Harbour (2001), the Japanese Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto wondered if the effect of the attack would be “to awaken the sleeping giant and to fill him with terrible resolve” (WP). In the case of today’s images, the sleeping giant is a lion, and the lion is the UVF 1st East Antrim, with units not just in Larne, Ballyduff, Ballyclare, Greenisland, Glengormley, Monkstown, Rathcoole, Carrickfergus, and Whitehead, but in Drumchapel (Glasgow, Scotland), Springburn (Glasgow, Scotland), Possilpark (Glasgow, Scotland), Paisley (Scotland), Falkirk (Scotland), Liverpool (England), Blackpool (England), Corby (England), and Blairgowrie (Scotland). Balaclava’d men with ArmaLites stand ready: “Our forefathers fought for our freedom & rights/No border in the sea or we continue the fight.”

The combination of a free-floating Northern Ireland with Britain (in the first image, above) is rare in muraling, but necessitated by Brexit and the Protocol.

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X09303 X09304 X09305 X09306 X09308 X09302 X09307 stop PSNI harassment of the loyalist community no surrender YCV D Coy for god and ulster Drumahoe Gdns Millbrook

Let Us Shout Joyfully

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“O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care.” In Psalms 95, the current generation of Hebrews is exhorted to declare Yahweh as their god, or suffer the fate of the previous generation who did not believe and were left to die in the wilderness during the exodus: a wrathful Yahweh declares, “They shall not enter My rest” (Enduring Word). After ten years in the wilderness of the Scottish league minor divisions, Glasgow Rangers are again champions and the Rangers faithful are shouting joyfully – here is Sandy Row on the hoarding around the site of the old Gilpin’s shoe shop and the UFF funeral volley mural.

See previously Order Restored (which will link to even more posts).

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X09087 X09090 X09091 [X09086] [X09088] [X09089] the battles we refuse to fight today become the hardships our children must endure tomorrow

Uncluttered

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LORAG [Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group Fb | web] is a community development organisation based in the Shaftesbury rec centre. They organise various sport and fitness activities (including the Ormeau parkrun) and a programme for youth. In the boards shown here, local youngsters draw what’s on their mind, including Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back (“I’m your da”) and Attack Of The Clones “Truly wonderful the mind of a child is”!

The boards are in Balfour Avenue, former site of the #Gaza mural.

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Key Workers

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This is the Keyworkers mural in front of the Shaftesbury recreation centre (web), created in August 2020 (Fb), in the first few months of the Coronavirus pandemic. A child wearing a mask is watering the rainbow of drivers, NHS, nurses, doctors, social care, community workers, volunteers, and shop workers that arches over the shops and buildings on the Ormeau Road along the Lagan and in front of the City hospital and City Hall.

Also on the rec centre: In The Paint

Balfour Avenue, Belfast

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The Orange State

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The orange lily began appearing in murals with some frequency in the mid-2000s (with one earlier appearance in Londonderry; compare this to posts with orange lilies at Peter Moloney – Murals and in this collection).

It became part of the logo of the Orange Order in 2007 – see Design Research Group – and there was an attempt to re-brand the Twelfth as “Orangefest” (Irish Times). It is used in this centenary celebration board to make it clear that Northern Ireland was created as a Protestant and unionist state.

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Funny Things Are Everywhere

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A tiger on the telephone? “From here to there/And there to here/Funny things are everywhere” – a doctrine of Dr. Seuss, from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Painted by Lucas Antics (web) in the style of South Asian truck art that was seen at Belfast Mela at the end of August (2021).

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X09098 X09096 X09097 [X09840] [X09841] [X09842] [X09843] carmel st

Though Absent You Are Ever Near

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“Talents have been robbed by addiction, suicide, mental illness” – the shoes of the dead form part of an installation on Stewart Street, around the perimeter of the Markets. The RNU banner off to the right contains the numbers for Pieta House, PIPS, Samaritans, Teen Line, Lifeline, and Breathing Space.

“I am here – a son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, partner, lover, cousin, friend, grandfather, family. Why, why, why??? Are you okay? Our love[d] ones. Every day in some small way memories of you come our way. Through [sic] absent you are ever near, still missed, still loved, and ever dear.”

“The families[‘] pain continues!! They continue to struggle in silence: each loss has had a ripple effect throughout our community! Through the travel of time the pain remains the same!!!”

“It’s OK not to be OK – mental health illness is an invisible illness – breathing space – open up when you’re feeling down”

Below the shoes: “Dream big – smile – be thoughtful – respect – caring – love – be you – support – family”

The final image is from the nearby Friendly Street: Believe in yourself – Be kind – Something inside so strong – Positive mental well-being

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Shared Grief

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Ashling Murphy, the County Offaly schoolteacher who was killed while jogging, was a member of Ceoltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, playing fiddle and concertina (Ceoltas). Her death provoked an outpouring of grief and anger across the island, and beyond, including in the Markets, where she was remembered as a fellow Gael. The verse is a popular one from cards and social media – A silent grief that’s in our hearts, no human eye can trace. For many a broken heart is hidden beneath a smiling face – modified slightly to read “hidden and alone“.

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Celebrate Identities

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Ballynafeigh is the neighborhood just across Ormeau bridge, containing Annadale flats and surrounding streets – home to Ormeau Road UDA/UFF and Ballynafeigh Apprentice Boys flute band (Fb). The mural shown above was painted by Daniela Balmaverde (web) with help from local volunteers and presents imagery from non-Western cultures along with slogans on tree-trunks: “Cultural dialogue”, “Celebrate identities”, Shared neighbourhood”, “Community development”, “Tolerance”, and “Respect cultural diversity”. Welcome to Ballynafeigh.

The mural is at the southern Ormeau Road entrance to Ormeau park opposite Candahar Street. The Brigada Ramona Para mural was previously in this spot.

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