On this today 40 years ago, Francis Hughes, the second of the 1981 hunger strikers, died after 59 days without food. The flag is flying over Groves Reilly Corner in CNR west Belfast.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08117
Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who, from age 19 onwards, claimed to have visions of a suffering Jesus, including one at age 26, of Jesus with red and white rays emanating from his heart and issuing instructions to have the vision painted – it appears here on the right. Kowalska died at age 33 in 1938, of tuberculosis, and was canonized in 2000 (WP). The “H Block Martyrs” pursued a vision of a United Ireland, and likewise died young, of starvation; this is the 40th anniversary of their deaths.
Both Kowalska placards are marked “This image is blessed. Please do not remove.” It is not clear if the hunger striker tarp on the left has also been anointed.
At Groves Reilly Corner.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08119 soared
“History of the death of Sean McCartney. This memorial was placed here on Saturday 8th May 2021 to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Vol Sean “Johnny” McCartney of no. 55 Norfolk Street, Falls Road, Belfast. Sean was a volunteer of “D” Company 1st battalion Belfast Brigade Oglaigh na hEireann, when he was killed in action, aged 23 years old. He died while on active service with the 3rd Northern Division, 3rd County Cavan Brigade flying column during the Irish Republican War of Independence. He was shot twice during an ambush and gun battle with the British Army RIC and Black and Tans on Sunday 8th May 1921 on Croghan Mountain at the Lappanbane stretch of the Lappanduff Mountain, Co. Cavan. His body was then mutilated by the Black and Tans. Sean’s body was kicked, stamped on, danced on and tied by the ankles and feet to a Crossley Tender military vehicle and dragged along mountain lanes in an attempt to instill fear in the local Co. Cavan community. The 32 county Irish republic based on the self determination of the Irish people which Sean and many others fought and died for has yet to be achieved. Sean will always be proudly remembered by his extended family circle in Ireland and Canada.” McCartney is buried in Milltown cemetery.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08113 falls road
‘Parliament Buildings’ were not opened until 1932 – 102 years after Stormont Castle and eleven years after partition and the formation of Northern Ireland – but it has largely taken over the meaning of “Stormont” and has become synonymous with the Northern Ireland government in all its forms over the century, a century of – as this Lasaır Dhearg (web) poster in CNR west Belfast has it – “pogroms, sectarianism, job discrimination, police brutality, imprisonment, collusion, housing discrimination, Orange supremacy, torture, internment, special powers, state sponsored death squads, language discrimination, gerrymandering, women’s rights denied, colonialism.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08107 [X08106]
“Saoırse go deo.” INLA volunteer Kevin Lynch went on hunger strike 40 years ago yesterday, May 23rd, 1981. He would die 71 days later, on August 1st. His funeral is depicted above, part of a new IRSP/IRSM board commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strikes. The Tricolour (for the IRA) and Starry Plough (for the INLA) are used as blankets on the prison beds. The board is flanked by two other IRSP boards, one against the PSNI (“96% of Divis residents do not support the PSNI – defund, disarm, disband”) and one dedicated to founder Seamus Costello (“He was the only one who truly understood what James Connolly meant when he spoke of his vision of the freedom of the Irish people.” – Nora Connolly at Costello’s funeral) that was previously in Hugo Street.
Update: the HS 40th board was replaced by a “Divis 81” board.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021/2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08110 X08108 X08109 X11825 X11373 [X11826]
The water has turned into hand sanitiser outside St John’s Catholic church on the Falls Road, opposite the City Cemetery. Admission to services requires booking on-line in advance and wearing a face covering is “strongly recommended by Falls Pastoral Community”.
See also: Freedom Of Religion.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08115 X08116
Six weeks after the first four deaths, the 1981 hunger strike’s long summer of mourning resumed with the death of Joe McDonnell, who died on July 8th, 1981. The “H” (for “H Blocks”) is on the Falls Road, next to the D company IRA memorial garden.
For the plaque to the left, see The Death Of Sean McCartney. For the mural in the background to the far left, see Cry “Havoc”. For the long ‘mental health’ strips to the right, see Belfast Live.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08112 X08111 X08114
A “European Citizens’ Initiative” allows for legislation to be put before the European Commission if one million signatures are collected supporting it (europa.eu). Signatures are being collected for a petition to ensure that EU-funded work on Covid-19 is shared worldwide by a group calling themselves “No Profit On Pandemic” and “Right2Cure” (web). The mural takes the place of the vandalised George Floyd mural that was replaced with a place-holder reading “#BLM – back soon”.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08103 X07729 [X08104] X08102 [X09039] Divis St
The new Bobby Sands mural is not the only recent addition in Twinbrook. Almond – the middle of the estate – has a ‘before and after’ of the pandemic: on the left, locals sit out in the street watching children play; on the right, frontline personnel.
For the ‘Victory To The IRA’ graffiti on the left, see Who?.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08045 [X08046] X08044 X08047 Almond Dr
Two Saoradh (web) boards in Dungannon. The first (above) commemorates republican hunger strikers beginning with Thomas Ashe in 1917 and the Cork trio of Terrence McSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald, and Joe Murphy in 1920. (For a list of all 22, see RSF.) The second (below) calls on local people not to co-operate with the police or with British military or intelligence: “People Should Not Inform”.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 squire93@hotmail.com
X08042 X08043
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 