This is a companion piece to New Lodge 1900s. Life is now lived in colour, but suffers from underemployment, alcoholism, and suicide. The German bomber has been replaced by a British Army helicopter.
The trials of life in the 1900s are depicted in this New Lodge mural. People work and die in the mills. The Germans drop bombs. Children go barefoot. The black-and-white colouring adds to the depression. The ‘New Lodge 2000‘ mural further down the road is in full colour, though life is still beset with problems.
“Community Inquiry Report: There was a clear breach of Article 2 of the European Convention On Human Rights, the right to life. The jury was deeply moved by the integrity and honesty of the evidence they heard. We have been deeply shocked by the state’s total failure to investigate killings and woundings. The evidence is unequivocal regarding the innocence of the deceased and wounded. There is no evidence whatsoever that they were armed or acted in a manner that could be perceived as a threat to the security services.”
Two of the New Lodge Six (James Sloan, James McCann) were killed by the UDA outside a bar and four (Tony ‘TC’ Campbell, Ambrose Hardy, Brendan Maguire, John Loughran) were among the crowd that gathered, killed by British Army snipers from their positions on top of the flats, using night-vision sights, February 3rd-4th, 1973. Sinn Féin politician Gerry Kelly spoke at the launch.
Here are details of the Ardoyne Youth Club mural at McCorry House. It shows the lives of young people past (in the mills) and present (on their mobile devices).
“We dont want the past”. A chronicle of the Troubles in Ardoyne: Orange marches, IRA shows of strength, rioting, plastic bullets, the blanket protest, funerals, vigilantism, Holy Cross.
Three close-ups (from 2014) are included below: Both the satellite dish and the lodge-member in the board sport an orange collar(ette). A soldier (or possibly a paramilitary) with a rifle and gas-mask squats against a wall while another stands behind him with a baton. Rioters under the word “freedom” on a wall and a soldier with plastic bullets.
For the mural when new, see J1908. The board began life in colour, but, as can be seen from the wide shot below, has now faded mostly to black and white.
Cogús [conscience] is the POW-support organisation of the RNU (web). On the left is a blanketman, on the right is a contemporary POW being beaten by a prison guard in riot gear. “Make a difference – Join RNU – Be committed, stand as one – Implement 12th August Agreement – End strip searches – End controlled movement.”
In the summer of 2011, both sides of the Flax St/Crumlin Rd interface were pasted with images of the view from the other side, a city scene on the Flax St side as though looking into Woodvale, a hilly scene on the Crumlin Rd as though looking up Flax Street. You can see the Crumlin Road side on Street View. What remains of the other side can be seen in the image above, along with IRPWA posters (see below) concerning “Maghaberry Concentration Camp”, calling “on Sinn Fein [sic] to publicly state that the interpretation of the August agreement of 2010 is the correct one … [and to] … call on their members and supporters to get behind the protesting POWs.”
Both the type of “MagHaberry” and the arrangement of the posters make the connection to the H Blocks of the 1970s and 80s.
A new gate has been installed in the Alexandra Park “peace” line, first erected in 1994, in order to separate the loyalist Mountcollyer and republican Newington neighbourhoods. It will be open during the day for a trial period of three months (BBC).
Families Against Supergrass Trials was formed to protest the first supergrass trial in 26 years (after the system collapsed during the trial), to begin on September 8th, related to the killing of Tommy English (Belfast Telegraph | BBC | BBC). The banner above is in Donegall Pass, the one below is on the Mount Vernon flats. There was another in Newtownards Road (Irish News). (And in 2012, one in Spier’s Place/Shankill Rd.)