Imagine

This long board for “International Peace Day – 21st September” sits between the security gates on Northumberland Street (Visual History) and bridges images of the Shankill (on the left) and images of the Falls (on the right) with sunflowers and a quote from Martin Luther King (and a mosaic of additional photos): “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality [tied in a single garment of destiny]. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly” (Letter From A Birmingham Jail. As always with murals of this type, all of the photographs are of the two areas in yesteryear – no mention of the Troubles. Organised by Springboard Opportunities (web), with support from the Shankill history group, the Gaeltacht Quarter, and the Ireland Funds.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Isn’t Working

Two pieces from the recently seeded, though still enclosed, site of the old Andersonstown police station, both commenting on austerity measures prompted by the current recession. On Oct. 9th, 2012 the Assembly passed the first stage of a welfare bill (instigated by London) which will cut benefits significantly (BBC). SF and the SDLP opposed the measure. In the background of the shot below various SF boards can be seen.

The meme “____ Isn’t Working” in the placard below originates with this classic Labour Isn’t Working poster from 1978.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00679 X00675 slash stormont not services, capitalism doesn’t work, stormont isn’t working, http://www.eirigi.org

40

A new mural was launched on Sunday (Oct 7th, 2012) on the international wall, presenting five local (lower Falls) volunteers who died at this time forty years ago (during 1972): Daniel McAreavey, Joseph McKinney, Jimmy Quigley, John Donaghy, Patrick Maguire (real name Patrick Pendleton). Maguire, McKinney and Donaghy died together in an explosion (Oct 10); Quigley (Sept 29) and McAreavey (Oct 6) were shot. For further details of the how these five met their deaths, see among others Lost Lives by McKittrick et al. (Archive.org | Amazon UK | US). Biographies of the five begin at 7m46s in this history of D Company. Quigley holds a copy of James Connolly’s 1910 pamphlet Labour in Irish History.

Image of the mural in development.

Video of the parade and unveiling on youtube.

Takes the place of the Raıdıó Fáılte mural on the International Wall.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00671 danny, joe, jimmy, JD, paddy, “They shall be spoken of among their people and the generations shall remember them and call them blessed” – PH Pearse from ‘The Mother

Owed On A Belfast Wall

There are houses on only one side of Azmor Street and they look across at the ends of the houses across the street (Brookmount Street) – the writing is on the end of one of these houses but the graffiti is only visible from Azmor Street. A very old piece of graffiti on an old row of houses, due for demolition. 

Shankill area, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00672 fuck off pnsi wptp uff, ulster is owers, c/coy, l/s

End Sectarianism

“End sectarianism – it hasn’t gone away. Bring down the walls.” Workers Party (web) stencil on Northumberland Street, Belfast. “It hasn’t gone away” echoes Gerry Adams’s remark (Sunday 13 August, 1995) that the IRA “haven’t gone away”.

Below, a Workers Party banner rests against a wall in Custom House Square prior to the march Up The Shankill And Down The Falls on Saturday (October 6th, 2012), the day before the mural was photographed.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Tea Party, Belfast Style

Here’s a flyer from the summer inviting folks to a quite different (that is, left wing, rather than right) tea party than you might find in the States these days.

(See also: posters for the Jobs For Youth march.)

On the Falls Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00658 workers tea party, against monarchy for democracy and socialism an evening of fun, devoted to freedom come one come all bring your own song poem quotation speech and saying king street belfast tuesday 26th june caife na croisbhealai

Titanic Lifeboat

Part of a colourful new mural about the Titanic, on Beechview Park, outside Coláıste Feırste. It was launched together with a mural depicting 19 Irish/Northern Irish Olympians. The Olympian mural starts of the gate of Coláıste Feırste, runs up a slight slope, and at the corner the Titanic mural continues. (BBC report on the launch.)

According to the Belfast City Council, the murals “which were funded by Belfast City Council, the Department for Social Development and the PSNI, have been developed in partnership with Beechview Residents’ Association, Coláıste Feırste and the Upper Springfield Community Safety Forum.”

Click here for other Titanic-related posts.

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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