Belfast west

Courage Is The Foundation Of Integrity

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“With courage and vision you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity. – Mark Twain.” (The quote does not appear to be from Twain but is widely attributed to Keshavan Nair, who wrote a book on “lessons from the life of Ghandi”.)

This new board above the Red Hand Commando mural in Glenwood Street honours three UVF men who turned to politics and community work: Augustus (Gusty) Spence, who was among the earliest members of the UVF and after release in 1984 joined the PUP and set up the Shankill Activity Centre; David Ervine, also a UVF and PUP leader – see David Ervine and Memory Chair; Plum Smith, a founder member of the RHC and later shop steward and PUP leader – see RIP Plum Smith.

Click here for the full RHC mural.

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Chuckle Babies/No Walls

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The story of the lead image is told in the images below. First, Paul Doran and Mark Ervine paint a mural of two “Chuckle Babies” (images 2 and 3 – see also Mark’s baby for Hit The East) between Imagine and the Frederick Douglass mural with its recently Xed out Aung San Suu Kyi and obscured by the recently-painted lower gates of the war wall (a.k.a “peace” line) on Northumberland Street (image 4).

Secondly, the mural is covered in French posters from the 1970s – which visitors were encouraged to sign and leave messages on – as “Act 1” of the No Walls project involving KRM (Cherif and Geza, a couple from France and Germany), Paul Doran, and Londoner John Costi, and which also included an exhibition in the Titanic museum (pdf of the full project).

Some of the posters and writing were ripped off (to be used in Act 2) on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 (video at the Irish News) to reveal again the babies (final image).

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Frontline Of British Occupation

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This is a tarp from republican party Saoradh (“liberation” web | Fb), alleging that the “supposed police service in the north of Ireland” is engaged in “the brutal militarised suppression of a civilian population”. “The uniform may be different but the brutal tactics are the same.” “End human rights abuses in Ireland now”. Replaces the Resistance tarp (previously seen in Ardoyne).

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The Freedom Of Others

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“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” (Nelson Mandela) Nobel peace prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s portrait has been x-ed out on the Frederick Douglass mural on Northumberland Street, in protest at her failure to speak out, from her position as Myanmar’s State Counsellor, against the persecution of the Muslim Rohingya population by the Myanmar military. For images of the full mural, see Liberating Minds (and for John Lewis’s addition at the expense of Rosie The Riveter, see As I Would Not Be A Slave, So I Would Not Be A Master).

X09749 2021-09-24 Douglass+

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I Owe My Allegiance To The Working Class

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Seamus Costello fought for the IRA during the Border Campaign and was interned in the Curragh for two years. He stayed with the Officials during the split, but was driven out in 1974 and formed the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the INLA. He was shot in 1977. (WP)

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No Justice

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Mervyn and Rosaleen McDonald were Catholics living in the mixed Longlands area of Newtownabbey when they were visited by “UFF loyalist assassins” and shot dead in front of their two young children. The killings are described in most detail in Jack Holland’s Too Long A Sacrifice, which contains an interview with the gunman and the claim that the unit had access to RUC files (p. 94). They are buried in Milltown Cemetery (see final image).

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X04628 X04629 Seamus Costello | Pat Finucane 25 | Askatasuna

Free The Innocent

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The JFTC2 campaign (Justice for the Craigavon Two Fb | web) continues with this banner on Northumberland Street, demanding the release of John-Paul Wootton and Brendan McConville, convicted of killing of PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll in 2009. Sponsored by Cogús.

Previously: 2014 murals in Ligoniel and New Lodge | JFTC2 on the mountain | Justice in Hugo Street

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Ireland Stands With Catalonia

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Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, will address the regional parliament today, the first time since the referendum on October 1st and the violence that accompanied it. He threatened to announce an independent Catalonia within 48 hours of the poll, but today might in fact be the day (Irish Times | Guardian).

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Dead End

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A good deal of attention was recently paid to the removal of a “peace” wall at the top of Springhill Avenue (e.g. Guardian | Irish Times). As can be seen from the image above, however, a high fence has been put in its place and the dense shrubbery left intact, so that it is impossible to enter or exit the area this way. The new “transparency” is similar to the see-through gate in Workman Avenue in 2015 and in Howard Street in 2013. The immediate impact has been to remove a large wall used for muraling: Palestine Abú | Man Against Machine | Apache Hellfire.

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