Belfast

Kingdom Of Dalaradia

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The HUBB community centre is host to a number of social groups, including those represented in the mosaic above: the Old Comrades group, the Seaview chapter of the Royal British Legion, North Shore and Ladies Somme memorial groups, a spotlight (perhaps in connection with the Civil Defence bowling club? – the HUBB is in what used to be a civil defence building), and the Kingdom of Dalaradia society. According to the eponymous web site, Dalaradia was “was a kingdom of the Cruthin in the north-east of Ireland and parts of Scotland in the first millennium.” Hence, perhaps, the red hand of Ulster together with the Scottish thistle.

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Díchoılínıgh D’Intınn

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“Decolonise your mind” and “Give a yell!” (or “Let’s go!) (in Irish “Lıg do Lıú”) on the Falls Road at Waterford Street, west Belfast.

Update: Below, the graffiti in 2018 (with “Brısfıdh mé do phus!” and “Múscaıl do mhısneach”) on top of The Plan For Today

Previous decolonisation: Rebels’ Unrest.

X06201 2018-10-07 Brisfidh Mé+

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Identity Movement Ireland

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Based on the ‘lambda’ symbol on the right (ancient Greek “L” standing for “Lakedaimon”), ‘Identity Movement Ireland’ appears to be ‘Generation Identity Ireland’ (Fb), which appears to be (associated with) Identity Ireland (web | Fb), a relatively new (July 2015) nationalist party in favor of EU withdrawal and increased (Muslim) immigration control. It has joined with similar organisations in fifteen other European countries who subscribe to PEGIDA – Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West).

The stencil above has appeared on the Cavehill Road, Belfast.

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Civilisation Has Its Roots In The Soil

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“Civilisation has its roots in the soil & without soil there will be no future life – Tá an duıne fréamhaıthe san ıthır, gan í ní hann dó” by Ed Reynolds (web) and Tancredi Caruso. Together they put on an exhibition and painted a mural for the Belowground Visions Of Life project (Soil Security Programme). The mural is outside Bunscoıl Mhıc Reachtaın (hence the Irish translation) in the old ‘Little Italy’ area of Belfast. Sand or soil has been added to the mural to give it texture.

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Freedom Must Be Demanded By The Oppressed

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A plaque has been added to the controversial 2013 UVF mural in Inverwood Court, commemorating (fairly) recently-deceased volunteers Kenny Black, Neill Reeves (21 years old, possibly from tainted drugs) Kevin Carvil, and Robert Armour.

The quote – Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed – is from Martin Luther King. For more on the history of this wall and the MLK quote, see Direct Action.

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I Would Rather Be An Ulsterman

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“I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the First of July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world. My pen cannot describe adequately the hundreds of heroic acts I witnessed, the Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the Division was made, has won a name that equals any in history. Their devotion deserves the gratitude of the British empire.” 

The words of Wilfrid Spender, Plymouth-born newspaper manager, quartermaster of the Ulster Volunteers, general staff officer of the 36th (Ulster) Division, winner of the Military Cross for actions at Thiepval, and Cabinet Secretary of the new “Northern Ireland” in 1921.

Kilburn St; later moved to Broadway/Donegall Ave, south Belfast

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May You Live As Nobly As They Died

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Strandtown and District Unionist Club used to be at 4 Belmont Road (Strandtown Hall) and it erected this memorial to local casualties in the Great War in Portland stone on the adjacent wall (Lord Belmont in NI) which is now part of a Christian Fellowship church. “Hereon are recorded the names of those men and women who in serving voluntarily their King and country, laid down their lives. Pass not this stone sorrow but in pride and may you live as nobly as they died.” The building currently houses Bennett’s On Belmont, a UUP headquarters, and the Victoria Ulster Unionist Association upstairs.

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So It Is

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Visual Waste painted a mural on the wall at the Dirty Onion for Harp’s “Pure Here” campaign, featuring sights (such as the Big Fish and the Balls On The Falls) and characters (including the Castle Court busker and Julian Simmons) from Belfast. For information on the launch, which included boxer Carl Frampton, see Belfast Beyond.

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