Free Leonard Peltier

2013-08-09 PeltierSide+

A message for the U.S. government on the side of Black Mountain this week, concerning the incarceration of Leonard Peltier for the shooting deaths of two FBI agents in South Dakota (WP). A U.S. flag flies at the top of the lettering, and the scale of the piece can be gauged from the small crowd of people standing off to the left. Below is a straight-on shot and, before that, a view from the corner of the shops at the Springfield/Whiterock junction.

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2013-08-09 PeltierStraight+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Joe McKelvey Society

Poster from the 1916 Societies (Fb), specifically the West Belfast Joe McKelvey Society, named after the anti-treaty IRA commander (WP). (There is also a society named after McKelvey in his home town of Stewartstown, Co Tyrone. (Fb)) The flag (shown below) is in the Republican Museum, Conway Mill.

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Peace With Justice

2013-08-08 Stagg+

Mural from mid-2011 on the “international wall” (Visual History) featuring a quote from early (1976) hunger-striker Frank Stagg (WP), along with portraits of Stagg, Michael Gaughan (d. 1974 WP) and the 10 strikers who died in 1981. The images of Stagg and Gaughan, along with a Tricolour and a copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, are here concealed by a placard announcing a rally commemorating the hunger strikers.

The protesters on the left date back to a 1981 poster which was reproduced for the very first mural – see I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform.

This mural takes the place of a pro-Basque mural (and the Martin Meehan bookmark) in the second half of 2011. There is currently no Basque mural on the wall.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01249 no greater love as no man than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends

McMahon Relics

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Above is an image of one of two surviving religious pictures from the McMahon household on Kinnaird Terrace, off the Antrim Road. The picture was in the house the night five members of the family and one other person were killed, in 1922, by members of the RIC or the Specials (milltowncemetery.com, WP). The holes on the left and at the bottom are thought to be bullet holes, while the article below claims the tear in the upper centre is from the butt of a rifle. The picture is at present on display in the Republican Museum on Conway Street.

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Bonfire Flags

Three images of flags on two republican bonfires, built to commemorate the introduction of internment in 1971. According to news reports (e.g. BBC-NI), the ‘Celebrating Our Culture’ banner on this bonfire at the base of Divis tower had been stolen from Linfield Road in south Belfast (it hung to the left of the mural to the left in this image) but was subsequently removed from the bonfire (whether or not it was returned is not reported). The image above is from Thursday (Aug. 8th). (Last year’s bonfire also had stolen PUL banners: see M08775.)

The flag in the second image (an Ulster flag with a tricolour in the corner and the words ‘The Only Ulster’ on the bottom) was on the Divis bonfire during construction on Wednesday but removed by Thursday. The third image is of a bonfire in Beechmount (between Corpus Christi and St. Paul’s schools) flying the flags of various loyalist groups, as well as the Union flag and the Northern Ireland flag.

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Political Policing

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Above is the latest political slogan to appear on Black Mountain, over New Barnsley and Ballymurphy: PSNI-MI5 = Political Policing, referring to the presence of British Military Intelligence in Northern Ireland. The Springfield Road barracks is in the right foreground. A close-up and the view from the other side of the road can be found below.

The lettering went up on August 1st and was down no later than the 7th. A new sign is supposed to go up today (Aug 9th), in support of Leonard Peltier, according to the Gaelforce facebook page.

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2013-08-04 PolitPolicMassacre+

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No Dogs, No POWs

2013-08-04 No POWs+

“No blacks, no Irish, no dogs, no POWs – sponsored by SDLP/TUV” (Traditional Unionist Voice). The reference of this board in Turf Lodge is a June motion in the NI Assembly to bar anyone convicted of a serious offence from serving as a ministerial adviser (the trigger case being Mary McArdle). Passage of the bill was secured when SDLP members supported the motion.

Report in the News LetterDiscussion at Slugger

For the other side of the ‘H’, see Turf Lodge Remembers.

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Turf Lodge Remembers

2013-08-04 TurfLRemembers+

The eastern side of the H-Block ‘H’ at the top of Monagh Road as it was in May, 2013, with a board in memory of the Gibraltar three (Dan, Mairead, Sean ) and another volunteer killed a few days later (Kevin) (for background, see both 25 Years In Progress | Completed) and announcing an Easter Sunday rally commemorating the 1916 Rising.

For the other (western) side of the ‘H’, see No Dogs, No POWs.

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Free Stephen Murney

This is an Éırígí (web) stencil in support of their member Stephen Murney, who was arrested in November (2012) and subsequently transferred to Maghaberry on charges of supporting terrorism.

(In March 2014 he would be released.) (Newry Republican)

Hugo Street, Belfast. (First use of this wall.) The plaque above is to Pearse Jordan.

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