City/Town

Comply With Your Country’s Demand

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In September, 1914, six weeks after the Great War had begun, Edward Carson wrote to the Ulster Volunteers entreating “those who have not already responded” to “my call for Defenders of the Empire” to “enlist at once for the Ulster Division in Lord Kitchener’s Army”, fighting alongside “our fellow Britishers”: “Quit yourselves like men and comply with your country’s demand”. The impulse for the display of force shown here – two panels of hooded gunmen from the 1st East Antrim battalion of the UVF – is the other, original, motivation for the paramilitary force, which Carson describes as “to defend our citizenship in the United Kingdom” (Strachan & Nally).

For the RIR mural, see For Valour. The new panels shown here re-re-image the VC part of that previous mural in the Larches, Carrickfergus.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Belfast Confetti

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Work by emic (ig) – official title Ffallen [sic] – in Winecellar entry, inspired by Ciaran Carson’s Belfast Confetti, itself inspired by “a public notice from the corporation of Belfast (1678) which highlights a growing problem of Butchers and Tanners mastiff dogs attacking livestock, people, and even young children in the city” (Belfast Walking Tours). The wide shot (below) shows “3D printed floating orbs were created from recycled ocean plastics suspended over the central courtyard” (BCC).

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Hiding Noah’s Killer

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It is now more than a year since teenager Noah Donohoe was found dead in a north Belfast storm drain and the controversy and mystery over his death continues. Police were recently investigating an alleged confession by a prisoner and Noah’s mother Fiona has said that she was told by police of a witness statement that the UDA were called in to dispose of the body (Irish News). She has started a petition calling for Chief Constable Simon Byrne’s resignation. The walls of Belfast have been painted to reflect the persistent dissatisfaction with the investigation. The three shown here are on the Whiterock, Lake Glen, and Springfield roads. For some more examples, see sbear101 on Twitter.

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Brendan Francis Behan

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“Brendan Francis Behan (1923-1964) was an Irish poet, story writer, novelist and playwright who wrote in both English and Irish. He was also an Irish Republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army. His works include The Borstal Boy, The Quare Fellow and The Hostage. He would regularly meet with friends in the Harbour Lights Bar, now known as Harkin’s, The Harbour Bar. It was there he had his last drink in March 1964 before suffering a heart attack. An IRA guard of honour escorted his coffin during a funeral that one newspaper described as “The biggest funeral since those of Michael Collins and Charles Stewart Parnell.”

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Who Should Put Away Their Guns

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Norah McCabe was shot in the back of the head by a plastic bullet fired from an RUC land rover at around 7:45 a.m. on July 9th, 1981, the day after hunger striker Joe McDonnell died. (Danny Barrett would be killed by a British Army sniper in the evening.) The new boards were mounted to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of McCabe’s death. In 1981, a mural was painted at the same spot (in the old Linden Street) to protest the use of plastic bullets: see Plastic Death.

“Norah McCabe, 1947-1981, murdered by an RUC plastic bullet on 9th July 1981, aged 33 years.” With a poem “Peace” by daughter Áıne McCabe, who was three months old when her mother was killed (Irish News).

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Think Outdoor This Summer

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Protesters from Donegal were (again) in Dublin on Friday (Journal.ie), pressing their claims for “100% redress – no less” for the cost of repairing houses that were built from faulty concrete blocks that are now cracked and crumbling because of an excessive amount of mica (17% as opposed to the prescribed limit of 1%). Leinster home-owners experiencing similar problems with pyrite were awarded 100% redress but the current scheme for the 5,000+ mica-affected homes in Donegal and Mayo offers only 90% of the cost of repairs (Irish Times) – hence the slogan “parity with pyrite”. Some homes, in Mayo, are currently affected by pyrite (Irish Times).

The stickers shown here are asking for support from Dublin residents. (Previously: support on Free Derry Corner.) They were presumably mounted by Paddy Diver, who is driving traffic to the Mica Action Group.

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Defending Freedom From Hate

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Compared to the UVF, the UDA more strongly detect an existential threat to loyalism and evince a siege mentality that provokes the need for armed resistance. Hence the more frequent presence of armed gunmen in UDA murals (which is also due in part to the UVF being able to “re-image” around the Ulster Volunteers and the Somme). With Brexit and the Protocol, however, armed gunmen have recently been appearing more frequently in UVF murals – see, for example, If Our Shores Are Threatened | Bang Up To Date | Our British Identity.

“Springmartin–Highfield–Glencairn Ulster Defence Association est. 1971. Defending freedom from hate.” As the companion mural (We Will Take Nothing Less) makes clear, the hate is coming from a “fascist republican enemy” (“Sinn Fein/IRA”, presumably) and the government of Ireland. Graphically, this mural is the same as the previous one on this wall: Under The Protection Of The UDA.

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We Will Take Nothing Less

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An estimated 100,000 people congregated at Craigavon House on the 23rd of September, 1911, to hear Edward Carson’s inaugural speech as Unionist leader (McNeill Ch. 4). In his speech he said “Our demand is a simple one. We ask for no privileges, but we are determined that no one shall have privileges over us. We ask for no special rights, but we claim the same rights from the same government as every other part of the United Kingdom. We ask for nothing more; we will take nothing less”. Ten years later, in 1921, Northern Ireland was created and it has survived to reach its centenary, despite (according to this mural) “100 years of fighting a fascist republican enemy sponsored by the Irish state.”

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X08391 X08390 This we will always maintain. the ulster people Highcairn Dr

Their Blood Our Cause Has Sanctified

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For the 40th anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike, portraits of the deceased ten (plus Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan from the 1970s) were placed on the railings of the Ballymurphy memorial garden. There is a new (compared to 2006 and 2008) set of plaques, erected in 2017:

“A Letter To The 22: You have not gone away, you are in the hearts and on the lips of your people. The old speak of you with knowing tongue. The middle aged, as those who worked beside you. The young men and women with a passion not unlike your own. Your names can be heard on the wind taken from the mouths of men who tend their flocks on Slieve Gullion, Cnoc Phadraıg, Glenshane. They echo in the small graveyards in Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Tyrone, Antrim, Derry and Armagh. They are heard among your people at the mass gate on Sunday in the crowd at the hurling game, around the hearth when the bottle is cracked and song is sung. Your image can be seen on the faces of happy smiling children for whose freedom you gave your all. You are in our prayers you have not gone away, you never will. Mıse le meas Colm Mac Gıolla Bheın 2006. This monument was erected by the Ballymurphy Ex POWs in memory of the 22 hunger strikers who died for the cause of Irish freedom. It was unveiled on the hundredth anniversary of Thomas Ash[e] who was the first republican to die on hunger strike in 1917. He died after five days while being force fed. Thomas Ash[e] an these 21 brave Irish men stood by their beliefs and refused to be criminalised. Fuaır sıad bás ar son shaoırse na hÉıreann. I measc laochra na nGael go raıbh sıad.”

For the mural, with NHS board, see Pray For Us.

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Fire In The Sky

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The Bogside bonfire was set ablaze on Sunday night. It has long been put about that the occasion for the Derry bonfire is the feast of the Assumption (which newspapers and radio stations have repeated, e.g. BBC | RTÉ | Irish Independent). This is an attempt to provide some cover for the “dissident” republican nature of the event, as evidenced by the King Billy, UDA, UVF, RUC and Israeli Star Of David flags on the bonfire, shown above. The triggering event is rather the introduction of internment on August 9th, 1971. (Sunday was also the same day as the ‘Fire In The Sky’ fireworks to mark the end of Féile (Derry Journal). The local féilte in Belfast – which in time became Féıle An Phobaıl – were introduced as alternatives to the rioting that traditionally took place to protest the introduction of internment; the origins of Derry’s Gasyard Féıle, which began much later (1993) but takes place in the same August weeks, are unclear – please comment if you know.)

Before it was lit the banner in the lower left of the image above – “Ronann [sic] Kerr first, Lee Anderson your [sic] next” – was removed; the other flags and banners remained (BBC). The banner had drawn criticism as Kerr, a Catholic PSNI officer, was killed by a car bomb just north of Omagh in 2011 (BBC | BelTel).

William Glasgow – see the image below – was the British Army soldier who shot and killed 15-year old Manus Deery in 1972 near the spot of the bonfire. His killing was ruled “unjustified” in 2017 (Irish Times); Glasgow died in 2001 (BBC). There are two plaques to Deery’s memory and he is included in the mural The Runner.

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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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