City/Town

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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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04440 X04441 lest we forget

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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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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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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School Of Champions

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Olympic boxing champion (and former Ireland soccer player) Katie Taylor is currently 6-0 in her professional career. Her image is being used here as an inspiration (or warning?) to the children of Victoria nursery in the New Lodge. She was also featured in a mural outside Coláiste Feirste in west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Embrace Change Together

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A mosque rises between Samson and Goliath, the Harland & Wolff cranes, while in the lower third, people of different races and nationalities share the same streets of terraced housing.

Here are pictures of the launch on August 21st, part of the Active Communities Network‘s ‘Walk The Walls‘ event.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04424 X04423 northumberland st esmée fairbairn foundation belfast city council

The Keys To Freedom

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Here is a vintage mural still hanging on in St James’s in west Belfast. It was painted in 1995 (by Andrea Redmond?) and dates back to the peace process and the “Green Ribbon” campaign to secure the release of political prisoners: the dove carries the keys to set them free. The graffiti on the keys, however, reads “IRA” and “FTQ” (“Eff the Queen”), and in the upper wing, “UTP” (“Up the Provos”).

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Where Is The Integrity In Murder?

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Twenty-five victims of five “Shankill atrocities” – at the Four Step Inn, the Balmoral Furniture Store, Mountainview Bar, Bayardo Bar, and (from the 1990s) Frizzell’s fish shop – are remembered in an updated board in Dundee Street. The central image remains 17-month-old Colin Nichol in the arms of ambulance man Bob Scott. (See the Peter Moloney Collection for the previous version. Before that, there was a painted version on Bellevue Street: Where is our truth?)

“30 years of indiscriminate slaughter by so-called non-sectarian Irish freedom fighters. Provisional Sinn Fein demands “equality/respect/integrity”. No military targets! No economic targets! No legitimate targets! No enquiries! No truth! No justice! Where is the “equality” in justice? Where is the “respect” for Protestants? Where is the “integrity” in murder? We remember the victims of Provisional Sinn Fein genocide.”

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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