City/Town

How Many Kids?

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This mural of (Israeli) soldiers standing over the bodies of dead children is based on an original by Saïd Hassan (ig).

It is on the International Wall, west Belfast, and part of the Painting For Palestine project (Fb). The next mural (to the right) can be seen in The International Court Of Justice.

Previously, from 2015: Graffiti in Cliftonville: “Israel, USA – how many kids have you killed to-day[?]”

The image above is from February 11th. In-progress images are as dated below.

January 29th:

January 26th:

January 20th:

January 14th:

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Copyright © 2024 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Let Your Hopes Bloom As The Cactus Blooms

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Heba Zagout (ig) was a Palestinian artist and teacher who painted Palestinian women and scenes from everyday life, including one from 2022 of holiday fireworks over a Bethlehem skyline that includes both churches and mosques. (You can see the original acrylic on the Painting For Palestine facebook page). The painting has now been reproduced as a mural on the International Wall in CNR west Belfast. She and two of her children, Adam and Mahmoud, were killed in October in an Israeli air strike on Gaza. (Middle East Eye | Guardian)

The next mural (to the right) can be seen in Broken Family.

The image above is from February 7th. January 29th:

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Road Rage Ruth

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Here are a few pieces from the so-called “peace” line dividing CNR and PUL west Belfast, featuring, above, ‘Road rage Ruth’ by Kilian (ig). Previously by Kilian on the “peace” line: The Brain Is Wider Than The Sky. See also the works done for HTN23, HTN22, and HTN21.

For wild-style from December (2023) see Bombing The “Peace” Line. For ten or so pieces of street art and wild-style writing on the wall from May 2023, see Ready To Rumble.

The obscured piece by Bust and the “World Wall Stylers” tag can be seen in better condition in New Levels, Same Devils (2022). “Ríoghnach” is an Irish-language name.

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Justice For Ian Ogle

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Two men were given life sentences on Thursday for the murder of Ian Ogle in 2019, pleading guilty but on the basis of intent to cause serious harm rather than to kill. The trial of three others on a murder charge will begin on Tuesday (iTV | BBC).

Ogle lived in Cluan Place in east Belfast, site of these stickers and many other tarps and posters since his death. See previously: (2020) Justice For Ian Ogle | (2021) The Leaders Of This People Cause Them To Err | Remember Your Own | (2022) For His Family | What Fire Does Not Destroy It Hardens

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Protect Our Children

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“No illegal immigration – protect our children.” The January Fact Sheet from gov.uk on 2023’s measures against illegal migration includes a “Small Boats Operational Command” with a staff of 500 people to tackle “illegal migration by small boats”. Summary statistics for small-boat arrivals can be found on WP. Stopping the boats was one of the government’s “five key priorities” in March, 2023 (Reuters) and included in the Bill approved in July (gov.uk). The plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in November (Reuters).

This small sticker on the Mersey Street street-sign is in east Belfast. The source of the need to “protect children” is unknown; the attacker outside Gaelscoıl Choláıste Mhuıre in Dublin in November was originally from Algeria (it is not known how he arrived) and a naturalised Irish citizen since 2014 (WP).

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Saoırse Go Deo

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The INLA (Irish National Liberation Army), together with the IRSP (Irish Republican Socialist Party), was founded in December, 1974, splitting from the Officials over their on-going ceasefire. It called a ceasefire in 1998 and ended its armed campaign in 2009. “Let the fight go on”, by other means.

The three INLA members who died in the 1981 hunger strike – Patsy O’Hara, Kevin Lynch, Mickey Devine – were all from Derry.

This graffiti is from Derry’s Bogside; The Runner is visible in the distance of the wide shot, immediately below. For the Saoradh board, see British Gaols In Ireland.

For other recent INLA boards, see: Arm Saoırse Náısıúnta Na hÉıreann | Neither King Nor NATO | INLA Roll Of Honour | Rook O’Prey (IPLO)

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Copyright © 2024 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Resist!

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The inverted red triangle has become a symbol of support for Palestine and Hamas, apparently because of its use in Hamas videos to indicate Israeli targets being blown up (Middle East Monitor | Al Jazeera video), as though a kind of cross-hairs.

In this Derry art, the red triangle has been given a Banksy-style presentation as the balloon of a child (reminiscent of Girl With Balloon in London and, given the context, Flying Balloon Girl in the West Bank) walking beneath the Lecky Road underpass.

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If I Must Die

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“If I must die/Let it bring hope.” The annual march in remembrance of the victims of Bloody Sunday, 1972, was this year dedicated to the victims of the on-going attack by Israel on the Gaza Strip (Irish News). For the occasion, Free Derry Corner was papered over (by Adam “Spicebag” Doyle – RN | Irish Times) with words from a poem (Xitter) of Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer, who was killed by Israeli forces on December 7th (Al Jazeera | WP).

For teddy-bears and soft toys in Belfast, see It Could Be You and Boycott Israeli Genocide.

Free Derry Corner has two Visual History pages: front | rear

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Republican Solidarity With Palestine

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Since the October 7th attack by Hamas and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza, the number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel has gone up from about 5,000 to about 9,000, including about 3,500 prisoners held under what is called “administrative detention” or what would be known here as “internment without trial”. (Figures for the last fifteen years are available at HaMoked and at B’Tselem.) Prisoners recently released from Israeli detention have described the beatings and degrading treatment they received (Amnesty | Reuters | Haaretz).

During the peace process of the mid-1990s, a green ribbon was used as a symbol of republican political prisoners, whose release was one of the major goals in a peace settlement – see this large example from Shantallow, Derry, from 1998. It is still used post-Agreement by physical-force republicans, e.g. End Brit Brutality and Maghaberry Concentration Camp.

The board is on the Meenan Square construction site in the Bogside, Derry. For the INLA board in the background of the wide shot, see Serious Trouble.

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