November 11th is Remembrance Day or Armistice day, the anniversary of the cease-fire of the first world war, while 2014 is the centenary year of the beginning of the war in 1914. As part of this year’s commemoration, a very striking giant poppy has sprouted in the middle of the Manse Road roundabout. A close-up is included below: “We will remember them 1914-2014”.
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“He had the courage to climb out of the traditional trenches, meet the enemy in no man’s land and play ball with him.” David Ervine was a UVF member, arrested in 1974 and served six years in the Maze before turning to politics. He first ran for office in 1985 and represented East Belfast in the NI Assembly from 1998 until his death in 2007. The new board, above, shows Ervine’s silhouette in a wreath of poppies along with pictures of and information about his life; the image below of the lower left-hand side includes a photograph of Ervine with Gusty Spence.
Video of the launch (on 2014-11-01) is available at U.tv
The info plaque on the right describes the Memory Chair sculpture in front of the first Ervine board.
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21st july 1953 8th january 2007 red hand comrades association progressive unionist party of northern ireland
“David Ervine was born in nearby Chamberlain Street, the youngest of five children. A lifelong supporter of Glentoran Football Club he was a true son of East Belfast. David attended Avoniel Primary School and Orangefield Boys High School. Leaving school before his fifteenth birthday he began his working life in an atmosphere of tension and violent confrontation. At nineteen he joined the UF. He was arrested in 1974 and served five years in Long Kesh, a wasteland that he and other prisoners transformed into a place of personal and political growth and development. A founding member of the Progressive Unionist Party and its most articulate spokesperson, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum, Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly. David Ervine was a truly inspirational leader. With vision and courage he led his community from violence to peace, winning the respect of friend and foe alike. He gave voice to the common man and woman acting always in the interest of peace and his beloved Ulster.”
As reported at the time, after the Nugent/Hughes mural at the corner of Divis and Northumberland Streets (see Belfast’s Infamous Prison) was painted out to make way for a pro-Catalonia vote mural (see Votes About Votes), Kieran Nugent was added to the hunger-strikers mural further down the international wall, along with Mairéad Farrell, who was the second person, after Nugent, to refuse to wear a prison uniform. A blanketed Brendan Hughes has also been added, above the declaration of independence.
Below is a progress shot (previously posted in Votes About Votes); the original version of the hunger-strikers mural is in Peace With Justice.
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Street art in North Street – oranges on a wire looking none too steady or healthy. The one on the right has gone a bit pear-shaped and appears to holding an ice-pack to its face. Or is it a mobile phone for oranges? Artist unknown (send e-mail or leave a comment). Next to a tag by Inkie.
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The 7.5 million people of the Spanish region of Catalonia will go to the polls on November 9th for a vote on independence, though it will no longer be a referendum but a non-binding ‘consultation of the citizens’. Indeed, the Spanish government in the last 24 hours has begun taking steps to block even that vote (Reuters). The “Catalan Countries” are Catalonia, Valenicia, and the Balearic Islands, along with Andorra and the French region of Rousillon – see the WP page on Països Catalans for greater detail.
The Catalan mural was painted on top of the mural to blanketman Kieran Nugent (and Brendan Hughes) (seen here in Belfast’s Infamous Prison) which caused some consternation. As can be seen below, Nugent is now being painted into the hunger-strikers mural (Peace With Justice) along with Maıréad Farrell, who led the protest in Armagh Women’s Prison.
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Here is Faigy’s (Fb) finished piece, begun for CNB 2014, in William Street, just round the corner from Bellaire Hair & Beauty (Fb) in Royal Avenue (and opposite Hicks’s Lurid Wood from the previous year): one of Faigy’s wide-eyed beauties sports an extravagant pink hair-do. (Some of the jewels in the original version have been painted out.)
Previously: Faigy’s 2013 CNB piece | piece for Inked tattoo parlour.
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“This mural was created by Youth Action, occupied Ireland’s Ligoniel Young Men with the help of Blaze FX Art Design.” Previously it read “Northern Ireland”. The mural includes one youth gazing down into the city, the bus coming up to Ligonield, two spray-paint artists painting the mural and (just off to the left) two boys fishing.
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26 volunteers and 14 others from the Ardoyne, Bone, and Ligoniel areas are commemorated in a new (2014-10-05) mural. The images below show artist Mickey Doherty, himself an ex-prisoner, at the start of the process – with the grid-work visible – and shooting an “action” shot for VICE TV.
The previous mural also commemorated local volunteers (34 painted portraits rather than a printed board), but this mural adds a Celtic cross, funeral volley, and images of Armagh women’s prison, the cages at Long Kesh, and the H-blocks, as well as (an inverted image of) blanketman Hugh Rooney – detailed images can be seen in Prison Walls.
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Ligoniel (above) and New Lodge (below) copies of a JFTC2 (Justice for the Craigavon Two) stencil by Damian Walker of GaelForce. The Ligoniel location is proving controversial: Walker’s previous attempts have been painted over three times, according to an image in this 32 County Sovereignty post, which also alleges that Sınn Féın has been behind the removals. According to the Tele, a housing executive van was burnt out in response to one of the white-washings. There has been no such controversy in the New Lodge.
Previously: JFTC2 on the mountain | Justice in Hugo Street
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Three wraiths of dead WWI soldiers – one with its head wrapped in a bandage – rise from the grave to issue a final edict: Take up our quarrel with the foe; to you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders’ fields.
For another WWI memorial in Shankill Graveyard see The Great War.
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 