Still Standing

The WHO and UNRWA now estimates that of the 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, about 14,000 were children (Egypt Today). 18 were killed in a single explosion in Rafah yesterday (AP). This new board in west Belfast illustrates the disparity between Israeli forces and ordinary Palestinians by showing children in ragged clothing armed only with a single, odd-looking (AI hallucinated?), slingshot facing off against other children armed with assault rifles and wearing riot gear.

Of the RNU social-media handles along the bottom, only the Facebook and TikTok ones actually work.

Previously, from 2018: RNU Stands With Palestine.

Northumberland Street, west Belfast; later with a knotwork surround – see T08102.

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Easter Commemoration

This RNU (Fb) board calls for attendees at a gathering in Milltown cemetery to commemorate the Easter Rising of 1916. The signatories to the Proclamation can be seen above and behing the large Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann gravestone on the right.

Glen Road, on the grounds of the old Andersonstown RUC barracks.

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Victory To The PFLP

“Victory to the PFLP.” “PFLP” is the Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine, a revolutionary (where Fatah is democratic) left-wing militant group within the PLO. It dates back to 1967 and known for skyjackings in 1969 and 1970 led by Leila Khaled (see the entry on the mural featuring Khaled in Hugo St) and for suicide bombings during the Second Intifada (BBC | WP).

The PFLP emblem also appears in murals from Éırígí (Resistance Is Not Terrorism | Solidarity With Palestine) and RNU (Peoples United).

The posters read: “Republican solidarity with Palestine! التضامن الجمهوري مع فلسطين www.irpwa.irish” and “Stand with Palestine. End Israeli apartheid. End the siege of Gaza.” Both posters have also been murals: for the prisoners joining hands (which is a Carlos Latuff (ig) design) see Hands Across The Yard; for the protester tying her keffiyeh, see #Gaza.

Central Drive, Creggan, Derry.

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Republican Solidarity With Palestine

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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Fight The Rich, Feed The Poor

“Fight the rich, feed the poor – Éıstıgí” (also “Free Gaza”) along Lecky Road in Derry’s Bogside.

Éıstıgí, or “listen, yous-uns” in Derry/Doıre, is the youth organisation associated with Soaradh (web); it promotes a socialist (and republican) ideology.

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Don Phobaıl Uılıg

90% of Meenan Square was bought by Apex Housing for redevelopment with funds from the Executive Office (EO Press Release | Derry Now) in April 2023. 11 million pounds of T:BUC’s 45 million has been put towards the project (Derry Journal). Demolition took place in August, 2021, but it remains a waste-ground. In the meantime, Saoradh (web) and the IRPWA (web) have commandeered the hoarding for two tarps protesting “British Crown forces’ sectarian targeting of republican families” and “sectarian political policing”.

For T:BUC see Belfast Melt.

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Changed Priorities

In the post of the new Sam Rockett mural in Woodvale – Essence And Space – we said that the “peace” line separating Wyndham Street from the rest of Torrens had been taken down as the area was redeveloped from roughly 2008-2012. As can be seen from this gallery of images, however, some of the infrastructure remains, particularly the school building (former site of Naíscoil Bheann Mhadaigáin (Belfast Media profile)) and the adjacent waste-ground in Torrens Crescent, which remain undeveloped. The alley to Cliftonville is gated at both ends.

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The Craigavon Two

“There is no lie big enough to cover the shame of jailing two innocent men #JFTC2”. Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton were convicted of the 2009 murder of Constable Stephen Carroll (BBC), and sentenced to life with 25-year and 18-year minimums, respectively. The case is under review (Guardian | An Phoblacht).

This RNU (Fb) board also appeared on Northumberland Street in west Belfast.

Berwick Road, Ardoyne, north Belfast. For the Fıanna mural, see Gal Gréıne. For the pro-Palestine board, see Old Is The New New. For the right-most board, see Óglach Sean McCaughey.

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Conscience

“Cogús supports the republican prisoners”. Cogús (Fb) is (was?) the prisoners’ welfare arm of the RNU. The board above — using a vintage illustration going back to 1981’s I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform — replaced More Blacks, More Gays, More Irish on Pantridge Road, Dunmurry, joining the “Join RNU” and mental health boards shown below.

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11,000 Days And Counting

The number is arrived at by aggregating the days served by republican prisoners in Maghaberry, Hydebank, and Portlaoise (IRPWA – page contains images of all the locations in which this board was mounted).

Braemar Street, west Belfast.

“End internment by remand! 11000 days and counting. Bail denied. Seán Farrell, Davy Jordan, Kevin Murphy, Nick Donnelly, Charlie Love, Shea Reynolds, Ciaran Maguire, Gary Hayden, Sean Walsh, Damien McLaughlin, Sharon Jordan, Mandy Duffy.”

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