“Many suffer so that someday future generations may live in justice and peace.”
Portraits of Nelson Mandela and Bobby Sands are presented side by side, both smiling, in front of the flags of (post-apartheid) South Africa and the Republic of Ireland.
Bogside, Derry.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A Coors Light “Closer to Cold” ad, with Jean-Claude Van Damme on a snowy mountain in jeans and loafers with his foot on a snowy tree-stump, is co-opted by the IRSP: “Ireland didn’t vote for Tory cuts — Break the connection with England!”
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X02800 northumberland st irish republican socialist party http://www.irsp.ie plough stars inla mountain
The work above by TLO (featured previously in Demonizing Paisley, Ian Jong-un, and Wee Angel) comments on the long-running inquiry (or inquiries) into abuse at the Kincora boys home. Despite the conviction of several workers as a result of a 1980 RUC inquiry, the matter continues to resurface, with involvement alleged against British lords and notables, MI5, and loyalist paramilitaries. In the latest development, an appeal by campaigners to have Kincora included in the UK-wide sexual abuse inquiry was rejected (BBC-NI). In the poster above, a bloody red hand takes the place of the head above Mountbatten’s regimental uniform.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Ulster Workers Council (UWC), formed in 1974 with the backing of the UDA, organized a general strike in opposition to the December 1973 Sunningdale Agreement – signed by the British government – which would have shared power with Nationalists in the north and established a cross-border council involving the Dublin government. The strike went on for two weeks in May 1974 (during which the Dublin-Monaghan bombings took place, killing 33 people in the Republic) and concluded with the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive and rule reverting to Westminster.
The mural was painted for the 30th anniversary of the strike and is now partially covered with ivy (see below). For the mural in better days see M02610. The photograph reproduced can be seen on the Bel Tel.
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Charles, Prince Of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess Of Cornwall, will visit Ireland north and south this week (beginning in Belfast on Monday 23rd). The éırígí stencil and flyer shown above are from last year’s visit to the north, at the start of which he shook hands with Gerry Adams (BBC-NI). Charles is the titular head of the parachute regiment, which served in Northern Ireland from the late sixties to the nineties, including in Derry during Bloody Sunday.
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Three images of flags. In the one above, flags are seen on either side of the Short Strand “peace” line: the Irish tricolour and the flag of Palestine stand over a Union flag hung next to the local bonfire site.
The second is a “flag of flags” in Tullycarnet – the Union flag, the cross of St. George, St. Andrew’s Saltire, and the Ulster banner, all together around the red hand of Ulster and the crown, and “No Surrender”.
In the third, the flag of Hamas flies above the red-and-yellow Starry Plough of the Irish Republican Socialist Party in Derry’s Bogside.
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Here are two details from the Mná Na hÉıreann mural. This one shows three Derry women protesting the conditions in Armagh Women’s Prison and in the H-Blocks. This article on Mary Nelis (the protester on the right, with Kathleen Deeny and Theresa Deery) describes the photograph on which this part of the mural is based. The women in Armagh prison were allowed to wear their own clothes and so were not ‘on the blanket’ as their male counterparts in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh were. However, they did engage in a “no wash” protest, which lasted from February 1980 until March 1981, and three of them – Maıréad Farrell, Mary Doyle, and Margaret Nugent – joined the 1980 hunger strike.
In the second image, below, grieving mothers, wives, and sisters stand over a coffin draped in the Irish tricolour with paramilitary gloves and beret on top.
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“Felons presents an exciting new drama by Roseleen Walsh [web]– The Vigil – sixty one years apart yet both [Kieran Doherty 1981 and Terence MacSwiney 1920] died on hunger strike for the cause of Ireland.” The play was produced for Féile An Phobail (web). Walsh’s introduction and excerpts from the play are available on youtube.
Falls Road, Belfast, on the railings around the site of the former RUC barracks.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Even the flagpole-holders indicate their allegiance: a red hand of Ulster pole bracket in the Village, south Belfast.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The six weeks from July 8th to August 20th 1981 saw the death of six hunger strikers – McDonnell, Hurson, Lynch, Doherty, McElwee, and Devine – adding to the four who began in March and died in May. All ten, along with Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg from 1974 and 1976, are remembered in this recent (spring 2015?) board in Rockmore Road, west Belfast.
This is the fourth iteration of this board, which goes back (at least) to 1995. For two of the previous versions, see the Peter Moloney collection: third | first.
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X02696 lark barbed wire bobby sands mp 5th may francis hughes 12th may raymond mccreesh 21st may patsy o’hara 21st may joe mcdonnell 8th july michael gaughan 3rd june 1974 frank stagg 12th february 1976 martin hurson 13th july kevin lynch 1st august kieran doherty 2nd august thomas mcelwee 8th august michael devine 20th august st james commemoration committee sınn féın
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 