The Derry Lama

The Dalai Lama’s hero, Children In Crossfire (web) founder Richard Moore, was blinded in 1972 at age 10 by a British Army rubber bullet. As part of the recent episode on Derry for her show Home Sweet Home, Joanna Lumley had a mural painted in his honour in Great James Street, Derry (Derry Journal).

UVArts has drone shots of the mural on its YouTube channel.

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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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A Woman’s Place Is In The Revolution

2021 is the 110th anniversary of International Women’s Day (web). In 1911 it was observed on March 19th, but since 1914 it has been held annually on March 8th. Free Derry Corner (Visual History) was changed to mark the occasion. In the background Bernadette Devlin is seen “inciting a riot” during the Battle Of The Bogside – as the charges against her read; she served six months.

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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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A Vision Of A Better Belfast

This is the latest iteration of the “Build Homes Now” mural in Northumberland Street, with an update to the central panel. Previously it was a space for visitors to sign their names in support but now it is a quote from (presumably) someone living in temporary accommodation: “When you’re in a hostel for so long, it starts to feel like a jail. It’s just so irritating and frustrating.”

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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BLM Scum

A high-point of resistance to the BLM movement came last year (2020) when the statue of Winston Churchill in London’s Parliament Square was vandalised and boarded up for protection, lest it suffer the same fate as the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol (iNews | NYTimes) met at the hands of protestors marching in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA (for CNR support for see An Injustice To One Is An Injustice To All | You Cannot Put A Knee Upon The Neck Of An Idea | Here To Stay | Black Lives Matter). The graffiti in the Woodvale (below) is from 2021, however. The graffiti above is in the Highfield area.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Whitewell Supports Fiona

Noah Donahoe, whose body was found on June 27th after six days missing, is drawn as an angel at the bottom of the Serpentine Road, north Belfast. The current line of enquiry in the search for an explanation for how he ended up in a storm drain involves a possible assault in the city centre, somewhere between the art college and Yorkgate (Belfast Live).

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Stronger, More United

The Shankill Road pays to tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, who raised more than 30 million pounds for the NHS, after his death on February 2nd, with a tarpaulin on the fence of the community garden. The flowers are from current Belfast mayor, Frank McCoubrey of the DUP. Elsewhere, Sinn Féin members of Fermanagh & Omagh council did not join their colleagues in expressing condolences (Impartial Reporter).

See previously: Different Wars, Always Heroes | You’ll Never Walk Alone

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Different Wars, Always Heroes

“Different wars, always heroes.” This mural in Belvoir estate shows Captain Tom Moore, who served in the British Army in Indian and Burma/Myanmar during WWII but became a household name last year for raising more than 30 million pounds for the NHS by doing 100 laps of his garden, being knighted in July on the occasion of his 100th birthday. He died of coronavirus and pneumonia on Tuesday (February 2nd) (BBC | BBC). “Belvoir and Milltown community together with Pride Of Lagan Valley FB supporting NHS & key workers.”

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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