poster/paste-up/sticker

Token Prod

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“Unionist trespassers will be prosecuted by the laws of QUB.” There are more Catholics at Northern Irish universities than Protestants. The main factors seem to be the roughly 60-40 split in the number of 17 and 18 year-olds and the fact that 34% of Protestants going from secondary school to university migrate to Britain, while only 23% of Catholics do so. The DUP said that the main reason for the latter (migration) is that the universities need to do more to attract Protestants instead of being “a home to republicanism”, a characterization the universities reject (2009 BelTel | 2011 BBC | 2016 News Letter).

The resentment persists to the present day, as can been seen from the graffiti written on the panels of the Wall On Wall installation (see Wall On Wall | Confrontier | The Green Line) on the Cupar Way “peace” line, in which the dividing lines around the world are labelled with the universities on one side and the “unionist kids”, “Protestant working class” (for whom migration is less of an option, perhaps), “token Prod”, and “Protestant manual labourers”, on the other. Deirdre Robb of Belfast Exposed expressed disappointment at the graffiti (Irish News).

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The Green Line

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When the negotiators for Israel sat down with counterparts from each of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt after the Arab-Israeli war to draw the ceasefire lines between their countries, they did so in a green ink, after which it got the name “the green line”.

The line ran through the town of Baqa and in 2004 (and still part of the border between the West Bank and Israel) Israel built a wall dividing the community. The image above (from Kai Wiedenhöfer’s Confrontier collection of dividing walls and pasted onto Belfast’s own ‘green line’ in Cupar Way) shows a Palestinian back garden butting up against the wall, with a Banksy-style ‘hole-in-the-wall’ view of the other side providing an alternative (also seen previously on Northumberland Street).

For more images of the Wiedenhöfer exhibit on the “peace” line, see Confrontier and Wall On Wall. This piece is in the spot where Kevin Killen’s ‘Face’ was.

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The Anti-Brexit Candidate

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“The only anti-Brexit candidate who can win!” After the withdrawal of the UUP and SDLP candidates, the contest in Belfast North is essentially between Sınn Féın’s John Finucane and the DUP’s Nigel Dodds. In an attempt to attract voters from the absent parties, Finucane’s campaign hoardings have eschewed the traditional green of Sınn Féın in favour of blue, a colour normally associated with unionism (and conservativism in Britain). 

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Our Ship Yard

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Harland & Wolff shipyard workers occupied the premises for nine weeks this (2019) summer in response to news that a sale by owners Dolphin Drilling was falling through. The unions called for the yard to re-nationalised, as it was from 1970 to 1989 before being sold into private hands (BBC). The UK government declined to intervene. Ultimately, the yard was sold for 6 million pounds to InfraStrata, an energy company based in London. The deal included continued employment for the remaining 79 employees (BBC). The poster above is in the window of McDowell’s chemists on the Newtownards Road. 

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Concerned Unionists

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“Public meeting. Concerned unionists of south Belfast. Wednesday 6th November 7.15 pm Sandy Row Orange Hall. Stop the #BetrayalAct”. Tonight will see a meeting in south Belfast (and another at the same time in Antrim) discussing the current Conservative Brexit plan that would allow some cross-border economic activity to continue – see The Betrayal Act. “VTOT” is “Village Team On Tour“.

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Confrontier

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Friday (September 27th) saw the launch of Kai Wiedenhöfer’s ‘Wall On Wall’ exhibition, mounted to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Cupar Way “peace” line and the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On the wall there are 36 images of walls from ten sites across the planet, taken between 1989 and 2018: Baghdad, Korea, Cyprus, USA-Mexico, Spain & Morocco, Israel-Palestine, France-UK, Greece-North Macedonia, Berlin. (His latest book is called Confrontier – the web site includes 53 images.)

See previously, the trial run image of Al Bayya in Baghdad in Wall On Wall.

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Gegen Rechts

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St Pauli is a Hamburg soccer club with a wide following due to the “gegen Rechts” [against the right] philosophy of its fans. Supporters clubs can be found in places as far-flung as Belfast, Liverpool, Bilbao, Stockholm, San Francisco, and (naturally!) St Paul (Minnesota, USA). This sticker was in a Cultúrlann bathroom in west Belfast. See also: FC Sankt Pauli sticker in 2010.

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Wall On Wall

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The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 but dividing walls all over the world still stand. Kai Wiedenhöfer’s Wall On Wall exhibition comes to Belfast later in the month (the launch is September 27th at 4 pm), placing images of dividing walls on Belfast’s own dividing wall, the Cupar Way “peace” line. Shown above is the image of the wall in Al Bayya (Baiyya) in the Al Rashid district, part of the 700 km of walls in Baghdad, Iraq (Browse Gallery), which was pasted onto the “peace” line as a trial for the forthcoming exhibition. As usual, it has been vandalised by tourists and their patronising slogans (and political statements: “Hong Kong is doesn’t have to be a part of China!”). Wiedenhöfer’s image of the Occupied Territories was on Free Derry Corner in 2013 (see Ramallah, Israeli City Of Culture) and three images of Belfast were pasted onto the Berlin Wall in 2013 (Irish Times).

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Something In The Air

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Clonard monastery (and church of the Holy Redeemer) date back to 1897, built on the grounds of Clonard House (1843) and including 3.5 acres to provide spiritual services to the burgeoning Catholic population of west Belfast, about 30,000 in number (Ita | Rafferty). On the night of August 15th, 1969, the complex came perilously close to destruction, like the houses in the streets around it, but became of focal point of locals’ attempts to defend the area (Murray).

For other posts about the 50th anniversary of the August riots, see The Pogrom Of 1969 | Clonard Remembers | End Apartheid | Derry, Aughrim, Enniskillen And Ardoyne.

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End Apartheid

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15 year-old Fıan Gerald McAuley was the first member of the IRA to die in the Troubles. He was shot in Waterville Street by a loyalist sniper while helping people move from burned-out homes in Bombay Street, along which the “peace” line separating the Falls and Shankill now runs, overlooking the Clonard Memorial Garden, site of the service for the 50th anniversary of McAuley’s death. In the windows of a nearby house we also see a poster in support of Palestine and a Bobby Sands-Che Guevara hurl.

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