#UnblockCuba

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Members of Cuba Solidarity Forum Ireland (tw) took to Sliabh Dubh on Friday (along with Gael Force Art) to unfurl what they claim is the largest ever Cuban flag below the hashtag “Unblock Cuba”, which is the name of their current campaign. The event was chosen to coincide with US president Joe Biden’s 8-day trip to the UK and Europe, pressuring him to abstain in the UN motion to end the blockade which will be debated on June 23rd (CodePink).

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Better To Die On Your Feet

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This is the bonfire in Edgarstown, Portadown, a month shy of Eleventh Night, when it will be set alight. (The UVF banners will be removed before burning.) Since these images were taken on June 10th, a third “storey” has been added – see the Facebook page.

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The Greater Shankill

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London street artist Dan Kitchener (web | ig) is back on the Shankill (after recently completing Night Taxi) painting in an even bolder location: where Night Taxi was up around the bend in the Woodvale, the new piece – “Hope” – is at the bottom of the Shankill on Northumberland Street and moreover sits atop Conor’s Corner (2015 | 2021).

Both murals feature Tokyo landscapes (as is the case with Dan’s work) but a geisha is featured here rather than a familiar black taxi. “The wall is dedicated to Sandra- サンドラ. Sandra McCurry worked and owned Mikala’s Kitchen on The Shankill Road, Sandra worked tirelessly for the local community and sadly passed away” (Belfast Walking Tours Fb).

These two murals represent the strongest incursion of street art beyond the city centre and into “sectarian” areas. Reaction has been correspondingly mixed: while no one doubts the craftsmanship and aesthetic value, one twitter user (echoed by various others) asks “What is it’s [sic] relevance to the Shankill? Or is it just a lovely mural?” Dan has travelled in Japan and takes actress Ayumi LaNoire “the pole dancing geisha” (IMDb | vimeo | Afloat on vimeo) as muse (Inspiring City). But taken straightforwardly as a representation of a classical geisha this could appear an act of fetishising cultural appropriation. See also: DanK’s geisha in Belfast city centre, The Dream. See also: Visual History 11 on the rise of street art.

Conor’s Corner itself replaced a Shankill Protestant Boys mural.

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Socialist, Secular, And Anti-Sectarian

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“The Workers Party – Socialist, Secular, And Anti-Sectarian – For Workers’ Unity and Socialism – Libreté, égalité, fraternité”. The Mental Health Matters mural on Northumberland St was in a space “kindly on loan from the Workers Party”; the lease has apparently expired and in its place is this new Workers’ Party (Fb | web) mural.

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Danny Barrett

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“A little boy of fifteen years/was chosen thus to die./As a British soldier aimed his gun/And never questioned why!/The shots rang out, the echo[e]s still/Young Danny fell, shoot to kill./They shoot to kill & kill & kill/Oh please God stop them/But no one will.” Danny Barrett was shot and killed on July 9th, 1981 – a day after Joe McDonnell’s death and on evening of the same day as the shooting of Norah McCabe – by a single shot from a British army observation post on top of Ewart’s Mill. The mural in his memory is in Havana Way, close to his Havana Court home, where he had been sitting on a garden wall talking to a friend. For a full account, see Free Ireland or watch video of his sisters in front of the new mural. For the Lawrence/Hammil board in Brompton Road, see Same Story, Same Bigotry.

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A Democratic, Secular, Socialist Republic

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In April, the Workers’ Party (web | web | Fb | Fb) suffered a leadership challenge and a split in which its sole elected representative – Ted Tynan on Cork county council – left the party (statement). This is only the latest in a long line of splits, going back to the formation of the modern Workers’ Party, from a split in Sinn Féin in 1970 (WP).

“National Commemoration Committee – erected in memory of all those comrades who dedicated their lives for the establishment of a democratic, secular, socialist republic. ‘I have given whatever I had to give for the party, the people of Ireland, and for a better world, but others have given more, much more. Comrades have given their lives’ – Tomás Mac Giolla TD. ‘For the unity of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter.'”

See recently: Secular, Socialist, And Anti-Sectarian

Servia St, west Belfast.

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Lives Not Banks

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“NHS – they save lives not bans. Supporting all front line workers.” This tarp outside the Lower Falls social club goes back to last (2020) summer and discontent over Tory efforts to save businesses and banks rather than give nurses a raise beyond what was already in the pipeline (e.g. CNN | Sky News).

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Acht Anoıs

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500 days after the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ plan for restoring Stormont was released, members of An Dream Dearg took to Slıabh Dubh (promo video) to urge for the plan’s “official recognition of the status of the Irish language in Northern Ireland”. The DUP – now under the leadership of Edwin Poots – say the party is committed to NDNA but that it does not contain an ‘Irish Language Act’ (News Letter One | Two).

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