Is Féıdır Lınn!

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Inspirational female figures inside Coláıste Feırste: Marie Curie – Duaıs Nobel, Emmeline Pankhurst – “Vótaí do mhnaí” [votes for women], Alice Ní Mhaolagáın [Milligan], Mary Anne Nıc Reachtaın [McCracken], Maıréad Ní Fhearaıl [Farrell], Bernadette Ní Dhoıbhılın [Devlin], Angela Davis, Rosa Parks – “Shuıgh sí le go dtıocfadh lınn seasamh” [She sat so that we would stand], Méabh – Banríon Chonnacht [queen of Connacht], Gráınne Mhaol [Grace O’Malley], Marina Ginestà, Wınıfred Ní Chearnaıgh [Carney], Mary Mhıc Gıolla Íosa [McAleese] – Uachtarán na hÉıreann [President of Ireland], mná Bhóthar Seoıghe [women of Shaw’s Road] – scoıl Ghaeılge Bhéal Feırste. Dalta Choláıste Feırste – An tusa an chéad laoch eıle? [Pupil of Coláıste Feırste, are you the next hero?]

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McVerry & McElvanna

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IRA volunteer Mickey McVerry was killed by the British Army during a bomb attack on Keady RUC station in 1973. Peadar McElvanna was killed by the British Army on June 9, 1979, outside Keady, south Armagh. The 40th anniversary commemoration this year drew criticism from the DUP as it was on the same weekend as a ‘time for truth’ rally in Belfast (BelTel). The memorial shown here is in Victoria Street.

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An Tusa An Chéad Laoch Eıle?

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Padraig Pearse was a schoolmaster (at St Enda’s in Dublin) and wrote about the importance of education to the character of the nation. He described the English education system in Ireland as a “murder machine“. In a pamphlet of that name he writes, “Education has not to do with the manufacture of things, but with fostering the growth of things. And the conditions we should strive to bring about in our education system are not the conditions favourable to the rapid and cheap manufacture of ready-mades, but the conditions available to the growth of living organisms – the liberty and the light and the gladness of a ploughed field under the spring sunshine.” on which the Irish above might possibly be based (though he wrote about 50 pieces on education): “Is é an tsamhaıl a bheırım don oıdeachas, ní rud a dhéanfa ar líne chóımeála ı monarcha ach bláth ı ngaırdín a chothaíonn tú le mórchuıd grá agus cúraım.” [I take as a likeness of education not something that is made on an assembly line in a factory but a flower in a garden that you nourish with great love and care.] For some background, see Pearse The Educationalist. Pearse’s likeness and philosophy of education are posted at the entrance to Coláıste Feırste.

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Reject Brexit

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Sınn Féın is using the threat of a “hard border, job losses, food shortages” due to Brexit to encourage people to vote (at https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote). The next Assembly elections are scheduled for 2022; a Westminster vote might come somewhat sooner.

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The Jokers

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Stephen Mulhern of ITV’s game show In For A Penny was filming in Belfast in early September (Belfast Live) and a mural to mark the occasion was attempted in Stephen Street – perhaps sarcastically, as he is named “Steve Mulhon” which sounds like “mo thóin” [my arse] (not to mention the “What a massive cock” graffiti). In any case, the mural has quickly been replaced by a work by Visual Waste (ig) who did the Joker and Derkz (ig) from Windsor, Ontario, who did Cat Woman.

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Close Yir Een An Remember Me

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“Aye ready they stood, aye ready they fought, through conflict, blood and tears, loyal to the end, every one, the Scottish volunteers.” “Aye ready” was the motto of the 59th Scinde Rifles of the British Indian Army (and later of the Canadian Navy) but is best known from the label of Camp Coffee, in which a Highlander was served a cup of Camp by a Sikh servant (nowadays, they both have a cup of their own).

In this new mural and plaque at the newly-christened “Scots Corner” (see final image), a Scottish soldier plays the pipes over a list of the “Battalion Of The Dead”, Scottish volunteers from the (modern) UVF. The list is led by William “Big Bill” Campbell, who has had a small plaque in his memory at this spot since (at least) 2014. Preacher and DUP politician George Seawright (see A Crown Of Life) is also included – he was born in Glasgow in 1951.

A wreath laid in 2026 to Campbell from Rangers ICF [Inter City Firm], a Rangers hooligan ultra:

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Merdeka

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Merdeka! Independence! West Papuans live under Indonesian rule since 1962 when United States, in the guise of the UN, “entrusted” the territory to Indonesia in exchange for a captured CIA pilot (WP). Leader-in-exile Benny Wenda is shown here against a backdrop of the flag of (independent) West Papua, the Morning Star, shown here hanging vertically.

The adjacent mural expresses solidarity with the Syrian Kurds – see Rojava Offensive.

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Rojava Offensive

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“In solidarity with the Kurdish fighters YPG/YPJ. Against ISIS, fundamentalism & patriarchy.” Turkey commenced its ‘Rojava Offensive’ on Tuesday (October 9th) with airstrikes along the border with northern Syria in the autonomous area of Rojava (Guardian). Its aim is to establish a “safe zone” 20 miles deep along the entire length of Kurdish-controlled Syria. Standing against them are the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces), including YPG and YPJ units – Yekîneyên Parastina Jin are the Women’s Defense Units, an all-female militia from Rojava founded in 2013 (WP).

Not involved are US forces – US President Trump withdrew American forces in advance of the attack, a move decried by both Democrats and Republicans as a betrayal of Kurdish partnership in the campaign against ISIS, which took 11,00 Kurdish lives (WP). Trump added insult to injury by defending the move on the grounds that the Kurds “did not help us with Normandy” (Guardian). You would expect no less from the man who on Monday touted his own “great and unmatched wisdom” (tw).

The mural above, which reproduces a popular poster on social media, is on the International Wall.

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