Teach Ghráınne

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“Óglach Tony ‘TC’ Campbell was shot dead by the British Army as he walked along Edlingham Street on February 4th 1973 as he returned home from celebrating his 19th birthday. TC was one [of] six New Lodge residents murdered which was later referred to as the “New Lodge Six Massacre. … Tony lived in 13D Artillery House [now Teach Ghráınne].” Campbell was hit 17 times (BBC).

“Óglach Seamus McCusker was murdered by members of the Workers Party [as part of the PIRA-OIRA feud] on this spot [New Lodge Road outside Artillery House] on the 31st October [1975]. At the time of Seamus’s killing he was on his way to deal with a local resident’s complaint.” McCusker was killed two days after the PIRA shot Robert Elliman in the Markets; a few hours after McCusker’s death, Tom Berry of the OIRA was killed in Short Strand.

See also: a map and list of all of the old and new names for the New Lodge Flats.

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Hoods Will Be Dealt With

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AAD [Action Against Drugs] circulated lists of alleged drug dealers in north and west Belfast in July (Belfast Live), and in August members brandishing a gun and a club posed beside graffiti in the New Lodge urging residents to ‘take back their community’ (BelTel); there have also been attacks on the houses of alleged anti-social elements (BelTel). However, in much of the graffiti, such as the piece above threatening “drug dealers, hoods, and house breakers”, “AAD” has been scored out, indicating community dissatisfaction with the vigilantes.

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First Church

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The First Presbyterian church in Rosemary Street dates back to 1783 but the congregation goes back to 1644. There are six stained glass windows around the pews, including this one on the teaching of First Corinthians 13:13: “And now abideth faith, hope and charity, but the greatest of these is charity.” The piece was produced in 1929 by Mayer Of Munich with patronage by Riddel. Two British Legion flags, laid by after forty years of use, are to the left.

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Active Service

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“In memory of IRA volunteers Gerard Crossan, Tom McCann, Tony Lewis, John [Sean] Johnston, who died while on active service on the 9th March 1972 at 32 Clonard St. Erected by the Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners Association.” The four died in a premature explosion (“active service”) presumably at the home of Lewis, who lived in Clonard Street. Crossan and Johnston were 19, McCann and Lewis were 20 (The Troubles 11).

Clonard Street, Belfast.

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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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Pat And Dan Duffin

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The IRA shot dead two members of the British Auxiliaries, Ernest Bolan and John Bales, in Donegall Street in Belfast city centre on April 23rd, 1921. Just before midnight, Pat and Dan Duffin were shot to death by men who entered their Clonard home.

Another brother, John, was upstairs and not harmed and when he approached the scene he found not only his dead brothers but the station dog of the Springfield Road RIC barracks (“GB Kenna“, real name Fr John Hassan).

DeValera led the funeral cortège along the Falls. Joe Devlin would include the Duffin murders in a Westminster speech in June, following the killings in a single night of Alexander McBride, Malachy Halfpenny, and William Kerr (Hansard). The RIC in west Belfast under CI Harrison, DI Nixon, and in this case DI Ferris (Aiken et al.), would continue their killings into 1922 – see The RIC Murder Gang.

“In memory of volunteers Pat and Dan Duffin, murdered by the RIC in their home at 64 Clonard Gardens 23rd April 1921. Erected the by the Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners Association.”

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Make Israel Great Again

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US president Donald Trump, yesterday quoted (approvingly, in a tweet) a conservative radio host claiming that Israelis think of him “like he’s the King of Israel” and “the second coming of God”. He went on, later in the afternoon, to describe himself to reporters as ‘the chosen one’ (video at BBC) for imposing tariffs on Chinese goods. He said that American Jews who vote for Democrats are “disloyal” (BBC) to Israel; he later clarified (NYTimes). 80% of Jewish Americans voted for Democrats.

The Trump flag flies over Sandy Row, next to the other ‘Prince Of Orange’.

Previously: Your Wall, Your Border | Imagine There’s No Countries

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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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The Chronicles Of A People

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Republican Seán Murry’s great-grandfather was in the British Army and Orange Order and his family lived on the Shankill Road. One of his daughters married a Catholic and converted. The history of the family on both sides of the wall is also depicted Murray’s short video ‘The Wall‘. The poem is next to Clonard Remembers.

“From the burning ashes of a Clonard Street is where I trace my own. Not fifty yards across the wall, my blood runs blue as well. The red brick walls and darkened halls where secrets never met. For fear a neighbor lent his ear to something he’d regret.//

To the sharpened steel and concrete wall that separates our minds. Where the language of indifference knows never to be kind. The towering church that rang its bells in a panicked cry for help. Drew boys and girls in fearless hordes through the smell of burning felt.//

Near fifty years of blood and tears some said we’d never learn? To put the past behind us and embrace another world. But Belfast streets refuse to give its secrets of the past. With the unrelenting notion that the die’s already cast. //

My truth is mine and yours is yours, no need for compromise. When a monopoly of victims can hide a thousand and lies. When pain and years of suffering is just reserved for some. The one we leave behind us will not escape the gun.”

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