Respect Equality

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2015-08-09 RespectEquality+

The People Before Profit Alliance is an all-Ireland political party closely related to the Socialist Workers Party. In the north, candidate Gerry Carroll was elected to Belfast City Council in 2014, representing Black Mountain. Gay rights does not seem to form an explicit part of the platform, but the mural above, featuring a heart with the rainbow colours, appeared on Divis St in time for the Pride parade on August 1st.

See also: Cherish from Sınn Féın

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02722

Socialist Volunteers

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
02757 2015-08-08 IRSPBoard+

The board above, on Derry’s Racecourse Road, commemorates two hunger-strikers from Derry, Patsy O’Hara and Michael Devine, both members of the INLA; the third INLA hunger-striker was Kevin Lynch, from nearby Dungiven. The seven others who died were members of the IRA, whose political wing was Sınn Féın, while the Irish Republican Socialist Party, who sponsored this board, serves as the political face of the INLA.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02757 irish republican army IRSP páırtí poblachtach sóısıalach na héıreann plough stars red star raised Armalite vol bobby sands francis hughes ray mccreesh joe mcdonnell martin hurson kieran doherty tom mcelwee belfast armagh tyrone

The Thirtieth Of January 1972

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2015-08-07 GoyaDerry+

Above is a local interpretation of Robert Ballagh’s 1970 rendering of Goya’s The Third Of May 1808 in Glenfada Park, Derry/Doıre, site of four deaths on Bloody Sunday, 1972.

The original commemorates Spanish resistance to the forces of Napoleon (WP). For this Derry version, features from the city’s skyline – the Guildhall, St. Columb’s Cathedral, and an intact Governor Walker column – have replaced the original’s outline of Madrid, as well as an insignia of the Paras on the arm of a soldier. 

For Ballagh’s original (“1970”) version and a description and video of the launch see bloodysundaymarch.org. Here is an Eamonn McCann lecture on the political history of the Goya painting. Until recently, the piece above was adjacent to a version of Picasso’s Guernica.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02720 Jim Wray, William McKinney, Gerard McKinney, Gerard Donaghy paratroop regiment

Apprentice Boys

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2015-08-05 Conningham+

On December 7th, 1688, thirteen apprentice boys grabbed the keys to Derry city and locked the gates against the on-coming Jacobite Redshanks. Their names were William Cairnes, Henry Campsie, John Conningham (also given as Coningham), Alexander Cunningham, William Crookshanks, Samuel Harvy, Samuel Hunt, Alexander Irwin, Robert Morison, Robert Sherrard, Daniel Sherrard, James Spike, James Steward and they each have a small plaque in the Fountain area.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02718

Cherish

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2015-08-04 Cherish+

The 1916 Proclamation Of Irish Republic includes the sentence “The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.” At the time, it had a political meaning, but it has since been pressed into service by advocates of children’s right and now, in the board above, by supporters of gay rights. James Connolly (leader of the Irish Citizen Army) and the text of the declaration are shown against a backdrop of the gay pride rainbow flag. Launched 2015-07-31

02779 2015-08-19 GlenRdWide+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02714 X02779 ceartas anois truth ballymurphy massacre springhill pearse jordan belfast IRSP commemoration parade britain out of ireland