Easter Rising

This Easter Rising (1916) mural shows Countess Markievicz (WP) outside the Dublin GPO, accompanied by Connolly and Pearse, though they would end up inside.

It’s difficult to get the whole mural without the fence and light-post. Below is a shot of the whole. (Also shown, in 2014, in the foreground of Yes Yes Catalonia.)

Whiterock Road, Ballymurphy, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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Collusion Is Not An Illusion

Collusion, it’s not an illusion!” The handgun is “authorised by MI5” and “approved on behalf of her majesty’s government”.

Quote from Gusty Spence: “[There was] An element of the UVF [reconstituted in 1935 and some] were covertly enlisted by the Ulster Government at a fee of ten shillings a day to promote a sectarian war …”. (Balaclava Street)

The report of the Stevens Inquiry was published in 2003 and the Cory reports in 2004; both concluded that there had likely been collusion between the RUC and loyalist paramilitaries and called for public inquiries into specific cases.

Whiterock Road, west Belfast. Here is another ‘collusion is not an illusion’ mural, in Ardoyne.

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Copyright © 2004 Cathal Woods
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Collusion Is Not An Illusion

“Collusion is not an illusion, it is state murder.” “10 people from Ardoyne were murdered with weapons imported by the British government from South Africa by their agent Brian Nelson in January 1988 until 1994. The consignment of weapons smuggled in by Nelson: 200 AK47 rifles, 90 Browning 9mm pistols, 500 grenades, 30,000 rounds of ammunition, 1 dozen RPG7 rocket launchers and warheads.”

Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast

See also another ‘collusion is not an illusion’ mural, on the Whiterock. 

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Copyright © 2004 Ronan Woods
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The Dividing Wall Of Hostility

This is the Cupar Way “peace” line in 2004. Note that the wall only has two (vertical) parts – a third tier will later be added that almost doubles the height of the barrier. It also has very little art – in 2009 both state-funded agencies and wild-style writers will take to the wall. (See the Visual History page.)

The two pieces that can be seen here show a dove in barbed wire with a quote from Ephesians 2:14 (“For He Himself is our peace who has made the two one and destroyed the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His Purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of two, thus making peace and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace … For through Him we both have access to the Father by one spirit.”) and a mural for New Life church, which is in the no-man’s land between the Northumberland street barricades.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Let Erin Remember The Days Of Old

Here are some images of the exposed interior of the (old) Michael Dwyer’s GAA club on Grosvenor Road, Belfast, along with two (earlier) images of banners inside the club. The mural and first banner are of Ireland personified as a female with harp and wolfhound (and wearing green, white, and orange). The second banner is entitled “Who fears to speak of [17]98” (from the 1843 song) – Dwyer was also known as “The Wicklow Chieftain” for his exploits in the rebellion and the years following.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Our Family Of “Nations”

The fourteenth and final panel in Thorndyke Street contains a number of small panels, including the two above, along with emblems of local Orange and Black lodges, John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields, a list of acknowledgements, and a copyright claim.

For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Britannia

“The Union flag, or Union Jack, is the national flag of the United Kingdom and it is so called because it embodies the emblems of three countries united under one sovereign – the Kingdoms of England and Wales, of Scotland and of Ireland. The flag consists of three heraldic crosses, those of St Patrick, St George and St Andrew. The Welsh dragon does not appear on the Union flag. This is because when the first Union flag was created in 1606, Wales by that time was already united with England and was no longer a separate principality.”

One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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