“Join RSF [Republican Sınn Féın] – Éıre Nua”. Éıre Nua was the Provisional Sınn Féın and (after the 1986 split) Republican Sınn Féın (RSF) plan for a federal Ireland, with a semi-independent Ulster parliament (pdf | also a social and economic plan pdf).
Springfield Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The ‘Relief Of Derry‘ bonfire stands ready for burning, flying Irish Tricolour and Starry Plough flags, and decked with an IRSP hunger strike board – perhaps stolen from Rossville Street.
See also: the 2015 Eleventh Night bonfire | the 2013 Relief Of Derry bonfire
The Fountain, Londonderry
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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This is a new info board at the bottom of the steps leading up to the IRA memorial dolmen first seen in 1999. It features portraits of 16 volunteers from Derry’s 1st battalion and a quotation from Pearse at the funeral of O’Donovan Rossa in 1915: “Life springs from death, and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations. The Defenders of this Realm have worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.”
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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This is a replacement version of the gallery of “Clonard Martyrs” above the memorial garden, seen previously in 2011. The central phoenix is now in red (rather than green) and the background imagery has been removed but the roll of honour remains the same:
Left: Dan Duffin, Seán McCartney, Tom Williams, Gerard McAuley, Peter Blake, Seamus Simpson, Seán Johnston, Seán Gaynor, Pat Duffin, Gerard Ó Callaghan, Seamus Burns, Danny Ó Neill, Tom McCann.
Right: Gerard Crossan, Seán Ó Riordan, Martin McKenna, Liam Hannaway, Jim McKernan, Dan McCann, “dedicated to the memory of local republican, Billy Davidson”, Tony Lewis, Joe McKenna, Brian Dempsey, Finbarr McKenna, Seán Savage, Prıonsaıs Mac Áırt.
For many of the stones and plaques, see Clonard Martyrs, Who Have Resisted And Still Resist, and Deceased Republican Prisoners.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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“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.”
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.
Clonard Gardens, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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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 at the site of the former Andersonstown RUC barracks (Visual History)
For the trio of boards to the right, see Ceartas Anoıs/Time For Justice.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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This is a new mural from the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (web) on the international wall, Divis Street, (Visual History) with symbols of nationalism (the crests of the four provinces, the harp, the Tricolour), socialism (the plough in the stars) and support for republican POWs (the barbed wire).
For an earlier version see 100% British.
July 31st:
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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These images are from the front yard of Costello House, the Falls Road home of the IRSP. Top, “Belfast RSYM [Republican Socialist Youth Movement] – join the movement”. Immediately above, “In memory of the Irishmen who fought against fascism with the XV International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. No pasaran. ‘Through the mists of time they will never be forgotten.’ Erected by the Irish Republish Socialist Movement.”
See also the plaque to Seamus Costello.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Here is the new Patrick O’Connell, “Don Patricio”, mural at the bottom of the Whiterock. As a player, the Dublin-born O’Connell started with Belfast Celtic before moving on to various English and Scottish clubs, including a period at Manchester United at the time of WWI. He then went on to manage a string of Spanish clubs. As manager of Barcelona during the Spanish civil war, he accompanied the club on their tour of Mexico and the United States. The money from the tour saved the club from bankruptcy but 12 of the 16 players went into exile in Mexico and France. (WP) Barcelona returns to the US this month (2015-07) for games against the LA Galaxy, Manchester United, and Chelsea. (FCBarcelona)
The newspaper in the mural above crams all of this news onto one page: “Civil war erupts in Spain – Barcelona bombed”, “Football suspended – President [of FC Barcelona] Josep Sunyol assassinated” [by Franco’s troops] (WP); “Irishman O’Connell takes players on tour – FC Barcelona saved from extinction”; “Funds lodged in Switzerland”. In the bottom left-hand corner of the newspaper is Robert Capa’s famous photograph of ‘The Falling Soldier’, purporting to show a Republican soldier at the very moment he is struck by a bullet and dies. The image is now thought to have been staged (WP).
The image on which the portrait is (perhaps) based can be seen in this Irish Times article on O’Connell.
Next to O’Connell is Lionel Messi. The Argentinian forward is shown in front of the Spanish League cup, which Barcelona won this year (2014-2015) with a goal from “La Pulga” (“the flea”) – Messi is 5’7″ but four-time world player of the year.
The stands of three football stadiums are shown in the background of the mural: Belfast Celtic’s Celtic Park (“Paradise”), Manchester United’s Old Trafford, and Barcelona’s Camp Nou. The Old Trafford stands bear the emblems of the teams Patrick O’Connell played for and managed: Liffey Wanderers (whose shirt is also featured, on the left), Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City (The Tigers), Manchester United, Dumbarton, Real Racing Club de Santander, Real Oviedo, and Real Betis Balompié (also shirt on the right).
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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These graffiti are on the building below Kildrum Gardens. “Not a bullet, not an ounce” is a comment on (Provisional) IRA disarmament and continued physical-force resistance; “End British internment” is a comment on the fate of prisoners from anti-Agreement organisation; “Free Gaza!!” and “Israel scum” are comments on the 2014 Gaza War (WP).
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Peter Moloney Collection 