Four deaths have been added to the memorial plaque in St James’s Road, west Belfast, which commemorates locals from the area who died at the hands of the police and army.
The plaque dates back to (at least) 1986, and originally named Rooney (civilian), Liggett (IRA), Waterson, McDonald (civilian), McGrady (civilian), Larmour (civilian), Burns (IRA), and Brady (SF).
To these have been added McAllister (civilian), Devine (civilian), O’Dwyer (civilian), and Burns (IRA).
See also: The area’s main memorial garden also includes O’Callaghan (d. 1977 IRA) and Lenaghan (d. 1991 civilian). Next to it is a mural to Liggett And Brady.
“Oppression breeds resistance”, in the form of Leila Khaled and an IRA gunman, and a clenched fist in the colours of the Palestinian flag. This is a new pro-Gaza mural in the middle Falls with Irish “Tıocfaıdh ár lá” [our day will come] and Arabic “يومنا قادم” [our day is coming] (and in the shields “Saoırse” and “حرية”[freedom]).
The artist is DD Walker (“Rebel Rebel”), who painted the Blood Of An Irish Rebel Che Guevara mural last (2013) October which this replaces.
In a sermon on November 4th, 1956 (and repeated on other occasions), Martin Luther King, Jr. imagined a letter from Paul to the Christians of America, expressing concern for spiritual life in a capitalist society and appealing for desegregation of society using non-violent methods – “the weapon of love” – keeping in mind “that you are merely seeking justice for him as well as yourself”.
Click for audio – the remark quoted occurs at the 3 minute mark of section 4 (archive.org)
“To the memory of Gareth Keys – Mural artist of original artwork Walnut Street, Donegall Pass.” This is a printed version of the YCV mural that was on the side of the Ivy bar in Donegall Pass. The bar closed in 2010 and sat vacant until it was demolished in 2014. The new print has been added below the roll of honour on the side of the Lookout on the next street over (Pine St).
“South Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force 2nd battalion, A company, Donegall Pass.” The flag of England (St. George’s Cross) is in one corner and in the other is an orange star with “1912” written below, the year the Ulster Volunteers were founded. The colour-scheme is the reverse of the Orange Order’s: its flag has the purple star of the Williamites on an orange field.
There is a new ‘Young Conquerors flute band’ mural in Pine Street, south Belfast, connecting the band to local soldiers who died in WWI. (Previous mural.)
The photograph on the left of the main panel is of the original Donegall Pass Defenders flute band, which lasted a short time in the 1970s before the formation of the Conquerors in 1977 (Fb). On the right is the patch of the band.
The small board reads “DPYM” – perhaps “Donegall Pass Young Militia”
Whitewashing of the previous ‘Sarcoma yellow’, July 28th:
Four children from the Baker (or: Bakr) clan run from an Israeli rocket bearing the Star of David, leaving behind their football on the beach at the port of Gaza. Ismael Mohamed Bakr (9), Ahed Atef Bakr (10), Zakaria Ahed Bakr (10), and Mohamed Ramez Bakr (11) all died; three other children and one adult were wounded. (For more background, see Stad An Slad/Stop The Slaughter).
The two versions shown here – from July 29th and August 1st – differ only in the later inclusion of the names and ages of the children along the bottom.