Viva Palestine

“Tıocfaıdh ár lá”, “يومنا قادم” [yeomna qadm, our day is coming] (and below, “Saoırse” and “حرية” [freedom].

The figure at the centre of the mural, with the PFLP emblem, is sky-jacker Leila Khaled – for background on her see the same stencil of her in Hugo Street.

Seen previously in better condition in 2015. AMCOMRI St (AMerican COMmittee [for] Relief [in] Ireland), Beechmount, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2016 Peter Moloney
M13010 [M13011] [M13012] [M13013]

We Want The Freedom Of Our Country

repainted knot-work on the right in front, form July 8th, 2016:

detail shots, from August 9th, 2025, December 15th, 2025, and March 26th, 2016:

December 15th, 2025, portraits on small boards being added to either side of the (temporarily removed) proclamation:

July 31st, 2025:

July 14th, 2025:

May 5th, 2025:

Arrayed against the forces of the British Army (which are shown laying siege to the Dublin GPO during the Easter Rising in armoured cars and in sniping positions in the foreground of the mural, along the whole length of the wall) are various symbols of Irish nationalism: 

Oliver Sheppard‘s 1911 statue of Cú Chulaınn dying (see the Visual History page);
the pikemen of the 1798 Rebellion;
the four provinces of Ireland;
Érıu the mythological queen of Ireland/Éıre as designed by Richard J King/Rísteard Ó Cíonga;
Easter lilies;
the emblems of Na Fıanna Éıreann and Cumann Na mBan on either side of a quote from (The Mainspring) Seán Mac Dıarmada, “We bleed that the nation may live; I die that the nation may live. Damn your concessions, England: we want our country”; 
a phoenix rising from the flames of the burning Dublin GPO (inspired by Norman Teeling’s 1998 painting The GPO Burns In Dublin);
the GPO flying an ‘Irish Republic’ flag;
portraits of signatories and other rebels — (left) Padraig H. Pearse, Thomas J Clarke, Eamonn Ceannt, Thomas MacDonagh, (right) Countess Markievicz, James Connolly, Sean MacDiarmada, Thomas Plunkett; 
the declaration of independence, placed over the advertising box of AA Accountants – see the in-progress shot below.

At the very bottom is a quote from the mother of painted Gerard ‘Mo Chara’ Kelly, Harriet Kelly: “We want the freedom of our country and your soldiers out.”

McQuillan Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2015/2016 Peter Moloney
M13006
details
Sig M13842
Cú M12906 [M12627] [M12587]
1798 M12907 [M12707]
Ireland M12709 [M12628]
Érıu M12708 [M12586]
Fianna M12905 [M12706]
Phoenix M12908 [M12705] [M12704] [M12703] [M12589] [M12588]
Proclamation M13007
Dec 15th: Portraits M12904 [M12702] [M12701] wide M12903
July 31th: M12629 M12626
July 14th: M12580 [M12581] [M12582] [M12583] M12584 [M12585]
May 5th: M12551

The Mainspring

Seán Mac Dıarmada was born in Leitrim, left for Glasgow at age 15, and after two years returned to Belfast in 1905 and – according to the new mural above – spoke from the back of a coal lorry in Clonard Street, outside the Clonard branch of the Ancient Order Of Hibernians. Mac Dıarmada was for a short time an AOH member, before moving on to the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Irish Volunteers, which led to his participation in the 1916 Easter Rising and execution on May 12th of that year.

The title of today’s post is historian F.X. Martin’s assessment of Mac Dıarmada, quoted in a pamphlet on Mac Dıarmada from the National Library Of Ireland. The NLI made many letters from and to Mac Dıarmada available in 2016. (See also this Irish Times write-up).

Previously: A 2013 gable-sized board to Mac Dıarmada in Ardoyne and a 2009 small board, also in Ardoyne.

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Copyright © 2016 Peter Moloney
M13005

National Liberation And Socialism

“Republican socialist movement, IRSP/INLA, remembers and salutes all those who gave their lives and liberty in the struggle for national liberation and socialism in Ireland 1916 – 2016.”

The Easter Lily on a red, five-pointed, star ties together the centenary of the Easter Rising with republican socialism. These are IRSP/INLA stencilled murals commemorating the centenary of the Rising. The first is in Beechmount, the second in Divis.

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Copyright © 2016 Peter Moloney
M12998 M13001

To Protect And Serve

“To protect partition! And to serve capitalism!” The Royal Ulster Constabulary, Police Service of ‘Northern Ireland’, and An Garda Síochána are branded as agents of the status quo, enforcing the partition of Ireland and the capitalist system. “Know your enemy – reject political policing”.

IRSP mural on Northumberland Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M12851a [M12851] [M12852]

End Forced Isolation

“End forced isolation, end controlled movement, end forced strip searches”.

This is a new panel – perhaps the fourth in 2015 – in the RNU (Fb)/Cogús (Fb) mural on Northumberland Street. If you can identify the image or the style, please get in touch.

For previous panels in 2015, see Free Stephen Kaczynski | Prison Torture | Leonard Peltier

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M12850

Refugees Welcome

The wave of people seeking asylum from political strife in Europe continues.”Fáılte romhaıbh a chaırde” is Irish for “Welcome, friends” while “Qaxootiga soo Dhaweyn” is Somali for “Refugees welcome”. Somalis make up about 9% of the current wave of migrants from Africa and Syrians 33% (Irish Times). 2,000 refugees are to be settled in Northern Ireland (belfastlive). The yellow-on-black outline of parents and daughter running originates in the United States, used on ‘caution’ signs along highways near the US-Mexico border. 

The mural was launched on September 12th.

Northumberland Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M12846

Reclaim The Republic

The masthead of the 1916 proclamation declaring a “Provisional Government of the Irish Republic” to the “People of Ireland” is faithfully reproduced in this éırígí stencil, along with busts of Padraıg Pearse and Tom Clarke.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
Oct 9th: M12848 M12847
Aug 27th: M12822 [M12823] [M12824] [M12825] [M12826] [M12827]